Ward Chairs Raise Concerns Over Sluggish Slum Management, Technical Glitches, and Service Delivery Issues at Kathmandu Metropolitan City

Kathmandu. The chairs of various wards of Kathmandu Metropolitan City have expressed serious concern in the Metropolitan Executive meeting regarding the delay in slum dweller management, technical complications in administrative work, and problems in service delivery.

Stating that public complaints have increased and daily operations have been obstructed, they have urged the leadership of the metropolis to take immediate concrete steps. In the meeting, strong demands were raised on issues of slum dweller management, practical difficulties with digital attendance, server slowness in land service delivery, and policy ambiguity in revenue collection.

Ramkumar KC, Chairman of Ward No. 10 of the Metropolitan City, expressed strong dissatisfaction, stating that 60 days have passed since the slum dwellers were removed from the river embankment area, but proper investigation and management have not yet occurred. He informed that the living conditions of those displaced after the removal of slum settlements are extremely difficult, and hundreds of citizens from the ward have already submitted memorandums to him regarding this issue. Questioning the role of the local government, he warned that this problem could escalate into a severe form in the near future.

Stating that the delay in problem-solving could make it difficult for ward chairs to even stay in their areas of responsibility, Chairman KC said, 'It has been more than 60 days for those slum dwellers who need to be investigated and accommodated. They have not been adequately provided with food or shelter. What has your metropolitan city been doing until now regarding the responsibility of the local government? This will take a severe turn. A situation may arise where ward chairs may not need to stay in their wards.' He urged the Mayor and Chief Administrative Officer of the metropolis to clarify this matter and take concrete steps immediately.

Similarly, Dal Bahadur Karki, Chairman of Ward No. 7, demanded that the technical problems in employee attendance management be resolved and the work style be improved. He objected to the digital attendance system marking employees absent even if they arrive only 1-2 minutes late due to Kathmandu's extreme traffic jams and vehicle checks, while they are continuously assigned work. He argued that such a system demoralizes employees during the busy end of the fiscal year.

Emphasizing the need to address the practical difficulties of employees, Chairman Karki said, 'Due to traffic jams, employees who rush to come to the office on time are marked absent if they are one or two minutes late, and they are still kept on duty. I think some improvement is needed in the system where employees are marked absent even for a minute or two delay due to special reasons.'

In the meeting, Bhuvan Lama, Chairman of Ward No. 6, complained about serious problems due to the server in the land service delivery of the metropolis. He stated that the extremely slow server of the metropolis, and sometimes its complete shutdown, has severely affected the services provided by the ward level. He demanded the development of software and systems, citing that service recipients are complaining and lodging grievances with 'Hello Sarkar' and the metropolitan city's call center due to these technical weaknesses in the system.

Chairman Lama added, 'In my ward, there are significant problems in providing land-related services. One is that our metropolitan city's server is very slow, and sometimes it goes completely down. How many times can we explain and convince the public that the server is down? We need to develop this server issue somehow within the system, don't we?'

On the other hand, Birendra Prajapati, Chairman of Ward No. 5, expressed dissatisfaction with the letter sent by the metropolis to all 32 ward offices regarding house rent tax and demanded that the letter be immediately revoked. He objected to the phrase 'collect tax voluntarily' used in the letter regarding revenue collection, arguing that it would hinder the metropolis's revenue target achievement. He stated that such an ambiguous letter would create confusion while a case regarding institutional house rent tax is sub judice in the respected Supreme Court.

Chairman Prajapati said, 'What is seen in this letter is that it says to collect tax voluntarily. What does voluntary mean? Will it meet the tax target we aim to collect? Therefore, I demand that this letter which has come should be revoked.' He also demanded the actual details of the budget expenditure of the current fiscal year before the budget for the new fiscal year is passed. Stating that it is the ward's right to get clear information on how much has been spent under capital and current headings so far, he strongly emphasized that a review of past expenditure is necessary for the effectiveness of the upcoming budget.'