December 18: While announcing the budget for the current fiscal year on May 29, the government had announced to scrap more than 20 agencies saying that it would cut down public expenditure. However, those bodies are still functioning.

Those institutions are still operational due to the government’s lack of interest in implementing the announcement made in the budget. Also, the employees have not co-operated with the government fearing that they might lose the facilities they have been enjoying so far.

Even though the government has initiated the process of revoking those agencies, it is yet to decide about the merger of those agencies with another one. The government is still confused about what will happen to the employees, assets and liabilities of those agencies after the decision to scrap them. This has exposed the government's style of making hasty announcements but not working effectively.

The agencies that were said to be scrapped have been authorized to spend the budget until mid-December. It is unclear what will happen next.

One of the bodies that the government announced to scrap is the Nepal Intermodal Transport Development Committee. The committee is still active even though the government said in the budget that Nepal Transport and Warehousing Company Limited will do its work. There are 61 staffers in the committee, from the executive director to assistants.

Ashish Gajurel, executive director of the committee, said that the committee is still active now because the government announced to scrap the bodies without proper homework.

He says that it was a mistake to take a decision without being clear on why and for what reasons the bodies should be scrapped.

Gajurel said that even though a task force led by the joint secretary of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies had submitted a report to merge it with a transport company, he had written a note of dissent. Although the government has started the process for cancellation of the committee, it has not been able to do so.

Another agency that the government announced to abolish is the National Dairy Development Board. As per the announcement made by the government, the board will be abolished and its work including regulations, procedures and studies and research would be carried out by the relevant ministries.

The board is still functional. Instead, the employees there have intensified their lobbying to prevent it from being scrapped. Due to lobbying, the board has received the same budget as it used to get before.

Executive Director of the board, Balak Chaudhary, says that the board is still working on the study and research as well as formulating regulations and procedures. He says that he is not aware of why the government put the board in the list of cancellation. Chaudhary said that the Minister for Agriculture himself has stood against abolishing the board and he is confident that the board will remain as it is.

The government had also announced to abolish the District Election Office. It caused an uproar within days of the government announcing the decision. Since then, the government has backed away from implementing the decision. At that time, after the opposition parties blocked the Parliament, Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat stood on the rostrum of the House of Representatives and expressed his commitment to maintain the status of the district election offices despite the announcement to scrap them.

This has effectively ruled out the election offices being scrapped.