National
Underperforming provinces want reinforcement
Speakers and deputy speakers from different provincial assemblies on Saturday said lack of infrastructure, staff and experience was hindering their performance.Speakers and deputy speakers from different provincial assemblies on Saturday said lack of infrastructure, staff and experience was hindering their performance.
They also blamed the lack of coordination with the federal parliament and government staff to work at the provincial level as other problems hindering seven provinces in their day-to-day operations.
In an attempt to share the best practices and find solutions to the existing problems, the Province-3 Assembly organised the gathering of the speakers, deputy speakers
and secretaries from all the provinces.
The speaker and deputy speaker of the House of Representatives and chair and vice-chair of the National Assembly also shared their views on the occasion.
Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara said it was not unusual to have confusion and problems in coordination as federalism is entirely new concept to the country. “This political system evolves with the time. We will grow countering the ongoing problems,” he said, stressing the need to develop a long-term mechanism in all three tiers of government for tackling those matters.
Chairman of the Upper House Ganesh Prasad Timalsina said the winter session of the federal parliament, which is set to begin soon, would formulate the laws that will define the level of authority of provinces and the federal government. “We are aware about the number of problems that the provincial assemblies are having. They shouldn’t prolong,” he said.
The participants at the gathering called for coordinated efforts for smooth performance of the provincial assemblies. Currently, the provincial assemblies are operating with less than half the needed staff. A few officials who were deputed by the federal parliament secretariat in the beginning have left owing to the staff crunch at the Upper and Lower Houses. “Even the federal parliament has its share of problems,” said Sashikala Dahal, vice-chair of the National Assembly. “The common problems must be resolved jointly.”