Reconstruction a priority of new chief secy

KATHMANDU, Aug 6: Acting Chief Secretary Somlal Subedi has directed all the government secretaries to prepare an action plan for carrying out reconstruction work that concerns their respective ministries as this task is going to be one of the major responsibilities of all government bodies in the next couple of years.

Subedi said this at the first secretary-level meeting that he convened subsequent to assuming office on Thursday. The cabinet meeting on Wednesday appointed him chief secretary as the incumbent in that post, Leela Mani Paudyal, is retiring on August 7. Until then, Subedi will function as acting chief secretary.Stating at the meeting that the country is soon going to become a federation of several provinces, Sudedi instructed the secretaries to be prepared for transforming the entire bureaucracy in line with a federal system and for mobilizing and training thousands of civil servants for working under the new system.

"As the political system and the leadership are now all set to restructure the country into a federal system, all the ministries need to prepare an action plan on how to change our working modalities accordingly so that there will be no confusion during the transitional period and service delivery will not be affected," Shanta Raj Subedi, secretary at the Prime Minister's Office, quoted the acting chief secretary as saying at the meeting.

Following the cabinet decision, outgoing Chief Secretary Paudyal's leave will come into effect Friday and Subedi becomes acting chief secretary until then. After that, he assumes the office of chief secretary.

Stressing the importance of inter-ministerial coordination, Subedi urged the secretaries to coordinate with all the line ministries while preparing their action plan for reconstruction and rehabilitation in the quake-affected areas. Likewise, he also directed the secretaries to give top priority to improving service delivery and containing corruption.

The acting chief secretary, at the meeting, also collected suggestions from all the secretaries on what issues he should give priority to during his three-year tenure. He sought suggestions from the top bureaucrats on more effectively implementing the recently amended Civil Service Act, which bars government officials from acquiring DV, permanent residency or the like as long as they are with the civil service in Nepal.

Likewise, he also spoke of focusing on improving relations between politicians and administrators, said officials who were at the meeting.

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