Newly elected mayor of Dharan renounces lavish facilities

A swanky four-wheeler arranged by the Sunsari district's Dharan Sub-Metropolitan City was readied for the newly elected mayor Harkaraj Rai (Sampang) to ride as he spartanly assumed office on Tuesday.

But in what came as a shocking twist, the newly elected mayor renounce the vehicular services provided by his office to the executive head of the sub-metropolis.

Harkaraj instead pledged to serve the Sub-metropolis with over 1.7 million populations by riding on his two-wheeler (motorcycle). He said he would rather walk around observing the situation in his Sub-metropolis first-hand and interact with locals than whizz around in the luxurious offical car.

The independent candidate who won in the recently held local election with 20,821 votes took to his social networking sites to make the announcements and commitment.

He argued, "If I go around in an expansive car, I will not be able to see potholes and damaged roads on the way. Nor will I be able to feel the difficulties, inconvenience and issues facing Dharan folks while in a four-wheeler. I will ride my own motorcycle and repair the potholes and fix the cracks as well as damaged roads."

The social campaigner, who now loves to call himself 'servant' has been been raising his voices for public concerns in Dharan. He even made his phone numbers public through his page on social networking sites and urged people to call him directly if they were facing any issues such as drinking water, electricity or irregularities if any.

Rai has not visited his office after taking an oath of office. He also had announced that he will be working in the field most of the time to observe and address the real issues plaguing Dharan and its people.

Furthermore, after being elected Mayor, various social organizations have begun inviting him to honor and celebrate. The new Mayor through his social networking sites, earnestly appealed to people not to invite him to such events and let him be at the disposal of the public and ensure smooth delivery of public services.

"My first priority will be increasing productivity of the drinking water project and adding more resources," he admitted.

One of his maiden tasks in the new role was forming a taskforce which will study a scientific tax system and offer recommendations besides identifying sources of revenues, Rai said matter-of-factly.

The 39-year-old executive chief of the Dharan Sub-Metropolis reaffirmed to move ahead for the greater good of Dharan Sub-Metropolis bringing on board all sides and political parties.