Dispute among local representatives has badly affected regular service of the local bodies. Development works have been stalled; people have been deprived of public service. A story of how clashes between three heads of local bodies and theirdeputies have paralyzed crucial government delivery inSiraha district.
-SurendraKumar Kamati : Centre for Investigative Journalism-Nepal
During the local elections on September 18, 2017, candidates from various parties had pledged to work together to develop their constituencies after they formed local governments. People of Siraha had placed high hopes on them.
But the elected officials failed to keep their promises. After they took their reins, they ignored the fact that collaboration and unity was required to carry out their responsibilities. In Siraha district, the dispute among the local officials has had badly affected the workflowin three local bodies.
Vice chairperson Sita Yadav and others padlocked the office of Aurahi Rural Municipality after dispute during the village assembly. Photo: Surendra Kumar Kamati
Aurahi Rural Municipality is an example of such dysfunction. On December 8, 2017, District Coordinative Committee of Siraha sent Dinesh Yadav, a sub engineer at District Technical Office to another village. But Siddhartha Yadav, a Maoist cadre who became the chairman of the village, refused to accept transfer of Yadav, who is considered close to the Federal Socialist Forum (FSF). However, Sita Yadav, who was elected vice chair from the FSF, insisted on the transfer of Yadav. The dispute between the two was so strong that it reached the court.
Due to this dispute, the work of the village has gone out of order. The dispute between the Chairman and the Vice Chair has affected the daily work of the Rural Municipality since December 2017. Chief Administrative Officer Bhagwat Regmi has returned to Kathmandu because he couldn’t work due to the dispute. His successor, Raj Kumar Das, also could not work for the same reason. He returned without attending the office.
After the authorities were unable to work at the office, the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration deployedLaxman Shah on February 16, 2017 to oversee the section as an acting administrative officer. After Shah, the Ministry sent Sunil Adhikari as Chief Administrative Officer on April 16, 2018.
But Adhikari said it was not easy to work here. “The internal dispute has made work very difficult,” he said. Only about 15-20 plans have been implemented. The plans and programs of the current fiscal year were yet to be finalised due to the differences, he said.
An assembly of Aurahi Rural Municipality had approved a total of 169 schemes for the village on March 29, 2018. The meeting had approved a budget of Rs. 238.735 million to implement the plans. However, due to the dispute between the Chairman and the Vice Chair, the project has not made any progress.
According to the Local Government Act, the payment for projects in rural municipalities can only be made after the supervision from a committee under the vice chairperson. But the committee headed by Vice Chairperson Sita has not monitoredany plans under the ward. “Siddharth tried to marginalise peoplewho don’t belong to his party, so I did not monitor the projects,” she said.Consumer committees are also not sure whether to work or not due to absence of monitoring. Ram Jatan Das, chairman of a Consumer Committee in Aurahi, said, “We are not sure whether we will be paid or not. That’s why we haven’t started our work.”RamJatan is the chairman of the consumer committee at ward number 5, which is tasked with gravelling of a section of local road.
The government officials acknowledged that dispute between Chairman and Vice chairperson has affected development work. Manoj Yadav, an official of planning section, said, “Monitoring of the plans could not take place due to the dispute. So progress on development work is very slow.”
The Maoists have won the largest number of seats including the chairman in Aurahi Rural Municipality. Among the five wards, the CPN-Maoist won two seats for chairpersons, FSF won two seats along with Sita and the Nepali Congress has won one ward. There has been some work on the wards where the Maoists are in majority. But for the last 8 months, no project has moved forward in ward 1,2 and 4.
Siraha suffers amid dispute
In Siraha Municipality, dispute between Ashweshar Yadav, the Mayor from the Federal Socialist Forum, and Deputy Mayor Dr. Namita Yadav from the UML, has badly affected the work.
Siraha Municipality looks deserted following dispute between mayor and deputy mayor.
A Scorpio car is at the center of the dispute between the mayor and deputy mayor. The municipality decided that deputy mayor would use the car withBa 2 Jha 1757 number. The municipalityhad allowed the mayor to use another rental vehicle.
