NATIONAL7 (Spotlight Weekly)]

Three In One

-By A CORRESPONDENT

Secretary at the Ministry of Housing and Physical Planning recalls his experience in bureaucracy

There are only a few individuals in Nepalese civil service who have a wide range of experience of working in all three branches — judiciary, executive and legislature. Secretary at the Ministry of Hosuing and Physical Planning (MoHPP), Khagendra Basnet, is one of them.

Basnet has successfully fulfilled all the assignments made to him by the government. He also worked in the Constitution Recommendation Commission in 1990.

Unlike other serving bureaucrats, Basnet is a man with full patience and courage which he learned during his job as a district judge.

Born in 1948 in Supatell Village Development Committee of Khotang district, Basnet joined civil service in 1969 as a non-gazetted first class employee.

Basnet was promoted to gazetted third class in 1974 as a section officer and posted to the judiciary. "One of the major challenges of civil service is that people are losing their faith in the bureaucracy," said Basnet. "There is a tendency to tackle problems in a superficial manner."

During his long career in bureaucracy, Basnet also served as a district judge for ten years before coming back to civil service once again.

From non-gazetted first class to gazetted first class officer, Basnet was promoted through open competition. Basnet was promoted to the post of acting secretary in 1995 and got confirmed in 1996.

Before being transferred to present ministry, Basnet served in the Election Commission, and in the Ministries of Local Development, Tourism and Parliamentary Affairs.

Basnet also worked in Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority as a joint secretary. He has been assigned to almost all constitutional bodies including the Office of Attorney General.

"The existing Civil Service Act needs to be amended as it fixes the term for a secretary. At a time when a Secretary starts to understand the problems or challenges in the ministry he is working at, he has to quit," said Basnet. "This practice is really unproductive.

Decorated with Gorkha Dakshinbahu II, III and Trishaktipatta III, Basnet has traveled to different parts of the world during his long innings in the bureaucracy.

Basnet is serving as Secretary at MoHPP since 1996. " This ministry is one of the biggest ministries responsible for providing basic needs like housing and drinking water to the people," said Basnet." One of the biggest challenges to this ministry now is to implement Melamchi-- one of the biggest drinking water projects in the country."

A post graduate in the humanities and bachelor in law, Basnet has presented many papers in different national and international seminars and symposia.

" As a secretary my role is to carry out the decisions taken at the political level. I have never faced any challenges during the implementation of such decisions," said Basnet.

As a secretary, Basnet has already made some remarkable decisions. He still wants to do something before he gets retired.