KMC’s chief executive Guragain enters office after more than three months

KATHMANDU: Saroj Guragain, the chief administrative officer of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, entered his office on Thursday despite obstruction by Metropolitan City Police personnel on the instruction of Mayor Balen Shah.

This is the first time in over three months that Guragain entered his office. Despite obstruction by the Metropolitan City personnel, Guragain was escorted to the office by KMC staffers affiliated with trade unions of the ruling CPN-UML and Nepali Congress (NC) parties.

KMC had been without a Chief Administrative Officer for over three months after Mayor Shah suspended Guragain on corruption charges. Soon after Guragain’s suspension, the officiating Chief Administrative Officer, Govinda Prasad Sharma, also resigned. Employees were agitated with Mayor Shah as they had not been able to receive their salaries for the past three months.

Shah has accused Guragain of irregularities in approving the building design of Kathmandu View Tower.

KMC employees, however, have defended Guragain, claiming that corruption charges against him are baseless. “Any decision of the KMC should follow legal procedures, not just rely on Facebook statuses (of Mayor Shah),” Nar Bahadur Karmacharya, a KMC employee, said.