DOLAKHA, Dec 4: It has been revealed that several tons of rice donated by the Tibet government for remote villages in Dolakha district never reached its destination, but were instead distributed in urban areas with the direct the involvement of Dolakha District Development Committee (DDC).
The Tibet government had donated 112 tons of rice for nine districts, mostly located on the border region between Nepal and China in 2011 and 2012. In those two years, DDC had collected rice worth Rs 9 million from the donated consignment. But the rice never made it to Lapchi village. The rice was however distributed in road development projects in the urbanized areas of the district.[break]
Lapchi village is considered the most remote of the three VDCs in the district that are located along the international border.
The situation came to light after a group of Lapchi villagers arrived at the headquarter Charikot on Monday, complained of not receiving a single grain of the donated rice for the last two years.
"We don´t have a clue where all the rice meant for us went. This international scam should be investigated or we will launch protest," said Karma Sherpa, a local from Lapchi village.
"We are speechless whenever Tibetan officials, who make regular border inspections, ask us whether we received the rice or not. It´s just sad to acknowledge the discrimination by our government in this case," said Sherpa.
However, Jagdish Aryal, Local Development Officer at DDC claimed that they had allocated rice for Lapchi village last year. "Don´t know why this year the donated rice was not forwarded to the village but last year it was," said Aryal.
But according to an officer of DDC, rice allocated for Lapchi village in 2011 was used by the office after DDC was unable to dispatch it to the village.
"This year rice was not sent to Lapchi village. However, last year the rice was readied for distribution, but was eventually cancelled by DDC," said Parbat Gurung UML district chairman.