KATHMANDU: Minister for Information and Communications, Dr Bikram Timilsina, has directed bodies concerned for implementation of policies and programmes and the budget of the current fiscal year along with broader administrative reforms by developing responsible, accountable and result-oriented work culture in the ministry and all subordinate bodies.

During the employees’ meeting at the Ministry today, he instructed them to immediately implement the system of finalizing the file that can be decided from ministry-level within a single day as well as to reach to final decision within five days for the files that require inter-agency coordination.

Asking to make evaluation system effective on the basis of daily performance review, regular monitoring and work performance agreement, Minister Timilsina opined that the system of reward and punishment should be institutionalized.

The Communications Minister laid emphasis to connect law-making and budget implementation with output and making service delivery fast, transparent and digital-friendly.

Stating that the Ministry has made remarkable progress in implementation of government’s 100-point reform agenda, he pointed out the need of continuously connecting this with reforms and results.

Minister Dr Timilsina argued that employees should inform its leadership on time to resolve problems by self-evaluating their responsibilities, adding review meeting should be new basis of improvement not only limited to past evaluation.

Mentioning that every employee should take responsibility of their work conducted every day from their section, he directed to carryout activities in result-oriented manner as per the objectives determined by act and laws.

The Communications Minister stressed the need of reform in decision process and file management system to effectively implement the budget of current fiscal year.

He asked to implement evaluation system generating daily report to make performance more effective, to start a practice of preparing action plan in the morning by each section and reviewing them in the evening and to conduct daily, weekly, fortnightly, and monthly review meetings regularly.

Minister Dr Timilsina expressed the view that evaluation of employees should be conducted based on work performance agreement and a system should be developed where the leadership failing to make their employees accountable should also be responsible.

Expressing his displeasure at dillydally that takes place in the ministry and subordinate bodies, he called for putting to an end the tendency of passing the buck.

He urged that any pressure to act against the law should be reported directly to him and instructed to make the ‘front desk’ established in the ministry more effective and to make all possible services available through the online system.

Stating that lawmaking has been placed as a top priority for the current fiscal year, the Communications Minister mentioned that in this context, the Mass Communications Bill has already been moved forward after getting approval, in principle, from the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Law.

Similarly, he instructed the bodies concerned that the discussion on the Media Council Bill should start immediately, the law department should set timelines for various bills and review progress weekly, and aim to present six bills to the federal parliament within the current fiscal year.

Secretary of the ministry, Laxmi Kumari Basnet, admitted that capital spending was pretty low last fiscal year and promised to make sure the budget is used effectively this year to get results.

Secretary Basnet informed that works on Organization and Management (O&M) survey of the Information and Broadcasting Department and the Printing Department has been completed, and O&M will soon be carried out in other agencies as well. She also clarified that responsibility management and performance will be made more effective in achieving the ministry’s annual goals.

In the meeting, Ministry’s Joint-Secretary Udaya Bahadur Ranamagar emphasized the need to prioritize good governance and effective service delivery, and expressed commitment to developing a system to classify the files received by the ministry as urgent, important, and routine, and to complete them all within the set timeframe.

He also expressed his commitment to implement a ‘report card’ system that provides information on the status of each file in the ministry and its subordinate bodies.

Similarly, Joint-Secretary Anil Kumar Dutta emphasized that the ministry and senior management team under it should hold regular meetings and that all employees should perform their duties responsibly.

In the meeting, detailed discussions were held on the work plan and budget implementation for the current fiscal year 2026/27, law-making, service delivery, performance agreements, administrative reforms, and enhancing the effectiveness of the subordinate bodies.