Irregular expenditures worth 251.7 million incurred by Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan

Birendra Bhatt, Dhangadhi: It has been seen that the Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan has been spending the public expenditure irregularly without completing the prevailing laws, and financial procedures. An audit report of Rs 3.38 billion submitted by the Office of the Auditor-General has found that the sub-metropolitan government has spent Rs 251.7 million arbitrarily mocking the law. 

It has spent Rs.6 lakhs, Dr. Rajendra Bir Chand, a finance expert, says that the problem is due to the managerial weakness and lack of financial discipline of the sub-metropolitan. "Instead of using the taxes paid by the people properly, they  are being misused while they must be used carefully," he said.

The Financial Procedure Act 2055 BS has three categories including recovery, regularization, and advance. But the sub-metropolitan has been spending against the financial procedures by violating the law. 

After the election of the people's representative, the habit of not working properly has developed, violating the economic discipline even more. "Money should not be misused from anywhere," said Dr. Govinda Raj Joshi, another finance expert. 

The unpaid amount of Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan has increased by 102.2 million in just one year. This is an increase of 2.77 percent. The issue of maintaining financial accountability after the implementation of democracy is becoming more and more challenging, which is evident from the working style of the sub-metropolitan.

However, Yogendra Bahadur Chand, internal audit officer of Dhangadhi Sub-metropolitan, claimed that he only looked at the files that had been legally completed. "I haven't even looked at some of the files that haven't been completed, " he said. He said that the auditors would be informed about the reasons for the increase in irregularities more than the internal auditors.