Lamjung, June 10

The Federal government has allocated Rs 3 billion for the local bodies in Lamjung for the upcoming fiscal year.

As per the details of inter-governmental financial handover for the fiscal 2019-20 issued by the Ministry of Finance, Lamjung’s eight local bodies will receive Rs 913.7 million under financial equalisation and another Rs 1.881 billion under conditional grant.

The local bodies here had received Rs 2.2443 billion for this fiscal. The allocation of the fund between municipalities and rural municipalities stands at Rs 1.2936 billion and Rs 828.9 million respectively, with Besisahar Municipality receiving the highest of Rs 349.7 million. Among rural municipalities, the highest budget allocation has been proposed for Dordi Rural Municipality with Rs 223.3 million.

Meanwhile, the budget dispensation has failed to impress most local bodies which have called the allocation ‘inadequate’.

“Compared to the things we have to do, the fund proposed for us is far from enough.

In fact, it is bound to happen when we allocate budget on the sole basis of population by ignoring other factors,” said Marsyangdi Rural Municipality Chair Prem Bahadur Ghale. The government has allocated 222.4 million rupees for the rural municipality.

Similar were the concerns of Dudhpokhari Rural Municipality Chairperson Chhupimaya Gurung. The rural municipality is likely to receive Rs 147.9 million from the central government.