The local government which is providing services at the doorstep of the people is now in the circle of questions. Stakeholders have said that there are many questions about the government as it failed to show the effective role of the legislature and the executive according to the Local Government Operation Act, lack of good governance, transparency and accountability, lack of financial discipline, failure to increase revenue and internal control system.
According to the Accountant General's report of 7 years since three-level government was formed after federalism, there are many questions about the functioning of local government. From the financial year 2074/075 to 2080/081, looking at the complaints of Beruju and Abuse of Authority Investigation Commission, Madhes province and the local level within the province are seen to be in the forefront .
There are 50 municipalities in Madhes province among the 100 municipalities of the country with the highest level of violence, while only 3 municipalities of Madhes are included in the list of the 100 municipalities with the lowest level of violence. According to the audit report of the last two years, there are only 5 municipalities in the whole country with zero unemployment, while there are 348 municipalities with 1 to 5 percent unemployment.
According to the latest report of the General Account, the country's average unemployment rate is 2.26 percent. 4.96 percent of Madhes is seen on average. 6 billion 40 million 45 million beruzu has been seen in the municipalities of Madhes only from the audit of the last financial year .
Due to the increase in beruju every year, the total amount of beruju that has to be paid by 136 municipalities of Madhes has reached 71.34 billion 8 lakh, according to the Office of the Auditor General. According to this year's audit report, 244,469,990 beruzus have been collected from the local level of Madhes, but due to the fact that most of the municipalities do not audit, the amount of beruzus is increasing, said Indra Prasad Acharya, Deputy Auditor General of the Auditor General's Office.
Public Accounts Committee at the local level cannot be formed and function according to the rules, financial procedures, financial responsibility act, accounting committee's operating procedures, lack of necessary procedures related to beruza facilities and lack of vigilance to work to make the municipality a well-governed municipality, Acharya said that the reason for the increase in beruza is lack of necessary skilled manpower.
Looking at the state of beruju in the districts of Madhes, among the 136 municipalities of Madhes, the highest 7.26 percent beruju has been observed in Siraha, while the least observed 3.15 percent beruju has yet to be resolved in district Bara.
Even though the local government seems to be excellent in service delivery, the local municipality has not made much progress in infrastructure, social and economic development. Pakurel said that the local government is very weak in the promotion of local governance and it seems that the government is missing good governance, transparency and accountability while making the internal system and the legislature and the executive effective.
Even the complaint of the abuse of authority investigation shows that the people are not satisfied with the work of the local government. Looking at the complaints so far in 081/082, out of a total of 3,488 complaints filed across the country, 2,722 complaints are related to the local level, according to the Abuse of Authority Investigation Office.
According to Bardibas authority office, two times more complaints have been received in the office in the current financial year than in the last financial year 080/081. In the last fiscal year, 921 complaints were received in the office, this fiscal year, 2,567 complaints have been received in the office. Tulsi Ram Paudel, Information Officer of Authority Abuse Investigation Office, Bardibas, said that there are many complaints in 4 districts of Dhanusha, Mahottari, Sarlahi and Siraha in 9 districts of Madhya Madhes, which are the jurisdiction of Bardibas office. Poudel informed that a total of 49 complaints have been received from Solukhumbu district, which is within the jurisdiction of the commission, while 1,37 complaints have been received from Dhanusha district along with the local level. He pointed out that it is necessary to change the working style of the municipality such as lack of compliance with laws and systemic reforms, complicating services without making them simple, accessible and speedy, not maintaining transparency, budget allocation, implementation in a transparent manner, not following public procurement laws and regulations, not paying attention to accountants, not conducting regular audits, and not having public hearings. Paudel said that although some of the complaints filed with the authority are intended to cause pain, most of the complaints show legitimate questions from the public.
