Oli Continues to Transfer Secretaries Without Letting Them Settle at One Place
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WITHOUT F EAR OR FAVOUR Nepal’s largest selling English daily Vol XXVIII No. 235 | 8 pages | Rs.5 O O Printed simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj 35.4 C 5.1 C Saturday, October 17, 2020 | 01-07-2077 Bhairahawa Jumla Oli continues to transfer secretaries without letting them settle at one place Serving and retired bureaucrats say the current administration is stable and it could have done much to strengthen civil service, but it is doing just the opposite. ANIL GIRI Population, in his last five years as a KATHMANDU, OCT 16 secretary. Frequent transferring of top On Thursday, Secretary at the Office bureaucrats like secretaries and of the Prime Minister and Council of joint-secretaries has long been the Ministers Yadav Koirala got trans- bane of Nepal’s bureaucracy, which is ferred to the Ministry of Federal also called the permanent govern- Affairs and Local Development. He ment, as the elected one has a maxi- was one of the 10—out of the total 69 mum term of five years. secretaries of the Government of However, in the past, Nepal has Nepal—who were transferred. always struggled to have an elected Transfer of secretaries is just a regu- government complete its full term. lar process in bureaucracy and With new governments formed every Cabinet makes these decisions. But in nine months on an average, frequent Koirala’s case, this was his fifth trans- transfers of secretaries had become fer in just two years. the order of the day, as ministers Former bureaucrats and experts on would make changes in their minis- administrative affairs say while the tries just as they wished. government can shuffle civil servants The Oli government, however, was when it wants, senior staff, like secre- given the mandate to serve for the full taries, should be allowed to serve for term, hence it should have worked on POST PHOTO: ANGAD DHAKAL some time before they are sent from strengthening bureaucracy by letting Ranipokhari, with Balgopaleshwar Temple in the middle, is illuminated in evening light. Preparations are being made to inaugurate the historic pond following its post-earthquake restoration. one ministry to another so as to allow secretaries serve at least for two years bureaucracy to function smoothly. at one ministry, according to former “For good results, delivery per se and serving bureaucrats. and policy consistency, it is better if a There is no official data on how secretary is given at least two years to many changes or transfers have been serve at one ministry or one state enti- made at the top level of bureaucracy Triumph at 29,000 feet: Everest has seen over ty,” said Kedar Bahadur Adhikari, in the last two and half years after Oli who retired as secretary from the became the prime minister. A secre- Ministry of Culture, Tourism and tary, however, said there were more Civil Aviation last week. He had than a dozen reshuffles of the top 6,500 footfalls since first ascent in 1953 served in five different ministries, bureaucrats in this period. including the Ministry of Health and >> Continued on page 2 In recent years, summit hopefuls have been growing since the tragedy on the tallest mountain in 2014 and its closure following the 2015 earthquake. all 14 mountains above 8,000 metres at the age of 31 years, becoming the youngest person to do so. The success rate of climbers has been improving since 2016. A total of 451 mountaineers, including 197 for- eigners, reached the top of Everest in 2016 after the peak saw no climbers in 2015, the year when Nepal was hit by a devastating earthquake that killed nearly 9,000 people. Quake-triggered avalanches killed 20 climbers. On April 18, 2014, there was an ava- lanche near Everest base camp which killed 16 Nepali guides. Rescuers pulled out 13 bodies and the remain- ing three were never recovered as search and rescue operations were called off due to too much risk. The first post-avalanche ascent took place on May 23, 2014, when Chinese climber Wang Jing along with five Nepali climbing guides reached the summit of Everest. However, her ascent was marked by controversy as she flew over the Khumbu Icefall in a helicopter instead of crossing it on foot. High-altitude climbing guides had PHOTO COURTESY: KAMI RITA SHERPA cancelled all their planned expedi- An undated photo shows a queue of climbers making a final push towards Everest summit. tions to pay respect for their dead col- leagues. SANGAM PRASAIN tallest mountain in the world. But Wang completed her climb with KATHMANDU, OCT 16 This year, Covid-19 kept all expedi- five guides that were arranged pri- tions away, the second time in recent vately. The Department of Tourism