KATHMANDU – Five contact offices of President Chure-Terai/Madhes Conservation Development Board have crunch of staffs, affecting the performance of the conservation program.
The contact offices are located at Salakpur of Morang in Province 1, Mahendranagar of Janakpur in Province 2, Hetauda of Makwanpur for Province 3 and 4, Butwal in Province 5 and Lamki of Kailali in Province 7. However, only below 40 staffers out of quota of 60 are present, according to undersecretary Shree Prasad Baral.
Chure is working on agriculture, water-induced disaster control, forest, water resources, land protection and livelihood improvement programs. The programs by involving engineers, geologist, agro and hydro expert are involved in the programs have been affected due to lack of staffers at contact offices.
According to a staff at Board, development of ponds is necessary to recharge water resources. However, the engineers are not available to study for developing ponds. In the absence of geologist, no study on risk of landslides is carried out and agriculture study is halted due to shortage of agro experts.
Many posts at Khumaltar office in Lalitpur of Chure are also lying vacant, said Hem Lal Aryal, member secretary of the Board. “We have demanded the government to recruit permanent staffers,” he said.
Members and chairpersons of the Board have been given responsibilities of the contact offices located outside the Kathmandu Valley, according to a staffer. These offices have quota of an engineer, geologist, forest/ hydro expert and sociologist each. Though the experts were hired on contracts, they resigned, creating vacuum of staffers.
Board members Deepa Pradhan is holding responsibilities in Morang, Ram Dayal Yadav in Janakpur, Birendra Yadav in Hetauda, Moti Rijal in Butwal and Bidur Bharati in Kailali have been holding the works of staffers or experts.
There are little parts of Chure forests in Province 6 (Karnali) and Province 4, ranging in Surkhet and Daunne area respectively.
The staffers, who were hiring on contracts, were charged with high tax like consultants. So they left the office, said the officials at the concerned offices. “No job security is assured here,” said an official.
Chure range is fragile and sensitive low hill areas spread in 31 districts from east to west of Nepal. The Chure conservation committee was established in June 16, 2014. The committee is working through local users committees in coordination with agriculture, forest, livestock, land conservation, water induced disaster division offices, Nepal Army, Kathmandu University, Tribhuvan University, National Trust for Nature Conservation, and various non-governmental organizations.
