Before the federal setup came into place, locals of Chepang village in Bardiya used would visit the then VDC office for administrative work. Procuring recommendation letters for citizenship certificates, registration of birth, marriage, and death, among other administrative work, was done in the village itself. But now they have to go to the district headquarters, Gulariya, for all administrative works.

As the local units were introduced, locals in far-flung municipalities were hopeful they would receive government services more easily; however, the establishment of the local unit did not ease their troubles. “We have to go to the district headquarters to use government services. Even though there’s a municipal office in our village, it is of little help to us,” said Laxmi Shahi, a local of Chepang village.

“When the municipal office was set up, we were hoping for better services at our village but that hasn’t happened yet,” said Sundar Gurung, a local of Chepang. Locals said that they have to travel to Gulariya even to pay their electricity bills. Chepang village is around 80km from Gulariya and lies on the eastern border of Bardiya National Park.

Shankar Prasad Chaudhary, chief at the District Coordination Committee, said that they are unable to establish offices in Chepang village due to lack of human resources. “We first have to make arrangements to hire employees for the offices at the local level. Once that is taken care of then the locals wouldn’t need to travel to Gulariya to get their work done,” said Chaudhary.