The Ministry of Home Affairs (MOHA) is working out a set of guidelines to that end. "The ministry might soon introduce the guidelines," said Laxmi Prasad Dhakal, the chief district officer (CDO) of Kathmandu. [break]
Dhakal said that the public religious functions need to be regulated and monitored in view of rising concerns over the way the funds are used. So far, there is no mechanims to monitor how such funds are used, he said.
The District Administration Office (DAO) Kathmandu has been receiving a considerable number the applications seeking security arrangements for public religious functions.
According to officials at the Planning Section of MoHA, the new guidelines will make the organizers of public religious functions fully accountable for the funds collected. "The problems now are very basic. First of all, the groups that want to organize religious functions may not be legally registered groups," Dhakal said. "The guidelines will obligate the organizers to have a wide range of qualifications and also have the funds audited."
MoHA has recently prohibited the practice of showering flowers from helicopters on the participants of public functions. "This practice has became quite common especially at religious functions. It is a superfluous practice. We felt the need to discourage it because it involved heavy security arrangements," Dhakal added.
MoHA will design the guidelines that will also check other social activities besides public religious functions now under question, officials said.
"As per the Local Adminstration Act 2028 BS, we have acted strictly against illegal operators of lottery," Dhakal said. "The soon to be formulated guidelines would further make it easier to check social functions held illegally and irresponsibly."
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