LALITPUR: The Ministry of Local Development has slashed down the grant amount to some eight districts as a penalty for failing to receive the additional development grants under the Local Governance Community Development Programme (LGCDP), provided through the District Development Committees.

The eight penalised districts will receive only Rs 1.5 million for their capacity development under the LGCDP, said Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, spokesperson for the MoLD.

"The districts have completely failed to meet the criteria set by the ministry," he said.

As per the Minimum Condition Performance Measure (MCPM) outlined by the MoLD last fiscal, the 75 DDCs across the country received their grants.

There were altogether 15 conditions to be fulfiled by the DDCs in order to receive the top-up grants.

The conditions includes among other things, approval of the annual budget, audit, analysis, transparency, operation of information section, internal audit, estimation of revenues and identification of resources.

The budget allocation is determined on the basis of population, poverty scenario, and the geographic location of the district.

The MoLD has allocated Rs 855 million under the LGCDP to the 75 DDCs.