Kathmandu, May 20 After more than four months of planning, the main opposition Nepali Congress today constituted a shadow government to monitor works of the government and its ministries. NC President and Parliamentary Party Leader Sher Bahadur Deuba formed 21 ministerial-level coordination committees as per Section 9 (5A) of the NC Statute. The committees will function as shadow cabinet, while the coordinator of each committee will function as a shadow minister. Shadow government is a feature of the Westminster system of government. It consists of opposition lawmakers who, led by the leader of the opposition, form an alternative Cabinet to that of the government. Members of the shadow Cabinet, often termed shadow ministers, mirror positions of each member of the Cabinet. It is the shadow Cabinet’s responsibility to scrutinise policies and actions of the government, as well as to offer an alternative programme. The concept is not new in Nepal. Communist parties have formed shadow governments in the past when they were in opposition. NC Chief Whip Bal Krishna Khand said they deemed necessary the formation of the shadow government as the government was moving ahead flouting the system and process. According to Khand, the government has failed to effectively deliver services to people, maintain peace and security and carry out development works. On the other hand, it is coming up with bills, including Media Council Bill, National Human Rights Commission Bill and National Security Bill, which contradict the constitution. “All these government activities call for generating public pressure,” said Khand. “And, the shadow government will work to generate that public pressure by bringing to the fore corrupt activities in respective ministries by conducting micro-monitoring.” With the formation of the shadow government, Khand said the NC expected a creative support from the government and ministries and that the latter would not be stingy in furnishing any information sought by shadow ministries in line with the right to information. The ruling Nepal Communist Party  (NCP) welcomed the NC’s move and expressed commitment to extend every possible support to the shadow government. NCP Parliamentary Party Deputy Leader Subash Chandra Nembang said his party and the government respected the opposition as an integral part of the state and a government-in-waiting. “We are happy to see the NC taking initiatives to make its role effective as an opposition, and we are ready to extend every support,” said Nembang. SHADOW CABINET Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation

• Gyanendra Bahadur Karki (coordinator)
• Satya Narayan Khanal
• Gyan Kumari Chanthyal

• Narayan Khadka (coordinator)
• Amresh Kumar Singh
• Divya Mani Rajbhandari

• Minendra Rijal (coordinator)
• Mina Pandey
• Binod Kumar Chaudhary

• Dilendra Prasad Badu (coordinator)
• Ramesh Jung Rayamajhi
• Mahendra Kumari Limbu

• Umakanta Chaudhary (coordinator)
• Minakshi Jha
• Ram Bahadur Bista

• Kishore Singh Rathour (coordinator)
• Rangamati Shahi
• Durga Prasad Upadhyaya

• Min Bahadur Bishwakarma (coordinator)
• Binda Devi Ale Rana
• Karma Ghale

• Gagan Kumar Thapa (coordinator)
• Umesh Shrestha
• Namita Kumari Chaudhary

• Sujata Pariyar (coordinator)
• Mina Subba
• Nagendra Kumar Rai

• Parvati DC Chaudhari (coordinator)
• Sitaram Mahato
• Mohan Acharya

• Devendra Raj Kandel (coordinator)
• Prakash Snehi Rasaili
• Pramila Rai

• Dila Sangroula Panta (coordinator)
• Prakash Pantha

• Bahadur Singh Lama (coordinator)
• Surya Bahadur KC
• Bimala Nepali

• Laxmi Pariyar (coordinator)
• Pramod Kumar Yadav
• Smriti Narayan Chaudhary

• Atahar Kamal Musalman (coordinator)
• Teju Lal Chaudhary
• Dhan Kumari Khatiwada

• Padma Narayan Chaudhary (coordinator)
• Anita Devkota
• Saravat Aara Khanam Haluwaini

• Uma Regmi (coordinator)
• Lal Kaji Gurung
• Hira Gurung

• Bhimsen Das Pradhan (coordinator)
• Abhishek Pratap Shah

• Sanjaya Kumar Gautam (coordinator)
• Jip Tsering Lama
• Dev Prasad Timilsena

• Rajendra Kumar KC (coordinator)
• Mukta Kumari Yadav

• Radheshyam Adhikari (coordinator)