Unable to provide ambulance and firefighting services, people’s representatives at the local level are buying expensive luxury vehicles for themselves.

 Manoj Shrestha: Centre for Investigative Journalism-Nepal

Birgunj Metropolitan City Mayor Bijaya Kumar Sarawagi has bought an official vehicle for his use at the cost of Rs 14.5 million. Soon after being elected, Sarawagi had organised a press conference, on September 28, 2017, and announced that he would not claim vehicles, pay and perks from the local government. Despite the announcement, he bought the Na 1 Jha 1698 Mitsubishi Pajero at the end of the fiscal year 2018-19.

Photo: Suresh Bidari

According to Ashok Pradhan, information officer at the Birgunj metropolis, the mayor had used a Scorpio registered for the metropolis as Ba 1 Jha 1633. The Mahindra vehicle was purchased for Rs 8 million.

“Rather than pricing, the vehicle was chosen for its need. The municipal assembly allocated budget for the vehicle,” said Sarawagi. Since the old vehicle was not efficient, the new one was purchased in view of official responsibilities, he argued.

The metropolis, however, lacks an ambulance. Deputy Mayor Shanti Karki says the local government has no funds to buy ambulance. The mayor agrees. “We have not been able to buy an ambulance in the lack of resources and due to a loan,” he says.

The ‘mobile health van’ provided by the Indian Embassy remains unused in the absence of staff and resources. The embassy had argued that a mobile team of medics would provide treatment for the Birgunj residents at their doorsteps. According to Deputy Mayor Karki, no initiative has been taken to operate the van that lies unused.

Cars as one pleases

All the seven provincial governments have introduced the regulations related to public expenditure standards, working procedures and austerity-2075. The directive sets the procedure and standards for procuring government vehicles. Rs 10 million is the approved budget ceiling for purchasing vehicles for chief ministers or an office bearer of their level. Clause 11 of the Province 1 directives and Clause 9 of the Province 5 directives say that the Speaker, deputy Speaker, ministers and officials of their level and principal secretary may buy vehicles for up to Rs 7.5 million, secretaries up to Rs 6 million, and department chiefs and office chiefs up to Rs 4.5 million.

However, no standards have been set for buying vehicles for the people’s representatives at the local level. Taking benefits from this regulatory void, local representatives have bought vehicles costlier than those used by chief misters and ministers and other office bearers of the provinces even as their villages and towns are without ambulance, fire trucks or corpse carriers.

When the elected officials started buying expensive vehicles haphazardly, the federal affairs and local development ministry drafted a working procedure last year to regulate the purchases. The draft prepared by a five-member team led by joint-secretary Suresh Adhikari was forwarded to the finance ministry for approval but it has stuck there. Adhikari, who is currently the principal secretary in Province-1, said: “I don’t know in whose interest the working procedure draft was held.”

The draft set a Rs 4.5 million budget ceiling for purchasing the vehicle for an elected official at the local level. It provisioned the purchase of one vehicle each for the mayor, deputy mayor, chief executive officer, and administrative officer of a metropolitan city. It would mandate the purchase of three vehicles at a sub-metropolitan city and a municipality and two at a rural municipality at most. The motive behind the draft being stuck in the ministry remains unknown.

It is not that medium-priced vehicles are unusable for people’s representatives. For instance, after his election as prime minister on August 29, 2011, Dr Baburam Bhattarai took up the Ba 1 Jha 9360 Mustang Maxx assembled in Nepal by Hulas Motors. According to Houlas Motors Director Surendra Golchha, the price of the vehicles ranged from Rs 1.9 million to Rs 2.1 million depending on their options. The 2500 CC vehicle was usable in the Tarai, hills and mountain regions. According to Golchha, the company seized to produce the vehicle three years ago.

Bhattarai won accolades for choosing the domestically produced vehicle instead of luxury vehicles. But none of his successors followed his lead. Bhattarai says: “Extortion of resources is extreme at the Centre. Political party leaders, businessmen and contractors: all have caused holes in state resources. Since the top leadership is corrupt, local representatives consider it normal to ride vehicles that cost more than a crore rupees.” This ill practice reached the local level following the local level elections. As a former prime minister, Bhattarai goes around on the Ba 18 Cha 2898 Scorpio.

