Govt to set up councils to run local bodies

KATHMANDU, June 30: Minister for Local Development Urmila Aryal on Thursday said that the government is preparing to set up people´s representative council at the local level to check corruption rampant in the local bodies.



Addressing an interaction organized by Reporters Club in the capital on Thursday, Minister Aryal said the councils comprising representatives from various political parties would also facilitate development activities. Local bodies are without elected representatives for the past nine years as no local elections have been held since July 2002.[break]



Minister Aryal said her ministry is preparing to take a proposal to the cabinet “soon” and implement it from July 17. She said that the councils so formed would have a two-year term.



Aryal claimed that the top leaders of three major parties, including the UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress and CPN-UML, have lent support to her idea. “I have already held consultations with Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala and UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal,” she said.



She informed that the proposed council would have one representative each from the parties securing three percent votes and two representatives each from the parties securing three to six percent votes in the Constituent Assembly (CA) election. Likewise, political parties securing six to nine percent and nine to 12 percent votes in the CA election will have six and 12 representatives, respectively, in the council.



Those securing more than 12 percent votes in the CA will get additional representatives --one representative for each extra three percent votes. Such councils will be formed in district development committees, village development committees and municipalities. A nine-member executive committee will monitor the activities of the councils, according to Aryal.



As per the proposed plan, the councils will have a coordinator and joint-coordinator. These coordinators and joint coordinators will act as president and vice president in case of district development committees, chairperson and vice-chairperson in case of village development committees and mayors and deputy mayors in case of municipalities.



Aryal said the government was forced to take the decision as the existing political mechanisms formed at the local level have only encouraged corruption.

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