Kathmandu, March 3

In response to a letter of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority, the Ministry of Federal Affairs has directed the Kathmandu Metropolitan City, and all sub-metropolitan cities and municipalities to further study and analyse building construction code and revise it as may be required.

On February 25, the anti-graft body had asked the MoFALD to cause the concerned local bodies to act on a six-point decision taken by a recent meeting between CIAA and officials of the KMC, Kathmandu Valley Development Authority, Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City and Bhaktapur Municipality.

As per the decision, the concerned local bodies have been asked to study and analyse the effects of the terms and conditions prescribed by the building code and to make necessary changes. People in the urban areas had lodged complaints with the CIAA, stating that the terms and conditions referred to in the recently developed code were vague and made it difficult for them to rebuild houses damaged or destroyed in the April 25 earthquake.

They have complained that the code is inconsistent with minimum limit of land plotting and the criteria of road space to be left by the concerned land owner is not practical, said an MoFALD official. The CIAA had also directed the local bodies and KVDA to coordinate with each other to avoid duplication in works.

The MoFALD has also been asked to fill the posts of VDC secretaries lying vacant across the country. In December last year, the Parliamentary Development Committee had also directed the government to fill all the vacant posts of VDC secretaries within two months.

At least 419 VDCs are still functioning without secretaries. There are a total of 3,157 VDCs in the country.The government had not only failed to distribute compensation to the quake victims but was also unable to collect exact details of damage caused by the quakes due to absence of secretaries in the VDCs.