KATHMANDU, JUNE 10

Senior leader of Nepali Congress Ramchandra Paudel today submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, urging the government to increase its preparedness to deal with the coronavirus pandemic and to provide relief to the poor and vulnerable people and businesses affected by the COVID-19 crisis.

The NC memorandum blames the government’s apathy, insensitivity and inefficiency for its poor response to the pandemic.

Stating that the government had failed to utilise the lockdown period to ramp up testing and improve health infrastructure, the memo urges the government to stop rapid diagnostic tests and scale up polymerase chain reaction tests across the country.

The memorandum adds that the government’s decision to send asymptomatic people from quarantine centres to their homes after 14 days was an irresponsible act.

It urges the government to improve hygiene and ensure medical facilities in quarantine centres and announce relief packages for all segments of society, including businesses, industries, workers, the poor and vulnerable groups that have been badly affected by the ongoing lockdown.

NC has demanded that all quarantined people and those being kept in isolation wards be sent home only after they test negative for the virus in the PCR test.

The memo urges the government to bring back Nepalis stranded in foreign countries due to the COVID-19 crisis and create employment opportunities for them at local levels.

It also asks the government to scrap Prime Minister Self-Employment Programme and President Education Programme and invest funds meant for the two in employment generation programmes at local levels.

It asks the government to provide grants to farmers and to ensure easy availability of seeds and fertilisers across the country.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on June 11, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.