The Kathmandu Metropolitan City has announced to open ‘mediation centre’ in all of its 32 wards, including its central office.

Officials at the metropolitan office said the centres will be helpful in resolving different kinds of social problems.

To run the centres more effectively, the metropolitan city on Wednesday administered oath to 75 officials who have been trained in mediation. They had participated in a 24-day training under the supervision of Ishwor Prasad Khatiwoda, a Supreme Court judge, who is also the chief of the “mediation council”.

Each ward of the city will have two mediators and the remaining nine mediators will be posted at Kathmandu Metropolitan’s City’s central office, according to city officials.

“We are going to manage a separate office for mediators in each ward. Such centres will help resolve some personal complaints of the people within the neighbourhood peacefully,” said Hari Prabha Khadgi, coordinator of the judicial committee of the metropolitan city. “This will also help save time and money of citizens, as they will not need to hire lawyers and go to court with their problems.”

As per the report of the judicial committee made public on July 31, the metropolitan city has received 378 complaints in the past one and a half years.

Of the total cases, only 284 complaints were resolved.

The committee had received complaints relating to 44 different issues such as quarrel between tenants and house owners, domestic violence, runaway tenants, property disputes, demolition of illegal structures and finance-related issues, among others.

According to Basanta Acharya, chief of the law division at the metropolitan city, mediation centres are hugely popular in developed countries.

“This will be helpful in resolving social problems and creating a healthy society,” said Acharya, also a communication officer at the metropolitan city. “There are many personal cases pending in the court because of which an individual has to go through a lot of mental pressure. With the establishment of mediation centres, such cases will be settled at the local level in a more hassle-free environment without any cost,” said Acharya.