Financial and administrative functions have come to a standstill in the absence of a Chief Administrative Officer for months at two local levels in Baitadi.

Of the 10 local levels in the district, Surnaya and Pancheshwor rural municipalities are without a Chief Administrative Officer.

The Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration sent a Chief Administrative Officer to both these local levels, but he did not appear in the rural municipality and was transferred elsewhere. The work of the municipality has been affected due to the absence of an administrative officer.  

The municipality has been without a Chief Administrative Officer since the transfer of the Chief Administrative Officer of Surnaya Rural Municipality, Basanta Bahadur Dhanuk, to the Election Commission. On Poush 26, the ministry had sent Khagendra Bharati as the Chief Administrative Officer to Surnaya Rural Municipality.

Bharati was transferred to the District Election Office, Baitadi, without appearing in the rural municipality. Municipal Chairman Amar Bahadur Kunwar informed that financial and administrative work has been halted due to the absence of a Chief Administrative Officer in the municipality. ‘The Chief Administrative Officer who was sent repeatedly has also been transferred from the road,’ he said. ‘The ministry has caused trouble for days.’ 

One person working in the municipality is currently undergoing in-service training. He said that the acting chief administrative officer is also not in the municipality as he will be undergoing treatment after the training.

Similarly, in the last week of Kartik, the ministry transferred the chief administrative officer of Pancheshwor rural municipality, Dal Bahadur Dhami, to Melauli municipality in Baitadi. Even after two months, the ministry did not send an administrative officer, so Pancheshwor became without a chief administrative officer. The municipality's work had come to a standstill when the ministry did not send an administrative officer. Municipality chairman Gorakh Bahadur Chand, who has been visiting the ministry for months to request the sending of an administrative officer, had warned that he would go on a hunger strike in the second week of Poush.

Following Chairman Chand's warning, the ministry had appointed Birsingh Bhandari as the chief administrative officer in Pancheshwor on Poush 14. Rural municipality chairman Chand said that Bhandari had not been present in the municipality even after 19 days since the ministry sent him.

Since Mahamal Ghatal, the head of the education department in the municipality, is a senior employee of the seventh (education) level, he did not want to be the acting chief administrative officer. Ghatal had sent a letter to the ministry on Poush 9 requesting it to assign the financial and administrative responsibilities to other employees as demanded by the municipality, as it would be difficult to perform work in the same office for a long time and would not be able to perform work effectively.

‘The ministry can neither send the Chief Administrative Officer appointed by it to the municipality nor give the responsibility to another employee of the municipality,’ said Chairman Chand. ‘I have even written a letter to the secretary of the ministry as the employee has not been sent for so many days.’

Chairman Chand sent a letter to the secretary of the ministry, Parbati Sharma, on WhatsApp, asking why the management of the Chief Administrative Officer could not be done even for three months after transferring the employees of the municipality without any alternative. He wrote in the letter, "Why don't you pay attention to me even though I have repeatedly made requests to your ministry? Employees like you, who sit in the ministry and give sermons, are unable to manage the public's affairs even when they are stopped."