Kathmandu, April 18

Work of the commission formed one month ago with the task of restructuring local bodies is gradually picking momentum.

However, it is said that the commission’s mandated task will be accomplished only after 11 months.

“The commission has already prepared its work plan and is now at the stage of consultations and setting up tools for the mandated task. We are working to accomplish our task before the given deadline, March 13, 2017,” said commission Chairman Balananda Paudel.

The commission is mandated to delimitate the number, boundary and economic potential of village council, municipalities and special, protected and autonomous regions, as stated in Article 56 (5) of the new constitution, within one year of its formation.

According to the TOR given of the commission, it will also assess the existing structures, facilities, size of population and status of accessibilities to facilities for the people, according to Paudel. It will also determine the names of village councils, municipalities and special, protected and autonomous regions, he said.

“If consensus can be forged at the local level, the agreed upon names will be recommended, but if consensus cannot be forged, the commission has the right to recommend the names on its own by identifying rationale behind the name,” he said.

The commission has divided its tasks into four parts  organisational management, functional analysis, data collection and philosophical clarity on the implementation of federalism at the level of local bodies, according to Paudel.

“Data collection is challenging as the government does not have disaggregated data that provides detailed information of the ward and village level. The existing aggregated data does not provide information beyond population and area,” Paudel said.

There are some philosophical questions that need to be cleared, he said. They, according to Paudel, include how to develop the units of local bodies to serve the principle of federalism and what kind of fund system should the local bodies have.

The fund system will include four areas: Revenue assignment (identifying potentialities of revenue of all local bodies); Expenditure assignment (how to manage the money to implement the tasks given to the local bodies); Inter-government transfer of fund (how to transfer the fund among the federal, provincial and local governments; and, the system of borrowing money by local bodies (determining the range of money that a local body can borrow on the basis of its revenue potentialities).

“There is still ambiguity in relation to some philosophical areas and we are going to resolve them by holding various levels of consultations with political leaders, government authorities, experts and lawyers,” Paudel said.

Engaging political parties from the central to the local level units in debates related to local bodies’ reconstruction is imperative so that they will accept the commission’s report, he said.

A committee led by the Development Officer has been formed in all 75 districts to work at the local level and the actual data collection will begin from mid-July, according to Chairman Paudel.

Member of the commission Sunil Ranjan Singh said, “The commission is tasked with an important responsibility as implementation of its report will be the first step of implementation of the new constitution because it will clear the way for holding the election of local bodies as per the new provisions and delimitate the electoral constituencies for parliamentary elections as well.”

One member is yet to be appointed in the nine-member committee as the government has left the post vacant to fill it on the recommendation of the agitating Madhes-based parties.

“We do not care about this commission as it is no more than a ritual. Such commissions can work only if the issues of boundaries of federal units and other national issues are settled,” said Hridayesh Tripathi, leader of Tarai Madhes Democratic Party.