Nawalparasi – Pratappur Rural Municipality has removed 92 employees working on contract and daily wage basis, excluding those in permanent positions. Rural Municipality Chair Umesh Chandra Yadav informed that the decision was made not to extend their service period, effective from Kartik 1.
Among the removed employees, the highest number are teachers. A total of 61 staff from the education sector, including 24 school attendants (pale), have been dismissed. Earlier, due to a shortage of teachers as per the official post structure, the rural municipality had hired 37 teachers under the “Chairperson Educational Employment Program.” Similarly, 11 employees from the health sector, including sweepers and health assistants, have also been removed.
The rural municipality, which has 9 wards, is now facing possible closure of lab services in health institutions after the removal of health workers. Chair Yadav further said that 20 staff members from the rural municipality and ward offices, including computer operators, office assistants, and 4th and 5th level technical staff, have also been removed.
The decision follows a circular issued by the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration and the Ministry of Finance, directing all local levels to terminate contracts of temporary and contractual staff. Based on this directive, the rural municipality’s executive committee meeting on Ashoj 24 unanimously decided not to extend their service.
Chair Yadav stated that the decision was taken due to limited internal revenue and the inability to manage salaries. The rural municipality generates only Rs. 13 million in annual internal revenue, making it financially difficult to continue paying non-permanent staff.
He admitted that service delivery will be affected due to staff removal. “Even though we know services will be affected, we were compelled to make this decision. The government does not allow salary distribution from grants, and as per the circular, salary payments for non-permanent posts would be recovered from officials. Due to low income sources, we had no choice,” Yadav told Annapurna Post.
He added that coordination will be made with the federal and provincial governments to minimize disruption in services. For future staff management, a Q&M (Office Management Survey) will be conducted and submitted to the provincial government for approval. “After necessary procedures and justification, we will manage staff based on provincial approval,” he said.
Pratappur Rural Municipality previously had 117 employees. After the dismissal, only 86 permanent employees (excluding education sector posts) remain.
Meanwhile, across seven local levels in the district, more than 650 contractual and daily wage employees are currently working. Some local levels have announced plans to remove such staff, while others say they cannot do so due to staff shortages.
- Ramgram Municipality and Bardaghat Municipality plan to remove 15–20 staff each
- Palhinandan Rural Municipality plans to remove about 52 employees
- Sunwal Municipality, Sarawal, and Susta Rural Municipalities have stated they will not remove staff due to workforce shortages
Although chiefs and chairpersons of some local levels have kept personal secretariat staff, they have assigned them to other official posts to retain them.
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