A total of 6,507 mountaineers have years. There were no expeditions in had also issued the climbing permit as climbed Everest from the Nepal side 2015 following the April earthquake. a challenge to the guides who decided since Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and Last year was significant in terms to boycott the expedition. The disaster New Zealander Edmund Percival of records set on the world’s tallest had brought a simmering tension Hillary first set foot atop the world’s peak. According to the ministry, there between the government and the highest peak in May 1953. were five record-setting events for climbing guides as the government This and other figures are con- 2019. did not pay heed to their demands. tained in the latest annual mountain- On May 22 and 23, a total of 223 and Following the disaster, the govern- eering statistics published by the 212 climbers reached the summit, ment had promptly announced a pay- Tourism Ministry on Tuesday. Among which has been recorded as the high- ment of Rs40,000 to the victims’ fami- the 6,507 summiteers, 471 are female, est and the second-highest number of lies to cover funeral costs. However, with Junko Tabei of Japan being the climbers on the top of Everest on a high-altitude guides and workers were first to make it to the top in 1975. particular day. angered by the government’s paltry The 8,848-metre (29,028 feet) Everest That year, the government issued a handout offer which led them to inten- straddles Nepal and China and the record number of permits, leading to sify their protest. summit can be reached from both ‘traffic jams’ on the icy route to the top In 2017, a total of 426 climbers, countries. It costs less to climb from of the world. Also, 10 people died, the including 199 foreigners, made it to the Chinese side since the royalty is highest death toll in four years. the top, slightly fewer than in 2016. less than Nepal’s $11,000 per person Kami Rita Sherpa climbed Everest The number of summiteers rose sig- and also because there is a motorable twice within a week, on May 15 and 21, nificantly in 2018 when 560 individu- road up to the base camp. giving him the distinction of having als, including 262 foreigners, reached Nepal’s Tourism Ministry started made the highest number of Everest the top. This record was broken in collecting details of events on Everest ascents in the world–24. 2019 when a crowd of 644 mountain- dating from 1922 when seven Sherpa The ministry said that the eers, including 280 foreigners, stepped climbers died in an avalanche, becom- Sagarmatha Height Measurement on top of the world. ing the first reported deaths on the Expedition 2019 team, led by chief “As the allure of Everest has survey officer Khimlal Gautam grown, so have the crowds,” said of the government of Nepal, Ang Tsering Sherpa, former president climbed Everest on May 22 and of the Nepal Mountaineering installed scientific equipment on Association. According to him, the the summit. The government is number of Everest aspirants in Nepal yet to announce the height of started to swell from 2007 when China Everest. started issuing Everest climbing cer- Nirmal Purja has climbed all tificates stating the height as 8,844.57 14 mountains above 8,000 metres metres while Nepal issued certificates in the record time of 6 months saying 8,848 metres. and 6 days and became the fast- The lower height was not recog- est person to do so. nised by various international organi- Ministry records show that sations, Sherpa said. Mingma Gyabu Sherpa climbed >> Continued on page 2 C M Y K SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2020 | 02 NATIONAL Despite spending millions on containing Covid-19, Lumbini Province has little to show for it A chunk of the budget was spent on procurement of medical equipment but the government failed to manage the required human resource to use those equipment. AMRITA ANMOL BUTWAL, OCT 16 The Lumbini provincial government has spent nearly half a billion rupees for the prevention and control of Covid-19 so far, but the rate of disease spread has not slowed down in the province, nor are the patients getting quality care. According to the data of the Ministry of Social Development in the province, Rs 495.2 million has been spent to combat Covid-19 so far. Officials say a large chunk of POST PHOTO: ELITE JOSHI this amount was spent on procure- A customer buys barley seeds at Indrachowk, Kathmandu on Friday. Sowing of barley seeds marks the start of Dashain festival that starts on ment of medical equipment and medi- the day of Ghatasthapana, which falls on Saturday this year. Once the seeds sprout and grow into grass or jamara, they are used as offerings on cines for government hospitals and the main day of the festival, Bijaya Dashami.