Kathmandu. ‘In the age of the internet, it would be great if the post office could send goods weighing one or two kilos instead of carrying documents,’ said Amod Dahal, acting secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Law of the Sudurpaschim Province, expressing his intention to make the postal service work in the Sudurpaschim Province.
The postal service, which has been operating to exchange letters since 2035, has now been affected by information technology. However, the locals have understood the effectiveness of the postal service. That’s all, this service needs to bring about a change in its working style that suits digital technology.
The post office is at the local level. But the people of the Sudurpaschim Province have not been able to benefit as expected because its implementation style is not up to date, said Acting Secretary Dahal. According to him, the postal union and the provinces should be coordinated at the local level as per the need. Deputy Secretary Dahal, in the meeting of the thematic committee (communication and information technology sector) organized by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in Kathmandu on Sunday (as per Section 22 of the Union, Provinces and Local Levels) Coordination and Interrelation) Act, 2077), not only did he attend the meeting with his local problems, but he also tried to find solutions to the problems through cooperation. Like him, in the meeting, representatives of the rural municipality, provincial government and federal government openly expressed their views on each other’s operational problems and complexities. The ministry had also found a solution after listening to these problems.
The meeting held in the presence of Minister for Communications and Information Technology Prithvi Subba Gurung showed that it was very necessary to strengthen the sense of intimacy between the three levels of government. Minister Gurung has repeatedly expressed the view that it is appropriate to cooperate with each other for the benefit of the country. Ministry Secretary Radhika Aryal also emphasized that the unity of the three-tier government is possible through collaboration, coordination and cooperation. However, the discussions on the issues raised in the meeting revealed a lack of adequate coordination among the three tiers of government.
Manmaya Pangeni Bhattarai, Director General of the Department of Postal Services, said that although the postal service has expanded to all three levels, including the local, provincial and federal levels, many challenges have been faced due to lack of cooperation at the local level. According to her, there are postal service departments at some local levels. However, he complained that the land owned by the postal service is being encroached upon by the rural municipality office.
‘The municipality itself has encroached upon the postal service’s land,’ he said. ‘We have repeatedly said that the post office should be protected and used, not demolished, but the local level refuses to do so.’ Director General Bhattarai urged the local level to cooperate with the federal government. He said that some people have encroached on postal service land and that although the local level has the main responsibility for land protection, it is not clear in practice.
Raghuram Bista, Chief Secretary of the Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers of the Gandaki Province Government, emphasized the need to expand the EMS service counter of the Postal Service Department. “At least one counter should be set up in Kathmandu,” he said, “and the postal department should now start adopting a new style of work.” He suggested that if the postal service is to be revived, the new postal structure should also carry the passports and other documents of people going for foreign employment.
Similarly, questions have been raised about the working style of the local level in the leakage of advertising revenue. Koshari Niraula, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Communications, said that even though there is a legal provision for local levels to impose taxes on advertisements such as event management and hoarding boards, billions of revenue have been wasted because they have not been able to utilize it properly. Advertisement Board Executive Chairman Laxman Humagain emphasized that it is imperative to implement the Advertisement Act in practice.
National Information Commission Chief Commissioner Dr. Suresh Acharya said that the failure to create any structure in the provinces and localities other than the central office of the commission, which is responsible for information at the national level, is a serious issue in itself. ‘Some people do not even know about the National Information Commission,’ he said, ‘there is a lack of coordination between the local and provincial governments.’
Pradeep Pariyar, Director General of the Department of Information and Broadcasting, expressed the view that the federal government should look into the issue of frequency distribution. Khim Bahadur Thapa, a member of the thematic committee and President of the National Federation of Rural Municipalities, said that coordination between the federal, provincial and local governments has been increasing recently. However, he understands that the association is trying to cover up the problems seen at the provincial and local levels. According to him, the local government should take the responsibility of resolving the encroachment of government land.
Chairman Thapa informed that the municipality’s funds have been scattered in the digital framework work and it is necessary to bring uniformity in it. ‘Adequate budget is necessary for the expansion of postal services, in this case, we are ready to coordinate and cooperate on behalf of the municipality,’ he said. ‘In the case of mobile towers, the local government should receive royalties.’ The issue of public welfare advertisements received by the media was also raised in the meeting. The participants in the meeting said that it is necessary to manage the tendency of receiving double advertisements from the local to the association since online newspapers are being operated in large numbers. Joint Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office Kiran Rupakheti opined that the Citizen App should be linked to delivery.
Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gurung believes that a coordinating spirit is necessary to unite the three levels of government. Gurung, who is also the spokesperson for the Government of Nepal, said that although internet and telephone services should be expanded across the country to fulfill the government’s digital framework objective, the local level should pay special attention to it. Noting that questions have been raised about the working capacity of the provincial government in recent times, he said that responsible work performance should be given top priority to show the importance of the province. He said, “Federalism is a coordinated governance culture of cooperation among each other.”
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