By Our Reporter

The present coalition government of the UML and NC has misused public funds by allocating state coffers for constructing buildings for their party-affiliated organisations. Under the Ministry of Urban Development, dozens of projects have been initiated in the name of party leaders.

Deputy Prime Minister and Urban Development Minister Prakash Man Singh has allocated the largest portion of this budget to the projects named after his late parents, Ganeshman Singh and Mangala Devi Singh. Of this, Rs.568.5 million has been designated for 37 institutions and projects under the name of Ganeshman Singh, and Rs 127.6 million for 12 projects under Mangala Devi’s name — totaling Rs. 696.2 million, according to a news report published in Naya Patrika Daily recently.

A portion of the budget allocated in Ganeshman Singh’s name is reportedly being used for the construction of a building for Nepal Tarun Dal, the youth wing of the Nepali Congress — an act considered a misuse of public funds. Though Rs. 30 million was allocated under the title "Ganeshman Singh Memorial Building Construction" in Ward-13 of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Tarun Dal President Bidwan Gurung has confirmed that the building is indeed being constructed for their organisation.

Likewise, Rs. 120 million has been allocated for four projects in the name of the late UML leader Madan Bhandari. Projects worth Rs.35.5 million have been named after the late BP Koirala. Similarly, Rs. 39 million has been allocated for projects under Krishna Prasad Bhattarai. Some of the projects also feature names of other deceased Congress women leaders, including Nona Koirala, Sushila Koirala, and Shailaja Acharya.

In Ramechhap, Rs.7 million has been allocated for a project named after Communist Party founder Pushpa Lal Shrestha, while Rs.30 million has been allocated in Humla for a project named after deceased Maoist leader Post Bahadur Bogati and others.

Even lawmakers have raised the issue in the parliament. Recently, NC lawmakers Purna Bahadur Tamang (Kanchha Lama) expressed his ire against Deputy Prime Minister Prakash Man Singh and Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel for not allocating the budget in his district.

Likewise, another lawmaker of NC, Sunil Sharma also expressed ire while independent lawmaker Amaresh Kumar Singh accused the government of allocating budget to only few districts, which are home districts of powerful leaders and proposed to give other districts in lease to India and other countries.

Misusing budgets in the name of party leaders and sister organisations has been an old disease. The ruling parties often misuse the budget during the budget speech. This tendency has resulted in the waning popularity of the leaders as well as the old parties. When people are deprived of basic needs, the leaders allocate a huge amount of budget in the name of their deceased leaders. Unless this practice is stopped, people will not feel the presence of the government.