POKHARA, JULY 2

Amid protest from the opposition party, a bill was tabled in the Provincial Assembly meeting of Gandaki Province proposing facilities for local level representatives today.

Minister of Internal Affairs and Law Hari Bahadur Chuman tabled the bill which proposed facilities for members of village and town assemblies and the district coordination committee.

Though Nepali Congress’ Kumar Khadka and Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal’s Hari Sharan Acharya had registered a protest notice on the bill, after it was rejected by the PA through majority, the bill was tabled by the minister.

After the Supreme Court scrapped a law related to perks and facilities for local level representatives formulated by six provinces, including Gandaki, representatives haven’t received any facilities since October last year.

The SC had cited the legal provision that bars local level representatives from receiving ‘salary’. The court’s order didn’t apply to Province 1, which had proposed facilities under separate headings.

The government had registered the bill in the PA back in March itself, it couldn’t be tabled in the PA meeting until recently.

The proposed facilities in the bill, under 13 different headings, are more than what were proposed in the past.

As per the proposed facilities, a rural municipality chairperson and vice-chairperson will receive Rs 48,008 and Rs 43,000 per month respectively under eight headings. Until October last year, a rural municipality chairperson used to get Rs 31,000 per month. Similarly, the bill has proposed Rs 52,500 and Rs 47,000 monthly for mayor and deputy mayor of a municipality respectively.

Likewise, as per the proposed bill, a mayor of the metropolitan city will receive facilities worth 66,000 rupees per month, up from the erstwhile 43,000 rupees, and deputy mayor Rs 60,000 per month. A ward chairperson, executive member and municipal member of a metropolis will be entitled to Rs 30,000, Rs 27,000 and Rs 15,000 respectively as per the bill.

As for the district coordination committee, its chief will receive Rs 61,000 per month, while the deputy chief will receive facilities worth Rs 48,000. Committee members will get Rs 26,000 monthly.

Besides, there are various other facilities proposed.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on July 3, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.