Mechanical Engineer Mohan Prasad Bhattarai of the Transport Management Department says vehicles of 800CC are powerful enough to be used in Kathmandu Valley or the plains but they need to be of higher capacity for use in the hills. According to him, the expensive vehicles bought for people’s representatives are unnecessary expenditures because the more CC a vehicle engine is of the more fuel it consumes and adds to the operational cost.

On vehicles, some are choosy

Another mayor to go for an expensive vehicle despite having a decent four-wheeler is Bidya Sundar Shakya of Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC). Shakya has put aside his Rs 8.5 million vehicle to ride the Rs 12 million Ba 2 Jha 3132 Toyota Fortune. According to mechanical engineer Pramod Dangol of the metropolis, the vehicle having the market price between 16 and 20 million rupees was imported on a tax waiver.

Photo: Bikram Rai

Reliable vehicles for collecting the Valley’s ubiquitous garbage should have been the priority. According to KMC spokesman Ishwar Man Dangol, the sanitation department has rented 60 vehicles from private owners as the city’s fleet is not enough to ferry garbage. “When the metropolis can’t collect garbage on time, it’s hard to go around stinking streets,” says Anjan Shrestha of Satdobato, Lalitpur. Besides stench, city residents are also facing the problems of mud and dust.

The metropolis has given an expensive vehicle to Deputy Mayor Hariprabha Khadgi too. Immediately after the election, Khadgi was given a Suzuki vehicle. On top of that, the Ba 2 Jha 3146 Toyota RV4 has been purchased for her. According to mechanical engineer Dangol, market price of the vehicle is Rs 9.33 million.

According to spokesman Dangol, the vehicles purchased for the mayor and deputy mayor have full options. “Elected officials of other countries use special vehicles. Here too, they used vehicles as per the standards set by the local government.”

Renu’s Land Cruiser

Bharatpur Metropolitan City Mayor Renu Dahal moves around on the Ba 2 Jha 1462 Land Cruiser. According to Chief Administrative Officer Netra Subedi, the car comes with the price tag of Rs 16.3 million. Dahal argues that the vehicle was purchased before she was elected mayor.

Photo: Sabita Shrestha

Asked about the expensive vehicle, she replied: “I’ve no time for fruitless talk. We are working for development. We’ve brought to use what the metropolis had. Vehicle is necessary for mobility, right?”

According to Bharatpur Ward 10 Chairman Arun Pidit Bhandari, the city has two fire trucks and a corpse carrier but it has no ambulance. He said no ambulance was purchased since there are medical colleges and hospitals around. “The metropolis definitely needs some more fire trucks,” he said.

Former finance secretary Rameshore Khanal argues that the people’s representatives made light of their mandate by purchasing expensive luxurious vehicles. “There is no law or logic to justify this. This is an unintelligent joke done with citizens of a poor country,” says Khanal. According to him, many countries allow the use of office vehicles by public position holders only during duty hours. Nepal has been an exception in this matter. “Since our political culture is corrupt, we have the ill practice of living in luxury when one is elected to office.”

Lalkishor’s Denver

Mayor Lalkishor Sah of Janakpur Sub-metropolitan City has bought a Ford Denver abandoning the official vehicle he had been using. He bought the vehicle one year ago. According to chief administrative officer Sita Pariyar, the market price of the vehicle is Rs 13.8 million.

Photo: Ajaya Anuragi

The expensive purchase was criticized within the municipal office itself. Ward chairpersons of the local federal unit organized a press conference on August 22, 2018 to protest the decision. Ward 9 chairman Rameshwor Sah paid the price for protesting the decision. “Angered by my protest, the mayor himself came to demolish my house saying that it was constructed flouting the building code,” said chairman Sah.

The Nepali Congress-affiliated Nepal Student Union took to the streets to protest the mayor’s expensive purchase while Sah’s Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal also criticized his move. Unmoved by the protests, Sah said: “I did not purchase the vehicle as I pleased. The procurement was done by the municipal office. If somebody is not happy, they could ask the executive officer about it. I don’t know everything.”

