Local level officers complain lack of freedom to work

By Laxmi Chaudhary,Janakpurdham, June 19: Chief administrative officers deployed in the local levels of Dhanusha district have complained that there is a lack of freedom to work.

The officers spoke about the issue at a district-level interaction programme organised in Dhanauji, Dhanusha, on Saturday, in the presence of Krishna Hari Pushkar, secretary at the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration (MoFAGA).

The chief administrative officers from all 18 local levels of the district were present in the programme.

The interaction programme was organised to identify and solve the problems faced by the officers to fulfil their responsibilities effectively.

"We do not have enough freedom to work as we have to tackle several threats and problems," the officers echoed.

Addressing the programme, Secretary Pushkar stressed that the chief administrative officers were the ones who managed coordination between the three tiers – local, provincial and federal – of the government. "Since the officers have an important role, we will solve the problems," said Pushkar.

Citing that some challenges prevailed due to diversity in culture and geography, Secretary Pushkar also requested the chief administrative officers not to try to be superior to others as they were the ones who helped the local-level representatives to understand the process of work. Meanwhile, the officers argued that there were several other problems as well.

"Bringing small and unnecessary plans in any place possible is the misuse of budget. Plans and policies should be implemented after proper homework. If the local level employees and representatives worked with proper coordination, there would be no problem," said Ratnesh Shashi, chief administrative officer of Janakpurdham Sub-Metropolitan City.

Similarly, Hansapur Municipality's chief administrative officer Subodh Thakur complained that he had to face many threats of transfer for not aligning with the "superiors". "People come demanding payment as old as four years," said Thakur.

Likewise, Dhanauji Municipality's chief administrative officer Ranjit Kumar Yadav said, "There is a work order and the work has been completed. However, it has not been registered and does not have the signature of the mayor. How can we reimburse the payment in such cases?"

Yadav argued that it was a result of lack of awareness regarding the laws related to local government's operation by the elected representatives.  

According to the officers, there was no problem at the local levels where the elected representatives discussed the work procedures and implemented them as per the law with the chief administrative officers.

Nevertheless, MoFAGA's secretary Pushkar requested the officers to continue working as per their responsibilities and jurisdiction.