A recently completed audit report for KMC showed that the local body did not justify the expenditure in excess of the allocated amount for administrative purposes. [break]
“KMC´s policy and program were not found to be regulated although Rs 56.6 million was spent in addition to Rs 87.8 million budgeted for the KMC administration,” says the audit report.
The report shows that KMC had spent over Rs 10 million for lunch at various official functions although the KMC council had approved only Rs 2.5 million for this purpose.
However, KMC officials have defended themselves, arguing that the local body is authorized to use 25 percent of their total revenue collection as provisioned in the Local Self-Governance Act 1999.
KMC Revenue Department chief Rajya Prakash Pradhananga said that KMC collects around Rs 1 billion in revenue every year on average, but the budget is Rs 1.8 billion. “We are compelled to approve budgets with a huge gap between our earnings and expenditure. We must admit that our budget distribution is unscientific as we are already aware at the beginning of a fiscal year that the allocated amount is insufficient, and as a result development projects suffer,” added Pradhananga.
Kumari Rai, section officer in charge of cash and in-kind at KMC, blamed price inflation in various goods for pushing KMC expenditures off track. The official said that they purchased various equipment at Rs 1.8 million although the amount allocated for the purpose was Rs 500,000.
Meanwhile, in another case of payment advances to staff, 21 employees at KMC are yet to clear more than Rs 1 million taken in advances in previous years, the audit report shows.
Similarly, 12 staffers who received advances have retired from government service without clearing the advances.
“Twelve staffers who retired in the last 10 years received a maximum amount of Rs 329,068, which is yet to be cleared,” reads the audit report.
Related story
Failing to spend
