Rautahat, December 17

Inordinate delay in holding the town council meeting has affected development activities of as many as five municipalities in Rautahat.

Of the total 18 local bodies in the district, Katahariya, Baudhimai, Dewahi Gonahi, Fatuwa Bijayapur and Gujara municipalities have yet to hold their municipal assemblies for this fiscal.

As per the local government operation act, municipalities must hold town council meeting by July 9 every year and inform the provincial and the federal governments about the same. But, given the lack of employees and political conflicts, the town councils are yet to meet.

Katahariya Municipality Deputy Mayor Nurjaha Khatun said lack of understanding among political parties had caused inordinate delay in holding the council.

“As ward chairpersons and others haven’t cooperated with me, their non-cooperation has put off the council for long,” said Khatun, who has been acting mayor of the municipality for the past eight months ever since Mayor Siyaram Kushawaha was sent to prison for his involvement in a murder case.

Similar is the plight of Fatuwa Bijayapur Municipality, where Mayor Gopal Yadav, elected from the Nepali Congress, has failed to hold the town council owing to lack of coordination and dispute over development projects. “As delay in holding

the town council has affected development work, we’re in discussion to break the stalemate,” he said.

In Gujara Municipality, the inauguration session of the council was held about a month ago but ended inconclusively. The council was aborted after ward chairpersons expressed their dissatisfaction over the allocation of little budget for wards and voiced their protest.

Likewise, it is lack of consensus over the allocation of budget that has delayed the town council in Dewahi Gonahi Municipality and Baudhimai Municipality as well.