Chinnamasta Rural Municipality of Saptari has spent more than 6.1 million rupees in the name of installing tubewells in the past two years, but the tubewells have not yet reached the Dalit settlements.
The rural municipality has spent 61 lakh 29 thousand 221 rupees on tubewell installation for the people who are out of reach of clean drinking water in the financial year 079/080 and 080/81 against the procedure. However, the tube well has not been connected in Musahar tol, where 90 Dalit families live in Ward No. 5.
Those Dalit families are relying on one tubewell, while they are forced to drink water, wash their hands, bathe and wash dishes from the same tubewell years ago. When installing tubewells for the last two years, the rural municipality has shown the cost of installing tubewells directly from the quotation without considering the section 8 of the Public Procurement Act, 2063. It has also shown the cost of installing non-iron tubewells in Dalit slums.
According to the auditor general's audit report, the rural municipality has spent 692 thousand 618 rupees from Ganesh Nirman Seva for installation of non-iron tube wells and slaws in Dalit settlements last year, and 4 lakh 48 thousand 491 rupees for purchase and installation of non-iron tube wells from Machhapuchhe Construction Suppliers and Investment.
Similarly, it is shown in the report that tubewell installation from RS Construction for Rs. The report also states that 58 thousand 92 rupees were paid as overhead while paying Ake Construction Pvt.
When the rural municipality installed a tubewell worth 35 lakh rupees in the financial year 079/080, according to the Public Procurement Regulation 2064, it was required to integrate the municipal or ward level demand and procure it through contract management.
