KATHMANDU, July 14

The government has said it will make an arrangement of mobilsing youth volunteers under ‘Police: My Friend’ programme, as police alone cannot fight crimes and make crime investigation effective.

In the budget speech for the fiscal year 2015-16, Minister for Information Ram Sharan Mahat said that metropolitan police will be gradually developed as a professional police organisation.

“Central Police Forensic Science Laboratory will be upgraded to enhance crime investigation capacity of police, while gradually extending the lab to regional level. I have allocated Rs 160 million to enhance crime investigation capacity of police,” said Mahat.

Minister Mahar also announced an annual budget of Rs 38 billion for Nepal Police and Rs 360 million the Armed Police Force.

The government, through the budget, has pledged to strictly enforce the existing laws to put an end to the culture of impunity and to give the people a sense of good governance and to promote transparency, accountability and responsibility in public corporations. “Security agencies will be mobilised in an effective manner to tackle public insecurity, loot, hooliganism, donation drive, lottery and dhukuti among other criminal activities,” the budget speech read.

“I have allocated Rs 50 million to initiate the preparations for relocating the Central Jail to Nuwakot from Sundhara, Kathmandu to construct the facilities with high accommodation capacity. Open prison of regional level will be constructed in Banke. Other prisons situated in the Kathmandu Valley will be gradually shifted to other districts,” Mahat said.