Kathmandu, June 14

The Nepali Congress is preparing to make a strong protest in the Legislature Parliament against the government’s “inefficiency and failure” to address the concerns of earthquake victims during the eight months KP Sharma Oli has been at the helm of the government.

The party is preparing to obstruct tomorrow’s House meeting, seeking government’s assurance to address the NC’s concerns on the performance of National Reconstruction Authority.

“The NC has decided to protest in the Parliament in the interest of earthquake victims,” said NC Chief Whip Chin Kaji Shrestha in a statement issued following the meeting of NC’s Parliament Party Working Committee held in Singha Durbar today.

Tomorrow’s House meeting will be obstructed and the protest will continue until the government assures NC that it will not politicise reconstruction work or relief distribution among the earthquake victims, said NC’s lawmaker Ramhari Khatiwada.

Earlier today, NC president Sher Bahadur Deuba held a day-long discussion at the NC’s PP office with the party’s lawmakers from earthquake-affected districts.

Following the discussion, Deuba instructed party lawmakers to bring to light misuse of authority and funds collected for earthquake victims. “The money has not been collected to make a certain political party stronger.

All lawmakers should protest the government’s inefficiency in the Parliament,” Deuba told NC lawmakers, according to Khatiwada.

“The government’s ignorance and politicisation of reconstruction work and relief distribution has drawn our attention,” the NC PP office said in the statement.

Instead of focusing on the concerns of victims, the government has outsourced the task of reconstruction to the NGOs close to UML and used the National Reconstruction Authority to recruit the party’s cadres, said the NC. It alleged that the government was adding or removing the names from victims’ list on the basis of political ideology.

“The previous NC-led government had decided to provide Rs 2 lakh to the family of each victim. However, the incumbent government has not implemented it yet,” adds the statement.

Though the three districts of Kathmandu Valley were badly affected by the earthquake, the list of victims’ names has not been verified yet, stated the NC.

Although there is a provision that the opposition leader is the vice-chairman of the advisory committee of the NRA, the leader has not been invited to participate in policy-level decision-making process, the NC pointed out.

“The government is using the authority to serve a party’s interest unilaterally,” Chief Whip Shrestha said in the statement.

NC lawmaker Nabindra Raj Joshi said the NC was concerned why the government failed to spend the money allocated by the previous government for the earthquake victims during its eight-month period.

“The NC’s PP meeting to be held tomorrow would devise its strategy to raise the issue strongly,” added Joshi.