In the presence of district leaders of various political parties, the NGO Federation of Nepal (NFoN) had accused the staffers at the DDC and LDO Pokhrel of demanding a certain amount of money as commission during NGO selection and the process of issuing permits to them.

Following the allegations, a meeting of local stakeholders had been convened to discuss the issue a couple of weeks ago. Alleging that the DDC had been marred by corruption and that clarification be sought from the LDO himself, officials at NFoN had submitted a memorandum to CDO Luk Bahadur Chettri demanding immediate action on the case.

According to DDC sources, in his letter to the CDO, Pokhrel has refuted the allegations levelled against him, saying that it was baseless and that the media had overblown the subject without proper scrutiny. Meanwhile, the administration stated that they were in a fact finding mission.

“I was wrongfully accused and was subjected to humiliation. I will interact with the political parties and civil society to clear the air,” Pokhrel said. While Pokhrel has already interacted with the representatives of various political parties on Tuesday, he said that he will soon talk to journalists and civil society representatives and bring out the facts.

“Some leaders were lobbying for my transfer, and after failing in their attempt to do so, they have launched a smear campaign against me,” Pokhrel said.

In an interaction programme with the locals, NFoN has accused the LDO of demanding 20 percent commission from the budget

allocated for various development projects undertaken by the village consumer’s committee. Pokhrel was also accused of demanding commission from development projects operated in coordination with the local NGOs.

The NFoN has also accused him of demanding commission for Save the Children’s ‘Suaahara Pariyojana’ (proper nutrition project) initiated this week. Sources said that the LDO have often been at

the receiving end of the fallout of the blame game arising due to constant competition and lack of cordial relations between NGOs active in the district.

Meanwhile, stating that they had proof against Pokhrel, Bholanath Acharya, district chairperson of NFoN said that they will resort to protests if the political parties failed to raise their voices regarding the matter.