Govt urges I/NGOs to work under laws

Bishnu Prasad Aryal
Kathmandu, August 17

The Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development has urged all the international and national non-government organisations working in the local bodies to abide by existing laws of the country.

More than 230 INGOs and 1,000 national level NGOs have been working in the local bodies, according to the MoFALD. Among them, 20 to 25 per cent of the I/NGOs are yet to coordinate with the local bodies as per the laws in course of carrying out development activities. There are 75 districts, 3,915 village development committees and 58 municipalities across the country.

The Clause 209 (1) of Local Self-Governance Act 2055 BS and Clause 58 of Local Bodies Resource Mobilisation and Management Guideline 2069 BS have provisioned the I/NGOs to coordinate with local bodies by signing agreement and working responsibly while carrying out development activities and mobilising resources in the local bodies.

"However, more than one-fifth of the I/NGOs working in the local bodies have not coordinated with the local bodies by signing any agreement in local level," said the MoFALD officials. "This is against the laws of the country," they said.

Prakash Amatya, member of Fresh Water Action Netwok South Asia, admitted that some of the I/NGOs were investing and working directly against the rules despite legal registration of I/NGOs to Social Welfare Council and District Administration Offices. "It is the government's and Social Welfare Council's weakness not to monitor them and bring them under laws," he said.

Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, spokesperson for the MoFALD, said that they have asked all the district development committees to submit details of the I/NGOs working in the local bodies. "We are not against the I/NGOs and are not trying to control them. But we need them and they should also abide by the laws of the country while doing anything here," he added.

There are four categories of non-government organisations working in the local bodies--INGOs, central level NGOs, national level NGOs and local level NGOs.

Local level NGOs are based in local levels in districts and villages while national level NGOs that invest and mobilise resources given by I/NGOs in the local bodies. "There is not any problem of coordination with these two categories of the organisations," said the government officials. "However, the problem is with INGOs and central level NGOs that invest funds directly in the local bodies without coordination and agreement with them as per the laws," they said.

The I/NGOs choose a ward of a village or only a few targeted groups in the districts. They sensitise the local people but do not satisfy the people with their work. The I/NGOs shall either a whole district or a whole community of the district while they are working in the local bodies if they are interested in working for the development, according to the MoFALD officials. "They should own and take responsibilities of projects they have initiated," they said. "There is duplication of works with the government development programmes and lack of transparency in their activities. We are unknown about what and how they are doing in the local bodies."

The Non-Government Organisations Guideline 2061 BS and Local Self Governance Act 2055 BS have provisioned responsibility of I/NGOs, accountability, and transparency, restricting duplication of works in the local bodies. "The NGOs deliberately duplicate programmes with government programmes and prepare documents of project completion without investing anything," the government officials claimed.

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Donors likely to downsize assistance to local bodies

Bishnu Prasad Aryal
Kathmandu, July 17



The fate of a country-wide development programme appears to hang in a balance as donors sound out plans to review their commitment, unhappy about irregularities and mismanagement of the funds in the absence of elected local bodies.



Donors supporting the Local Governance and Community Development Programme (LGCDP) have indicated that they would slash their fund citing lack of accountability and fiduciary risk management in the local bodies, according to Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (MoFALD) sources.


The development partners have not been satisfied with the governance system in the local bodies and have raised serious concerns about the misuse of development funds, sources said. "They have been demanding a sound mechanism, including fiduciary risk management, and an accountable body to check irregularities in the local bodies," MoFALD officials said.


They have committed to provide only about US$ 100 million till date for the second phase when the government has planned to bring some US$ 1300 million programme that the government will contribute US$ 1058 million and remaining about US$ 300M by donors. "The donors have assured us that they will assist three times bigger amount if the local elections are held," said Puroshottam Nepal, programme coordinator of the LGCDP at the MoFALD.



LGCDP, originally conceived between July 2008-January 2009, was re-designed into a four-year programme supported by a host of development partners comprising several European countries, the World Bank and the UN System in Nepal. The first phase of LGCDP concluded on July 15, 2012 and no cost tenure was extended till July 15, 2013 in order to prepare policies and programmes for the second phase and sign agreement. The second phase was supposed to start on July 16 to July 15, 2017.



The joint financing agreement with the development partners is yet to be signed. As on date, LGCDP runs into its second phase unofficially, said ministry sources as they looked forward to the signing of renewal agreement for the remaining period.

"The government is negotiating with donors and is in process of signing a renewal agreement," Local Development Secretary Shanta Bahadur Shrestha told The Himalayan Times.

However, programme coordinator of LGCDP Purushottam Nepal sounded more optimistic about the future of the second phase programme. "A draft agreement has been prepared and it will be signed by August," he said.


"The size of budget from the development partners may decrease this time due to absence of elected representatives in the local bodies," ministry sources said. The local bodies elections were held last time 16 years ago.


The total budget comprising of government of Nepal US$ 260.8 million (Block Grant Allocation to LBs) and donors commitment US$ 161.5 million was planned to invest in the first phase of the LGCDP. The development partners include Asian Development Bank, DANIDA, DFID, UN System (UNDP, UNICEF, UNCDF, UNFPA, UNV etc.), Government of Norway, Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC), GIZ, JICA, World Bank and Government of Finland.
However, the donors did not provide all the committed assistance of the first phase for the local bodies, citing irregularities in the local bodies, according to the MoFALD sources.

Out of about Rs 45 billion budget allocated for the MoFALD annually, development partners contribute about Rs 15 billion for 75 districts, 3,915 village development committees and 58 municipalities across the country.

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Ex-minister 'doled out money' to cadres

Narayan Kaji Shrestha gave away development funds

BISHNU PRASAD ARYAL

KATHMANDU: The Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development has been found to have violated the rules, with the direct involvement of the former local development minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha, by distributing development funds among those close to his party.

According to the MoFALD, Rs 500 million of people’s participatory programme of the current fiscal year was distributed for 723 projects under the direct supervision of local development minister in the current fiscal year. Of the total budget of PPP of Rs 500 million, MoFALD contributes Rs 200 million while the rest is covered by the Ministry of Finance.

It has been revealed that former deputy prime minister and local development minister Shrestha distributed the development funds among UCPN-M cadres, in the name of constructing martyrs’ memorial buildings and parks, according to sources at the MoFALD. The Cabinet that had Shrestha as minister was replaced by the Khil Raj Regmi-led Cabinet on March 14. As per the rules, the minister can distribute up to Rs 500 million of PPP through the plans approved by district development committees. However, the funds were distributed arbitrarily among those who approached Shrestha personally, in violation of the existing rules, high ranking MoFALD officials told this daily requesting anonymity.

