Millions were allocated for the construction of 23 hi-tech nurseries in Karnali but five years on, the funds have been misused, further obstructing the development of the region.

In a span of four years, the Karnali Province government allocated a total of 32 crore 86 lakh rupees to develop hitech plant nursery programs. But only 10 crore from the total budget has been used so far. On the other hand, budget allocated to develop forest and agriculture sector and related employment has been frozen, while the amount that has been used has also been misused.

Our investigation, a mix of paper trail and field observation, proves that no investment has been made on high tech nursery. Instead, the program has been a ruse to gobble up funds. In some locations, land has been levelled and an enclosure has been created, but nothing else has been accomplished. But even these structures have become derelict.

In the fiscal year 2075/076, when the program started its implementation, Mahendra Bahadur Shahi was the chief minister, while Nanda Singh Buda and Bimala KC were the ministers for the Ministry of Industry, Forest and Environment and the Ministry for Land Management, Agriculture and Coperatives respectively.

All three projects in Dailekh are in shambles

The Ministry of Industry, Tourism, Forest and Environment allocated the highest amount of funds for hitech nursery construction in Dailekh. According to the Ministry, in the fiscal year 2075/076, Narayan municipality-10, Tathikand Rural Municipality-1 and Bhagwatimai Rural Municipality-3 were allocated 4 crore 12 lakh rupees to operate one nursery in each of the municipality. But the nurseries have not come into operation even after five years.

Photo, Jyoti Katuwal

The local residents have turned a section of the Santadama nursery, erected at a cost of 20 lakh rupees in Bhagwati Rural Municipality, into a residential place. Rest of the structure is also unsuable. The agreement was for one crore rupees and the user committee had started the work with an advance of twenty lakh rupees. Kamal Regmi, the chair of the user committee, said that the committee had done the work according to the budget, but had to abandon the project because further funding did not come through. “We were told by the Division Forest Office that the province did not release the funds,” Regmi said. Nonetheless, the structure erected by the user committee is also not up to a standard.

In Tathikand Rural Municipality, the user committee took an advance of 46 lakh rupees for a hitech nursery at Dudhepani, Jiuni. With the advance, the user committee created a wired enclosure, dug a road of about 500 meters and built a structure of two rooms to house workers. At present, the windows and doors are unhinged, and the wiring used for the enclore is also missing.

“They used up 46 lakh by digging up the road and the field,” said Maniram Shahi, a local resident. The incumbent ward chair Chakra BK accuses the previous government for bringing this program to appease their cadres. “If that was not the case, then the allocated budget had to be released, and somebody would have taken responsibility for the existing structures,” he said. While the chair of the user committee Mohan BK said that the work stopped due to lack of funds. He was also informed by the Division Forest Office that the budget had not been released by the provincial government.

Bhawani Hi-tech Nursery in Jodtada of Narayan Municipality-10 is also in shambles.  Construction materials such as pipe and wiring that were used are also missing. “The construction was abandoned, the materials were not stored properly,” Birendra Basnet, a local resident says, “Others must have taken the remaining materials.”

Even though the budget was initially estimated at one crore, Division Forest Office agreed on half that amount. Out of which, only 31 lakh had been released, according to the president of the user committee Ratna Prasad Upadayay. “We bought the materials at a hefty price during corona times. We did not receive the additional budget,” he said.

Dharmaraj Upadhyay, the section officer at Dailekh district’s Division Forest Officer said that the user committee could not be given the budget because the province had not released the funds. “At the time I did not have the responsibility of the office chief. Now I have learned that the released funds were only used for the construction of buildings and field. But now the structures have become derelict, like a thing from the past,” he said, “If the Ministry had shown interest to actually complete the work, then this would not have happened.”

Storehouse sold illegally as a residence

On Baisakh 28, 2077 Adarsha Rural Multipurpose Cooperative of Birendranagar-9, Latikoili signed an agreement with the province’s  Agriculture Development Directoriate.

Even though the agreement clearly specified the construction of a hitech nursery, the only thing the cooperative constructed were two fields and 33 tunnels to grow saplings. The directorate continued to release the funds even though the work being done was against the agreement. The nursery constructed at a cost of ninety-six lakhs four thousand rupees, does not look “hi-tech” from any angle. There is an overgrowth of weeds in the tunnels.

Bedkali Bhattarai and her six-member family from Jumla now live in the building constructed to store various materials. Bedkali said that she purchased the house from Rajendra Buda, the president of the cooperative.

