BAJURA, Aug 24: Five ward chiefs of Badimalika Municipality have resigned en mess from various thematic committees of the municipality, accusing the mayor of making unilateral decisions.

Issuing a joint statement, the ward chairs who were heading five different thematic committees as the head of the executive council under the municipality quit their positions.

The joint statement was presented to Padam Baduwal, the mayor when the municipality meeting was being held. Ward 2 Chairman Dambar Mahat, Ward 3 Chairman Bir Bahadur Rawal, Ward 4 Chairman Surendra Nath, Ward 7 Chairman Dharmaraj Padhya and Ward 9 Chairman Binod Kumar BK have resigned.

All the chairpersons who resigned were elected from the then CPN-UML. Nepali Congress has the majority in the municipal council. Even as Local Bodies Operation Directive does not envision an opposition bench in the executive council, the mayor treated them as if they were representing the ruling and opposition parties in the council, said Padhya.

According to Bir Bahadur, this is not the first time ward chairpersons have gone against the mayor's unilateral decisions. Even after padlocking the municipality office, hiding the minutes, the mayor and the deputy mayor did not stop making unilateral decisions which caused the chairpersons to resign from their posts.

It was said in a press statement that the mayor had repeatedly held closed-door meetings for planning, budget allocation and finalizing the plans which are why the chairpersons quit.

Resource Estimation and Border Determination Committee Member Dharmaraj Padhya, Urban Education Committee Member Dambar Mahat, Employment Directive Committee Member Birbahadur Rawal, Revenue Consultancy Committee Member Binod Kumar BK and Municipality-level Energy and Environment Committee Member Surendra Nath jointly resigned from their posts.

The mayor, however, claimed that he included all the chairpersons while making decisions and has not made any unilateral decision.

The chairpersons resigned due to their differences with the mayor, according to Tirtharaj Bhattarai, the chief administrative officer. “The resignation should not be made a big deal”, said Bhattarai.

According to Bhattarai, differences while making decisions are not the reasons behind the joint resignation; there is a different reason.

However, the ward chairpersons claim that the only reason behind their resignation is the mayor's way of making unilateral decisions.

 
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