Kailali, June 11 -- Five years after the Sudurpaschim provincial government launched an ambitious programme to build cold storage facilities across the region, most of the projects remain incomplete, idle or unusable.

Of the 13 cold storage facilities announced under the provincial budget for the 2020-21 fiscal year, only one is currently operational. Several remain under construction despite repeated deadline extensions, while others have been completed but never put into use.

The projects were intended to help farmers store vegetables and fruits, reduce post-harvest losses and improve market access. Instead, many have become symbols of wasteful spending and poor governance.

In ward 5 of Alital Rural Municipality of Dadeldhura distric...