National
Job charm of central level leaves local govts understaffed
Staff crunch at the local governments is unlikely to be resolved soon as majority of civil servants working at the central level gave cold response to the government’s call for joining the service outside Kathmandu.Staff crunch at the local governments is unlikely to be resolved soon as majority of civil servants working at the central level gave cold response to the government’s call for joining the service outside Kathmandu.
Out of total 37,257 job positions approved by the Cabinet for municipalities, rural municipalities and District Coordination Committees in March, around 16,000 positions are still vacant.
A total 21,716 officials are already in service at the local levels.
Though nearly 12,000 civil servants had applied to work at the local governments of their choices, most of them are currently serving at the local units as mobilised by different ministries.
According to the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration (MoFAGA), less than 200 civil servants working at central offices such as ministries and their departments have applied to go to the local units to work.
The MoFAGA had asked the government staff to submit their applications at their current offices by mentioning their 15 preferred local units in five districts within May 1.
A total 11,935 staff submitted their applications. But majority of the applicants were those who were already working in local governments and wanted to get transferred near their homes.
“It will be a challenge for us to arrange staff for local governments because those staff currently serving at central offices are not interested to join local governments,” said Suresh Adhikari, spokesperson of the MoFAGA.
From the administrative service, a total 5,494 staffers, mostly computer operators, drivers and office assistants, have applied. From other services, there are diverse number of applicants.
The largest number of applications are from health and agriculture and livestock services.
The Ministry of Health and Population received a total 3,771 applications while Ministry of Agriculture, Land Management and Cooperatives received 1,278 applications under agriculture/livestock services.
“We received relatively large number of applications from health and agriculture ministries because they have deep penetration at local levels with their local offices,” said Adhikari.
After calculating the applications received from various ministries, the MoFAGA sent letters to the ministries on different dates to determine where they would send the applicants within 15 days.
The MoFAGA’s last letter was sent to the Ministry of Health and Population on June 19.
“Once we receive their decisions, we will approve them and the ministries will be free to send their staffers to different local units based on their preference,” said Adhikari.
The MoFAGA is also sending over 5,000 lower level government staffers such as computer operators, drivers and office assistants from different ministries under the administrative service. The ministry has plans to send them to local levels before the new fiscal year begins in mid-July.