Employees of the Ministry of Agriculture in the Far West receive an additional Rs 6.3 million Virendra Bhatt,

Dhangadhi: In the last fiscal year, the staff and officials of the Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture, and Cooperatives of the Far West have received an allowance of Rs. 63,058,590. The ministry has spent millions of rupees from the state treasury by giving staff meeting allowance, office bearers meeting allowance, dearness allowance, and other allowances.

There is a complaint of the people of the state that the money is being misused in the name of allowance rather than good use due to the tendency of employees and office bearers to enjoy meeting allowance more than work.

Madan Joshi, a local of ward no. "Looking at the amount understood by the staff and officials of the Ministry of Agriculture in the name of allowance, it can be taken as a sample," he said. The Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives has paid Rs. 27 lakh 36 thousand 628 in the name of staff meeting allowance, Rs. 1 lakh 47 thousand 999 in the name of training, and 1 million 3 thousand 595 in the name of seminar.

During that period, an additional budget of Rs. 1.292 million was allocated for travel expenses. The ministry has also spent an additional Rs 360,000 in the name of uniforms. Even though so much money has been spent in the name of allowances and seminars, no work has been done on land or agriculture and cooperatives.

But Gokul Bohara, chief of the ministry's planning and monitoring division, said such a large amount was spent last year because of the large number of contract staff under the ministry. Bohara, who is also the spokesperson of the ministry, claimed that there would be no unnecessary expenditure on allowances this year as the amount was reduced in the name of allowances this year as compared to last year.

He said that the budget has been allocated accordingly as the ministry has less than half the staff. Even though a large part of the budget allocated annually by the Far Western Provincial Government is being spent by the toxic ministries, the people of the provinces are complaining that the regulation has not been done from anywhere.