Kathmandu, January 20
In Dang, only 14 percent of the development budget has been spent in the first six months of the current fiscal year. Looking at the capital expenditure of the development targeted budget in the last six months in the district, it looks very disappointing.
According to the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, Dang, out of the Rs. 4 arba 47 crore 65 lakh 72 thousand, only 64 crore 26 lakh 34 thousand 9 hundred 54 only spent.
Out of the total budget allocated for development budget in the district, 14.35 percent is spent. Similarly, significant expenditure has been made on salary allowance and service facilities for the employees. According to the office, 48.54 percent has been spent in the current six months.
Out of the total expenditure of Rs. 8 billion 622.47 million, Rs. 4 billion 186.5 million has been spent so far.
Uday Raj Bhandari, information officer at the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General,
Dang, said that the development budget expenditure has not improved this year as it did last year.
According to him, at least 40 percent more should have been spent after half a year. But only 14 percent of the development budget has been spent. Information Officer Bhandari said that the budget would be finalized at the end of the fiscal year as the capital budget was not spent on time.
Meanwhile, the development budget expenditure under the state government has also been
disappointing. After half a year, only 12.12 percent of the capital budget has been spent under the state government.
According to the office, out of the Rs 3.57 billion allocated by the state government, only Rs 432.894 million has been spent in the district in the last six months.
Similarly, the current expenditure budget allocated by the state government is also very
disappointing. Only 25.58 percent of the current budget of the state government has been
spent.
Out of the total budget of Rs. 1,546,021,000, a total of Rs. 395,425,402 has been spent so far, according to the office.
More disappointing than last year
This year’s development budget spending is even more disappointing than last year. In the first six months of last year, capital and recurrent expenditure was a few percent higher than at present. In the first six months of last year, the capital expenditure was 18.23 percent or Rs. 904.33 million.
Similarly, 44 percent of the current expenditure was incurred during the same period. In the first six months of last year, Rs. 3.87 billion was spent.
Continuation of Asar development
Shiva Prasad Chaudhary, chief of the treasury and regulatory office in Dang, says that the pace of development will be measured on the basis of capital budget expenditure. He said that the trend of spending the budget hastily towards the end of this year will continue like last year.
”Even half of the development budget could not be spent in six months like last year,” he said.
According to him, despite the constitutional provision to bring the budget on Jestha 15, the
development of Asar has not been stopped. He said that there are indications that there will be pressure of expenditure at the end of the fiscal year this year as well.
Karuna Thapa