Regular irregularities
• Gaurishankar Khadka Smriti Pratisthan, Jhapa, Rs 500,000
• Jaya Gobind Sah Smriti Pustakalya, Mahottari, Rs 1,500,000
• Sahid Pratisthan, Rasuwa, Rs 100,000
• Sahid Smriti Bhawan, Bidur, Rs 100,000
• Sahid Smriti Sanchar, Dhading, Rs 500,000
• Shahid Pratisthan Nepal Shakha, Rolpa, Rs 2,500,000
• Different youth clubs in Ropla, Rs 4,000,000
• Siddha Tirtha Smriti Bhawan and Park, Kavre Rs 500,000
• Sahid Smriti Park, Jipupipal, Rukum, Rs 500,000
• Sahid Smriti Park, Kankridobhan, Rukum, Rs 500,000
• Sahid Smriti Park, Pyuthan, Rs 500,000

Rs 500 million of PPP can be given only for development activities of public concerns. As per the rules, such programmes are generally selected through DDCs on the basis of recommendations from other line ministries and the National Planning Commission. Memorandums submitted to high ranking officials after their field visits also need to be taken into consideration. “But the programmes were directly selected by then minister Shrestha in January-February,” the officials said. The government provides funds to national institutions such as Ganesh Man Singh Memorial Academy, Manmohan Singh Memorial Academy and Krishna Sen Ichchhuk Memorial Academy. But the development funds cannot be given to cadres of certain political parties. “We have been told that the funds allocated to different organisations were given to construct office buildings of a political party and to the cadres on one pretext or the other,” the officials added.

MoFALD Spokesperson Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, said that the budget from the central level can be spent only on activities related to public infrastructure development and social development. “We will monitor them and will take necessary action if they are found illegal,” Thapaliya said in a style typical of bureaucracy.

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Govt shifting development grant focus to Tarai

 • Plans to slash funds given to hill and mountain regions • Experts call it an irrational move

BISHNU PRASAD ARYAL

Fast facts • Tarai belt constitutes a little more than half of the total population of the country (50.2 per cent) • Hill and mountain belts constitute about 42.8 per cent and seven per cent of the total population‚ respectively • The Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development gets Rs 45 billion every year • As per the rule‚ each of the 3‚913 village development committees get Rs 1.5 million to Rs 3 million as grants • Each of the 75 district development committees get grants on the basis of performance • New rule says performance-based grants to the local bodies will be reduced‚ implying that each VDC will get only Rs 1.5 million and each DDC Rs 4 million

KATHMANDU: The Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development is planning to cut development grants given to the hills to provide the same to the Tarai region.

According to the national census 2011, the Tarai belt, smaller in area, constitutes more than half of the total population of the country (50.2 per cent) followed by the hill and mountain belts that constitute about 42.8 per cent and seven per cent of the total population, respectively.

“The remote hill and Himalayan regions, where poverty-stricken, marginalised and underprivileged people live, will be affected if the government’s plan to slash development grants is implemented,” said Dinesh Chandra Devkota, former vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission. “It will be an irrational move as marginalised people living in hills like Karnali region will be affected.”

The ministry is preparing to change the rules provisioned in the Local Bodies Resource Mobilisation and Management Guideline 2069 BS under the influence of minister for local development, Madhes-based parties and Unified CPN-Maoist, confidential sources at the ministry told The Himalayan Times. “This is a plan to spend more development budget in Tarai by cutting grants given to the hilly and Himalayan regions,” they said. “The government is planning to include this programme in the coming fiscal budget and programmes are being prepared for the coming year.”

THT’s repeated attempts to contact Minister for Federal Affairs and Local Development Bidhyadhar Mallik went in vain. He neither picked up his phone nor responded to emails.

The government allocates about Rs 45 billion for the MoFALD every year. Of the total allocation, about 70 per cent is spent on development activities and people-oriented programmes while rest is set aside for administrative purposes, according to the MoFALD.

Development grants are allocated as per provisions enshrined in the rules and regulations. Highly placed sources at the ministry told this daily that the plan was being chalked out with more focus on Tarai region in the name of population distribution.

Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, Spokesperson for the MoFALD, conceded that the ministry was working to amend the rules. “This rule can be revised every two years,” Thapaliya said. “We can concentrate on densely populated areas while distributing grants,” he added.

The proposed plan will revise the existing system and send more budget to Tarai-based districts. Out of the total allocated capital expenditure, 50 per cent will be distributed on the basis of formula-based grants and remaining as per minimum conditions grants, according to the Local Bodies Fiscal Commission Secretariat.

Each of the 3,913 village development committees used to get Rs 1.5 million to Rs 3 million as grants while each of the 75 district development committees used to get grants on the basis of performance.

The performance-based grants to the local bodies will be reduced as per the new rule, which means each VDC will get only Rs 1.5 million and each DDC Rs 4 million.

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Culture of vanity mars bid to preserve culture

18-month-old body formed to protect cultural heritage of the country goes defunct

BISHNU PRASAD ARYAL

KATHMANDU: An 18-month-old body formed with a view to working to preserve intangible cultural heritage has gone defunct, without delivering on its pledge, in what could reflect the culture of non-performance that has seeped into majority of government organisations.

“The body is defunct, and its targeted objectives are in a state of limbo,” said officials at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, the line ministry that is responsible for preserving country’s cultural heritage. According to officials, the body failed to perform after it ran into controversy over vaguely defined roles. “The body was formed illegally — by then culture minister, not by the Cabinet — clearly against the rules that are enshrined in the policy,” said the officials.

Intangible Heritage Cultural Council in line with the

UNESCO Convention in a bid to preserve and promote the cultures and cultural heritage of Nepal.

“However, no significant activity has been carried out so far,” said Bharat Mani Subedi, Joint Secretary, MoCTCA. “We are formulating a new regulation — or a guideline — to set up an ‘eligible’ cultural body. We hope to complete it by the end of current fiscal year. It will then be sent to the Cabinet for approval and accordingly a new council will be formed.”

The government is yet to do any tangible work to safeguard intangible cultural heritage of the country, even though Nepal, which boasts diverse culture and heritage, is a signatory to the UNESCO Convention on Intangible Cultural Heritage. There are about 90 ethnic communities with about 120 languages and different living traditions.

The government in 2010 ratified the UN Convention designed to safeguard intangible cultural heritage, such as folklore, oral traditions, social rituals and performing arts, according to MoCTCA. The nine-member IHCC is chaired by the culture minister.

The committee was given authority to carry out different activities on folklore, festivals, fairs, customs, traditional crafts, performing arts and cultural practices.

The committee had plans to prepare inventory of intangible cultural heritage of the Kathmandu Valley by the end of the last fiscal year and was to work in districts in the following fiscal years. But nothing significant has been achieved so far. The officials admitted that the past commitments were not translated into action by exploiting culture, the skeleton of booming tourism industry of the country.

By ratifying the UN Convention, Nepal committed itself at the international level to safeguarding the rich and diverse living heritage of the country. Nepal is the 125th State Party to the UNESCO Convention for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003).

The main purposes of the convention, which was adopted by UNESCO Member States in 2003, are to safeguard intangible cultural heritage, to ensure respect for it, to raise awareness on its importance and of mutual appreciation, and to provide international cooperation and assistance in those fields. Ratifying governments recognise that cultural heritage is not limited to material manifestations, such as monuments and objects, but must be extended to the traditions and living expressions inherited from ancestors.

Signing the convention binds the member states to acknowledge their roles in

international cooperation

and responsibilities towards implementing the provisions of the convention through adoption of necessary legislative, regulatory and other appropriate measures, according to MoCTCA.

