Kathmandu, August 25

Lawmakers of the National Assembly today registered proposals to amend Police Personnel Adjustment Bill, seeking provision of one-post promotion for Nepal Police personnel who opted for adjustment in provincial level and provision of inclusiveness in hiring police personnel in provinces.

Two groups from the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) and the main opposition Nepal Congress registered separate amendment proposals. Five lawmakers from NC led by its Chief Whip SaritaParsai registered the proposal seeking provision of one-post promotion for police personnel opting for adjustment  in provincial level. Jitendra Narayan Dev, who was one of the members of Parsai’s group, told THT that police personnel should be encouraged to opt for adjustment in the provincial level.

“Without motivation and reward police personnel cannot perform their duties properly,” he said, adding that during

formation of Armed Police Force in 2001, army personnel were given one-post promotion to join APF.

The bill, which was unanimously endorsed by the House of Representatives on August 11,  stated that police officials opting for adjustment in provincial level will be awarded two additional grades and with no reduction in their salary or facilities. Dev said additional grades alone would not be enough for police personnel to opt for adjustment in provincial level. Earlier, lawmakers of the HoR had demanded for one-post promotion of police personnel who opted for adjustment. But Home Minister Thapa Ram Bahadur Thapa had told the House that it was not be possible to promote police personnel in that manner.

Thirteen lawmakers from NCP led by Thagendra Prakash Puri registered an amendment proposal on Police Personnel Adjustment Bill stating that provision of inclusiveness should be ensured while recruiting provincial police personnel.

“The bill passed by the HoR has excluded the provision of inclusiveness in the hiring of provincial police. So, we registered the proposal seeking the provision of inclusiveness,” Puri said.

Puri also said his team had discussed that job of provincial police was to maintain peace and security within concerned provinces. “There should be proper representation of women and other marginalised groups in provincial police force as per the spirit of the constitution,” he added. Lawmakers of ruling and opposition parties registered all together five amendment proposals on Bill to Govern the Process of Operation, Supervision and Coordination of Nepal Police and Provincial Police.

NC lawmakers led by Radheshyam Adhikari registered a proposal which stated that provincial police head, deputy inspector general, should be held accountable for respective provincial government.

Police Personnel Adjustment Bill gave authority to the centre to transfer police personnel ranking from deputy superintendent of police and below to provinces, to set up provincial police force. The central government is planning to transfer around 55,000 police personnel to seven provinces by retaining around 20,000 police personnel at the centre.

The Bill to Govern the Process of Operation, Supervision and Coordination of Nepal Police and Provincial Police stated that provincial police should work in coordination with chief district officers to maintain peace and security in their respective districts. If provinces did not have adequate police personnel to maintain peace and security they could ask the centre for additional force. The federal government could then request neighbouring provinces to supply additional police force, according to the bill.