Valley
Government abruptly transfers two secretaries
The government has transferred Health Secertary Dr Pushpa Chaudhary and Urban Secretary Dipendra Nath Sharma to the Prime Minister’s Office without giving any clear reasons behind the move.The government has transferred Health Secertary Dr Pushpa Chaudhary and Urban Secretary Dipendra Nath Sharma to the Prime Minister’s Office without giving any clear reasons behind the move. Dr Chaudhary and Sharma started reporting to the PMO from Tuesday, with Dr Sushil Pyakurel taking up the role of the Health Secretary and Ramesh Prasad Singh the Urban Secretary.
While the government has not given any reason as to why the abrupt transfers were made, sources say that Dr Chaudhary was lost her job because she did not have good working relations with Health and Population Minister Upendra Yadav. It is said that Minister Yadav had been urging Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to find a replacement for Dr Chaudhary, saying that she was uncooperative and making controversial decisions.
Minister Yadav and Dr Chaudhary allegedly had serious differences on the issues of granting accreditation to a medical college and transfer of the ministry’s staff.
A senior official at the Ministry of Health and Population said Dr Chaudhary was not a popular figure among the staff as well. There were many complaints and allegations against Dr Chaudhary inculuding the alleged financial irregularities that she had committed while she was the director of Maternity Hospital.
The official said a letter sent by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) to the ministry concerning the graft case at the Maternity Hospital had vanished at Dr Chaudhary’s behest.
Regarding Sharma’s transfer, officials at the PMO said the newly appointed Urban Secertary Singh had long been lobbying for the job. Singh was earlier the secretary at the Office of Nepal Trust, which isn’t considered as lucrative agency as the Ministry of Urban Develoment that handles large projects related to urban development and planning which are worth billions. Urban Development Minister Mohammad Istiyak Rai, however, said that issue related to work performance was one of the major reasons behind Sharma’s transfer.