DHARAN: Dharan Sub-Metropolitan City Mayor Harka Raj Rai, popularly known as Harka Sampang, has found himself at the center of a serious controversy after attempting to allocate municipal funds to pay volunteers involved in his personal labor campaign — without institutional authorization or legal process.
Mayor Sampang, who was elected as an independent candidate in 2022, has been running various development initiatives through grassroots voluntary labor campaigns, often bypassing formal procedures.
However, tensions escalated recently when he allegedly attempted to retroactively pay volunteers from the city’s official budget for work already completed — particularly a gabion wall construction at the Multilingual School in Ward No. 16.
The issue has triggered significant unrest in Dharan. A major dispute erupted when Sampang allegedly tried to disburse payments to labor campaigners from municipal funds. The situation intensified when Deputy Mayor Aindra Bikram Begha, affiliated with the CPN (Maoist Centre), opposed the move, labeling it illegal.
A physical confrontation nearly broke out between the mayor and deputy mayor in the municipal office premises, while supporters of both clashed with slogans and threats.
Sampang’s supporters reportedly attempted to physically assault Deputy Mayor Begha, prompting intervention by municipal security and Maoist party workers to prevent violence. The municipal compound has since become a flashpoint for escalating political tension and public outcry.
Illegality allegations over consumer committee formation
The root of the controversy lies in Mayor Sampang’s decision to form a consumer committee composed of residents from Ward No. 14 to oversee a project located in Ward No. 16.
The construction had already been completed earlier in May through voluntary labor, but the mayor allegedly initiated a re-estimate and submitted bills retroactively under this newly formed committee. The committee was headed by one of Sampang’s supporters, Prasad Rai.
Local elected officials, including the Ward-16 chair and Deputy Mayor Begha, have strongly objected to this move, calling it a misuse of power and a breach of financial protocol.
“You cannot form a consumer committee with people from another ward for a project located here,” said Ward Chair Murari Bhattarai. “It is a clear attempt to extract municipal funds illegally.”
Begha accused Mayor Sampang of using supporter pressure and social media attacks to force the approval of the bill.
“This is not governance; it’s anarchy,” said Begha. “After we resisted the illegal fund release, Sampang’s supporters came to physically threaten us.”
Labor campaign or budget gimmick?
Mayor Sampang has defended his actions, claiming that the laborers deserve compensation and that the “attendance sheets” were maintained to calculate project costs, not necessarily for disbursement. However, Deputy Mayor Begha maintains that attempting to pay volunteers after the fact under the guise of a consumer committee is both deceptive and unlawful.
“He is trying to pay people for a finished project in the name of a volunteer campaign,” Begha said. “That is a misuse of public funds, and we will not approve it.”
The tensions coincided with ongoing preparations for the new fiscal year’s budget. On Monday, during a budget ceiling meeting, Sampang’s supporters reportedly stormed the office demanding immediate action on the contested payment. Begha claims he and municipal staff were threatened with violence and that some supporters even carried khukuris (traditional Nepali knives).
Municipal spokesperson Surya Bhattarai said, “What we are seeing is the consequence of one-man rule. This is not how local governance is meant to function.”
Internal rift
The situation further worsened when CPN (Maoist Centre) Dharan President Uddhav Limbu accused Mayor Sampang of misusing municipal machinery such as dozers and excavators. On Tuesday, Limbu entered the Deputy Mayor’s office demanding keys to the machinery, which Begha refused to hand over, citing concerns over unauthorized use.
“Because of the mayor’s history of unilateral decisions and manipulation, we’ve kept the keys with the Deputy Mayor and the office store,” Limbu said. “We won’t allow public property to be used like personal assets.”
As the standoff continues, Dharan remains divided — with one camp supporting Mayor Sampang’s populist approach, and the other accusing him of turning local governance into a chaotic, one-man show. With the upcoming fiscal budget on the line and the municipality’s top leaders at odds, the city’s administration is in a state of paralysis.
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