Ward 10 Chairman Mithilesh Kumar Karna said that Janakpur has failed to operate the ambulance gifted by the Indian Embassy last year. The only fire truck in the city is old, unfit to be deployed to the suburbs in the event of a fire. Ward 9 Chairman Rameshwar Sah remarks: “The mayor loves facilities. He bought the car for himself, not for the people.”

Deputy Mayor Mina Kumari Yadav of Ganeshman Charnath Municipality in Dhanusha tore the minutes of town meeting on January 30, 2018 over the issue of vehicle. Her anger had boiled over the lack of mention of a vehicle for her in the proposal. She had argued that deputy mayors elsewhere had got vehicles to use. Chief Administrative Office Mitra Prasad Kaphle said: “The deputy mayor was given a rented vehicle. Since she did not like it, she was given the Ja 1 Jha 466 Tata Movus bought three years ago.”

According to Kaphle, there are no ambulances, fire trucks or corpse carriers in the municipality. There is no budget to buy such utility vehicles even in the new fiscal year.

Endeavour up in smoke

Town residents were stunned 16 months ago when Mayor Padam Bahadur Bohora of Mangalsen Municipality in Achham bought the Ba 2 JHa 3694 Ford Endeavour after taking office. Bohora said he had purchased the office vehicle for Rs 12.1 million.

Mangalsen is among the municipalities struggling with funds. Last fiscal year, the municipality had a total budget of Rs 280 million, which was increased to Rs 320 million in the fiscal year that has just started. The mayor’s expensive purchase not only drew fierce criticism, the Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal destroyed the car.

On April 14, 2019, Chand’s district-level cadres set fire to the vehicle. Mayor Bohora had been criticized for catering to his own needs rather than serving people’s interests. Police arrested Dipendra Jaigadi and Ekendra Raj Nath of Mangalsen Municipality-1 on the charge of arson. Since both were under 18, they have been kept at the reform home based in Siligudi, Doti.

In the fiscal year 2018-19, the municipal assembly allotted Rs 6 million to buy the vehicle for mayor. Since this was not enough, funds were transferred from the development budget to buy the vehicle worth Rs 12.1 million.

On the need to buy the expensive vehicle, Mayor Bohora argues: “Since Mangalsen is the district headquarters, VIPs like the President, prime minister, and chief justice arrive frequently. We bought the expensive vehicle so that they could use it.”

The vehicle turned to ashes before the “top officials” could use it. Mangalsen Municipality has claimed the insurance amount. Plans are afoot to buy another vehicle having the same price range. An ambulance was bought after the local level election. An old fire truck was given to the Armed Police Force.

More on multi-million-rupee machines

Belkotgadhi Mayor Rajendra Raman Khanal bought the Ba 2 Jha 4399 Toyota Hilux with the budget for the fiscal year 2017-18. According to Information Technology officer Sujan Kumar Dotel, the market price of the vehicle is Rs 8 million. He was criticized locally following the purchase. Khanal argues that the vehicle was chosen for use in the hilly terrain.

Belkotgadhi Municipality still lacks an ambulance and a fire truck. According to Dotel, the municipality has not purchased a fire engine yet. The money sent by the provincial government to buy an ambulance or a fire engine remains unused.

Mayor Sanju Pandit of Bidur Municipality in Nuwakot rides a Toyota Land Cruiser. The vehicle (now with the registration Ba 2 Jha 4460) was handed over by the GIZ project on health and waste management. According to Chief Administrative Officer Sukdev Kumar Pokhrel, of the Rs 10 million originally set aside for vehicle purchase, a Bolero jeep was bought for Rs 2.4 million and Rs 6 million was spent on a water supply project. “Nearly Rs 400,000 was spent on transferring the ownership of the blue number plate vehicle in the municipality’s name,” said Mayor Pandit.

According to Deputy Mayor Gita Kumari Dahal, Bidur Municipality has set aside funds to purchase ambulance but procurement process has not completed. There is no surety about buying a fire truck and a corpse carrier.

