As in previous years, the deficit of metropolitan cities did not decrease last year either. Only some of the six metropolitan cities have reduced their deficits. The deficit of some metropolitan cities has not yet improved. According to the 63rd annual report of the Auditor General, only four out of six metropolitan cities were audited in the last fiscal year 2081/82.

The highest deficit was seen in Kathmandu Metropolitan City and the lowest in Lalitpur Metropolitan City. In the report of the Auditor General, out of the 58.81 billion 11 million rupees audited by the four metropolitan cities, 957.8 million rupees were found to be undeclared. That is, the Auditor General pointed out that 1.63 percent of the total amount audited by metropolitan cities was undeclared. The report for the fiscal year 2081/82 made public by the Auditor General showed that the Kathmandu Metropolitan City had the highest deficit. 

Out of the audited accounts of 28.29 billion 13.84 million rupees of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, 619.763 million rupees were found to be unaccounted. This is 2.19 percent of the total audited amount. While in the previous year, out of the audited accounts of 27.52 billion 44.6 million rupees of this metropolitan city, 2.47 percent of the amount was unaccounted. This figure comes to 682.36 million rupees. 

In both fiscal years, when the budget was allocated, the current Prime Minister Balendra Shah was the head of the metropolitan city. However, another metropolitan city in the valley, Lalitpur, has been reducing the amount of unaccounted. In 2081/82, when the audit of 10.67 billion 36.16 million rupees was found to be unaccounted for, 0.44 percent of the metropolitan city was unaccounted for. This is 46.862 million rupees in the amount. 

In 2080/81, the unaccounted amount of Lalitpur was 55.21 million rupees. During the audit of the amount of Rs 10.68 billion 97 million in the fiscal year, 0.52 percent of the amount was found to be unaccounted for. This is very less compared to Kathmandu Metropolitan City. According to the financial procedures, some employees (doctors) were given risk allowances but the amount was used as incentive allowances, said Saroj Guragain, Chief Administrative Officer of Kathmandu Metropolitan City. ‘Some laws and regulations have also caused problems, we are preparing to amend them,’ he said, ‘We will move forward with a policy to reduce unaccounted for from the next fiscal year.’

Overall, Kathmandu Metropolitan City is among those who spend less of the allocated budget. In the current fiscal year, the budget of this metropolitan city has been allocated Rs 25.76 billion 43 million. However, Lalitpur Metropolitan City is ahead in reducing unaccounted for.

Lalitpur Metropolitan City Chief Administrative Officer Rekhadas Shrestha said that the unaccounted for expenses have been settled by collecting evidence and records for the audit and requesting the concerned bodies. Service recipients

She said that the tax evasion has increased even when taxes are not paid and that preparations are underway to expand the scope of revenue from the coming year and take the campaign forward. She said that work will be done to keep Lalitpur Metropolitan City within the ambit of the law and make it zero evasion. 

Biratnagar Metropolitan City is the one with the most evasion after Kathmandu in the fiscal year 2081/82. According to the report made public by the Accountant General, 82.23 million rupees were found to be evasion out of the 4.63 billion 35 million rupees audited in this metropolitan city. That is, 1.73 percent of the amount audited was evasion. Even after completing the process, there were no problems in the work done, but new problems kept arising, so they kept increasing the evasion. 

Biratnagar Metropolitan City Accounts Officer Sanjeev Kumar Bhattarai said. ‘Now we will start reducing the evasion pointed out by the Auditor General’s report,’ he said. 

Pokhara Metropolitan City is also among those with high amounts of unpaid bills. The report states that the metropolitan city's unpaid bills in 2081/82 were 218.29 million. Accordingly, 1.39 percent of the audited 15.21 billion 23.76 million was unpaid. Muktiram Aryal, Chief Administrative Officer of Pokhara Metropolitan City, claims that this unpaid amount is much less than before. 

'There are 43 payment centers under the metropolis. Not all of them work in the same way. The work done in the wards through the consumer committee has also increased the unpaid bills,' Aryal said. He said that payments to contract employees also lead to unpaid bills. 'We will definitely reduce the unpaid bills,' he said, 'For this, we have started work by setting up a paid-for-payment branch. The branch is working. We will reduce the irregularities within one or two years.’

The audit of Bharatpur Metropolitan City in 2081/82 could not be conducted due to lack of documents. The metropolis is among those with the least irregularities in previous years. In 2080/81, out of the audit of Rs 11.13 billion 323 thousand of this metropolis, 0.90 percent of the amount was found to be irregular. Accordingly, Rs 102 million 79 thousand was found to be irregular. 

Birendra Dev Bharti, Chief Administrative Officer of Bharatpur Metropolitan City, said that the audit could not be conducted as all the documents of the office were burnt during the Gen-G movement on 23 Bhadra and the demonstration on 24. ‘A possible audit was conducted based on the details of the expenses kept in the software. But not a single document remained,’ he said, ‘It depends on what the Office of the Auditor General decides on this.’ He claims that Bharatpur’s irregularity is comparatively less. 

He said that Bharatpur's embezzlement has been reduced due to everyone's hard work and efforts. Bharatpur Metropolitan City is among those receiving the highest budget. In the current fiscal year, this metropolis has received a budget of Rs 5.19 billion 7.1 million. 

During the Gen-G movement and protests, all the documents were burned and destroyed in the revenue, accounting, and commodity branches, so the audit could not be conducted. 'Financial statements can only be prepared from computers. Documents are not available,' he said. 'Even though the auditor came from the General Accountant General to audit, we have written down what happened because there were no documents. An attempt was made to reduce embezzlement last year,' Kurmi said. 'The embezzlement has increased significantly due to the lack of audit and inspection. Efforts are ongoing to reduce it.’

Former Acting Auditor General Shukdev Bhattarai Khatri has commented that the problem of non-payment is increasing due to the difficulty in implementing uniform procedures for local bodies across the country. ‘Development and construction work is done through contracts,’ he said. ‘According to the Public Procurement Act, the same procedure is followed by local bodies. Non-compliance with this also leads to non-payment.’