VDC secys return to work

KATHMANDU, Feb 28: All VDC secretaries and employees agreed to return to work from Friday following an agreement with the government.



In a meeting held on Thursday, VDC Secretaries Welfare Promotion Centre (VSWPC) and VDC Employees´ Association (VEA) -- which had closed all 3,900 VDC offices across the country since Wednesday to press the government to address their five-point demands -- agreed to resume their services after the Ministry of Local Development (MoLD) assured of starting a process to conduct elections for local bodies simultaneously with the Constituent Assembly (CA) polls.[break]



"We decided to reopen our offices after MoLD assured that it would start groundwork for the conduct local elections," said Damodar Rijal, president of VSWPC. "We have not called off our entire agitation, though. We will be carrying out other forms of protests to press the government to hold local elections."



At the meeting, MoLD also agreed to form a taskforce to submit a report on ways to address other demands of the VSWPC and VEA. The taskforce, led by Bhodraj Niraula, Chief of Local Self Governance Management Division at MoLD, will submit its report within a month. The committee includes representatives from MoLD, VSWPC and VEA as its member.



In addition to local elections,VSWPC and VEW also want the government to form a commission to scientifically manage human sources in local bodies and allocate adequate budget for distribution of social security allowances.



VDC secretaries complain of having to fulfill responsibilities of elected representatives of people as the government no local elections have been held for the past one decade. "As we are forced to run VDC offices, we are prone to facing several criminal charges," said Chuda Mani Guragain, Koshi Zonal Coordinator of VSWPC.



According to Guragain, nearly 150 VDC secretaries are now facing charges of recommending non-Nepali nationals for citizenships. "Recommending citizenship is not our duty," said Guragain. "But, we are forced to recommend citizenship, risking our job and life. If local bodies had elected representatives as their heads, we would not have faced difficulties. This is why we want local elections at the earliest."

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