Jha’s resignation will not affect NTA projects: Baskota

Kathmandu, December 27

Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gokul Baskota, has said that the resignation of the chief of Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) will not hamper the development pace of different telecommunication projects initiated by the authority.

Digambar Jha, erstwhile chairman of NTA, had submitted his resignation to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MoCIT) on Wednesday. Jha’s resignation had followed constant demand from dozens of central committee members of Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) demanding the revocation of political appointments of ‘corrupt and controversial persons including Jha.’

Though MoCIT is yet to approve Jha’s resignation Baskota hinted that the ministry would soon approve it.

“As NTA has been initiating a number of telecommunication projects, we will soon appoint an acting chairman at NTA from within the authority to ensure that the projects initiated by NTA do not face any hassles,” said Baskota, adding that the appointment process of a new chairman at NTA will also begin soon.

Citing that the new appointment at NTA will be through open competition that needs to follow lengthy legal procedures, Baskota informed that the new hiring process could take almost three months.