A stock of sewing machines and some other equipment worth Rs. 2.5 million purchased more than a year ago with the funds of a local body in Rajarata for distribution among the select low-income families under a poverty elimination project are still lying idle, a report says.

The members of this mini-council had received an allocation of Rs. 2.5 million each under this project.

The sewing machines and other equipment are rusting inside two rooms in a building standing close to a place where the water-cutting ceremony of a Perahera pageant is annually held, they say.