Karnali Province facing acute shortage of staff: CM Shahi

KATHMANDU, July 23: Karnali Province has been facing an acute shortage of staff as the province is not the first choice for government employees, said Province Chief Minister Mahendra Bahadur Shahi.

Karnali is in dire need of at least around 3000 staffs to function properly, according to Shahi. The federal government has approved 1,334 government employees for the most deprived and backward of the seven provinces.

“At least about 500 employees are required immediately. Otherwise, the provincial body cannot work,” he said speaking at an interaction program organized by the Reporters’ Club Nepal on Tuesday.

The government concluded the adjustment of over 100,000 civil servants in all the three tiers of government on March 28 as per the Employees Adjustment Act—which was supposed to end the staff shortages at provincial and local governments.

But, most government employees chose the federal government instead when given the option— adding to the crunch of staff at local and provincial levels.

Furthermore, the adjustment of the employees from Karnali to elsewhere has aggravated the shortage of staff at Karnali Province. Also, the adjusted staff in the province were reluctant to register their attendance on time, which had prompted the provincial government to issue warning notice in the name of such staffers.

“Even though we requested the federal government to send staff, mostly technical staffs through Public Service Commission, the process seems to take more time,” he said.

“It is adding more problems and delays in our performance,” he added. “We have not been able to fulfill people’s need.”

“An attractive raise in the staff’s incentives will make them attracted to Karnali.”