Bagmati Province reduces ministries from fourteen to eight

Makawanpur, May 6: In a major push to curtail spending and make administration hassle-free, Bagmati Province government has decided to reduce the number of ministries. The Cabinet meeting held on Tuesday decided to lessen the number of ministries from current 14 to eight, according to spokesperson and Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning, Prabhat Tamang.

Spokesperson Tamang informed that the curtailment decision had aimed at reducing expenses and maintaining economic discipline. With this, there will be only eight ministries in Bagmati Province, including the Office of the Chief Minister and the Council of Ministers.

Earlier, an Administrative Reform Review Committee led by former Secretary Bimal Wagle had recommended the province government that it curtailed the ministries to eight so that administration could be made stronger, manageable and economically viable. The committee suggested overhaul in style of employees' performance. In committees' observation then, such number of ministries were established to manage political space rather than organizational needs and work division.

With the recent retrenchment scheme, Bagmati Province will have the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Law and Cooperatives; the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Planning; the Ministry of Drinking Water, Energy and Irrigation; the Ministry of Industry, Tourism, Labour and Transport; the Ministry of Health and Social Development; the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development; and the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Forest and Environment.

Even the offices running under ministries will be reduced. The government is all set to cut down 50 of the current 198 offices, which is expected to save Rs 5 billion, Minister Tamang said. He observed this decision was made to best utilize citizen taxes in capital formation and development works.

"The decision comes into effect from the coming fiscal year, beginning in the month of Saun. Present Council of Ministers will remain in the present form, while structural changes will be in place from new fiscal year," said Spokesperson Tamang.

The Cabinet meeting also instituted a committee for the Organization and Management Survey (ONM) to adjust employees with clear term of references offices under the ministries. Secretary at the Law Division in the Chief Minister's Office will act as coordinator of the committee. It is tasked to study and submit proposal on ONM before beginning of the next fiscal year.  (RSS)