MoCTCA reports arrears of Rs 4.20 billion as of mid-January of current FY

KATHMANDU, Feb 4: The Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) has reported arrears amounting to Rs 4.20 billion as of mid-January of current fiscal year (FY) 2023/24. Joint Secretary Hemraj Tamang presented this information based on the second quarterly review of the ministry during a ministerial-level meeting of MoCTCA.

MoCTCA attributed the increase in arrears to the failure of casinos to pay royalties. The ministry is yet to recover Rs 1.21 billion from the casinos alone.

The MoCTCA has already written a letter to the Department of Tourism to collect the outstanding amount from the defaulting casinos. 

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There are 30 casinos in Nepal. Only 18 of them have renewed their license. According to Chakra Bahadur Budha, director general of the Department of Tourism, a letter has been sent to the ministry for the renewal of license of three more casinos. 

So far, the ministry has collected revenue amounting to around Rs 760 million from the casinos, including royalties, additional charge, and renewal fees.

According to him, funds amounting to Rs 58.7 million allocated for the offices under the Department of Archeology and the Department of Tourism are yet to be settled due to lack of original documents as those offices have been transferred to provincial ministries and local levels.

According to the MoCTCA, the arrears of the Pashupati Area Development Trust stands at Rs 700 million. Tamang stated that the Public Accounts Committee has probed possible corruption in the Jalhari case of Pashupati temple but the investigation has not been completed yet. The MoCTCA revealed that funds allocated for a specific project were utilized for the golden Jalhari of the temple. 

Due to the transfer of certain committees to the local and provincial levels, MoCTCA reported its inability to collect a total of Rs 46.4 million.