A case  of stolen funds in Kalikot                                 

The user committee formed to construct a high-tech nursery in Khadachakra municipality-6 contracted Chatra Shahi and Karna Buda on Jestha 11, 2076 to import construction materials. The user committee paid 18 lakh advance to Buda’s firm Samel Agriculture Pvt. Ltd, Jumla. But Buda went incognito after receiving the advance.

“There was a lot of activity induced by high tech nursery construction site. Some materials had been off-loaded at the construction site,” Birkha Bahadur BK, a local resident, recalled. “Then they took the materials away in the dead of the night, and they are nowhere to be found.”

According to the working procedure, the site for the construction of the hitech nursery must have access to road and three phase electricity line. But even when the funds are being misused by selecting the wrong location and falsifying report, the division forest office continues to be a mute bystander, BK said.

Parba Nepali, the secretary of the user committee said that Chatrabahadur hoodwinked them and ran away with the advance. Division Forest Office has written an official letter demanding the return of the advance amount. But no case has been filed against the individual who ran away with the advance.

Another hi-tech nursery in Raskot municipality-7 of Kalikot is also in shambles. An agreement was done on Jestha 11, 2076 for a total budget of 90 lakh rupees. Out of which 17 lakh 10 thousand rupees were received as advance, said the user committee chair Kapur Mahara. But no work seemed to have been done at the site even after five years.

According to Mahatara, with the 17 lakhs, the only thing they were able to accomplish was a labeling of the ground. “After that, the forest office did not show any interest. We did the work that the budget allowed for,” Mahatara said. He is also the ward chair of Raskot municipality-7.

Mahesh Kumai, the chief of Division Forest Office, Kalikot said that the user committee received the money after the agreement but have not started the work. “Had they done the work, funds should have been released as per the contract,” he said, “ both the user committees have not submitted invoices on the advance.” Now the time for the project has expired and the budget had frozen. On 2076 Bhadra 30, the auditor general’s office wrote to the division forest office to collect the withstanding balance, but the balance has not been collected.

Funds abused by Dolpa Chief

Sampati Buda, then chief of Agriculture Knowledge Center directed the funds for the construction of Obi Hi-tech Nursery to his wife Sonkali Buda’s firm. The funds have been misused. In 2075, he received a grant of 37 lakh, 50 thousand rupees from Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Coperative to construct a nursery and a cold storage. To channel the funds, the organization registered under the office chief’s wife was used.

Birkha Buda, a local farmer, said that neither the nursery nor the cold storage is under operation. “They put up a show of being in operation to gobble up the grant, but it is not producing,” Buda said, “The Office chief used his wife’s firm to take the funds for himself.”

“We have paid taxes for two firms,” said Sampati Buda who is currently the chief of Bagbani center, Dolpa. “The person whose name is listed in the firm, does the work. My children also work. If the nursery could not be commercial, what can we do!”

Sharad Lama, then chief of District Agriculture Development Office, used his wife’s firm to misuse the budget for high-tech nursery. Office records show that his wife Dawa Kyamu Lama took five lakhs rupees in the name of Purnima winter fruit nursery. But that nursery is not under operation. Lama said that the nursery was shut down after saplings stopped selling.

According to an official at the Agriculture Development Office, Dolpa, the provincial government specifies the name of the project, budget and the firm for whom the budget is allocated. The specifity of the name of the firm and the lack of work proves the intention to misuse the firm from the very beginning, according to the official.

In the fiscal year 2075/ 76, it is claimed that 37 lakh 50 thousand rupees was spent to construct the infrastructure for a nursery at Thulibheri Municipality-3 in Dolpa but there is no evidence that the structure was ever there. Dal Bahadur Thakulla, the chair of the user committee said that with the 18-lakh advance, they could only manage to level the ground. “But that too has been ruined by landslide.”

Provincial Representative Nanda Singh Buda from Dolpa was the Minister of Industry, Tourism, Forest, and Environment from 2074 to 2078. During his tenure, 2 crore 24 lakh was allocated under the heading of high-tech nursery construction in Dolpa. Ministry of land management, agriculture and cooperation also allocated 3 crore 14 lakh rupees for the construction of four high tech nurseries in Dolpa district. No work has been done towards the projects.

What is hi-tech nursery?     

High-tech nursery is a technique to grow saplings for forest and agriculture that has a high yield. A green house is constructed and agrinet is used for temperature control and an insect net is used to protect the plants from insects.

It is a nursery with modern irrigation system in which a mechanism for nutrient supply allows to grow vegetables during off season as well as increase yield while decreasing the production time.

With the slogan “One high-tech nursery for one electoral area,” this program was brought under the leadership of then chief minister Mahendra Bahadur Shahi. But this project was brought forward without paying heed to local needs. Nor was there a feasibility study and has been a way to drain the state treasury, argued  agricultural expert Suryanath Yogi, who is the vice chair for the Province Planning commission.