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PADT demands review of 99-year land lease

BISHNU PRASAD ARYAL
KATHMANDU: The Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) has demanded review of the lease contract of its 1,162 ropanis (61.15 hectares) of land with the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.

The PADT and CAAN signed the contract on January 7, 1983 for 99 years, according to the PADT documents. The CAAN agreed to pay 23 pathis (one pathi=3.2 kg) of paddy per ropani of land to the PADT each year. Interestingly, both the PADT and the CAAN are autonomous government bodies under the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA). CAAN has dealt the PADT land with third parties on contracts, earning millions of rupees, said the PADT officials. “The CAAN has given our land to a golf club and private companies. However, we are paid very low compared to the present value,” they said. CAAN has used PADT land for domestic and international terminals of Tribhuvan International Airport, which occupies 3,020 hectares. Of the total airport area, 61.15 hectares is PADT’s.

Narottam Baidya, PADT treasurer, said PADT Council has recently decided to forward the procedure to review the contract. Joint-secretary Bharat Mani Subedi, chief of the Culture and Heritage Division at the MoCTCA, also said that the issue of reviewing the contract has been raised seriously. A meeting chaired by Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Ram Kumar Shrestha and held on May 28 discussed the issue of reviewing the contract. Minister Shrestha is chairman of both the PADT and CAAN as a sitting minister.

Baidya said Minister Shrestha was interested in reviewing the deal. “We will forward the decision to the MoCTCA asking to review it after a decision is minuted.”

Tilganga pays nothing
KATHMANDU: Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology has not paid anything to PADT for about two decades despite an agreement to pay 20 per cent of the hospital income, according to PADT. A lease contract on five ropanis of land between PADT and Tilganga Eye Care Hospital was signed on September 21, 1992, with the hospital agreeing to pay 20 per cent of its profit to PADT. The hospital has used five ropanis of land on lease for 20 years. “We have not got a penny from the hospital in about two decades,” said PADT treasurer Narottam Baidya. Dr Sanduk Ruit, executive director of the Tilganga Institute, said, “We are incurring losses and thus unable to pay the agreed amount.”

Baidya said the Office of Auditor General (OAG) questions about the deal every year. “It has asked us to review the contract rationally,” he claimed. “The OAG has also questioned about arrears of land given on contract to the Tilganga Institute of Opthalmology,” he added. “We want to help both of the institutions, but the contracts should be based on a win-win situation.”

Joint-secretary Suresh Acharya, chief of Aviation Industry Management Division at MoCTCA, said he has no idea about the deal. “If the PADT forwards e documents to the ministry, we will look into it.” “Then, we will forward files to the CAAN for further action. The PADT and the CAAN are the ones that should seal the final deal,” he added.

The 99-year deal was signed during the period of main priest Padam Naabh Shastry of the Pashupatinath Temple and Shiva Sharan Rajbhandari, chief of Pashupati Area Reformation and Development Committee.

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Rituals doing little to protect the environment

BISHNU PRASAD ARYAL
KATHMANDU: Eighteen organisations, including government agencies, organised a Bagmati cleanup programme at Shankhamul today.

Also today, organisers planted 500 saplings at Nagdaha of Lalitpur as part of programmes to mark the World Environment Day, which falls on

June 5.

Dr Sumitra Amatya, executive director of the Solid Waste Management Technical Support Centre (SWMTSC), says she got tired attending these programmes. “I’ve taken ill as I had to attend Bagmati cleanup and tree plantation programmes,” she says.

However, these kinds of rituals, conducted every year to mark the day, have done precious little on nature conservation and pollution control fronts at a time when environmental and sanitary conditions continue to get worse in urban areas as well as in villages. Neither the government agencies nor NGOs have bothered to study sanitary and environmental scenarios and prepare reports.

The world is celebrating the environment day this year with the theme Think.Eat.Save. The objective of the anti-food waste campaign is to reduce carbon footprints. Ironically, even programmes organised in the name of environment conservation contribute to pollution with participants disposing of waste haphazardly.

Needless to say, ritual campaigns, expensive rallies and tree plantation programmes that are organised every year in Nepal to mark the great day does little, though budget for such programmes runs into millions of rupees.

Environment expert DR Pathak says the impact of these campaigns in Nepal is negative. He points, “There is no system of monitoring, evaluating and keeping records of the environmental situation in the country.”

The Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, Ministry of Forests and Land Conservation, Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development, Ministry of Urban Development, various government organisations, about a dozen international agencies and organisations and dozens of local NGOs have been working on the sanitation and environment sector.

The government does not have a proper record of the budget spent on the sector nor has it set parametres to assess the situation. Every year, people and organisations associated with environment conservation plant thousands of trees on public land in urban areas, but no one looks after them after plantation. “It is better to keep records of conserved plants rather than planting trees every year,” Amatya says. “Waste generation is on the rise, but it is not properly managed anywhere.”

Pathak says pollution and environmental mismanagement are on the rise. “Rivers are turning into sewers, streets and open places are full of plastics, and environment is full of contaminants,” he points. “In course of marking environment days, the organisers make the environment more polluted with their waste.”

“We have fallen behind in planning, monitoring and evaluation to achieve environment conservation targets,” Pathak goes. “For instance, if we plan for 10 years, we have to set a target for every two years and make two-yearly assessments,” he says. “No one is serious about environmental protection. Everyone is busy cashing in on the worsening situation.”

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Pashupati heritage pressed to donate land to NGOs

Culture Minister recommends PADT to distribute its land to NGOs


PADT officials object the proposal and decide to get approval from its committee

Bishnu Prasad Aryal
Kathmandu, May 29

Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Ram Kumar Shrestha has recommended the Pashupati Area Development Trust to provide the land of heritage site to the NGOs.

According to the PADT sources, Minister Shrestha recommended the PADT in written to provide about three ropanies of land to the private organisations. A meeting of the PADT Council chaired by Minister Shrestha was held yesterday to discuss on the issues.

Gajendra Narayan Singh Memorial Academy chaired by former minister Anil Kumar Jha and Bal Sarathi chaired by social worker Mala Kharel asked Minister Shrestha to provide two ropanies of land owned by the PADT at Gothatar of Kathmandu and nearly one ropani of the PADT land at Tilganga respectively.

The issues were tabled yesterday at the PADT council meeting held first time at the PADT premises after Minister Shrestha was appointed. Minister Shrestha was appointed in the cabinet in the recommendation of Pulshpa Kamal Dahal-led Maoist Party.

"However, the proposal was rejected in the meeting terming it as illegal," said the PADT officials. "We proposed to forward such proposals through the regular meeting of the PADT executive committee," they said.

Minister Shrestha might have personally recommended the PADT to provide its property to the NGOs, said the officials at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation. "We are officially unknown about it," said Jaya Ram Shrestha, chief of Culture and Heritage Section at the ministry.
Sushil Nahata, member-secretary at the PADT said that seven agendas were discussed on the PADT council. "However, they are yet to be approved," he said. "The state property cannot be given to any private organisation."

