Rebuilt govt offices to be scrapped

Lamjung, February 21

Reconstruction work of scores of buildings for government offices, which might get scrapped after being adjusted with local levels in one-and-a-half months, is under way in Lamjung district headquarters Besisahar.

The buildings of Land Revenue Office, Land Survey Office, Office of the District Attorney, District Forest Office, Regional Irrigation Development Office and Urban Development and Building Division Office, among others, are being re-constructed.

Urban Development and Building Division Office Chief Sachindra Dev said reconstruction of office buildings was going on as the contract was signed before the decision to adjust the offices under the local levels was taken. “As the buildings were destroyed during the 2015 earthquakes, reconstruction of infrastructures is going on in coordination with National Reconstruction Authority,” said Dev.

Budget worth millions of rupees has already been spent on the office buildings which may be shifted somewhere else. As per sources, around 70 per cent of construction work has been completed so far.

Construction of the building of Domestic and Small Scale Industry Development Committee and Agriculture Development Office, which are going to be scrapped, was completed last year. If the present plans are anything to go by, the under-construction structures will be of no use. There are four municipalities and rural municipalities in the district. The offices of Besisahar Municipality, Madhya Nepal Municipality, Rainas Municipality and Dordi Rural Municipality have been operating from rented buildings.

However, Besisahar Municipality Mayor Guman Singh Aryal claimed that those buildings could be used for other purposes. “We are planning to use the buildings for other purposes after they are handed over to the local levels,” said Aryal. Of the 37 governmental and semi-governmental offices in Besisahar, many of them will be merged. The offices of District Public Health, Education, Irrigation, Land Conservation, Land Survey, Women and Children, District Agriculture Development, District Livestock, and District Technical Office among others, will be scrapped next month.