Kathmandu, June 23: The House of Representatives continued discussions on appropriation heads pertaining to the Ministry of Information and Communications at its meeting the other day.

Taking part in the discussions, Arjun Prasad Joshi of the Nepali Congress said that some progress has been made in the communications sector after the restoration of democracy in the country.

He said efforts should be made to expand telephone services to the rural areas since 2,400 villages still lacked telephone services, such services should also be extended to Kusma bazar of Parbat district and postal services should be streamlined.

Damodar Bastakoti, also of the Nepali Congress stressed extension of VHF telephone services in remote parts of Nawalparasi district, installation of telephone lines in Nawalpur and Gaidakot and repairing of the telecommunications set at Kulingtar.

Mohan Bahadur Basnet of the same party expressed the view that provisions have to be made in which telephone lines to Sindhupalchowk and Kavre districts are distributed from the Sundhara exchange itself.

The MP also urged repair of the VHF telephone sets in the district which are out of order and extension of telephone services to Barhabise and Lamosanghu.

Tanka Prasad Sharma Kandel, also of the Nepali Congress, lauded the programme of extending telephone services to the rural areas of the hilly region and called for extension of telephone services in Baglung district and installation of the V-sat system of telephone in remote areas like Tarakhola, Narethanti and Raya Danada of the district.

He also demanded extension of the ilaka post offices for quick delivery of postal money orders from abroad and provision of the telephone line sanctioned on the MP’s recommendation to the district.

Kailash Nath Kashodhan, also of the Nepali Congress, appreciated the budgetary allocations for the communications sector. He said the Nepal Television and Radio Nepal transmission should be extended to cover the central and farwestern development regions, priority should be given to the Abadhi language in the programmes of Radio Nepal and Nepal Television and that parliamentary proceedings should be covered live.

Telecommunications facilities should be extended to all the VDCs in Banke district and the services extended in Bageshwari VDC, he demanded.

Janak Raj Giri of the same party opined that there has been some progress in the development of the communications sector during the last decade. He said the television transmission should be extended to the farwestern and midwestern development regions and news and programmes broadcast in the Jumli and Doteli languages.

He also demanded extension of postal services and telephone lines in Martadi, the headquarters of Bajura district and other parts of the district.

Gehendra Giri of the Nepali Congress demanded increasing the quota of telephone lines in the Central Development Region, direct transmission of Nepal Television in Dang, and extension of telephone services in Tulsipur and Pawan Nagar of the district.

Ram Bahadur Bista of the Nepali Congress said the quality of Radio transmission should be improved so that it is received well in all parts of the country, increasing the telephone quota for the MPs and establishment of telephone networking in Achham.

Keshab Thapa of the same party called for extension of telephone services at all the VDCs across the Kingdom, expanding the V-sat and W.L.L. telephon, streamlining the postal services and extension of telephone services in Ilam district.

He also demanded installation of the marts system of telephone services at the Ilam-Panchthar border and Mangalbare areas.

Umakant Chaudhari, also of the Nepali Congress, stressed extension of the V-sat and W.L.L. telephon services in all the five development regions of the country, repair and operation of the VHF and marts systems in Bara district, streamlining the postal services, setting up additional post offices in Bara district and making the mobile phone accessible to all. He also demanded inclusion of local language news in television.

Nara Bahadur Hamal of the CPN (UML) demanded that V-sat telephone services be provided in Dailekh district, telephone services extended to Maoist affected areas, proportionate distribution of telephone lines be ensured in remote areas and more telephone services be installed in Narayan Municipality and Tukichaur areas of Dailekh district.

He said telephone services should be well regulated in the district and that Nepal Telecommunications Corporation should not be privatized.

Govinda Bahadur Shaha of the Nepali Congress spoke of the need of massive restructuring of the postal services, establishment of a security press within the country itself, enhancing the effectiveness of Radio Nepal’s programmes abroad, and strengthening the effectiveness of the department of information.

He also pointed out the need for the transfer of the information technology to the Ministry of Information and Communications, establishment of a national broadcasting authority and clear policy on advertisement.

