Patan: Speaker Devraj Ghimire has said continuous dialogue and debate is necessary in the course of federalism implementation. Addressing a discussions programme on ‘Province and Local Level Issues in Strengthening Federalism’ organized by the Province Good Governance Centre Bagmati here today, he stressed the need for further strengthening the province and local levels as they have become the backbone of the governance system after adopting the federal democratic republican system.

“Strengthening federalism is not just about structural management, but also combining its effective implementation, policy formulation, resource mobilization and accountability. The success of the federal system of governance depends on the coordination and cooperation among the three levels of government,” said Speaker Ghimire.

He said: “Federalism, democracy and constitution are the main achievements of our political movements, which have led us to the federal democratic republic system on the back of the struggles from the end of the Rana regime to the constitutional monarchy, the ten-year armed conflict, the people’s movement and the Madhes movement. It is clearly specified in the constitution that the state power will be divided among the federal, provincial and local levels.”

Stating that the expected achievements have been made in the first term itself of the implementation of federal structure, the Speaker reiterated that necessary reforms should be made in the legal system, staff management, financial resource distribution, etc for strengthening the federal system of governance. The main problem related to federalism implementation lies in the practical handover of rights, he commented.

Speaker Ghimire also on the occasion shared that the Parliament is taking initiatives to enact the legislations including the bills related to civil service, school education and police at the soonest. Lalitpur Metropolitan City Mayor Chiribabu Maharjan stressed the need for the federal and provincial governments to remove legal complications and facilitate the local government as it works to solve the problems of the people, fulfill local needs, provide services and promote good governance.

Presenting a working paper on the issues of provincial and local levels and the upcoming tasks for strengthening federalism, National Assembly former member Khimlal Devkota stressed the need of abolishing many departments of the federal government and handing them over to the province and local levels. Centre’s Executive Director Gopal Krishna Neupane spoke on the problems of implementation of federalism and the delay in policy formulation.