The Karnali government provides ministers and members of the provincial assembly accommodation in its quarters, and to those who don’t get such accommodation—the number of units is limited, the government provides financial compensation. Despite this, public funds are being misused to rent buildings for themselves and their relatives as ‘storehouses’.
Jyoti Katuwal | CIJ, Nepal
The official residence of the Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning is to the left of the Chief Minister’s Residence at Birendranagar-7. Apart from this, other buildings are also available for ministers and other high-ranking officials in the area. But Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning Gopal Sharma isn’t interested in any of them.
The ministry has rented two floors of Danda Prasad Neupane’s house at Shankar Chowk, Itram in Birendranagar for ‘store purposes’, and Sharma lives in this house, for which Landlord Neupane says he receives Rs 50,000 as monthly rent.
According to Dipendra Singh, accountant at the Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers, the Office of the Chief Minister pays Rs 25,000 every month as rent for Sharma’s accommodation. According to a secretary of the state government, the remaining amount is disbursed by the finance ministry as rent for ‘storehouse’ space.
Before he was appointed minister, Sharma used to live in a government-provided accommodation allocated to members of the provincial assembly. The government building, which is adjacent to the tourism minister’s residence, is now occupied by Sharma’s relatives and close associates.
Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Urban Development Ammar Bahadur Thapa lives in the residence provided to the Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning. Former economic affairs minister Prakash Jwala also shares the same building.
House of Danda Prasad Neupane in Birendranagar Municipality-7 rented to Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning Gopal Sharma. Photo: Jyoti Katwal
When Chief Minister Mahendra Bahadur Shahi faced the floor test in the provincial assembly on April 16, Jwala had crossed the floor against the party’s decision and was expelled from the assembly. Jwala, deputy general secretary of the newly formed CPN (Unified Socialists), no longer holds public office that entitles him to government accommodation as per the law.Jwala says he is “staying in the government quarters as a guest’.
“I have been staying as a guest not only in the quarters of the Ministry of Physical Planning, but also in the quarters of other ministries,” he said. “I haven’t used any facility illegally.” The family of Jwala’s nephew Santosh BC has also been living in the minister’s quarters.
Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Urban Development Ammar Bahadur Thapa said he can host anyone he wants at his residence. He said, “This is my private quarters. I can host anyone I want, Jwala is my leader. I have set aside a room for him in my quarters.”
Thapa also joined the newly formed CPN (Unified Socialist) Party after the UML took action against him. He has recently been made a central member of the party.
Minister for Water Resources and Energy Development Dinbandhu Shrestha also doesn’t live in a government residential building. He rented a house owned by Kal Bahadur Lama of Jumla near Surkhet Airport and receives Rs 25,000 a month from the ministry to pay the rent.
The Directorate of Infrastructure Development under the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Urban Development spends Rs 300,000 annually to pay rent for ‘storehouses’ spread across the city. These storehouses are not meant for the directorate’s goods, but for the political leaders and their relatives to enjoy state privileges that come with power.
Similarly, the Chief Minister’s Press Adviser Dhruv Bikram Budhathoki and Chief Personal Secretary Krishna Prasad Acharya have been using government accommodation illegally.
The provincial government’s regulations state that Rs 25,000 shall be provided to the ministers, provincial assembly members, and officials from the Planning Commission and Public Service Commission to cover their accommodation costs. These office bearers are not allowed to be paid more than the amount as compensation for rent. Since the law does not provide accommodation facilities to the provincial civil servants, officials rent accommodation in the guise of ‘storehouses’.
Residential buildings owned by District Coordination Committee Surkhet at Birendranagar-7. Photo: Harihar Singh Rathor/Kantipur
The state government spends more than 40 million rupees a year to pay for such storehouses. Although all the ministries already have their own stores, the rented rooms are being used by the ministers, their advisors, assistants, party leaders, activists and their relatives.
The office of the Chief Minister and the Council of Ministers has rented three flats as storehouses. The Chief Minister’s Office pays Rs 14,850 for a rented flat in Shankar Chowk and Rs 43,700 for two flats in Itram. The flats are occupied by Shankar Bahadur KC, law secretary at the Chief Minister’s Office, Nokhiram Wali, undersecretary of the governance reforms division, Binod Regmi, undersecretary of the legal division Govind Khanal and assistant accountant Dipendra Singh.
KC, the secretary at the Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers, said he lived in the building as per a decision of the ministry, but didn’t know how the government was paying for it. He also said that it was not his responsibility to check how the rent was being paid for.
Senior advocate Prem Dhwaj Shahi says although it was natural for offices based in rented buildings to rent storehouses, it is against the law for an office based in a government building to spend a large amount on rent. “This shows the widespread misuse of the legal provisions,” he says.
In its annual report, the Provincial Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General on, said each of the ministries spent Rs 300,000 to 400,000 to pay rent for such storehouses each month.
According to the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, the Office of the Chief Minister and the Office of the Council of Ministers, located in Surkhet, spent Rs 552,000, the Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives Rs 500,000, the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Urban Development Rs 432,000 and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Law Rs 477,000 each month during the 2020/21 fiscal year to pay rent for the storehouses.
Similarly, the Ministry of Social Development spent Rs 500,000 and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Planning Rs 400,000. Provincial Comptroller General Accountant Maan Bahadur Bam said that the government has spent more than Rs 100 million in rent for storehouses in the last three fiscal years.
Regular audits are conducted to maintain financial discipline, but the auditing body and officials have never questioned such payments. Netra Prasad Poudel, assistant spokesperson for the Auditor General’s Office, said that he has not received any information on the misuse of storehouses so far.
Government officials came up with the idea to rent buildings as storehouses as those who live in government buildings are not entitled to compensation for other housing facilities, and even those who can rent houses are only paid up to Rs 25,000 each month.
Employees not entitled to residential facilities are also benefiting from this.
According to an official of the Ministry of Physical Planning, employees of various ministries have been using government accommodation and making the government pay for rented buildings, where they house their relatives and associates by misusing their power.
