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Kathmandu Tuesday February 12, 2002 Magh 30, 2058.
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Lalitpur to grant autonomy to
wards
By Razen Manandhar
LALITPUR, Feb 11: At a time when most
municipalities are tightening their grip over the ward level organisations, Lalitpur Sub
Metropolis is on the way to become an exemplary municipality by granting autonomy to the
ward committees.
The chairman of Ward No. 3 Srigopal Maharjan
recently presented at the City Council Meeting last week a concept of giving autonomy to
the ward offices, which is "very soon" becoming a part of local authority
administration system. The council informally accepted it and decided to discuss the
proposal further in the next board meeting.
The concept attempts to strengthen the ward
offices, which now totally rely on the budget and directions of the municipality central
office.
According to the proposed concept, the ward
offices will be empowered to set policies, choose projects, take responsibility of
development works, promote culture, manage solid waste, collect resources and use the
resource for the ward’s development. Maharjan says, "The wards will collect
their resources from local taxes and charges, which is quite enough for locals
developments."
Though the Local Self-Governance Act 1999
provides limited autonomy to the ward offices, they have to wait the central office’s
budget, which are always scanty, ward officials say.
"We have been working at the mercy of the
central office. The mayor decides our local plans and projects, which are very much
influenced by the political affiliation and personal relations," says Maharjan. He is
confident that his proposal will be accepted by the municipality.
"I have talked about it with the mayor and
deputy mayor and I found both of them very positive about the concept," he says.
Deputy Mayor Ramesh Chitrakar, also an executive
member of Municipal Association of Nepal, says that the new concept would make Lalitpur a
model for all the 58 municipalities in the country.
"This is a venturing concept for the whole
municipalities of the country, where the central offices control the developments by
giving insufficient budget to the wards. The only thing the wards need is a strong
management," says Chitrakar.
Chitrakar adds that even if all the 22 wards are
not ready to accept this new responsibility some of the wards would be chosen as pilot
areas.
Even the Mayor, Buddhi Raj Bajracharya, likes
the proposal. However, he says the concept needs some corrections before being put into
practice, adding that it is the board that will take the final decision.
Ministry of Local Development (MLD) too is
positive to decentralisation of municipalities. Joint Secretary at MLD, Surya Sharan
Regmi, says that the ministry always welcomes strengthening the wards up to the limit the
concerned law. "Strengthening the grass root level organisations like ward offices is
the spirit of decentralisation."
However, a top-level official at the MLD,
requesting anonymity, says that the ward officials have not been able to exercise their
rights and in some cases have been misusing the rights for their own vested interests.
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