Kathmandu, February 9
The Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development, which is currently overseeing the country’s transformation to the newly set-up federal structure, says recently elected local level governments need 37,000 more staff than they currently have.
It has already been four to nine months since people-elected officials are heading the local governments, but their smooth functioning has been hardly hit thanks to the lack of sufficient human resources.
Most of total 753 local units have less than one third of the staff they need for proper functioning.
Secretary at the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development, Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, says around 17,000 staff have been deployed at local governments while the Local Level Restructuring Commission had recommended that there should be around 54,000 staff. It means the local units are reeling under the shortage of 37,000 staff. A survey conducted by the Ministry some months ago had concluded that a rural municipality would need at least 59 staff.
But, in reality, there are just 10 to 15 staff at every local government.
Meanwhile, the staff adjustment process has hit a roadblock as the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs failed to endorse the draft of Staff Adjustment Regulation that will enable the government to implement the Staff Adjustment Act.
The draft was submitted to the Law Ministry around three months ago, but the Ministry has not responded anything though the draft was already endorsed by the Ministry of Finance, according to Nita Pokharel Aryal, Joint-Secretary at the Ministry of General Administration.
The Act has a provision that a survey is conducted within six months since its implementation to determine exact number of personnel needed for local, provincial and federal governments. If the existing workforce is found insufficient, the government then will tell the Public Service Commission to hire new staff.
But, the government is unlikely to accomplish all the tasks on time owing to ignorance to bureaucratic and political leadership.
