KHOTANG, Jan 5: With the transfer of ward secretaries to other districts, most wards of rural municipalities in Khotang are operating without secretaries.
There are no secretaries in all six wards of Jantedhunga Rural Municipality of Khotang.
According to Shankar Rai, chairman of Jantedhunga Rural Municipality, handling day-to-day work has been a challenge in the absence of ward secretaries. Earlier, Shambhu Acharya, ward secretary of Jantedhunga Rural Municipality-6, Diplung, was handling the works of all wards single-handedly, but he was recently transferred to Soloukhumbu, according to Rai.
Chairman Rai informed that the works of ward secretaries have been assignned to technicians and other officers. "We will have to continue providing service to people even without secretaries. That is why, we have assigned various government officials to do the work in the absence of secretaries," said Rai.
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Similarly, five out of six wards of Barahapokhari Rural Municipality are also operating without ward secretaries. As informed by Babi Chamling, chairperson of the District Coordination Committee (DCC), Khotang, there are no secretaries in all wards of Barahapokhari except for Faktang. As per the details provided by the DCC, three out of nine wards of Khotehang Rural Municipality also don't have secretaries at the moment. Furthermore, secretaries of two wards of Diprung Rural Municipality have also been transferred elsewhere.
Most of the secretaries who had been operating in their wonted fashion were unable to cope with working under newly-elected officials.
-- Bhupendra Rai, chair, Diprung Rural Municipality
Locals lamented that the authorities have not taken initiative to bring secretaries although it has already been a long time since their absence. According to the locals, most of the secretaries opted for their transfers after they were unable to cope with the work pressure under the newly-elected local officials.
Most of the secretaries who had been operating in their wonted fashion were unable to cope with working under newly-elected officials, according to Bhupendra Rai, chairperson of Diprung Rural Municipality. "After elections, most of them felt that power was snatched from their hands," said Rai.
