Kathmandu, September 25

The meeting today of the Legislature-Parliament unanimously endorsed the Bill on Disaster Reduction and Management-2018.

Minister for Home Affairs, Janardan Sharma, presented the proposal seeking approval of the Bill at the Parliament.

Prior to this, clause-wise discussion on the Bill had taken place where the CPN-UML’s parliamentarian Gangadhar Tuladhar suggested the need for formation of Disaster Risk Management Authority instead of forming Disaster Risk Management Centre.

Arguing that by changing the set-up of the organisation, it would make the implementation of Bill further effective, he opined that the Authority should employ experts not civil servants.

CPN-Maoist Centre’s Hitraj Pandey and Sita Nepali univocally pressed for forming the Centre in line with the federal set up of the country.

Nepal Workers and Peasants’ Party’s Prem Suwal sought extra clarification regarding the definition of disaster in the Bill.

Responding to queries raised by parliamentarians, Minister Sharma explained that the bill was introduced with the aim of reducing disaster risks in a country prone-to natural disasters.

Sharma said there was a clear definition of disaster in the bill for effective management of natural and non-natural disasters and it was in line with the federal set-up.

Following the endorsement of the bill, the House was adjourned for 15 minutes.