The land purchased by Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) on the bank of Rohini River in Bhairahawa of Rupandehi district to build fuel storage facility has been inundated due to torrential rain on Friday.
The land purchased by Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) on the bank of Rohini River in Bhairahawa of Rupandehi district to build fuel storage facility has been inundated due to torrential rain on Friday.
The state-owned oil monopoly on July 12 had purchased 14 bigahas of land at the cost of Rs320 million in the district to build fuel storage facility.
It has been learnt that the Rohoni River used to flow from the place where NOC purchased the land.
“When I reached the bank of Rohini River, I could not distinguish the river and land,” said Rupandehi Chief District Officer Prakash Singh.
“Nothing apart from the upper part of trees was visible,” he added.
Locals have criticised the NOC for buying land plots in the area prone to inundation during monsoon.
NOC has been alleged for misappropriating funds amounting to Rs 800 million while buying the land worth Rs1.61 billion in four places: Bhairahawa, Chitwan, Sarlahi and Jhapa.
NOC had started the process of purchasing land to build oil storage facilities in all seven provinces following the government’s instruction to maintain fuel stock for at least 90 days.
The country’s oil monopoly has been accused of inflating the price of land plots while purchasing them.
It has been charged with misappropriation of funds totalling Rs568 million on purchase of land in Chitwan and Jhapa districts alone. Similarly, it has been charged with misappropriating Rs150 million and Rs80 million respectively on purchase of land in Bhairahawa and Sarlahi districts.
Earlier on Thursday, NOC organised a press conference and the land plots were purchased at reasonable prices.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Legislature-Parliament, however, concluded that there has been irregularity during the land purchase deal to build fuel storage facilities for Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC).
A meeting of the committee convened this afternoon said the NOC has breached the rules and procedure in the purchase deal and decided to write to the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) recommending action against those involved in the deal.
The parliamentary committee said that the price of the land plots was too high because they were bought through agents instead of real owners.
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