Miscellaneous
LLRC writes to PM Dahal to receive report
Feeling snubbed by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the Local Level Restructuring Commission has sent a written request to the PM to receive the local restructuring final report.Binod Ghimire
Feeling snubbed by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the Local Level Restructuring Commission has sent a written request to the PM to receive the local restructuring final report.
The LLRC registered the letter at the Prime Minister’s Office in Singha Durbar on Monday while forwarding its copies to the Ministry of Local Development and Chief Secretary Som Lal Subedi.
The Commission wanted to submit the report on December 21, as agreed informally between PM Dahal and LLRC Chairman Balananda Poudel. In a dismissive gesture, the PM has found no time for the report citing his busy schedule.
After a week’s wait, the letter was registered at the PMO as Dahal’s aides had been denying that the commission had sought the chief executive’s time. The commission, as requested by the PM, completed the works three months before deadline.
“We hope the PM will have time for the report,” Sunil Ranjan Singh, a member of the commission, told the Post. The one-year tenure of the commission formed by the erstwhile KP Sharma Oli-led government ends in March next year.
Dahal had pressed the LLRC to ready the report by November. “We worked round the clock in adverse situations to prepare the report. The PM’s reluctance is disrespect to our work,” said another LLRC member on condition of anonymity.
The PM has kept himself busy inaugurating local fairs and attending party’s training sessions in the districts almost every day in the past one week.
The LLRC report is a must for holding the local elections under the new federal set-up. The commission has recommended 740 local units—with nearly 300 municipal councils—replacing the existing 217 municipalities and 3,117 village development committees across the country. The Commission has recommended two metropolitan cities, one each in Kathmandu and Kaski. The government says it will hold the local polls by April, 2017.
Sources claim that PM Dahal is under pressure not to receive the report since the Madhesi parties are against the restructuring and Nepali Congress is for holding the local polls under the existing structure. According to Article 303 of the constitution, the current local bodies will cease to exist once the LLRC submits its report to the government.