National 3 (Spotlight Weekly)

Sudden Acceleration

The government offices have started delivering prompt and easy service to the public

By SANJAYA DHAKAL

One of the most noticeable changes that have occurred following the royal proclamation of February 1 is in the sector of public service delivery.

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From citizenship certificate to passport and from driving license to land ownership, government officials have scrambled to provide prompt service to the people.

The meeting of government secretaries held immediately after the royal proclamation had decided to augment the level of service delivery promising to bring about 'conspicuous change' within 15 days. As a result, the services that used to take days, if not weeks, in the past are being provided within a matter of hours.

Naresh Bista is amazed at the speed with which the officials renewed his driving license. "Earlier it used to take at least a week to renew the license. But now I got it the same day and without any hassle," he said.

Similarly, people thronging at the district administration office in Lalitpur said they were delighted over the remarkable swiftness in the delivery of citizenship as well as passport.

Even the most laggard of the government service delivery unit – the Land Revenue Offices – have stirred into action.

The speed of service delivery to the public has seemingly increased in most government offices, particularly after the deployment of security teams to keep close watch on their functioning.

Security teams had been deployed to all the three district land revenue offices in the valley – these are the offices against which there were the most public grievances over corruption and delay. Due to their deployment in land revenue offices, people have reported quicker and efficient service delivery.

But still there were reports of brokers or writers (Lekhandas) working quietly in the vicinity of these offices. Brokers charge excess amount of money from service-seekers and speed up their work, which otherwise gets tangled up in red-tape.

Many say that unlike other offices, brokers or writers in land revenue offices indeed play a facilitating role as well. "It is simply not possible for ordinary person to write legal mumbo jumbo when carrying out functions like writing loan deeds or land ownership transfer documents. Therefore, it would be better to regularize and monitor the job of writers by allowing them to charge certain amount. This will end corruption and ensure quality service as well," said Biswas KC of Lagankhel who had gone to the Land Revenue Office, Lalitpur to get land ownership certificate.

Likewise, in transport office of Lalitpur, the brokers ran away after the security team arrived there. "All staffs are working smoothly," said Lila Nidhi Koirala, chief of the office. Security team even nabbed some brokers from that office and handed them over to police.

Meanwhile, the meeting of the secretaries held under the chairmanship of chief secretary Dr. Bimal Prasad Koirala has asked all the ministries to come up with their action plans to speed up service delivery.

The Ministry for Local Development has already introduced a 39-point action plan to make the service delivery effective. The action plan includes sector-wise devolution. As per the action plan, sectors like agriculture, livestock, primary education, primary health and local infrastructure would enjoy full devolution within the current fiscal year. Likewise, five districts will be allowed to enjoy full devolution in all sectors within this month on test basis.

Following the strict order by the Local Development Ministry asking the municipalities to complete collecting garbage before 7 am in the morning, the Kathmandu metropolitan and Lalitpur sub-metropolitan authorities have vowed to start collecting garbage at night.

The Environment Divisions of the two municipalities have made arrangements for the night collection of garbage. According to Indra Man Singh Suwal, chief of the environment division of Kathmandu metropolitan, they would start collecting garbage after 9 pm from now onwards. "Now the city would be truly clean," added Mukunda Ranjit, chief of the environment division of Lalitpur sub-metropolitan.

On the other hand, the director general of Department of Customs Krishna Hari Baskota has directed his subordinates to complete custom tests and clearance procedure within two hours.

The Health Ministry has already asked all the doctors and medical workers to return to the place where they have been designated to work immediately. It has warned of action as per the Health Service Act against those found not working.

Even as the initial response to the royal proclamation has been largely positive as far as service delivery is concerned both inside and outside the capital valley, the question remains whether it is advisable to deploy security teams to coax the government officials to do what they are supposed to do anyway. Many believe that the motivation to work efficiently should come from within the bureaucracy for this quicker delivery to become sustainable in the long run.