Kathmandu, June 7:Nepali Congress President and Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala said today that the government had been emphasising all party consensus to resolve all problems through the forging of national vote.
Koirala made the remark while dwelling on the ongoing session of the House, the budget tabled in the Parliament and other contemporary issues at the NC Parliamentary Party meeting held at his residence in Baluwatar.
The meeting started at 8:30 in the morning had lasted for five hours. The NC lawmakers who could not express their views today due to the constraint of time will deliver their views in the next meeting.
“Prime Minister Koirala informed the meeting that the situation of peace and security had improved and the government was making arrangements to reinstate the people who had left their homes owing to security threats, ” NC parliamentary party Secretary Benup Raj Prasai told journalists at the end of the meeting.
Koirala clarified that the government had been emphasising all- party consensus to resolve the problems faced by the nation. The stress on consensus does not however mean that the government wants to move ahead with the help of the crutches of the opposition parties, he said.
Koirala also responded to the queries related with all party consensus and issue of budget appropriation raised by the NC lawmakers.
On the issue of budget allocation, Koirala said if acknowledged that there is imbalance on the budget allocation for the districts and the development regions then a thorough review would be made.
He said that the budget for the Maoist affected areas would be mobilised based on a single basket approach. All party consensus will be forged at the time of spending the budget for the development of such areas, he said.
Former Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai said that as the Congress party commanded a majority in the parliament the government was not in a situation to move ahead with the support of parties in the opposition.
According to Prasai, Bhattarai said that the situation of dispute would not have arisen if the dissolution of the District Committees of the party had been put before the Central Working Committee.
Bhattarai viewed that provisions in the party statute needs to be made to elect 75 per cent of CWC members and bar any individual from assuming the post of party President for more than two times.
Former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba said that the Maoist problem could be resolved through dialogue with the Maoist leaders.
Describing the recent budget as a move to curb smuggling, Deuba said as the budget has taken a stride forward to check smuggling, the implementation aspect needs to be strengthened, he said.
Deuba also drew the attention of the parliamentary party towards the protest against the provision of compulsory Sanskrit in the academic curriculum. “We still need to remain sensitive to issues related with peace and security,” he said.
Similarly, Deputy Prime Minister Ram Chandra Paudel said that the dialogues and consensus held in the past and to be held in future with other political parties were of an all-party nature. Such dialogues and consensus would not affect NC’s image and its parliamentary majority, he added.
Stating that the social workers would play the role of motivators in the social programmes initiated by the government, he said the government should be serious to what the opposition parties said. “But we should not be in confusion.”
The Party General Secretary and Parliamentarian Sushil Koirala said that the party’s district committees were dissolved as per the provision in the party statute and asked all the dissolved committees to hand over the office to the newly formed committees.
He said that the parliamentarians should be given ten million rupees each to be spent on the projects in their respective constituencies. “This will not only ensure equal distribution of means and resources but also answer the lawmakers’ complain that budget had not reached their areas.”
Secretary Prasai informed that Home Minister and Finance Minister furnished replies to the queries raised by the members on Home administration and the new budget estimates.
Home Minister Govinda Raj Joshi said that the police posts displaced in the Maoist-affected areas would soon re-established.
Stating that the current peace and security situation in the country was improving, he said that the budget allocated for home administration could be inadequate.
Finance Minister Mahesh Acharya said that due to policy and structural reasons he could not strike regional and district-wise balance in the new budget allocation as much as expected.
He said that he could not set aside money for all the issues raised by the lawmakers because a large chunk of the money went to security, civil servants’ salary and large projects.
In today’s meeting attended by 106 of the total 113 members, some 34 lawmakers raised various issues relating to new budget estimate, peace and security and corruption, Prasain said.
Earlier, the meeting of NC Parliamentary Party Working Committee was held under the chairmanship of the Party’s Parliamentary leader and Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala at the PM’s residence in Baluwatar.
High level task force meet winds up Nepal, India discuss issues of common concern
Kathmandu, June 7:Nepal and India wound up their high level task force meeting today, discussing their common concerns and mutual interests.
“We discussed trade, commerce and the economy,” Nepalese Chief Secretary Tirthaman Shakya said of the two day meeting with his Indian counterpart Brajesh Mishra.
“We have had very fruitful discussions in the high level task force, which reviewed projects already completed and others which were in the process of completion,” said Mishra. “We have also agreed to take up some new projects and to consider other projects in the ongoing cooperation between our two countries.”
“Better understanding of each other’s concerns is the single most important achievement of this visit,” he said.
Mishra, the Indian Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary and Advisor to the National Defence Council, arrived here yesterday heading a 13-member delegation for the high level talks that were held for the first time in three years. Shakya headed the Nepalese side.
Mishra said issues relating to matters of mutual interests and concerns were also discussed. “The security concerns of both countries were discussed,” he said. Mishra declined to elaborate further.
“We have been assured time and again by the government of Nepal at the highest level that the government of Nepal will not permit the use of Nepalese territory against India. We are satisfied with the assurances.”
The Indian Security Advisor maintained that Pakistan was conducting intelligence activities in Nepal. “There is agreement that some ISI activities are going on in this country. That is why we have been assured that the government of Nepal will not allow the use of Nepalese territory against India.”
Mishra said Nepal had asked India to set up a trauma centre at Bir Hospital, built under the Indian cooperation. “There is an idea of investigating the possibility of medium level hydel projects of up to 200 – 300 megawatts and we have agreed to consider that,” he said. “In the next couple of weeks an Indian technical team will come to Nepal to look at the feasibility of that project.”
There has also been an agreement on two pilot projects in regard to rural development. “That and several other projects are being discussed.”
Mishra disowned a controversial report in India’s leading news magazine, Indian Today, which implicates Nepal’s prominent politicians, business houses and publications in what it calls a “gameplan” against India.
Nepal’s Prime Minsiter Girija Prasad Koirala criticised that report yesterday and said it was baseless and malicious. The India Today report posted on its website has invited serious concerns and come under massive public criticism in the last two days since the news broke out yesterday.
“Whoever asked me about the India Today report, I said there is no such secret report with the government,” Mishra said of the 78-page document that heavily relies on unidentified sources. “Let me say that whatever we have to convey to the government of Nepal we do through normal channels. We don’t have to use media for that purpose.”
Mishra said the high level task force also discussed dates for the visit of Nepale Prime Minister to India. He said the visit would take place “in the near future.”
Mishra said Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh would visit Nepal “some time in July” and Indian Home Secretary Kamal Pande would be coming to Nepal on July 6.
Mishra said the two countries also discussed the Special Additional Duty on Indian imports, which Nepal wants waived. A Nepalese delegation will be visiting India to discuss the issue further, he said.