Mayor Ramchandra Chaudhary of Chandrapur Municipality in Rautahat uses the office jeep with registration Ba 21 Cha 2703. He has fixed the red private registration plate on the vehicle worth Rs 8 million. “I’ve used the red plate due to security threat. I’ve shared details with the relevant authority. I can’t reveal everything.”

According to information officer Rajesh Sagar, Chandrapur municipality has not procured an ambulance and corpse carrier so far. An old fire truck is in usable condition.

Nepal Municipality Federation General Secretary Bhim Prasad Dhungana says the common people find it unnatural for people’s representatives to enjoy perks as the local level elections were held after nearly two decades. “People’s representatives, who move for people’s work from morning to evening, definitely need well-conditioned vehicles,” he argues.

Hom Narayan Shrestha, chairman of the Rural Municipalities National Federation, rides a Bolero jeep. According to him, while some people’s representatives go around on Hilux and Scorpio, some do with motorcycle or even on foot. However, the issues of expensive vehicles frequently figure in the meetings and assemblies of the federation. “If someone has bought unnecessarily expensive vehicle, protests happen,” said Shrestha.

When the mayors of municipalities at the district headquarters or close to them bought expensive vehicles, other people’s representatives are following suit. Mayor Devraj Devkota of Vinayak Panchadewal Municipality and Chairman Dhan Bahadur Budha of Dhakari Rural Municipality in Achham have both bought a Toyota Hilux each, pointing to such practice at Mangalsen Municipality in the district. According to Vinayak Panchadewal Municipality IT officer Lalit Budha, the vehicle was bought for Rs 8 million.

According to Chief Administrative Officer Tek Bahadur Oli, Dhakari Rural Municipality has plans to buy an ambulance soon. But the local government has no firefighting equipment. There is a fire truck in the district headquarters Mangalsen.

Mayor Padam Pani Sharma of Phalebas Municipality in Parbat rides a Scorpio jeep. However, Deputy Mayor Anju Adhikari has her own trouble. The provincial government announced fuel allowance for the mayor in its fiscal bill but it was silent about the deputy mayor. Adhikari complains that this prevented her from using her own office vehicle. “We have not been able to buy a fire truck and an ambulance. A bulldozer was bought in June for Rs 13.5 million but it has yet to be operated,” said Adhikari.

In the far-east, a fire in Shivasatakshi Municipality-7 of Jhapa on November 26, 2018 killed four of a family. Among those killed in the house blaze was a three-month-old. Around 10 pm, all the family members died when the house of Laxman Khanal got burnt down. Mayor Chandra Kumar Sherma identified the deceased as Tikaram Khanal (infant), Supriya Chandra Khanal (four years) and Laxman’s 30-year-old wife Radhika Khanal.

“We didn’t have a fire engine. It took time to get them from elsewhere,” said Sherma. “Following the incident, we have been pressuring the central and provincial governments.”

The municipality has set aside Rs 2 million in the budget for the current fiscal year to operate the fire truck to be received from the provincial government. Sherma uses the Me 1 Jha 154 Isuzu bought for Rs 6.4 million.

Mayor Dambar Bahadur Aryal of Melamchi Municipality in Sindhupalchok rides the Ba 2 Jha 1650 Scorpio. But the people have been without an ambulance for long to use during emergencies. When the truck Ba 4 Kha 6906 met with an accident at Phatakshila in Melamchi-13 on February 11, Ram Bahadur Basnet, a 44-year-old from Udaypur, got injuries. He was taken to a hospital in Kathmandu on a public vehicle. Two months ago, three people were injured when a mini truck got into an accident in Melamchi. Left without option, Area Police Office chief Nawaraj Dhungana and his team took the injured to hospital on their van.

According to Melamchi Chief Administrative Officer Devi Prasad Thapaliya, the municipality is preparing to buy an ambulance. The provincial government has just delivered an ambulance to Melamchi. “In the dry season, rescue is possible though delayed but problems are rife in the rainy season,” Thapaliya says. There have been no discussions in the municipal assembly so far about buying a corpse carrier and a fire truck.