Kathmandu December 13

The government has not mobilised civil servants for provincial assemblies although results of the provincial first-past-the-post polls have already been announced.

As per the constitutional provision, the provincial assemblies should meet within 20 days of the announcement of final results.

According to the Parliament Secretariat, 350 civil servants should have been mobilised in seven provinces three months ago. “We have not been able to send the required number of staff to the provinces due to lack of human resources. We only have 300 staffers who will just be enough for operating the Parliament - the House of Representatives and the National Assembly,” Spokesperson for PS Bharat Raj Gautam told THT.

Members of provincial assemblies

Province

FPTP

PR

Total

1

56

37

93

2

64

43

107

3

66

44

110

4

36

24

60

5

52

35

87

6

24

16

40

7

32

21

53

Total

330

220

550

He said the PS had not been able to train the staff required for secretariat jobs in provinces. “The government should recruit staff on contract basis or transfer the existing staff,” Gautam said. The PS will assist provincial assemblies’ secretariats to train the staff, he added.

“The government has not taken a call on provisional headquarters of provinces. Unless the government decides on provincial headquarters,   there cannot be enough infrastructures to house the staff,” Gautam said. He said the government should have established provincial assemblies’ secretariats three months ago. “Had that been done on time, employees of provincial secretariats would have been trained by now,” he added.

“Fifty employees will be needed to operate a provincial assembly and 350 employees will be needed for all seven provinces. We cannot manage so many employees from the PS,” Gautam said. He said the PS might send some of its employees to provinces on deputation.

Gautam said the PS had submitted a report to the government suggesting that it could hire retired PS staff to manage transition in provincial assemblies.

Provincial assemblies will require conference halls, space for secretariats, halls for provincial committees, space for parties’ assembly offices and space for libraries. The PS has recommended two secretaries for each provincial assembly. “We estimate operational cost of the Parliament to be Rs 1.70 billion and for the seven provincial assemblies it will be Rs 2.55 billion,” Gautam said.