KATHMANDU, Sept 3: The government has announced that in the current fiscal year 2023/24, unnecessary government offices, development committees, plans, funds, departments will be abolished. But the government has failed to implement the declaration practically.
According to sources in the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, a study has begun on how to practically abolish the unnecessary offices that were announced to be abolished this year. For this, the PM’s Office has given instructions to submit a clear action plan to the relevant ministries related to the offices, development committees, planning and funds that have been announced to be abolished. According to Raghuram Bista, a joint secretary of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and head of the Administration Division, the study has been started after the instructions of the PM's Office.
The government has allocated the budget for the current fiscal year in some of the offices that have been announced to be abolished. The government has allocated a budget for the Railway Board this year. According to ministry sources, as the Railway Board was formed under the Act, it has been legally difficult to abolish it.
Similarly, the problem is also seen in other offices. Some of the offices announced by the government to be abolished have been formed according to the Office Act. There is no problem in abolishing the offices constituted as per the procedure. But in order to abolish the offices formed according to Acts, there is a legal provision that such Acts must be abolished. There is a provision in the law that the Act can be repealed through some Nepal Acts (Amending) Act.
The government has announced the abolition of the Railway Board, Nepal Infrastructure Construction Company and Kathmandu Valley Public Transport (Management) Authority under the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure. Arjun Jung Thapa, head of the Planning Division and Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure, said that the government's policy is not to bring the board to its full capacity this year as it will not be legally possible to abolish the Railway Board.
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A year ago, the then government appointed Balram Mishra as the administrator of the Railway Board. Mishra is still going to the office regularly. He is the only employee on board.
In the budget statement, the government had announced that the surveyors and customs offices would be served by a single office. Even before this, there were various attempts to keep the surveyors and goods office in one office, but it was not implemented practically. According to an employee of the Survey Department, it is certain that it will be very difficult to implement this decision. There is a legal provision that the head of the surveyor's office is the surveyor's service and the head of the office of the goods office is the administrative service.
When surveyors and land surveyors were merged into one office, disputes started to arise as to whether the head of the office should belong to the surveyor service or to the administration service. The employees of the surveyor's office said, “The nature of the work done by a surveyor and a land revenue officer is different. Land administration is linked to land revenue while land surveying is linked to surveyors. It is difficult to separate the subject of who should be under whom.”
The government had decided to merge the survey and land revenue offices into one office to speed up service delivery.
Similarly, in the budget statement, the government said that the Budhi Gandaki hydropower project will be canceled and the related work will be done by the Budhi Gandaki Hydropower Company. Similarly, it was announced that the Environment, Compensation Distribution, Resettlement and Rehabilitation Unit, Department of Women and Children will be abolished. Similarly, it was said that the University of Nepal Infrastructure Development Preparatory Board will be abolished.
Similarly, it was announced that the District Election Offices will be canceled and the Election Unit will be placed in the District Administration Office. Now the government has backed away from implementing the said decisions. Similarly, the government said that various lake protection and development committees will be abolished. This decision has not been implemented, either.
In the budget statement, the government announced that the Groundwater Resources Development Board will be abolished and the research work will be done by the Water and Energy Commission Secretariat and the infrastructure work will be done by the Department of Water Resources and Irrigation. This decision has not been practically implemented.
Presenting the policies and programs for the fiscal year 2023/23 at the joint meeting of parliament, President Ramchandra Paudel said that the government offices that are seen as redundant, funds that are not relevant, unnecessary development committees, departments, and offices that do not work according to the purpose will be abolished. In the policies and programs read out by the President, it was said that Radio Nepal and Nepal Television will be merged in the current year. This decision has not been implemented.
Even during the time of the then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, it was announced that unnecessary government offices would be abolished. For that, a Public Expenditure Review Commission was formed under the chairmanship of Dilliraj Khanal. The said commission also recommended to the government to abolish redundant and unnecessary government offices, departments and funds. But the recommendation was not implemented.
The government has set aside the budget for the current fiscal year in some of the offices that announced the cancellation. The government has allocated a budget for the Railway Board this year.
