The sub-committee was formed after lawmakers alleged that the NPC had arbitrarily altered conditions on fund distribution for road projects, making it difficult for district development committees (DDCs) to apply for the sum. [break]
The parliamentarians also claimed the NPC had been negligent while listing projects in the red book, as a project submitted by one district had fallen under the list of another district.
The Parliamentary Committee on Development has asked the three-member sub-committee to thoroughly look into the matter and submit a detailed report within a week.
"We will then decide on the issue," Jitendra Sonar, chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Development and an MP representing Tarai Madhesh Democratic Party, said.
The NPC, an advisory body that formulates development plans and policies, had landed in hot water after it issued a controversial guideline on distribution of Rs 500 million aimed at supporting road development projects of various districts.
The guideline specifically said districts cannot implement projects that do not fall under the District Transport Master Plan and the District Development Plan.
"But there were no such conditions when the proposal was presented at the parliament for approval," Krishna Prasad Sapkota, an MP from Kavrepalanchowk, told the parliamentary committee hearing on Friday, questioning, "Who gave NPC the authority to make amendments to policies endorsed by parliament?"
This amended guideline, which was forwarded by the NPC to the Ministry of Local Development (MoLD), underwent further changes, as the ministry added another condition which prevented projects worth less than Rs 500,000 from being eligible for consideration.
The ministry has, however, said it had to include the clause as its internal policy does not allow distribution of sum of less than half a million rupees on road projects. "This was introduced to prevent dispersal of small amounts, impact of which could not be seen," Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, acting secretary of the MoLD, said.
But lawmakers argued that if this was the case, it should have been mentioned when the proposal was forwarded to the parliament for approval.
The lawmakers also claimed the NPC had been careless in listing the projects, as many projects proposed by one district had fallen under the list of another district.
For instance, six projects submitted by Kavrepalanchowk are mentioned in the government´s red book as projects of Bhaktapur and Sindhupalchowk, while three projects of Sindhupalchowk have been entered as projects of Kavrepalanchowk, according to Sapkota.
"Now the problem is that the local development ministry has already released budget based on inaccurate data," Sapkota said.
But Thapaliya said his ministry has already asked DDCs to freeze the amount that were mistakenly deposited in their accounts.
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