Kathmandu, August 30 :

In a bid to make the bureaucracy more efficient, the Parliamentary State Affairs Committee (SAC) today held discussions with the Chief Secretary and Secretaries of ministries and constitutional bodies under its jurisdiction.

Chief Secretary Bhoj Raj Ghimire told lawmakers in the SAC that Nepal’s bureaucracy is “paper oriented, centralised and process oriented.” “Bureaucracy should be result oriented and decentralised,” Ghimire said.

Defence Secretary, Bishnu Dutta Upreti, suggested an independent “monitoring mechanism” to make the bureaucracy more effecient. Home Secretary, Umesh Mainali, said the bureaucracy runs with a hierchical mechanism, which should end. Secretary at the Ministry of General Administration, Yuba Raj Pandey, said the bureauracy is still running in a traditional way.

The Chief Secretary promised to prepare a report in a month containing the government’s strategy to make the bureaucracy effecient.

MPs Hom Nath Dahal and Mahendra Pandey suggested building up a neutral bureaucracy.

Others suggested creation of an environment where bureaucrats could work without fear.