SURKHET/JUMLA, June 11Although the current fiscal year is nearing end, many local units in the Karnali province have not yet readied the details of unemployed youths for the Prime Minister Employment Program (PMEP). Under the program, which is to be launched from the new fiscal year, youths will be provided employment.
There are 16 wards in Birendranagar, the capital of Karnali province. Jir Bahadur Budha, the coordinator of the PMEP in the provincial capital, informed Republica that unemployment forms from 11 wards of Birendranagar Municipality have been collected so far. "We will start sorting the forms have only after receiving forms from all wards," said Coordinator Budha.
According to him, around 4,300 people from 11 wards have filled out the unemployment forms. The meeting of the Directorate Committee will be held only after collecting complete details on unemployment, he said.
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"We are planning to provide temporary employment to youths in sanitation, afforestation and construction among other works," said Budha, adding, "It will not possible to employ them in big projects due to temporary nature of their employment."
There are 30,313 people in Simta Rural Municipality of Surkhet and around 4,436 people from 15-59 age group are unemployed here. Initially, a budget of Rs 2.5 million was allocated in Simta for PMEP but later an additional Rs 200,000 has been provided for the program.
"We have sanctioned Rs 300,000 for each of the nine wards," said Kabindra Kumar KC, chairman of Simta, adding, "We will use this budget in road construction and drinking water and sanitation projects."
As mentioned in the directorate, 75 percent of the budget allocated for the program must be spent to pay wages to the beneficiaries. There are nine local units in Surkhet but most of them are yet to scan the details of unemployed.
In Jumla, some of the local units have just started the selection procedure for the workers while some are in the final stage. Tatopani Rural Municipality will soon wrap up its selection work. As informed by Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Netraraj Giri, a team has been deployed in villages for the selection of workers from the underprivileged and marginalized communities.
"We didn't choose large-scale projects as we are already at the end of the fiscal year," said Giri. Tatopani has received Rs 3.4 million budgets for PMEP. Similarly, Hari Bahadur Bhandari of Guthichaur Rural Municipality stated that the local unit is busy selecting candidates and projects right now.
"We will launch the program from mid-June," said Bhandari. He added that the program has seen delays as the coordinator has not arrived yet. Likewise, Sinja Rural Municipality has invested the budget on the construction of road stretching from Acharyalihi to the office of the local unit. "We received Rs 2.9 million for the program, so, we decided to deploy people from all wards for road construction," said Dev Rawal, chairman of Sinja.
Moreover, many other local units have intensified work for the PMEP to make sure that the program starts from the very start of the new fiscal year. But none of the local units in Jumla have kicked off the program yet.