Kathmandu, April 22:

The failure of the government to appoint executive members of the National Foundation for the Development of Indigenous Nationalities (NFDIN) within May 5, 2007, may result in the suspension of the Institutional Strengthening Project (ISP).

The ISP, run with a fund of Rs 45 million from September 2005 with an aim to strengthening indigenous people, has now remained defunct following the dissolution of the NFDIN executive committee on April 2006. Bal Krishna Mabuhang is the coordinator of the project.

“We had worked just for two-and-a-half months and were speeding up activities,” said Mabuhang, who has left the project on March 31, 2007.

He said the project may be suspended if the government failed to appoint NFDIN executive members by May 5, 2007.

Mabuhang said the three-year project has already spent around Rs 12.5 million on various topics.

“Even the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities is not concerned over the problems at NFDIN. It seems that the foundation has lost significance among the indigenous nationalities,” he said, adding that the DFID had agreed to revise the project according to the changed context. “The new government has overlooked the issues of indigenous nationalities.”