The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Law spent over 1 crore on journalists
Dhangadhi: in Far-West The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Law of Far-West Province has spent 1 crore 78 lakh and 39 thousand by distributing it to local journalists and new media outlets in the district.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Law has been unable to justify the amount distributed amongst journalists. According to the Constitution Rule 37 (2) of the Provincial Procedure Rules 2076, there is a provision that before spending any amount for approved programs, the person who authorizes the expenditure shall allocate the amount only based on evidence.
However, it has been found that the Ministry had distributed 1757,000 to the Federation of Journalists Sudurpaschim Committee for a capacity development program, 100,290,000 to an unnamed organization and 10,440,000 to an individual who they claim to be a journalist, 3,830,000. The latest report of the General Account has shown that the amount was distributed without submitting the certified documents even after allocating the budget to the journalists and organisation programs.
The report defines disbursed funds as non-productive and distributive funds. In the same way, it has been seen that another 14 million has been distributed amongst 18 different media organizations, three journalists' federations and 21 organizations operating in the private sector.
It is mentioned in the report that the Federation of Media Houses and Journalists disbursed the funds without submitting their details of the financial and physical progress of the utilization of the grant money received. The report pointed out that it is not reasonable to provide subsidies to individuals and organizations that do not contribute to revenue generation and do not have employment programs.
It is seen that the state government has distributed a total of 1 crore 78 lakh 30 thousand without accountability. Sudurpaschim Province had allocated more than one crore budget for journalists for the current financial year as well.