However, in a bid to prevent a budget freeze, local authorities are rushing to spend the budgets before the fiscal year ends.
Just like other Constituent Assembly members, Keshav Thapa, lawmaker from Ilam constituency-3, had received Rs 10 million as part of the CDP. Although he released Rs 12,00,000 from that fund for the construction of road between Baghekhor and Phalante of Ilam district, he did so at the eleventh hour of the current fiscal year.
Local users' committee brought an excavator to Baghkhor area only on Wednesday. The committee has just started implementing the motor road construction project with monsoon rains beginning to lash different parts of the country.
Although the users' committee was formed as per the constituency development program guidelines long ago, the road construction work was delayed in lack of excavators.
Neither Thapa, the CA member, nor those in the users' committee know whether the budget will be sufficient to complete the project.
"I am responsible just for approving the project. The implementation part is the responsibility of the District Development Committee," CA member Thapa told Republica on Thursday.
According to DDC of Ilam, 10 projects have been selected for spending the entire budget of Rs 10 million under the CDP and that all the projects are related to road construction.
But locals worry that roads constructed in the middle of monsoon will not last long and no one will be held accountable if the roads begin to fall apart in a month or two.
Similar is the case with CDP funds in Panchthar and Taplejung districts.
For instance, Subhang-Salbote-Pinasi road construction project, for which Rs 85,00,000 has been allocated, could not even start due to disputes between local users' committees.
Likewise, only half of the total 114 projects in the two constituencies of Taplejung district have been completed so far.
The projects for the CDP have become ineffective, according to the local stakeholders.
Meanwhile, Cholaraj Pokhrel, planning, monitoring and administrative officer of Ilam, claimed that there will be no irregularities in the implementation of projects under CDP. "There is no point in worrying about corruption in constituency development program as they are being implemented under the local ownership as per the CDP implementation guidelines," Pokhrel said.
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