Many VDC secretaries in Myagdi and Gorkha districts, who used to work from the district headquarters instead of their respective VDCs due to valid security concerns.
Many VDC secretaries in Myagdi and Gorkha districts, who used to work from the district headquarters instead of their respective VDCs due to valid security concerns during the decade-long Maoist insurgency (1996-2006), have continued the practice even nine years after the cessation of conflict. The trend of
staying away from remote VDC offices has seriously affected service delivery in the two districts.
While the government has spent millions for the reconstruction of VDC office buildings destroyed by the then Maoist rebels though the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction in order to facilitate the work of VDC officials and provide the local easy access to government services, the VDC secretaries in the two districts are still found to working from the district headquarters and are reluctant to reach their duty stations in remote areas.
However, showing utter disregard to the grievances of locals and in stark violation of government directive, VDC secretaries reach their designated duty stations only
during the annual village council meetings and immediately hurry back to the district headquarters thereafter.
For instance, the office of Beam VDC is located in the house belonging to an official of the District Development Committee (DDC) and is just adjacent to the District Police Office while the office of Ghaar VDC is located on the third floor of the house belonging to district vice-chairperson Devendra KC of CPN-UML.
Apart from Beni, which was recently turned into a municipality after merging six VDCs, there are a total of 35 VDCs in Myagdi. However, less than a dozen VDCs in Myagdi are graced with their secretaries. The situation in Gorkha is much worse. Only six VDC secretaries in the district operate from their working areas while the remaining 54 VDC secretaries work from the district headquarters. At least eight VDC offices have been found operating from the same house at the district headquarters.
While locals ask for the reason behind the tendency of VDC secretaries operating from the district headquarters during the village council meetings every year, the secretaries defend themselves citing lack of necessary infrastructure in the VDCs and the job description that requires them to frequent the district headquarters frequently.
The tendency of VDC secretaries in the district of not staying in their respective VDC offices has affected the overall development of the region—from formulating development policies to allowance distribution. Furthermore, officials at the DDC have time and again expressed their objection to the tendency of VDC secretaries operating from ‘fairly expensive’ rented rooms at the district headquarters and have called it illegal.
Both the house owners and secretaries are found to be at fault as the house owners have not paid house rent tax and that neither the VDC office nor the secretaries are allowed to pay the rent from state coffers.
In the absence of VDC Secretaries, locals have had to go through unnecessary
hassles while procuring recommendation letters for citizenship certificates, passports, marriage, birth and death registrations, social security allowance, and
allowance for physically challenged and elderly people, to name a few.
In their defense, secretary Baburam Poudel of Ghaar VDC claimed that they were fully dedicated towards their responsibility and visit their working areas regularly. Saying that as some government works including the distribution of social security allowance and project monitoring could not be done from the VDC itself, Poudel said this is why they had to frequent the district headquarters.
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