Kathmandu, January 15 The government has drafted a transitional management plan for local bodies with the objective of managing difficulties that may arise in service delivery during the transitional period. The Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development has proposed the plan aiming to continue the delivery of public service in the local bodies after the government accepted the report submitted by the Local Bodies Restructuring Commission. Once the report comes into effect, the old structures of the local bodies will cease to exist. According to MoFALD Joint Secretary Chakra Bahadur Budha, there is constitutional obligation to ensure operation of new local governments as provisioned by the constitution. 'The plan has been proposed because running the local bodies with full administrative structure from the very next day of the government’s acceptance of LBRC report is next to impossible,' he added. He said the lack of laws related to local governance and the possible delay in adaptation of new structure have also compelled the government to draft the transitional management plan. LBRC has recommended creation of 719 local bodies. 'Since the LBRC recommended merger of two or more than two wards of a VDC and municipality into one, we have to integrate staff and set up new offices for the transitional period,' Budha said. The transition management will be in place till the leadership of the body is taken over by elected representatives after civic polls. According to the constitution, the local bodies have autonomy in many matters and can use more powers than before. The constitution has also provisioned that two-third majority of the local bodies  can decide on their names and the headquarters. The constitution has also envisaged that a newly formed ward has to deliver public service similar to the level of a VDC in the old structure. Budha said the government would need to carry out a survey to know how many staffers it needed in the local bodies. The ministry has issued instructions to open ward offices in a place which can be conveniently accessed by all the residents. 'If they don't find a proper place for office, two or more wards can run jointly from one place,' Budha said. He said the plan also provisioned the senior-most secretary of ward would head the newly formed ward. 'The chief administrators of other local bodies will also be managed with the same formula,' he added. The ministry has proposed that   non-gazetted first class officers (Nayab Subba) level staff  should be deployed in wards, and a sub-engineer, accounts assistant and an office assistant should  run the newly-formed wards. Similarly, sub-metropolitan cities and municipalities and village councils will get under-secretaries, while metropolitan cities will get joint-secretary level staff. 'For the transitional period, we are thinking of using currently available staff, without taking their status into account,' Budha said.