CPN-UML’s Dan Bahadur Chaudhary and Damber Singh Sambahamfe said transmission of NTV and Radio Nepal programmes should reach every corner of the country, cultural, historical and useful programmes should be given special priority, modern telephone services provided in Lumbini zone and additional post offices should be made more effective.

NC’s Rajendra Kharel, Shivaraj Joshi (Dailekh) and Gopalman Shrestha said programmes to link NTV and provide printing services at home itself are highly laudable, telephone services should be provided in Kavre district, arrangement made allowing postal employees to transfer to other ministries, and 1,000 telephone lines provided in the headquarters of Syangja district.

Mrs Tirtha Gautam, Yadav Bahadur Rayamajhi and Yog Narayan Yadav of the CPN-UML observed that Radio Nepal and NTV should transmit programme impartially, the government should give attention to the operation of foreign channels as these have adversely affected our indigenous cultures, state-owned media organisations have been grossly politicized, the government should help in promoting private sector journalism, weather forecasts in electronic media are not reliable, distribution of telephone lines in district is immersed in corruption and postal services need to be made more reliable and competitive in this age of globalization.

NC’s Shiva Kumar Basnet, Hari Bhakta Adhikari and Prakash Bahadur Gurung demanded that the government should show readiness in telephone services in Khotang district, attention given to making Radio and NTV services people-oriented and electronic media made more effective.

Pradip Kumar Gyawali, Mahendra Prasad Yadav and Sohan Prasad Chaudhary of the CPN-UML demanded that postal services and government media should be made more reliable, electronic media given a push, parliamentary news broadcasted in mothers’ tongues also, the communication sector should not politicized and telephone lines expanded in Bara district.

NC’s Shankar Prasad Pandey, Krishna Kishore Ghimire and Tanka Prasad Rai observed that NTV should prioritize programmes aimed at saving our diverse religions and cultures, state-owned media should be used for ensuring the betterment of the people, 1000 additional telephone lines should be provided in Putalikhet and Waling, attention given to make the Gorkhapatra Corporation more reliable without privatizing it, Radio Nepal and NTV services made more reliable and timely, and the programmes to link NTV with satellite is laudable.

CPN-UML’s Shiva Bahadur Deuja and Til Kumar Meyangbo (Limbu) noted that attention should be given to making the Gorkhapatra Corporation well-equipped with means and resources without privatizing it, there have been irregularities in the distribution of telephone lines on the recommendation of the concerned MP and V-sat telephone services should be provided in the eastern region.

NC’s Hari Narayan Chaudhary and Sabitri Bogati said postal service is in a dismal state, NTV services should be provided round the clock, communication services have not been distributed in a proportionate manner, hilly districts are yet to have access to telephone services and a transmission tower should be set up in Bhandara for VHF services.

Keshar Man Rokka of the Nepali Congress said that though the programmes of the Ministry of Information and Communications were appreciable, 700 telephone connections provided the mid-western region was inadequate; the target of providing telephone lines in all the VDCs of Rukum district had not be met.

Ram Nath Adhikari of the same party referred to the laudable development in the communications sector after the restoration of democracy and said that attention should be given to implementation aspect of the programmes of the ministry.

Dr. Banshidhar Mishra of the CPN-UML wondered how much attention the government had given to the development of mass media such as radio and suggested telecasting programmes in the regional languages also from ntv and providing telephone connections in line with the demand.

Shiva Prasad Humagain of the Nepali Congress commended the programmes presented by the Ministry of Information and Communications despite limited means and resources and demanded internal and external telephone services at Kavrepalanchowk.

Ananda Prasad Pokherel of the nepali congreess referred to the absence of programme for satellite linking, and said that profit earning corporations such as nepal Telecommunications and Gorakhapatra should not be privatised at random.

Dilli Raj Sharma of the Nepali Congress said that though ultra-modern technology had been introduced in the communications sector in the world, we are lagging far behind and the programmes of radio nepal and ntv should be accessible to all the people.

Gorakh Bahadur Bogati of the CPN-UML said that the government media should be free from politics and training on journalism provided at all the places.