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Under pressure‚ Nepal‚ Paudel return government vehicles

   
  Rage against emoluments does the trick

HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE

KATHMANDU: In the wake of public outrage over the government decision to provide facilities to former bigwigs, former prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and former speaker and home minister Ramchandra Paudel today returned the vehicles.

Members of the civil society, who have been staging a hunger strike at Shantibatika against the government decision, welcomed the move. In a statement, Nepal said he returned the vehicle numbered Ba 6 Cha 1030 that the Baburam Bhattarai-led coalition government had provided him through an ordinance. Paudel also returned the Scorpio numbered Ba 1 Jha 8510 to the Parliament Secretariat, according to his personnel assistant Chiranjivi Adhikary.

An ordinance re-issued on July 18 also stipulates providing Rs 50,000 as monthly house rent, Prado or Pajero worth Rs 10 million, 150 litres of petrol per month and expenses for four aides for a former PM.

It provisions facilities for former president, vice-president, prime minister, speaker, home minister and chief justice. Residential, fuel and other allowances and salaries for aides meant for six former prime ministers, four speakers, 17 home ministers and 17 chief justices, who were in office after the restoration of democracy in 1990, is estimated to cost the state a whopping Rs 500 million annually.

Nepal conceded that he decided to return the vehicle in the wake of public outrage against the government move meant to benefit former high officials, who were at the helm after 1990. The decision to provide vehicles to former high officials through ordinance will derail efforts aimed at building a national consensus, Nepal said in the statement, questioning whether the government wanted to prolong its tenure by diverting public attention from the main task at hand.

Former home secretary and member of civil society, Khem Raj Regmi, who staged a 72-hour relay hunger strike against the government move at Shantibatika, said the state cannot afford to pay for such luxuries meant for the former bigwigs, who were in office for a brief period.

Assistant professor Rabindra Nath Bhattarai, one of the participants at the strike, said politicians do not deserve such facilities.

Regmi said the ordinance issued in the absence of the Parliament smacks of misuse of authority. The government decided to provide such facilities to the former high-level officials after the Supreme Court, in its verdict responding to a PIL on December 8, 2011, asked the government to avail such facilities to those people, if need be, through law.

Earlier, the Home Ministry used to provide such facilities (vehicles, fuel, house rent and salary for bodyguards) to people on the basis of security threats.

Comments2

I welcome the action against to providing the huge facilities for the corrupted rulers.We must bring out a list of the names of Prime Ministers, ministers, secretaries, general directors, project chiefs, contractors and businessmen who embezzled huge amounts of money from the state treasury after 2006. The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) must be directed to arrest them for appropriate action. The seized money should be nationalized. The Constituent Assembly Members including the irresponsible Speaker Subash Nembang should be punished for taking remuneration and using all facilities and benefits and failing to perform their duty; they must refund the money to the public fund. In Haiti, a strict form of punishment was introduced to discourage corruption when the nation plunged into excessive corruption. Hence some suggestions: (1) The state facilities given to parliament, Constituent Assembly, and cabinet, as per interim constitution 2006, must be returned to the state. The money collected from the sweat and blood of citizens was used for a certain purpose which went unfulfilled. It should be returned to the state, or in future it will be difficult to control the activities of criminals. (2) A law must be passed debarring the members of the parliament, Constituent Assembly and the cabinet from contesting the forthcoming general election, and for five years from any election. (3) All facilities, decisions, including Citizenship Act, that have been a burden on the nation and introduced after the implementation of the controversial interim constitution must be repealed. (4) Foreigners must be prohibited from spending or distributing excessive amount of money in the country. The state must take control of the international NGOs and their funds. The state must control such foreign economic support and spend it scrupulously, for management of which a separate body can be created at the Ministry for Local Development. In this way, foreign activities can be checked and their intervention stopped. Nepalese people do not want any kind of communist authoritarianism; they want full democracy, political stability, peace and good governance. Nepalese people no longer want the unconstitutional rule of the so called larger parties, Maoists, Congress, UML, Madhesi. With the demise of the Constituent Assembly, the constitution of 1990 constitution is restored automatically and Nepal’s royal institution, Nepal Army and people of Nepal are protectors of Nepal. The monarchy was pivotal in integrating Nepal, establishing democratic and equitable society at par with the modern world. Only this option will open the doors for political resolution in Nepal. Nationality is a sensitive issue and will be difficult to re-establish once it rolls down the slope. In the past, Nepal was defended at the joint initiative of the King and people. Now that thread of unity has snapped. To rescue this holy land from an imminent dark future, all patriotic forces, the Nepalese monarchy, and the people, the Nepal Army, court and the chief organs of the State must all unite and defend the nation from chaos. Thank you. Dirgha Raj Prasai Kathmandu Email:dirgharajprasai@gmail.com Dirgha Raj Prasai - Kathmandu, Nepal, Kthmandu, Nepal

Baburam Bhattarai is a common criminal, its disgusting to see the loot of poor Nepali. This killer of innocent lives is not capable to do anything good for Nepal. He should migrate to India and become a Kancha or Bahadur in a Indian home. That is his worth and what he truly deserves. If only we could put in prison people like Bhattarai and Dahal, Nepal would be a safe and happy place. Rajendra shrestha, Kathmandu

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