Kathmandu. The Bagmati Province government has taken an important decision to reduce the number of ministries.
A meeting of the Council of Ministers held on Tuesday decided to reduce the existing 14 ministries to eight. The decision will come into effect from July 1.
Spokesperson of the state government and Minister for Financial Affairs and Planning Prabhat Tamang said that the 6 ministries have been merged to make the administrative structure economical and effective. As per the new structure, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Law and Cooperatives, Economic Affairs and Planning, Water Supply, Energy and Irrigation, Physical Infrastructure Development, Agriculture, Livestock, Forest and Environment, Health and Social Development and Industry, Tourism, Labour and Transport will be there.
The government has said that it will implement the decision only from July 1 without changing the structure immediately in view of the implementation of the budget for the current fiscal year. The incumbent Council of Ministers will continue to function during that period. According to Minister Tamang, the budget for the coming fiscal year will be prepared based on the coding system of 8 ministries as per the new structure. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Planning will develop new coding for the ministries and its subordinate offices.
The government took this decision based on the recommendations of a high-level study committee formed for strengthening the administrative structure. The committee led by former secretary Bimal Wagle had pointed out the need of restructuring, concluding that there was no expected improvement in the performance of the ministries despite the increase in the number of ministries. The committee had concluded that the expansion of the ministry was mainly done to maintain political balance.
The number of offices under the province is expected to come down from 198 to 148 after the implementation of the new structure. The government has estimated that this will save around Rs 5 billion annually in recurrent expenditure. Minister Tamang said that the saving amount would be used for capital expenditure.
Meanwhile, an O&M study committee has also been formed for the management of employees under the Ministry. The committee will be coordinated by the provincial secretary of the Law Division of the Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers. The committee will have secretaries from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Law and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Planning as members, while the under-secretary at the Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers will be the member-secretary.
The committee will study the management of human resources as per the restructuring of the ministries and submit its report to the Council of Ministers before July 17. Likewise, the state government is preparing to make public the official information regarding this restructuring on the occasion of Language Day to be celebrated on May 24.
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