Yogi said that advance funds for the high-tech nursery has been misused. At the time, Mahendra Bahadur Shahi was the chief minister, Nandi Singh was the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Environment and Bimala KC was the agriculture minister for a three-year period. When there is no project monitoring after funds have been allocated, it makes the actions of the leadership questionable, Yogi said.

After numerous complaints on the misuse of nursery funds, the provincial government has decided to not continue the intiative, informed Dr. Kedar Baral, the secretary for the Ministry of Industry, Tourism, Forest and Environment. “We are not continuing and since the anti graft body is investigating, we have not started our own initiative,” he said.

Simta Rural Municipality: a case study

Simta Rural Municipality-5 was allocated one crore rupees for the construction of Aalima High-tech Nursery by the provincial Ministry of Industry, Tourism, Forest and Environemt in the fiscal year 2075/076. But the nursery has not been operational. The existing structures have ruined.

The action plan 2075 for the construction and operation of high tech nursery outlines the access to three phase electricity line, empty plot of public land as well vehicular connectivity. But the conditions have not been met in Simta.

“FIn the beginning, we said a location with three phase electricity must be selected, but what could we do when it was not included in the technical estimate,” said Jagat Mahatara, the chair of the user committee. Mahatara accused the supplier of materials, Pralad Gautam, a representative of Naaf seeds, of demanding six lakh rupees from the user committee for keeping the bureaucrats and the politicians happy. “We trusted him and paid 61 lakhs to bring the necessary materials,” he said.

On 2080 Falgun 23, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed a case  of corruption against the workers of the Divison Forest Office and user committee members for fabricating false papers and releasing funds illegaly.

The CIAA named a total of 11 individuals as the defendant in the case for fabricating paper work, including Govinda Prasad Dahal, then chief of Division Forest Office, Assistant Forest Officer Tek Bahadur Rawal and Accountant Laxmi Kumari Thapa Chhetri as well as the user committee chair Jagat Mahatara, then chair Kabindra Kumar KC of the rural municipality.

Nonetheless, the Court cleared the charges of the defendants by citing the CIAA’s  report where their field investigation and technical report shows that there has been construction based on the agrrement. As well as the fact that Agriculture and Nursery Management Action Plan was only released on 2078 chaitra 8 and it is not clear who will take responsibility prior to the date of the action plan. (See: Action Plan)

Advocate Durga Sapkota argued that the defendant getting a clean cheat is weakness of the CIAA. “They could not do adequate investigation,” he said, “ if the anti graft body had done the investigation and prosecution then there would have been no reason to lose. It seems that the investigation was weakened due to influence.”

Bimala KC, then Minister for Land Management, Agriculture and Copoerative accepts that work has not been done according to the expectations. “Through this program, we wanted to make Karnali independent as vegetable and fruit sapling were imported from elsewhere. The problem arose because we did not have the required expertise.”

Prachanda Pokhrael, a resident of Simta Rural Municipality, said that hitech nursery has been a ruse to claw away state’s funds. “We don’t know how the anti graft body prosecuted and why the court gave a clean chit. But, the hitech nursery they claim to have constructed is in front of us. The money has been wasted and no work came out of it. Why does anyone not see it?”

The CIAA also filed a case against those responsible for constructing a high-tech nursery in Kali Gaon of Raskot Municipality. This included the chiefs of Simnath Agriculture Development Coperative and the Agriculture Knowledge Center. But the court gave a clean chit in this stance too.

The nursery for which 66 lakhs fifty thousand rupees had been spent has now been turned into a vegetable patch. Simnath Agriculture Cooperative had undertaken the responsibility of the nursery’s construction. The treasurer for the cooperative, Surendra Shahi was a worker of Janak Shikshya Samagri Kendra in Surkhet, who was a part of Mahendra Bahadur Shahi’s secretariat when he was the chief minister.

Ward Chair of Rastakot Municipality-3 said that the nursery constructed by Surendra and the Cooperative Chair Kamal Shahi is completely in shambles. “Local residents ask us about it, but local stakeholders were not consulted during the construction,” Yogi said.

Binod Kumar Shah, the current provincial minister for Land Management, Agriculture and Coperative said that due to irregularities in grant funds started by the previous government, the program is being halted. “Only after monitoring the grant dispersal in all ten districts, we will decide whether to continue the program or not,” he said.

Vice President Suryanath Yogi of the provisional planning commission said that the program failed because it was done without recognizing local needs and assigning user committee without the expertise. “Done without a feasibility study it was just an excuse to use up the funds,” he said.