Mithila Municipality of Dhanusha has been under lockdown for eight days. Deputy Chief Sunita Singh Budhathoki alleges that City Chief Mahendra Mahato has singled out the implementation of the plan. For the same reason, despite the lockout with the support of 27 people's representatives, no agreement has been reached in the negotiations so far. Chief Mahato says that the implementation of the plan is being delayed because the deputy chief is arbitrarily.

Ward No. 3 chairman Ram Ekwal Mahato said that due to the clash between the chief and deputy chief, not only the plans for the current financial year have been affected, but the policy and program and budget formulation for the next year are also being delayed.

"There are many problems due to the dispute between the mayor and deputy mayor," he said, "the plan is not being implemented." He said that there are 20 plans in Ward No. 3 in the current financial year. However, due to the dispute between the mayor/deputy mayor, he claims that 17 plans could not be agreed upon.  

Chief Mahato is elected from Congress and Deputy Chief Budhathoki is elected from CPN UML . He said that when both of them were in the party position, there were many disputes in the municipal administration.

Information officer Sanjay Kumar Mahato informed that after ten months of the current fiscal year, only about 15 percent has been spent in this municipality. Chief Administrative Officer Ashok Kumar Mandal said that he could not give certain details about the plan as the planning and accounting branches were also locked. "The planning and accounting branch has also been locked," he said, "that's why I can't say for sure how many plans have been implemented." After the Supreme Court annulled the village assembly which was passed by village head Rajkumar Sah in violation of the law, another village assembly has not been held. And, the municipality president Sah says that the environment for holding another village assembly has not been created. 

'The condition of the village is very bad . So far, we have not been able to pay anyone's salary. The village meeting was canceled three months ago,'' he said. He alleged that despite running the municipality as stated by the vice president, they are not ready to cooperate. He assured that a new chief administrative officer appeared three days ago and that he will hold a board meeting this week and discuss the matter of holding a village meeting. 

Vice President Ramwati Mandal is adamant that she will not allow another village meeting to be held until the money spent on the fake village meeting is returned. "The amount spent by holding a fake village meeting should be returned," she said, "People's money cannot be misused." Even if I return all that money, I will allow another village assembly to be held.'

He said that the chairman of the municipality Sah is involved in irregularities and corruption and when he raised his voice against it, the functioning of the municipality was affected. Since there is no village assembly, the entire functioning of the municipality is at a standstill. Here, even though the head and deputy head of the municipality belong to the same party, there is a dispute when the shares are not agreed upon in the operation of the plan.

Kshireshwarnath municipality chief against the deputy chief's press conference. Photo: Kantipur

In Dhanush's Kshireshwarnath municipality, the chief and deputy chief have also been accused of the allegations. Here the city chief Sukdev Yadav is in the minority and  Deputy Chief Rachna Shrestha is in majority in Mathe . In the last week of Baisakh, both of them had held separate press conferences and expressed anger against each other. The deputy chief accused the city chief Yadav of making irregularities in the consumer committee of every scheme.

However, Chief Yadav satirizes the Deputy Chief and says that tourists are people's representatives. Chief Yadav says that it is difficult to work because of this. The Chief is elected from UML and the Deputy Chief is elected from Congress. Information Officer Ajay Kumar Yadav said that the City Council held a council meeting last December. However, he estimates that 5 percent of the development budget has been spent so far. The work of salary allowance and multi-year plan is being done regularly. He said that the implementation of other plans has been delayed due to disputes.

Although there is no dispute between the chief and deputy chief in Lakshminiyan Rural Municipality, there is a dispute between the minority and the majority. For the same reason, the village assembly was held eight months late (last February). There are seven wards in this municipality. Out of which five are ward presidents elected from CPN-UML, one from Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) and one from Congress. Although the chief deputy chief belongs to the same party, there has been a controversy since he was elected due to the clash of the ward presidents. Accounts officer Sanjit Kumar Yadav informed that not even one rupee of the development budget has been spent in this municipality so far. According to him, a meeting was held in February. However, so far, the work has not been done except for the payment of salaries and allowances. Chairman of Ward No. 2, Lalji Yadav, alleged that there was no coordination due to the selfishness of the village chairman.

However, Village Chairman Bhogi Mishra said that the ward presidents did not agree to do illegal work and that is why the village assembly was delayed. He said that by constructing a road without a plan, the ward presidents will not allow the village assembly to be held unless payment is made. "Which has no accounting in the municipality". How will the payment for that road be made," he questioned and said, "The ward presidents were not allowing the village meeting to take place by blocking the front. However, now the construction work is being done at a fast pace.'

Even in Nagarine municipality, there is controversy when the mayor and deputy mayor are from different parties. Here, the leader is Vinay Kumar Yadav elected from Congress and the deputy leader is Radhadevi Yadav elected from UML . Due to the confrontation between the two people, the development and construction here is also being affected. Deputy Chief Yadav said that when the city head does not use the authority, there is a dispute. The Deputy Chief is accused of being singled out by the City Chief . However, city chief Yadav said that when the deputy chief tries to coerce the minority by threatening the majority, there will be a dispute. 

Mithila, Kshireshwar, Dhanauji and Lakshmani are representative municipalities. In most of the municipalities, there is a dispute between the chief and deputy chief when they do not agree on the distribution of plans, when they belong to different parties and when they maintain their own positions.

Political analyst Roshan Janakpuri said there are four reasons for the chief-deputy chief dispute. He said that in most places, there are women as deputy heads and when patriarchal thinking does not accept it, conflicts appear. "Our society thinks that women don't know and don't understand," he said, "they think they are weak". Therefore, in some places, there is a controversy when the chief tries to reprimand the female vice-chief.' 

He said that there was a conflict when most of the people's representatives were engaged in earning business. He commented that even when 90 percent of the people's representatives of the local government try to earn illegally, there is a dispute. Another reason for the dispute is the party problem, he said. "There is a dispute because of the party's past." When there is a different party, there is opposition between the villagers, he said, then instead of working and serving the people, they start defaming each other. Ambition also causes problems, he said.

His suggestion is to make government arrangements and binding laws to solve such problems. "Rights and obligations should be more clear in the law," he said, "Those who do not fulfill their obligations should be held guilty." Economist Rakesh Mishra said that due to the conflict between the chief and deputy chief in the municipality, the work of the current financial year and the next financial year will be affected when the budget expenditure is low. He insisted that the current year's plan will not be carried out effectively and preparations for the next year will not be possible.  According to him, the impact of the budget expenditure will also affect the development, construction and service facilities of citizens. "Building development in a short time is not qualitative," he said. Which increases corruption . And, its effect reaches the common people.'