“My daughter has been offered a job in a local NGO,” Mandal said. “But I first need to get her the citizenship certificate so that she gets the job.” [break]
Mandal is just a case in point.
Purna Bahadur Dhimal of Sanishchare said, “There is no security in the village. VDC offices have not been able to function due to absence of secretaries.” Almost all the VDC secretaries in southern Morang have left their VDCs due to threats from armed outfits to donate money.
Some 18 VDC secretaries have been carrying out their duties from a single room at Morang DDC. Development activities in the VDCs have come to a complete halt due to the absence of secretaries. There are 65 VDCs in the Morang district.
“I received death threats over phone. How can I work under such circumstances,” said a secretary on condition of anonymity, adding, “Job is not more important for me than my life.”
The VDC secretaries complained that the absence of people´s representatives have also increased their workload.
Local Development Officer Pashupati Pokharel said they arranged a separate room for VDC secretaries in the DDC office under instructions from the Ministry of Local Development. “I cannot ask them to go to their VDCs,” he said.
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