Govt employees in Nepal return to burnt offices and destroyed computers

:Kapil Timalsena, an undersecretary in kingdom of nepal’s ministry of wellness universe, stood on with his colleagues exterior the completely charred ministry building on Sunday afternoon. The building no longer has functional offices, computers, desks or anything worth of note. Timalsena came in the morning, marked his attendance for the day and stayed outside throughout the day.Similar was the ordeal for thousands of government employees across Kathmandu on Sunday morning — the first working day in Nepal after violent protests last week rocked the Himalayan nation and claimed at least 72 lives.Police stations and government buildings were the target of protesters, who set ablaze multiple government buildings, destroying documents and offices. While police officers found out the extent of the damage as they were on the streets immediately after the violence along with the army, government officials working in various ministries, banks, and Supreme Court realised the extent only on Sunday, a day after curfew was lifted by the army.“This is the most important ministry that plans the health-related works across the country. The mob among the peaceful protesters even got the computers together and burnt them in one place. At the gate outside, the cars of the secretary have also been burnt. The damage is extensive. We will have to find alternative ways of running the ministry. We are yet to be told how it will be done,” Timalsena said.One of the most affected by the arson are the contractual drivers attached to each ministry. Setting police and government vehicles was one of the first things that the mobs did after the peaceful march outside Parliament took a violent turn, with protesters entering the buildings setting them on fire, prompting police to fire at the crowd.The extent of damage was so high that Prime Minister Sushila Karki said on Sunday that the government will have to buy police vehicles for personnel across the country.“We are not government employees but contractual ones who drove cars for the ministry. The government employees will still be paid their salary even if they don’t have any work, but in our case, we have literally been rendered jobless. None of the cars at the government offices could be saved,” said Shakal Deb Monal, a driver with the department of roads.Monal and his colleagues said they came to the office just to mark their attendance and have been spending their time discussing the probable names in the list of Karki’s cabinet.Her government is likely to announce the names on Monday.Monal believes everyone from a contractual driver like him to a minister has been singed in the violence. “Even if they announce the names, do all ministers have their office space intact? The buildings of many ministries inside the Singha Durbar have also been burnt. Which Parliament will they go to hold the session? Everything has been damaged in 27 hours of madness,” he added.