Kathmandu, April 11
The Auditor-General’s report for the last fiscal (2071-72) has some disturbing findings that can put two deputy ministers in bad light.
The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport tops the list when it comes to arrears, as per the report. Deputy Prime Minister Bijaya Kumar Gachchadar is in charge of this ministry. Second on the list is the Ministry of Local Development. Deputy Prime Minister Kamal Thapa heads it.
The report shows Gachchadar-headed ministry had arrears worth more than nine billion rupees. This means 18.49 per cent of the ministry’s spending was unaccounted for.
The local development ministry had arrears worth more than seven billion rupees (14.84 per cent). The Ministry of Home Affairs had 10 per cent arrears, whereas the Ministry of Finance had 11 per cent arrears.
The Ministry of Agriculture, which is under UCPN-Maoist, is the one ministry with the lowest amount of arrears (1.81 per cent). The ministries of urban development and education had more than seven per cent arrears each. Ministries of irrigation and health had five per cent and four per cent arrears, respectively.
