Biratnagar chief administrative officer’s frequent absence raises concerns over service delivery

Biratnagar, September 17, 2026 — Biratnagar Metropolitan City’s Chief Administrative Officer Bijay Kumar Sharma has been absent from the office for much of his tenure, with elected representatives and municipal sources saying his frequent leave has disrupted administrative work and service delivery.

Sharma joined the metropolitan office as chief administrative officer on June 16, 2026. According to figures provided by municipal sources, he attended the office for only 26 days during July and August, which together had 62 days. Some of those days were spent on official assignments outside the office, including delivering relief to flood-affected people and attending meetings and discussions at government ministries.

A municipal source said Sharma took 10 days of leave in July, apart from weekends, and seven additional days of leave in August, when there were nine public holidays. Based on the source’s account, Sharma was on leave for 36 days during the two months.

Elected representatives have raised concerns that his absence has affected the metropolitan city’s administrative functioning and public service delivery.

Madhubabu Tiwari, ward chair of Biratnagar-7, said the absence had created difficulties, particularly in making payments to construction contractors.

“Problems have arisen because he is not staying in the office. Contractors are already talking about coming to surround the office because their payments have not been made,” Tiwari said. He added that service users had also started lodging complaints.

Another elected representative said the timing of Sharma’s transfer had made administrative coordination difficult because the previous officer was familiar with the financial records at the end of the fiscal year, while the new officer arrived only about 15 days before the new budget.

“When a new person was sent just 15 days before the budget, it became very difficult to work,” the representative said, adding that administrative coordination had not been properly established from the beginning.