According to the PADT, the agendas discussed during the meeting are land issues recommended by Culture Minister, making Bagmati pollution free river, contract review of PADT land leased to then Hawai Sewa Bibhag (presently Civil Aviation Authority), providing a piece of land site to Madan Bhatta whose land was pooled during the PADT Master Plan, waiving interest and cost of land given to poors in place of pooled land and widening road at the PADT area.

Gargi Gurukul Pratisthan, chaired by Prof Angur Baba Joshi, also proposed to provide 25 ropanies of the PADT land at Gothatar of Kathmandu on lease. Pratisthan serves educating girls and women on Sanskrit and Hindu culture. "We decided to provide a building to the organisation at Gaurighat to run a school until it makes its own building," said Narottam Vaidya, treasurer at the PADT.

Vaidya further said that the PADT has also decided to amend PADT regulation regarding gratuity for retired caretakers, manage directives for priests and caretakers of the Pashupatinath Temple and effective management of auditing accounts.

The pagoda style Pashupatinath Temple, which is believed to be more than 2,500 years old, is enlisted in the UNECSO World Heritage Site.

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Mob dictates democracy in local bodies for a decade

Bishnu Prasad Aryal

Kathmandu, December 31

Rabble culture has continued to dictate local bodies for more than a decade owing to the vacuum of elected representatives. However, neither the government nor the political parties dared to adopt the democratic discipline to hold local body elections despite their hollow buzzes to ensure good governance in the local bodies.

Everyone, who believes in democracy and election system to choose their leaders for the development and transformation of society, is compelled to think that there is no democracy in Nepal. On the one hand, legislative body is defunct; on the other hand, the local bodies are deprived of local government elected by them, of them and for them. “People can only experience the existence of government for service delivery if there is elected bodies in the local level,” said former chief secretary Bimal Koirala. “Democracy is not a gift given by elites. People in local level should realize and entertain it fully,” he added.

TIMELINE 2012

January 6:            All-party mechanism in local body dissolved after order from CIAA and local body employees assigned to work in place of elected body.

May 14:                Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (MoFALD) was shifted to Singh Durbar premises from Harihar Bhawan, Lalitpur.

July 16:                 Donor funded first phase of LGCDP ended.

August 26:           18 local body officials of Dhanusha suspended for three months for gobbling up Rs 300M.

November 7:        Supreme Court ordered the government to hold local body elections.       

December 2:         Eight local body officials of Saptari suspended for three months misusing Rs 300M.

Koirala further said that neither the legitimized central government nor the local government were in democratic order in Nepal. “Present situation is no more than the state of mock democracy instead of functional democracy,” he said. “It is only lifeless democracy that has weakened governance system, issuing licence to involve in corruption.”

The Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (MoFALD) has been huffing and puffing to rule the local bodies by assigning the civil servants and local body employees, claiming to ensure service delivery to the people. However, the misuse of development funds has increased rampantly in the involvement of the political parties, government officials including VDC secretaries and local body employees in the local level.

In the recent years, the government has allocated some Rs 45 billion, including about Rs 15 billion from the foreign aids, for the MoFALD every year. Additionally, the government allocates a huge amount for the local bodies through the Ministry of Health and Population, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction.

The local bodies constituted are 75 districts, 3,915 village development committees (VDC) and 58 municipalities throughout the country. Apart from their local resources, a VDC gets at least Rs three million to five million from the government yearly.

The donor countries have raised a serious concern about the misuse of development funds in the local bodies. They will be happy only if the elected body functions in the local bodies, said the government officials.

Senior officials at the MoFALD revealed that the donor countries and development partners were more interested in carrying out development activities themselves in the local bodies but not through the government bodies. “They want to invest assistance directly in the local bodies because they are worried about corruption of the development funds in the local bodies,” they said.

Though the elected government cannot end the corruption in the local bodies, they certainly can check and minimize risk, said Laxman Pandey programme officer at the National Association of VDCs in Nepal. “The elected representatives will be more responsible towards people. At this time no one is there to take responsibility and accountability,” Koirala added.

The cadres of political parties are playing foul against laws in local bodies while forming users committees to plan and use development budget and programmes.

This is more pathetic to reveal that the planning system in the local bodies is just opposite of the decentralization policy. The plans are imposed from centre to bottom instead of bottom to top. Even a single meeting of Decentralisation Implementation Monitoring Committee headed by Prime Minister could not be held throughout the year. It should take place at least once in each three months.

The government officials admit that two third of the fiscal budget has not been used properly though the amount is spent on any development head and activity. A study carried out by a team comprising of former chief secretary Bimal Koirala indicated to a similar finding.

It is a general rule in the democracy that people should be given opportunity to elect their representatives in each four to five years so as to establish culture of fresh mandate. The local body election was held 15 years ago in the country last time. The political parties and government officials blame on the transitional period and restructuring of local bodies based on federalism for failing to hold local body elections.

Structure of VDCs
(Based on Local-self Governance Act 1999)
Village Development Committee (13 Members) Village Council (13 + 36 + 4 = 53 Members) VDC Chair -1 Vice – chair - 1 Ward Chair - 9 Ward Members - 36 (Minimum 9 Women members) Nominated VDC Members 2 (Minimum 1 Women) Nominated Council Members - 4 (Minimum 1 Women)

  

“This is a mere example of avoiding responsibility of establishing democratic culture. Local body election never affects structuring the federal bodies. It will certainly take time to write federal statute. If the statute is not written for another four years, will it be reasonable not to hold local elections?” Koirala wondered. “If the new constitution is written within two years, it will definitely take at least four years to hold the next local body election.”

Dhakal argued that local body elections would certainly help contribute to writing new federal constitution. “Only elected representatives can represent the voice of people. The VDC secretaries are misusing their authority while issuing various recommendations for citizenship certificate and passports and so on,” he said. “Political parties are afraid of elections and showing unaccountability to hold the local body elections.”

Shanta Bahadur Shrestha, secretary at the MoFALD, said that they have faced series of hurdles to execute development programmes and deliver services to the people efficiently due to absence of elected representatives. “Though local body employees and civil servants are working to fulfill the vacuum of elected representatives, the role of accountability towards people could not be satisfactorily played. Every activity of governance and service delivery has been affected,” he said. “The ultimate solution to settle the problem is to hold local elections as soon as possible,” he added.

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Bad governance continues unabated in local bodies

Political parties major elements of fiduciary risk; MoLD to issue warning letters soon

Bishnu Prasad Aryal
Lalitpur, November 5

About Rs 45 billion is allocated for the local bodies every year but the budget is widely misused in the involvement of the political parties.

A government official belonging to an union said that only 30 per cent budget allocated for development is properly utilised in the local bodies. "Some 70 per cent is misused in the involvement of political parties by preparing fake documents of development activities," he claimed.

Dr jagadish Chandra Pokhrel, former Vice-Chairman of the National Planning Commission, also said that the political parties were involved in distributing development budget equally in many districts. "Political parties have captured the tenders in local bodies. This chaos is very serious problem, which should be immediately addressed from national level with political debate," he said. "The governments are centralised but local governance is falling down and down," he added.

