BAJURA, FEBRUARY 19
It takes days and more than Rs 12,000 for locals of farflung villages to obtain their citizenship certificates in Bajura. Locals of four rural municipalities in the northeast of the district are facing difficulty getting their citizenship certificates.
People from Himali Rural Municipality Swamikartik Rural Municipality, Jagannath Rural Municipality and Budhinanada Municipality are facing a hard time due to lack of area administration office in their locality.
Satya Bhul of Faiti at Ward No 4 of Himali Rural Municipality reached the headquarters Martadi to have her citizenship certificate made on Thursday. She was accompanied by her husband Nanda BK. Satya and her husband paid Rs 1,000 bus fare to reach Kolti from their home. They had their morning meal at the hotel for which they paid Rs 600 on Thursday. They boarded the jeep from Kolti to Martadi for which they paid Rs 2,000 in total as fare.
By the time they reached the headquarters, District Administration Office was closed. Consequently, they had to stay at a hotel. They spent Rs 4,000 for both lodging and food at the hotel.
Nanad BK complained that they had spent Rs 12,000 to obtain his wife's citizenship certificate. It takes two to three days to reach headquarters Martadi and it takes one day to get recommendation for the citizenship certificate from the ward office.
"Earlier, it would take five days to reach the headquarters when there was no transport service. With the transport service in place, it has become costly to get the citizenship certificate," said Chief Administrative Officer Raj Bahadur Bhandari of Himali Rural Municipality.
Locals from Himali, Swamikartik, Jagannath and Khapar rural municipalities are forced to spend from Rs 10,000 to 12,000 for their citizenship certificates.
Himali Rural Municipality Chairman Govind Bahadur Malla said the village assembly had requested setting up area administration office, but the request had fallen on deaf ears.
"Four rural municipalities had decided to keep the area administration office either at Kolti or Piluchaur a year ago. However, the decision has not been implemented," added Malla.
District Administration Office, Bajura, said it had sent the file to the Ministry of Home Affairs for the area administration office. Locals from the four remote rural municipalities complain that the government is apathetic towards the people's plight.
A version of this article appears in the print on February 20, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
