Salaries of Bagmati PA members' personal secretaries blocked

By Rammani Dahal

Makwanpur, Oct. 29:  The salary and allowances of the personal secretaries to the members of the Bagmati Province Assembly have been stopped. While the personal secretaries had received their dues up until the month of Bhadra before Dashain, they have not received their salaries and allowances for the month of Ashoj. 

This decision follows the implementation of a cost-saving measure by the government led by Prime Minister Sushila Karki, formed after the Gen Z movement in Bhadra. 

The government had decided to eliminate the benefits of personal secretaries, and as a result, the salary payments to the personal secretaries of the Bagmati Province Assembly have been suspended.

Bagmati Province Assembly Secretary Ram Kumar Poudel informed that the payment process could not proceed because the Controller's Office had blocked the payments. 

He clarified that no official notice had been received regarding the halt of the personal secretaries’ salaries, but the blockage occurred due to the system’s limitations. 

According to Poudel, some personal secretaries have not received their salaries and allowances even from months prior to Bhadra and attempts to process payments were unsuccessful due to system errors. 

Meanwhile, Suraj Poudel, Information Officer at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Planning of Bagmati Province, clarified that the ministry had not blocked the personal secretaries’ salaries, nor had the provincial government made any decision to halt them. Personal secretaries of the provincial assembly members are entitled to a salary of Rs. 37,730 and an additional Rs. 5,000 as a daily allowance. The payments to personal secretaries of 95 members of the Bagmati Province Assembly have been blocked, according to the Assembly Secretariat. 

The payroll system has been designed in such a way that it has prevented the creation of the salary slips, making it impossible to process the payments.

In Bagmati Province, which has 110 assembly members, personal secretaries to the Chief Minister and Ministers, totaling 14 people, are still paid through the ministry. 

Meanwhile, the personal secretary of the former Assembly Speaker, who resigned, has had his salary for Ashoj stopped, while the personal secretary to the Deputy Speaker has received the dues. Secretary Poudel further explained that similar payment halts have occurred in other provinces as well and once the provincial government issues a formal decision and system-related issues are resolved, payments will be processed.

As of now, the total outstanding payments for the personal secretaries’ salaries for Ashoj amount to Rs. 3,584,350, and the daily allowances due total Rs. 475,000.