All the 79 local level employees of Karnali have protested during the implementation of the budget for the current financial year and the preparation of the next year's budget.
The employees protested with 14 points demanding that the Unified Civil Service Act should be promulgated, that the chief administrative officer should be an employee of the local level, and that double consent should not be required for the transfer of employees at the inter-local level. Because of this, the service flow of all local levels has been affected.
Bel Bahadur Vick of Chokune rural municipality-5 of Surkhet said that he went to the rural municipality office last Friday to pay for the maintenance of the Ballekhola irrigation scheme, but he had to return empty-handed. According to him, the rural municipality has allocated 12 lakh rupees for the plan.
'They returned that there are no employees,' he said, who is the chairman of the consumer committee, 'We have not been able to pay the wages of 30 laborers for one and a half months of work due to lack of payment.'
"The work was completed in Baisakh, when we went to the municipality office with the treasurer and secretary, we did not find the staff," Bantha, the chairman of the committee, said, "We don't know when the work will be done." Khadak Wik, Chairman of Chokune Rural Municipality, said that along with the development construction, general recommendation work at the ward level has also been blocked due to the employee movement. He says that through the
announcement, the attention of the state government has been drawn to create an environment for the employees to return to work quickly. Ganesh Bahadur KC, President of Triveni Rural Municipality, said that due to the employee agitation, it will be a problem to meet the target of this year's budget and bring the next year's budget on time.
Karnali state government promulgated the Local Services (Formation and Operation) Act-2081 on 29 October 2081. But after the said Act was not implemented and became controversial, the Bill with amendments was registered in the Provincial Assembly on March 12th. But after the cabinet meeting held on May 26 decided to withdraw the amended bill from the assembly, the employees started protesting.
They have been protesting since May 1st and have stopped other services except essential services since May 8th. On Wednesday, Diuso employees staged a rally in the city and staged a dharna at the office of the Chief Minister and the Council of Ministers. "We will not go back to work until the demand is met," said Kamal Visi, co-ordinator of the local service workers' network.
Dholakraj Dhakal, Secretary of the Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers, said that since the bill to amend the Local Services (Formation and Operation) Act had been introduced in the State Assembly on May 2, the employees were asked to return to work. "In the said bill, we have tried to make it compatible with the State Civil Service Act and Regulations-2080," he said.
