Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, March 22:

The Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) has expedited the bureaucratic process concerning the formulation of the annual programmes of the five departments under it by changing the way plans are formulated, forwarded and passed. Under the new guidelines, respective departments were obliged to forward their programmes and budget required to the ministry by today. The relevant forms received will be scrutinised by Thursday and forwarded to the National Planning Commission (NPC) next week. NPC member Dr Yuvraj Khatiwada and MoWR secretary Mahendra Nath Aryal have reinforced the need to quantify the work in concrete terms with a view to attracting the positive attention of the donors. “The ministry has directed departments under it to quantify the work rather than present them in technical jargon like, say, presenting the canal job, for example, in cubic metres rather than in metres,” said Mahendra Bahadur Gurung, senior divisional engineer at the MoWR.

The changes have been suggested in the light of the instances whereby officers at the lowest level try to present the piece of work planned in such a way that there is always room for financial corruption. However, the changes suggested by the ministry are expected to leave no room for any discrepancy since quantifying the job leaves no room for the same. It is also expected to minimise traffic of files containing questions from higher authorities and answers furnished by the lower officials from four times to one. “Gone are the days when it was a common practice to talk in terms of percentage and thus leave enough room for doubts,” Gurung said. The innovation is expected to speed up the work rate at the Department of Electricity Development (DED), Water and Energy Resource Commission (WERC), Department of Water-induced Disaster Prevention (DWIDP) and the Department of Irrigation.

DoR intervenes in rural road project

Kathmandu: The Department of Road (DoR) has stalled the decision reached in December between the Ministry of Physical Planning and Construction (MoPPC) and the National Planning Commission (NPC), which stated that the construction of 500 village roads should be transferred to the Ministry of Local Development (MoLD). If the DoR had not intervened, the MoLD would have got the job done in as many as 50 districts by forming users’ groups. Sources insist that a powerful section in the DoR is sitting on the files insisting to keep the job with them so that they can pass on the job to Divisional Offices spreading across 50 districts and expect 10 per cent cut from contractors who will be awarded the job. With a total budget of Rs 270 million, the privileged section under the ministry is looking forward to lining its pocket with Rs 27 million as “legitimate commission.” Out of 500 proposed rural roads, 200 are planned in the Kathmandu Valley. — HNS