A high-level committee headed by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has directed the Ministry of General Administration (MOGA) to form a task force comprising officials of various ministries and fill all the vacant positions at the local level within 15 days.

The instruction was issued at a time when around 45 percent of the posts at local bodies have remained vacant. This has prevented newly-formed bodies from executing various tasks, hindering the process of development at the local level.

Nepal has carved out 753 local bodies after formally embracing federal setup in March. These local bodies are highly empowered, as they now handle many tasks, including budget formulation, that were previously under the jurisdiction of the central government.

“If ministries and agencies are yet to hand over responsibilities that should now be under the domain of local bodies, they must do so immediately,” PM Deuba instructed. “Along with transfer of responsibilities, adequate human resources should also be transferred.”

The newly-formed local bodies require around 15,000 employees. But so far only around 8,500 employees have been deployed, according to General Administration Minister Tek Bahadur Basnet.

To address this problem, the General Administration Ministry has been directed to form a task force comprising officials of the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agricultural Development, the Ministry of Livestock Development, the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare, the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of Water Supply and Sanitation, and the Ministry of Irrigation.

“The task force must design an interim organogram and recruit human resources accordingly,” Swarnim Wagle, vice chairman of the National Planning Commission (NPC), said.

The instruction was given by the National Development Action Committee, which held its 40th meeting on Monday. The committee, which is led by the NPC, holds its meeting every four months to discuss various hurdles preventing the country’s overall development. The meeting, chaired by the PM, is attended by all government ministers and secretaries.

The meeting held on Monday also directed the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (MoFALD) to design a concrete proposal for construction of offices of local bodies. The proposal must be prepared within two months and construction of offices should be completed in the next four years. This move is expected to address problems of local bodies that have rented offices beyond their territories due to unavailability of proper infrastructure in their locality.

“Also, the MoFALD should coordinate with concerned agencies to ensure infrastructure development works at the local level are not hindered by lack of technicians and financial resources,” Wagle said. In this regard, the MoFALD has been directed to take initiatives to enhance capacity of technicians, transfer technology, identify funding sources and ensure quality is not compromised.

The meeting also called on the MoFALD to invite development partners to discuss issues related to foreign aid mobilisation and financial resource management at the local level. A guideline on this should be prepared within two months, the meeting said.