According to Lal Babu Baniya, chairman of the Rural Information Centre in Pohkaraiya, service seekers in the region have been affected due to the absence of the VDC secretaries. He said the tendency of VDC secretaries to stay in the district headquarters citing security concerns has deprived locals of easy access to essential services. Locals have to reach the district headquarters even for procuring recommendation letters for citizenship certificates, passports, and the registration of birth and death.

Local Development Officer Gajendra Kuamar Thakur said the VDCs do not have secretaries for the past one year. He said the failure of the authorities concerned to appoint the VDC secretaries and the promotion of 29 VDC secretaries last year are the root causes behind the present predicament. “Some VDC secretaries have been carrying out additional responsibilities of looking into the affair of multiple VDCs,” he said, adding that village council meetings to be completed within mid-January were extended by a month due to the lack of VDC secretaries.

“No one wants to work in these VDCs,” Thakur said, adding that the problem will persist unless civil servants are ready to accept their responsibilities towards people and act without fear. As the VDC secretaries coordinate various government offices, their absence adversely affects development of the whole VDC, he said.