However, the dispute rose between the Mayor and Deputy Mayor after the former askedlatterfor clarification claiming the abuse of the vehicle. “The DeputyMayor drives 95 kilometres from Janakpur to the office,” Mayor Asheshwar said, “We had provided the vehicle so it would be easier for her to perform her job, but she misused it by engaging in unnecessary visits.Differences emerged after I questioned her on this matter.”
But the deputy mayor Namita said the mayor interfered in her jurisdiction. “The executive had allowed me to use the vehicle. However, Mayor interfered by asking for clarification about the vehicle,” she said.
The clash that started with the use of vehicle has spread to other issues. Due to this, no plans have been implemented from the municipality for the current fiscal year.
On January 28, 2017, the Municipal Assembly of Siraha Municipality approved 37 municipal plans and 547 ward level plans. The Municipal Office had planned to buy tube well for drinking water, construction of drainage in the market and waste management center,beautification and road maintenance as well as construction of Madhesi Museum and picnic sites. These projects are in limbo.
The municipality’s development works have been stalled, but even the judicial committee hasn’t been active. The mayor and deputy mayor are at loggerheads regarding the appointment of an advisor at the judicial committee. The mayor rejected the deputy mayor’s proposal to appoint her brother in law Surya Kumar Yadav as the advisor. The judicial committee’s inaction meant that public’s complaints remain unaddressed.
RajgirSada, a resident of Mushahar neighborhood in Siraha Municipality-5, said, “We lodged a complaint after our neighbor demolished our house, but we haven’t got any response.” On June 19, 2017, he along with his family members ShibuSada, Judi Sada, Ram EkwalSada and ParikshanSada had arrived at District Administration Office after their neighbor Deepak Gohiwar smashed up their house. On the same day, the office had written to the municipality to settle the issue. But Namita, the deputy mayor, said the judicial committee was yet to come into effect and handed the case to the police.
The dispute has also impacted on the budget for next fiscal year and planning. According to the Directive on Formulation of Annual Plan and Budget of Local Level, the local levels are required to prepare annual plan and budget for the next fiscal year by May 3. But the municipality hasn’t come up with an estimated resource due to dispute. The municipality was unable to meet the deadline for planning due to the differences between mayor and deputy mayor, according to a source at the municipality.
The dispute between mayor and deputy mayor has impacted even the daily delivery of the municipality. For example, it took five months for the minute of municipal assembly to arrive at planning and account section. Decisions of the assembly can be implemented only after the document reached the section. “The planning document arrived at our office very late. We could not sign contracts without the document. That’s why it was delayed,” said Nabin Yadav, the head of planning section.
A similar story
At Karjanha Municipality, similar dispute has paralyzed the delivery. Mayor Ganga Paswan and Deputy Mayor Gyanu Shrestha couldn’t agree on where to operate the municipality office. The disagreement had badly affected the delivery of services and development works.
Office of Karjanha Municipality that was set on fire after dispute between mayor and deputy mayor.
According to the Local Government Operation Act, the municipality office should have been run from Bagaha. But Mayor Paswan insisted on moving the office to Karjanha Bazaar saying the area didn’t have enough space. After the mayor and deputy mayor stuck to their guns, the matter even reached the court. The office at Karjanha was padlocked for one and half months. The office at Bagaha was set on fire.
For the one and half months, people were deprived of any service from the municipality. Due to the dispute between the mayor and deputy mayor, many of the 243 plans approved by the municipal assembly were not implemented. Senior citizens haven’t received their monthly allowances.
Program on child nutrition has been impacted. Works such as fencing the government land, building culverts and markets and installing solar lights in the town have yet to start in the municipality.
People have been disillusioned because of the disputes in these three municipality of Siraha district. “The local bodies got their elected representatives. We had hoped that we will get services. But everything went out of order,” said Chandeshwar Prasad Yadav, a professor at SuryanarayanSatyanarayanMorbaita Yadav Multiple College.
