Kathmandu, August 1:

Members of Parliament (MPs) today urged the government to take steps to protect civil servants and VDC secretaries in the Tarai region.

Speaking during the Parliament’s special session, they also asked the government to speed up the dialogue process with the disgruntled factions of the Tarai to ensure free and fair constituent assembly elections on November 22.

MP Pashupati SJB Rana of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) expressed worry over the government’s “sluggish attitude” in the peace talks with the agitating factions in the Tarai.

Political deadlock, Rana said, will create a major obstruction in the elections.

“Ironically, obstruction is being created by a party, which is in the government,” Rana, who is also the chairman of the RPP, said, referring to the Maoists.

MP Leela Nyachain of the Nepal Workers’ and Peasants’ Party (NWPP) urged the government to revive the local bodies. “When the dissolved House of Representatives can be reinstated, why cannot the local bodies be reinstated, too?” she asked.

Janak Raj Giri of the NC asked the government to “recognise” the talent of Mahabir Pun, who has been awarded the Ramon Magsaysay 2007 prize for his outstanding contribution to community leadership. “The State should tap Pun’s talent.”

Bamdev Chhetri of the CPN-Maoist said, “The government must tell the Parliament when it will make the status of the disappeared public.” He warned that his party would be compelled to take “harsh” steps if the government failed to do so.

Panel’s concern

KATHMANDU: The Parliamentary Peace Accord Monitoring Special Committee on Wednesday raised serious concern about the “government’s negligence” in improving the law and order situation. A meeting of the committee expressed the concern after Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula, who had been invited by the committee to furnish details on the law and order situation, failed to turn up. Sitaula was attending a cabinet meeting at Baluwatar when the committee met. — HNS