The government has decided to hold the second round of negotiations with the Maoists next week.

A meeting of the Council of Ministers chaired by Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala Sunday morning decided to organise the second round of talks next week but no date has been fixed.

The first round of direct talks between the talks teams of the government and the CPN (Maoist) were held in Kathmandu on May 26 that finalised the 25-point ceasefire code of conduct.

Home Minister KP Sitaula leads the government talks team while the Maoist team is led by Krishna Bahadur Mahara. The negotiators of both sides are in constant touch with each other as part of preparation for the second-round talks, which will be focused on agendas, according to reports.

Meanwhile, today’s cabinet meeting also decided to formally declare 21 persons killed during the April Movement as martyrs. Talking to reporters after the meeting, minister of state for Information and Communication, Dilendra Prasad Badu, said compensation to the martyrs’ families and the injured persons would be distributed from the respective district administration offices (DAOs).

Similarly, the cabinet decided to invalidate all decisions taken by the regional and zonal administration offices set by the erstwhile royal regime and disband the committees functioning under the DAOs. All decisions regarding the transfers of government employees have also been cancelled.

The cabinet also decided to form committees comprising of MPs and heads of various government agencies in districts to look after development matters.

A cabinet meeting also discussed the agendas of the upcoming India visit of Prime Minister Koirala. Another cabinet meeting on Monday will finalise the agendas.

PM Koirala is paying an official visit to New Delhi from June 6-9 at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.