Govt. secretaries vow no allowance citing adverse situation

Kathmandu, Sept 16: The meeting of the government secretaries held under the coordination of the Chief Secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office in Singha Durbar on Tuesday decided not to receive extra allowances, considering the urgency to maintain austerity in an adverse situation.

The government programmes, like seminars, workshops and interactions, would be held in government offices and the province and local levels would also be asked to adopt such measures. The secretaries further pledged to cooperate with the government’s bid to hold free and fair elections to the House of Representatives on the slated date, coming March 5.

In a 21-point decision, the meeting made, the secretaries are for forwarding the activities as per existing law to intensify the reconstruction of the damaged infrastructures, considering the adverse situation. If the law relating to procurement were hindering the easy process, an amendment would be made, for which the office of the public procurement monitoring under the Prime Minister’s Office would initiate a process.

The National Planning Commission, the Finance Ministry and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority would be coordinated for assessment of the damaged infrastructures. Immediate arrangements would be put in place to ensure essential services like telephone, electricity, justice delivery, food supply, health and medication, drinking water, education, public transport.

A detailed action plan would be prepared for providing compensation for the damages incurred in the physical infrastructures, devices, machines, vehicles, furniture, and information systems. All small-scale projects, ‘tukre yojana’, would be slashed as per the proposal mooted by the new government.

The public service delivery will be made prompt, convenient, and smooth as per Gen-Z demand and spirit.