KATHMANDU: The central government on Tuesday scrapped 18 types of district offices that were under its jurisdiction and handed over responsibilities of those offices to local governments.

The district offices that were scrapped are: District Education Office, District Public Health Office, District Agriculture Development Office, District Veterinary Office, District Technical Office, District Forestry Office, District Welfare Committee, Peace Committee, District Water Supply Office, Urban Development Division Office, District Sports Office, District Irrigation Office, District Hospital, District Forestry Office, Women and Children’s Office, Cottage and Small Industries Office, District Soil Conservation Office and District Cooperative Office.

“From now on, the local governments will have separate desks to look into these issues,” said Suresh Adhikari, spokesperson for the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration.

The assets owned by these district offices will be managed by district coordination committees for now and later distributed among local governments based on need, according to Adhikari. “Human resources of these offices will also be deployed at local and provincial levels.”

The decision to do away with district offices, according to Adhikari, is part of the process of institutionalising federalism in the country.

With these transfers, the centre will now oversee only seven different types of district offices, namely, District Administration Office, District Police Office, Survey Department, Land Revenue Office, District Treasury Office, Office of District Attorney and Postal Office.

There are 77 districts in the country and 753 local governments.

READ ALSO:

• 34,000 temporary govt employees get three-month reprieve