KALIKOT; Despite the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the erstwhile CPN-M and the government, the VDC secretaries are still doing their job by carrying the official documents in their bags as they used to do during the decade-long insurgency. Most of the VDC offices out of the 30 VDC were destroyed during the Maoist insurgency. The secretaries of those VDCs carry the letter pads, stamps and other official documents in their bags even today as the destroyed VDCs are yet to be restored to normal state.

Padam Bahadur Shahi, Sugatiya VDC secretary, lamented that he has been carrying the official documents in his bag as there is no office building. He added, ‘’I carry out the official works wherever I meet service seekers.’’ Though the Ministry for Peace and Reconstruction has allocated the budget for the reconstruction of the destroyed infrastructure, the buildings of the VDC offices are yet to be constructed due to dispute among political parties at the local level. Netra Shahi, former chairman, District Development Committee, Kalikot said VDC secretaries can stay in the villages only after the office buildings are reconstructed.

Dhanaru Shahi, a local of Daha-5, said service seekers are compelled to search for the VDC secretary. He added, “We even do not recognise the secretary of our own village,’’ adding,’’ We have to go to their room or hotels to meet them.’’ Shahi also said that local development activities have been affected due to the absence of VDC secretaries

in the villages. Amalraj Shahi, civil society activist

in the district said the

VDC secretaries should compulsorily stay in their respective villages.

However, Local Development Officer Dipendra Raj Poudel said, “It is difficult to run the local bodies in the absence of peoples’ representatives.’’