The technical problems in the local level consolidated fund management system have been found to be causing problems in the service delivery provided by municipalities. Independent MP Mahabir Pun had raised this issue in the question and answer program with Prime Minister Balendra Shah in Parliament last Sunday.

This system is known as Sutra in English as Sutra. MP Pun had drawn the Prime Minister's attention to the delay in the service delivery to the people from the municipalities due to the problems in the same 'Sutra software'.

'There have been many complaints about the Sutra Revenue Software developed by the Comptroller General's Office for revenue collection and management at the local level. Sometimes it breaks, sometimes the server goes down,' he said. 'There have been complaints from many municipalities. That means the people have not been able to get services on time.' On the issue raised by Pun, the Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, who is also the Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, Prime Minister Shah had said that attention has been drawn to the immediate solution of the problem from the rostrum. What is the formula?

The formula is a computer-based software system used to systematize local financial management. Through it, municipalities can do budget formulation, revenue collection, expense accounting, deposit management and financial report preparation in an integrated manner.

It helps increase consistency, transparency and accountability in the accounting system. In addition, the government claims that it will help in providing local financial information on time and maintaining financial discipline.

The federal government provides grants to local and provincial governments using the 'formula' while transferring funds. But the share of such grants is determined by the National Natural Resources and Finance Commission.

When asked about the question raised in Parliament, MP Pun said that he did not have all the information about it. 'I do not know.' However, there have been complaints that the computer system did not work, the formula did not work,' he said. 'The work that can be done in 5 minutes does not happen all day. What is the formula? Many people called and asked. The people were sad. That is why they raised it in Parliament.' He said that he did not know more about this.

Laxman Bahadur Shahi, vice-president of the Federation of Rural Municipalities, said that MP Pun had raised questions about the problems that are occurring in the digital accounting system developed by the Office of the Comptroller General for accounting. 'The formula system does not work when the internet is not well managed, the phone network is weak or the pressure on the system increases,' he said. 'At such times, the municipality cannot make payments or collect revenue. That has caused problems in providing services to the people who come to get services on time.' He said that improvements are needed in this.

Bhuvanram Lohar, the Federation's accounting chief, said that the system sometimes goes down when the pressure on municipalities to make payments increases towards the end of the fiscal year. 'That creates a problem in the payment system. At such times, the municipality itself cannot do anything about it. There is nothing to do except wait for the system to work,' he said. 'Not only those who come to collect payments, but also those who come to pay revenue on any issue have no option but to wait. After the revenue is received, its receipt will be generated by the same formula system.'

The Financial Procedures and Financial Responsibility Act, 2076 BS has assigned the responsibility of preparing an integrated statement of the consolidated funds of all three levels of government to the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General. The Accountant General has implemented the Local Level Consolidated Fund Management System at all local levels. The digital system was launched on 17 Baisakh 2076 BS. This system has been used for accounting, reporting and budget formulation of the consolidated fund, budget, expenditure, revenue, deposit and operating fund.

Yagya Prasad Dhakal, Head of the Intergovernmental Finance Coordination Branch at the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, says that the formula system has worked to enhance financial transparency, good governance and accountability. He mentioned that the work of making the local level accounting system simple and systematic and linking it with the Central Treasury has been done through this system. ‘It is applicable in all 753 municipalities.’ There are complaints that it does not work from time to time due to internal and external technical problems,’ he told Kantipur. ‘As the load on the system increases, problems arise in the system when the pressure increases.’

This system was developed with the help of the British organization DFID. After the country became federal, local levels also played the role of government in their areas like the union and the provinces, so a technology-based system was developed and implemented to link the financial management there with the economic system of the union.

The use of external ‘software’ that municipalities were using for accounting has been banned. ‘Initially, when the formula system was being implemented, it was based only on the management of expenses incurred by the municipality,’ Dhakal said, ‘Later, revenue collection was also added to it.’

Revenue collection work is being done up to the ward level. He mentioned that the load on the formula system is increasing from 6,743 wards of 753 municipalities. He said that its capacity should be increased as the load on the small system that was initially built increased.