TANAHUN, May 16: There are some 84 wards in ten local units of Tanahun but 42 of the wards are currently operating without ward secretaries.
In absence of the secretaries, locals living in all these wards have not been able to get the facilities of Singha Durbar at their doorsteps as promised during the elections. Even the local representatives have realized that they have not been able to perform their work effectively due to lack of manpower.
As to make sure that the locals don't suffer, most of the wards have entrusted the responsibility of the secretaries to office helpers and other officials. Bhimad Municipality has assigned the helper of the office to perform the duties of the secretary.
Most rural municipal wards without secretaries
Bandipur Rural Municipality has done the same. All wards of Byas Municipality and Shuklagandaki have secretaries. Ghiring and Bandipur rural municipalities on the other hand have not even a single secretary. There are some of the wards where a single person is working as a secretary for three wards.
All five wards of Ghiring Rural Municipality have been running without secretaries. Ran Bahadur Rana, chairperson of the local unit, laments that computer operators are handling the responsibility of secretaries due to manpower crunch. "Development projects have not picked up pace due to manpower crunch," said Rana, adding, "Service seekers are bearing the brunt too."
There are 13 wards in Bhanu Municipality but only four have secretaries. Sadly, one of them is being transferred to another district. "Still, people are obliged to reach ward offices even for minor works in absence of secretaries," said Udayaraj Gauli, mayor of Bhanu Municipality.
Similarly, there are eight wards in Rishing out of which only three have secretaries. The rural municipality chair Rajendra Krishna Shrestha said, "We have deployed an official of the health department to perform the duties of secretary so that people won't have to suffer."
This has not just affected service delivery but also delayed development projects here.