The Ministry of Local Development (MoLD) assesses the performance and development activities of about 25 District Development Committees (DDC) every year. The MoLD has recently monitored 20 DDCs in the current fiscal year. Among them, the ministry has received reports of 16 districts--Gorkha, Lamjung, Kailali, Kanchanpur, Rautahat, Dang, Dailekh, Siraha, Dhanusha, Mahottari, Sunsari, Jhapa, Gulmi, Rupandehi, Syangja and Baglung, according to the MoLD. The reports of four districts--Makwanpur, Lalitpur, Dhading and Sankhuwasabha are yet to be compiled.

The violations of rules and regulations, and bad governance are rampant in the majority of districts, said the members of the monitoring teams. "Only Some districts such as Makwanpur have better improved the performance," said Rishi Raj Acharya, chief at the Monitoring and Evaluation Section, MoLD.

There are 75 DDCs and 99 municipalities including 41 newly declared but unauthorised municipals and about 3,770 village development committees across the country. The government has allocated about Rs 45 billion including some Rs 15 billion foreign aids for the local bodies.

The monitoring reports revealed that the misuse of development funds, rampant distribution of budget under pressure of political parties, violation of Local Self-Governance Act--2055BS, unethical selection of plans and implementation and poor auditing system.

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Local election a must to check misuse of devt funds

Bishnu Prasad Aryal
KATHMANDU: July 2
The main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) has rejected the proposal of the Ministry of Local Development that seeks to restructure the political mechanism at the local bodies on the basis of votes that political parties bagged in the Constituent Assembly elections. 

The NC was responding to the ministry’s call for suggestions from 30 political parties represented in the CA on whether to go for fresh elections or revamp the mechanism on the basis of CA votes. The deadline to offer suggestions expires on July 9.

The ministry is set to table the proposal to the cabinet, stressing restructuring of the political mechanism in all 75 district development committees (DDCs), 58 municipalities and 3,915 village development committees (VDCs) on the basis of CA votes, presenting fresh elections as an option, according to ministry secretary Sushil Ghimire. 

NC Vice-President Ram Chandra Paudel said the revamping of the political mechanism on the basis of CA votes is not acceptable as the votes will not mean much once the CA’s term expires on August 31. 

“There is rampant corruption in local bodies and misuse of development funds. The only solution is holding local body elections as soon as possible,” Paudel argued at a meeting with Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal today after submitting a report on the proposal to Khanal.

“We are also for holding local body elections as per Article 139 (1) of the Interim Constitution,” said Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, spokesperson for the ministry. 

“If the government is not ready to hold elections, an interim local body mechanism should be formed to regulate the activities of local bodies till next local elections,” he said. 

“We should either go for election or form a new mechanism to check massive misuse of development funds in local bodies,” Thapaliya reasoned.

After the abolition of monarchy, five major political parties had decided to nominate their representatives in local bodies in the absence of elected representatives. 

The civic bodies have been running without elected representatives for about nine years.

If the ministry has its way, the revamped mechanism will have one representative each for 3 per cent of CA votes with a catch that a political party cannot claim more than 50 percent of total seats in each mechanism. 

The proposal has proposed five representatives in each VDC and seven 

in each DDC and municipality. “Moreover, the executive coordinator or the deputy must be a woman and other members should be selected so as to make the body inclusive,” Thapaliya said.

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Govt intending to distribute Rs 900M to political cadres

Bishnu Prasad Aryal
Kathmandu, June 9

The Ministry of Physical Planning and Works (MoPPW) under political pressure has created new development plans of Rs 900 million at the end of the fiscal year intending to distribute the amount to the cadres of the ruling political parties.

The MoPPW created new 393 road plans of Rs 220 million about a month ago under 249 of the Budget Book at the end of the fiscal year. The Ministry of Finance (MoF) and the National Planning Commission have already approved the plans, according to the MoPPW.

The plans of Rs 220 are said to be approved under the pressure from MoPPW Minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi. Of Rs 220, some 35 per cent will go for Rayamajhi's district Arghakhachi and about 20 per cent for Law Minister Prabhu Sah's district Rautahat while remaining portion for other districts, the government officials requesting anonymity told exclusively. Both Rayamajhi and Sah are from UCPN-Maoist party.

Following the first step, the cadres of the ruling parties--UCPN-Maoist, CPN-UML, CPN-ML, Madheshi Janadhikar Forum-Nepal among others demanded the MoPPW to create similar new programmes of Rs 680 million. The MoPPW approved these programmes and sent to the MoF and NPC for approval two weeks ago. "It will take about two weeks for approval. "How will the allocated budget be properly implemented in last two weeks of the fiscal year?" the officials wondered.

The government allocated Rs 500 million for about 3,000 road programmes under 249 of the regular budget programme for the fiscal year. The budget allocation varies from Rs 50,000 to Rs 300,000 to each of such plans. If such a road project links two districts, up to Rs 2 million is allocate for one programme.

The government officials are skeptical over the implementation of the new budget allocated in the last hour in development activities. "The regular budget allocated for the current fiscal year is unlikely to be spent more than 80 per cent. So the new budget is impossible to be implemented in time and more likely to be misused by the political cadres," they said.

KATHMANDU: The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has been preparing to transfer the budget of a development region to another region against the fiscal budget speech. Rs 60.7 million allocated for road development in the Far-West Development Region and an unknown amount of Mid-West Development Region are being transferred to other regions, said MoPPW officials. "The MoF did not provide additional budget for well undergoing projects as in the past years despite its commitment owing to low revenue collection and government plan to allocate unused budget for energy bank," they said. --

A meeting of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on June 7 directed the MoPPW and the MoF not to transfer balance of payment to the smaller projects except national priority P1 and natural disaster rescue programmes. It also ordered the government not to release any budget to the NGOs in the remaining period of the current fiscal year.

NPC Vice-Chairman Dr Dinesh Chandra Devkota said that the NPC approved the MoPPW programmes of Rs 220 about a month ago thinking the programmes of new government. "The government can allocate additional budget up to 10 per cent of the total national budget," he said. "We approve only programmes. The MoF and MoPPW are responsible for budget implementation. I cannot say how they allocate the budget," he added.

"There is no chance of approval of the remaining programme of Rs 680 million following the PAC direction," said Devkota. "We will discourage ill-intentions."

Minister Rayamanjhi, who is in Gulmi district visit now, said on phone that the projects of Rs 220 were already started and going on. "The government is yet to approve Rs 680 million. We will monitor and not let them misuse the development funds," he claimed.

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Decentralisation defunct for two decades

Bishnu Prasad Aryal

Kathmandu, January 4

All the governments after the restoration of democracy in 1990 have crippled the decentralisation policy, an effective tool of good governance in democracy. Only four meetings were held on the issue in two decades.

Meetings of the Decentralisation Implementation and Monitoring Committee (DIMC), the ever-biggest body headed by Prime Minister took place in Janury 17, 2000; March 28, 2001; January 8, 2002 and October 14, 2009, according to the Ministry of Local Development (MoLD), a focal ministry. The meeting should take place at least once a year. The schedule of DIMC meeting was increased to three times a year on March 28, 2001.

