Province govt accused of ignoring local bodies

Dhangadi, September 5

People’s representatives of local levels in Province 7 have accused the province government of ignoring the local levels in development works.

Many development works have been badly affected due to lack of coordination between the local and provincial governments.

“The province government did not consult local governments while preparing budget and making development plans,” said Mayor Nripa Odd of Dhangadi sub-metropolis. He said the policy and planning of the province could not be effective due to lack of coordination. Odd said there was confusion related to the province government’s planning among people’s representatives at the local levels. “There should be coordination among all the three tiers of government,” he said.

Chairman of KI Singh Rural Municipality, Doti, Lokendra Shahi said provincial government’s policy and panning was not clear. “Local levels have to face difficulties due to the provincial government’s poor planning and unscientific budget allocation,” he added.  “The provincial government should introduce development projects or other programmes as per the need of the locals,” he informed.

The provincial government had spent only 40 per cent of the total allocated budget in the fiscal 2017-18. But the local governments were not informed about it.

However, secretary at the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers’ Office of Province 7 Pradip Raj Kandel said there was good coordination between local and provincial governments.