Kathmandu, June 12

The Development Committee of the Parliament has directed the government to make local levels capable of delivering services within two months.

The parliamentary panel discussed with the   administrative staff  of Kathmandu Metropolis and Lalitpur Sub-metropolitan City how the local levels could play their roles effectively and directed the various government agencies, including Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development to make the local levels competent within two months so that they could use all their powers stipulated in the constitution.

“Although it has been 21 months after the promulgation of the new constitution, the government has not assessed how much resources the local levels need to perform their duties,” the panel said in its release.

The committee also concluded that easy access to public service was one of the key factors that would ensure the success of the federal system.

The committee also directed the government to transfer the budget currently used by government offices, which would be dissolved as per the constitution. “The budget allocated to those offices should be transferred to the local levels as soon as possible,” the committee said. The committee also instructed the government authorities to formulate the local levels expenditure procedures and management within a month.

The committee also concluded that unless the capacity of local levels was increased, they could not use their constitutional rights fully. To tackle the problem, the committee directed the MoFALD and Ministry for General Administration to train local lever staffers immediately.

The committee urged the newly elected local levels to prioritise their work and plan accordingly.

Likewise, the committee urged the sectors concerned to define the ‘common rights of local, provincial and central levels’ and formulate a clear work procedure within a month. The committee also drew the attention of the sector concerned to the need to end dual structures such as the City Development Committee within municipalities.

Similarly, the committee directed the Ministry of Finance and Nepal Rastra Bank to establish banking service in all 744 local levels within two months.

According to Committee Chair Rabindra Adhikari, there are no commercial banks at the centre of 400 local levels.