The Decentralisation Implementation Action Plan2058BS is in helpless situation. DIMC meetings decided to amend all contradicting rules and regulation with laws, give priority to local level plans in all ministries, establishment of local service commission, projection of line agencies under District Development Committees and review on number of local bodies. These serious issues are yet to be implemented, said Narayan Thapa, chief at Decentralisation Section, MoLD. “However, other petty decisions have been practiced to some extent,” he said.

“Not a single meeting was held in 2010 too,” said Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, spokesperson for the MoLD. “This has badly affected in decentralisation and governance,” he said.

The policy of decentralisation was included in 1991 constitution. The Local Self Governance Act 2055BS and Regulation 2056BS clearly provision the objectives of the decentralisation on empowerment of local bodies, effectiveness, accountability, rights and use of resources in local level. They also include democratic process, transparency, people’s participation in development, financial resource management, local leadership and establishment of civil societies.

Bimal Koirala, former chief secretary, said that it was the result of government’s non-commitment towards the concept. “All the governments were centralised in Singhdurbar instead of reaching to people,” he said . “The local bodies should be empowered with political, administrative and economic rights,” he said.

Koirala further said that there was no option of decentralisation in any system either federal or unitary one. “No government willed to devolve power in local level. As a result country had to face conflict owing to the people’s frustration,” he added.

DIMC list

• Prime Minister: Chairperson
• MoLD Minister: Vice-Chairperson
• Govt Ministers: Members
• Chiefs of the Parliamentary Committees
• NPC Vice-Chairperson
• NMC members
• Govt Chief Secretary
• Govt secretaries
• Each representative from political parties elected in parliament
• Presidents of local bodies union and federations
• MoLD secretary: Member secretary

 Working Committee

• MoLD Minister: Coordinator
• MoLD secretary: Member
• Six experts from decentralisation, revenue, accounts, rural development, administration and law sectors
• A Special Class Govt secretary

 The working committee on decentralisation was formed once in the beginning, leaving it defunct for all. Interestingly, Minister for Local Development Purna Kumar Sherma Limbu, Vice-Chairman of DIMC, was ignorant about his position and the role of the committees. “It is the time of federalism and power projection to central, regional and local governments,” he said.

“The vacuum of elected representatives in local bodies for eight years affected in the implementation of the policy,” he said. “It is difficult to implement laws and rules in transitional phase,” he added.

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National coffer bleeding from foreign trips of ministers

Bishnu Prasad Aryal
Kathmandu, June 15

A comparison between the foreign visits of present jumbo cabinet led-by Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal in a year and Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’-led smaller cabinet in nine months shows that the government ministers don’t care about emptying national coffer.

According to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers (OPMCM), there are 43 members including PM, ministers, assistant and state ministers in the present cabinet while the Maoist-led government comprised of 24 ministers. The cabinet decisions reveal that the present cabinet ministers visited foreign countries 133 times from May 2009 to April 2010 and the Maoist-led ministers visited foreign countries 92 times from August 2008 to April 2009.

A record of the Finance Section at the OPMCM shows about Rs 4.45 million is spent on salaries for the present 43-member cabinet every month. The PM receives 306 litres of fuel; a minister gets 207 litres and a state minister is provided 180 litres per month. They are paid in cash instead of fuel.

Dhruba Prasad Sharma, secretary at the OPMCM, said that the expenses for each foreign visit varied on as per the size of the team, distance and number of days. A minister gets an allowance of US$ 200 every day excluding the bills of travel, food, treatment and accommodation, said Sharma.

Rs 1.2 million was spent on a minor treatment visit of Deputy Prime Minister Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar to Singapore a few months ago. This ratio indicates a huge amount of national coffer is spent on the foreign visits.

The highest scorer in foreign visits stands then foreign minister Upendra Yadav with a total visits by 15 times in nine months. Another Maoist cabinet-member Ganesh Shah visited nine times while PM Prachanda six times; Ministers for Agriculture and Cooperatives, and Local Development six times each; Tourism and Civil Aviation five times; Health and Population, Culture and State Restructuring, Finance, Labour and Transport Management, Commerce and Supplies, General Administration and Education respectively four times each.

Other Maoist cabinet members include Information and Communication, Physical Planning and Works and Water resources for three times each; Youth and Sports, and Law, Justice and CA Affairs for two times each. Similarly, Ministers for Defence, Industry, Home Affairs, and Forestry and Land Conversation once each.

Similarly, present cabinet decisions include PM Nepal for four times; Agriculture and Cooperatives 11 times; Labour and Transport Management, and Foreign Affairs eight times each; Tourism and Civil Aviation, Energy, and Finance seven times each; Education, Forestry and Land Conservation, Home Affairs, Environment, and Federal Affairs, Constituent Assembly, Parliamentary Affairs and Culture six times each; Health and Population, Information and Communication, General Administration, Commerce and Supplies, Physical Planning and Works, and Youth and Sports five times each.

The Ministers for Industry and Local Development got four opportunities each; Ministries of Law and Justice, Peace and State Restructuring three times each while Ministers for Defence, Science and Technology, and Women, Children and Social Welfare two times each, and Minister for Without Portfolio one time.

The innumerable visits of parliamentarians, government officials including secretaries and head of other bodies outnumber the ministerial visits. If the achievement from the visits is counted, it is disappointing, conclude the senior government officials.

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Land-mafias using power centres to grab govt land

Bishnu Prasad Aryal
Kathmandu, June 11

The land-mafias have been eying the government land on the name of different organisations along with other land once the government acquisitioned by compensating the owners for the construction of roads.

According to the officials at the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works (MoPPW), a number of land mafias have tabled the files for withdrawing the land once they got compensation on the mutual understanding. They have now claimed that the compensation paid to the owners was very low compared to the real price of land.

The MoPPW acquisitioned a plot of land nearby Birtamod of Jhapa district in 1997. However, the mafias with recommendation from the Chief District Officer came to the ministry for withdrawing the land by proposing to return the government given compensation. Another mafia from Itahari in Sunsari district claimed the government land pooled 38 years ago by preparing fake documents belonging to the ownership.

The land mafias have also knocked the doors of the ministry to withdraw the land pooled for Banepa-Sindhuli section of BP Highway, said the senior officials at the MoPPW. The lands were acquisitioned compensating Rs 10,000 per ropani about a decade ago. However, the price of land went higher by manifolds now. “They have submitted the recommendations from CDO to withdraw the land,” the officials said in shocking mood.

The land was evaluated as per the price while they were compensated. Land-mafias are involved in vested interests due to the soaring price of land. They are trying to manipulate the political power centres to own the government land again, claiming that the land once pooled has remained useless.

The mafias are lured to have the land pooled to construct Ram Raja Bridge in Birgunj, which was built six years ago. The mafias were highly encouraged after the Maoist-led government provided 10 bighas of land to them in the name of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industries in Nepalgunj.

“Now, the mafias in veil of different organisations are influencing the ministers to grab the land,” said MoPPW officials requesting anonymity. “There are bundles of such files piled in the Ministry. It is in mood to provide two bighas of land to the mafias through the Butwal municipality authority in Rupandehi district,” they revealed.

