‘Govt mulling downsizing bureaucracy to cut costs’

Kathmandu / Sept 24: Minister of Federal Affairs and General Administration Lalbabu Pandit on Monday said that the government was considering downsizing the bureaucracy.

Addressing a function in the capital on Monday, Pandit said that it has become necessary to downsize the bureaucracy to cut costs.

“The productivity of the bureaucracy is much lower compared to the investment,” Pandit said without mentioning the number of positions to be axed. “The civil servants only care about their salaries and benefits.”

Bloated bureaucracy, Pandit claimed, was the main reason for low productivity. He said that the government’s focus now would be on hiring limited but competent staffers and reshape the organizational structure for smooth functioning of government offices. Pandit said that the new legislation including the Federal Civil Service Bill would address a lot of problems facing the bureaucracy.

Despite Pandit’s claims of bloated bureaucracy, many provincial and local governments are still unable to function efficiently in lack of sufficient staff. There is still shortfall of around 37,000 personnel to fill the 137,614 posts created in the three tiers of the government.

Like its predecessors, the Oli government, under growing pressure for failing to deliver on its poll promises, has been shifting the blame to ‘incompetent bureaucracy’.