KATHMANDU: A second deadline expired on May 18 for the monitoring teams of the Ministry of Local Development (MoLD) to oversee the implementation of the annual budget allocated by the ministry for the local bodies.

The four teams comprising of 3-4 members headed by joint-secretaries of the ministry were assigned to monitor the implementation of the budget in the five development regions, according to the MoLD. One of the teams led by spokesperson Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya assigned to monitor the Mid-western Development Region and Far-western Development Region is yet to return.

Only a team under joint-secretary Bishnu Nath Sharma assigned for the Eastern Development Region arrived on time. “We visited six district development committees and municipalities in the region,” said Sharma. “We have asked all the 20 DDCs and municipalities in the region to provide details. We are preparing the final reports,” he added.

About 20 per cent of the total budget allocated in the MoLD for the programmes of the current fiscal year has been spent in the last nine months. The implementation of the programmes and development activities were badly affected by the absence of elected representatives in the local bodies.

According to the MoLD, a total of Rs 25,318,027 was allocated for the current fiscal year in addition to grants from other ministries and donors. The fiscal year ends in mid-July. Of the amount, Rs 2,010,153 has been spent on capital expenditure and Rs 2,757,991 on regular expenses.

A team headed by Krishna Prasad Devkota for the Central Development Region and another led by Som Lal Subedi for the Western Development Region are yet to complete their assignments, said Sharma. “Devkota is now in the US and Subedi is in the capital.”

There are 3,915 Village Development Committees, 58 municipalities and 75 District Development Committees in the 75 districts of the country. Each of the VDCs has been allocated two to three million rupees for local development, according to the ministry.

The teams had to scrutinise the council meetings of the local bodies, implementation of the budget and progress of the grants, their internal targets and achievements, condition of the centrally released budget, postings of VDC secretaries, manpower recruitment and problems, implementation of the ministry's directives, condition of non-audited budget, utilisation of grants given by the Indian Embassy and conditions of the projects implemented by the other ministries including Peace and Reconstruction.

Firstly, the teams were scheduled to submit their reports on May 10. However, they started the monitoring only on May 12.

“We could not start the monitoring on time because of some technical problems,” said an official at the ministry.