Just an instance, mafias are trying to grab some 50-60 ropanis of public land in Lalitpur in the name of an institute, said the sources. “It is reported that the mafias forced Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal to recommend Deputy PM and Minister for Physical Planning and Works Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar to provide land for an organisation. But it is still undecided,” a source quoted as saying the mafia network.

The ministry officials are worried about the political influence encouraging the mafias by misusing the political transitional phase ongoing in the country. “If this trend continues, the bureaucracy alone will be helpless to block such malaises under the pressure from ministers,” said MoPPW senior officials. “The bureaucracy has rejected to okay such files till date.”

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STR in public schools unregulated for a decade

Bishnu Prasad Aryal
Kathmandu, June 5

The District Education Committee (DEC), a body to manage the student-teacher ratio (STR) in the government schools, has become defunct for about a decade. As a result, the STR in the public schools is randomly messed up affecting the quality of education against the hundreds of thousands students.

According to the Ministry of Education (MoE), there are 32,130 schools including primary, lower secondary and secondary schools across the country. Number of teachers constitutes a total of 147,000 including 107,000 permanent and 40,000 on relief quotas in these schools with some 7.2 million students. There are about 1.5 million students in some 800,000 institutional (private) schools in the country.

The Education Act provisions STR of 1:40, 1:45 and 1:50 in Himalayan, mid-hill and Tarai regions respectively. Ironically, a primary school at Patalechhap of Bishankhu Narayan VDC in Lalitpur district has a 1:4 STR while many public schools in Tarai districts have 1:201 STR. However, the DEC comprised of elected representatives, district education officer, teachers’ unions, local development officer and guardian’s representative has become defunct since 2001.

The government formulated policy of DEC in paper but it could not be practised at all, said educationist Prof Dr Biddhya Nath Koirala. “Officially, the authority was given to DEC, and practically, it was bestowed to the politicians and teachers unions were affected by political parties,” he said. “Both of them failed to implement the rule.”

Koirala said that STR was one of the major components for playing a role to upgrade the quality of education. “The authority to manage teachers may be given to the local bodies for its betterment. At least, STR and quality of education in public schools at a VDC must be unitary,” he added.

The quality of public schools is deteriorating day by day while private schools are vested to earn money in the name of quality education, said Suprabhat Bhandary, president of the Guardians’ Association Nepal. “The standards of public schools must be upgraded following each measure enshrined in the law,” he said. “It is the state’s negligence over its responsibility to ensure quality and enforce laws.”

Mahashram Sharma, joint-secretary at the Monitoring Division, the MoE, conceded that the STR was not maintained in the public schools effectively. “There must be political commitment and cooperation from teachers’ unions to ensure implementation of laws. The government efforts to manage are not enough though the Ministry is working on it,” he said.

Mohan Gyawali, president of the Nepal Teachers; Union, blamed the government for not working responsibly. “The government lacks will power to work on it and never raises the concern while we are demanding for it owing to the indifferent political approaches towards the issue,” he said.

“The number of schools should be reduced and the management must be strengthened to promote quality. The STR needs to be downed to 1:30,” Gyawali said. “We are ready to cooperate with the government if it takes initiatives,” he said.

Sharma said that they were mapping the real status of the schools under the school reformation programme. “We are preparing to merge schools with low number of students and distribute teachers proportionally in needy schools,” he said. “The process is on pipeline,” he added.

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19 ministries defy NPC order to improve performance

Bishnu Prasad Aryal
Kathmandu, April 24

The 19 ministries are found defying the recommendation of the National Planning Commission (NPC) to improve performances. The NPC suggested the ministries to take action against the secretaries and other related staff belonging to the concerned ministries for poor and low performance but to no avail.

According to the NPC sources, it has been monitoring 80 big and top priority projects and those impacting on public level in the current fiscal year. The monitoring and evaluation on the performances of those projects under 19 ministries in the first four months of the current fiscal year was publicised on the first week of January.

Those projects include Office of Prime Minister and Ministers-2, Ministry of Education-4, Ministry of Health and Population-4, Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare-1, Ministry of Physical Planning and works-15, Ministry of Irrigation-8, Ministry of Energy-7, Ministry of Local Development-9, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives-6, Ministry of Forestry and Soil Conservation-4, and Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation-2.

Similarly, others are Ministry of Science and technology-1, Ministry of Environment-2, Ministry of Finance-2, Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction-2, National Planning Commission-1, Ministry of Labour and Transport Management-1, Ministry of Land Reforms and Management-1, Ministry of Industry-1, Ministry of Commerce and Supplies-1 and Miscellenous-4.

Among them, only NPC, MoLTM and MoPR were able to meet the target. The NPC found that rest of those projects including Melamchi Drinking Water Project, distribution of biometric smart card and state facility ID cards from the Office of PM could not meet the target and some were not implemented at all.

“After monitoring, we recommended the concerned ministries to take ministerial actions such as decrease in grades and issuance of warning but none of them has been reported to us yet,” said Dhruba Prasad Dahal, joint-secretary at the NPC. “If the progress of a project is below than 80 per cent, the Office of the Auditor General can stop the budget release,” he said.

However, this is not implemented here. The reports of paper and desk based monitoring of the NPC are submitted to the Office of the PM for execution. The evaluation committee coordinated by Vice-Chancellor of NPC aims at finding out problems, challenges and solutions along with implementation of norms, review and formulation of future policies and strategies and budget allocation.

It is not our responsibility to take direct action against them, said Dr Dinesh Chandra Devkota, member of the NPC. “We only recommend them to improve the performance and take responsibility of the bad performance,” he said. “We are about to release the second four-month monitoring of those 80 projects. The secretaries should express commitment to meet the target in consecutive four-months. However, we have not received anything about the first monitoring from the ministries,” he added.

Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, spokesperson for the MoLD, said that the ministry was ignorant about the direction from NPC and they were not obliged to submit the action reports to NPC. “We inform about internal affairs to the government Chief Secretary. The NPC can not take action against the government officers,” he added. “The reason behind the low performance belongs to the political causes.”

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India-China linkroads to take '20 years' to complete

Bishnu Prasad Aryal
Kathmandu, April 23

The proposed roads linking from Indian border to China through Nepal will take another 20 years to complete unless the allocation of budget is proportionally increased. Along with facilitating Himalayan people, the roads are expected to boom tourism and trade with China and India.

According to the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works (MoPPW), among the nine roads proposed to link Nepal and China, the construction of six roads is undergoing. The already linked roads are Kathmandu-Kodari (115km), Jomsom-Koral/Lomathang (40km) and Syafrubesui-Rasuwagadhi (16km). Opening of track of Syafrubesi-Lomathang was recently completed.

The other roads under construction are Taplejung-Walangchungwala (100km), Khandbari-Kimathanka (80km), Lamabagar-Falot (25km), Arkhet-Larke (150km), Khulalu-Hilsa (230km), Sanphe-Taklakot (100) and Darchula-Tinkar (90km). The remaining sections of those roads were already linked to India.

