The provincial Ministry of Internal Affairs and Law of Province 3 has deployed legal facilitators in 116 local units of the province. The objective of the move is to facilitate the service seekers—mainly women, Dalits and disabled—while receiving services from the local units.

The government dispatched the facilitators to the respective local bodies after conducting an orientation programme in Hetauda, the provincial headquarters on Tuesday.

The deployed facilitators are appointed on a contract basis for a year. They receive perks and salaries on par with Nayab Subba (non-gazetted first-class officer), according to the ministry.

Minister for Internal Affairs and Law Shalikram Jammakattel said the facilitator would be mobilised in the local units to provide help for the needy to get timely services. “We are arranging for legal facilitators in policy and programme. We have also allocated a budget for the same. We implemented the programme in some local bodies last year and found it to be quite effective. So, we decided to expand the programme this year,” said Jammakattel.

There are 119 local bodies in the province. The ministry deployed the facilitators in all the local units except three metropolitan cities—Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bharatpur. The provincial executive had deployed the facilitators in 74 rural municipalities last year.

The provincial government formulated working guidelines regarding the appointment and mobilisation of the legal facilitators. In accordance with the guidelines, the facilitators help the service seekers with due legal and administrative procedures to receive various services and facilities from the local units. The facilitators help people to prepare applications to be submitted to the government offices, inform them about the administrative works, and help them receive services from the public offices.