The Indian border points of those aforementioned roads are Birgunj, Bhairahawa, Kechana, Jogbani, Bhittamode, Bhairahawa, Nepalgunj, Tikapur and Mahendranagar respectively.

Rs 180 million has been allocated for Darchula-Tinker section in the current fiscal year while Rs 20 million has been allotted for Sanphe-Taklakot. About Rs 40 million has been allocated for each of the other sections of link roads.

Rs 10 million is necessary to construct the one kilometre of track roads, said Tulasi Prasad Sitaula, joint-secretary at the MoPPW. “Additional Rs 15 million needs to blacktop per kilometre of roads, including construction of bridges,” Sitaula said. “If this ratio of allocation of budget continues, it will take another 20 years for completion of the roads,” he added.

The officials at the ministry said that the construction of these roads was not visionary in sense of connecting people of Nepal and major trade centres of China. “We must need to link the roads with major trade centres Lhasa, Shigatse and Mansarovar of China. Lhasa and Shigatse are already linked by Kodari,” they argued.

They reasoned that Nepalese settlements on the high Himalayas are very limited. They can be resettled in the lower parts of the mountains by developing settlements, they said. “It will be better to invest on the hilly highway linking east to west of Nepal that crosses 26 districts of the country. Branch roads can be constructed towards the dense settlement in north and south of the proposed hilly east-west high way,” they added.

The Mid-Hill East West Highway beginning from Chiyabhanjyang, a point in Panchathar district in the far-east with Jhulaghat in Baitadi district in the west measures 1770 km long. Out of the total 1770 km, around 200km is still left to open the track. The road will connect Panchthar, Dhankuta, Bhojpur, Khotang, Okhaldhunga, Udaypur, Sindhuli, Kavre, Bhaktapur, Kathmandu, Dhading, Chitwan, Tanahu, Kaski, Parbat, Baglung, Rukum, Surkhet, Jajarkot, Dailekh, Achham, Doti, Dadheldhura and Baitadi districts.

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NPC priority on jobs generation in next plan flayed

Bishnu Prasad Aryal
Kathmandu, April 22

The National Planning Commission (NPC) has focused to give top priority on the employment generation in the next three-year periodic plan that begins from mid-July. However, economists say 'impossible'.

According to the NPC, the interim three-year periodic plan ends on mid-July along with the end of the current fiscal year. Following the interim political situation of the country, the government came up with the concept of three-year periodic plan after the Tenth Five-Year Plan ended three years ago.

“The employment and productivity will be kept on first priority in the next three-year periodic plan,” said Dr Dinesh Chandra Devkota, member of the NPC. “We are working out to finalise the programmes and policies,” he added. “The motto of the plan will be employment for the unemployed people.”

The poverty reduction was the top priority in the current plan. The government claimed the poverty was reduced by 6 per cent during the period against 31 per cent people below the poverty line in the country.

However, the achievement was not satisfactory as expected and claimed. Economist Prof Dr Bishwombhar Pyakurel said the policies failed utterly to meet the target. “So we can not expect much in the future too,” he said. “The government has estimated GDP growth by 5.5 per cent at a time when it is decreasing and can not exceed 3.5 per cent in future. It should be at least 8 per cent to create employment opportunities for the increasing unemployment ratio,” Pyakurel said. “If GDP rate grows by 5 per cent, it will take 3-5 years to meet the target.”

Every year, 400,000 youths above 24 go jobless. Whole manufacturing and agriculture sectors, whose GDP is decreasing annually owing to the political instability, cannot accommodate more than 10 per cent of it, said Pyakurel. “In this context, how can we achieve the target?”

Dr Devkota said unless the productivity increased, growth of the Gross Domestic Products was impossible. “All of the sectors will be encouraged to increase production and create employment opportunities,” he said. “The sectors like industry, agriculture, forestry, education and skill oriented training will be given top priority to promote the employment opportunities,” he said, adding the target of the volume of employment opportunities would be finalised soon.

The present GDP growth rate of the country hovers around 4.70 per cent. In 1960, the GDP of Nepal, China, India and Vietnam was equal of about US$ 105 per capita income. Now, the per capita income of Nepal stands at about US$ 400 while other countries have taken giant leap. Presently, per capita income of China is US$ 3,200.

Meantime, the country has failed to utilise the available resources including manpower properly, speeding development of the country. “Certainly, the existing human resources is underutilised, encouraging the brain drain,” said Devkota. “The next plan will address the issue with high priority.”

The next plan is all set to keep the infrastructure development and agriculture on second and third place respectively. “It is the need of economic and social transformation. So policies should be formulated to address these issues,” said Devkota. “Developing a political as well as economic consensus on objectives is essential.”

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Political parties eyeing dev budget in local bodies

Bishnu Prasad Aryal

Lalitpur, April 10

The users’ committees in the local bodies are crucial agents for the development activities of more than Rs 13 billion annually. However, all of the committee members are politically appointed against the development discipline and spirit.

The monitoring reports of the Ministry of Local Development (MoLD) recently assessed in 10 districts reveal that the users’ committees to mobilise government grants in the development activities are appointees against the spirit of the Local Self-Governance Act-2055BS. A project below Rs six million is spent through the user’s committees, according to the MoLD.

“The committees should be transparently formed from the direct beneficiaries,” said Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, spokesperson for the MoLD. “Government grants of some Rs seven billion is disbursed for the VDCs and more than Rs six billion for the districts,” he said. “All of the amounts are spent on the development activities through the user’s committees,” he added.

Users’ committees contribute upto 50 per cent of the project to the development activities in the local bodies whereas government shares at least 50 per cent of it. There are 3,915 village development committees and 58 municipalities in 75 districts across the country. A total of Rs 42 billion including Rs 22 billion for development and Rs 20 billion on administrative expenses has been allocated for the local bodies this year.

Dhruba Bandhu Aryal, under-secretary at the Local Development Section of the National Planning Commission, said the performances were badly affected due to the political appointees who are biased and work under the influence of certain political parties.

“User’s committees are under the capture of big parties while other small parties are excluded from the involvement in the development activities,” he said. “In the name of users’ committees, the development works are indirectly handed over to the contractors against the spirit of the users’ committees,” he added.

Thapaliya said the senior posts were allocated for the bigger parties and the junior ones to the smaller ones. “Even the parliament members come to recommend their cadres for the user’s committees. This kind of realised capture has created a loophole to misuse resources,” he said.

“On the other hand, the real people are deprived of the state resources for the development,” Thapaliya said. “The law provisions to appoint 80 per cent of the technical staff to carry out development activities in the local bodies but 80 per cent of the staffs are non-technical and only about 20 per cent technical staffers are appointed,” he said.

Aryal underlined the need of analysing state policies. “It is an urgent need to evaluate past and devise for the future goals to address the voice of the common people,” he said. Thapaliya focussed on a specific law to mobilise the committees unitarily.

The MoLD monitored whole performances including development activities and use of allocated funds in 10 districts--Morang, Ilam, Bara, Kaski, Rupandehi, Banke Surkhet, Dadeldhura, Kanchanpur and Rautahat. After the first phase, the monitoring is being carried out in other 10 districts. Five more districts will be scrutinised within the current fiscal.

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