Kathmandu, August 27

The Nepali Congress today passed nine-point resolution demanding enactment of necessary laws for provincial and local levels.

The principal opposition party adopted the resolution after holding an interaction with the NC chiefs and deputy chiefs of local levels at party headquarters today.

“In line with the spirit of the constitution and principle of federalism, we demand that the government immediately adopt necessary laws for provincial and local levels, and revise the protocol of elected chiefs and deputy chiefs of local levels,” said the NC in its release.

The NC said it believed in justifiable, simple and minimum taxes and thus it was opposed to the arbitrary tax hikes and it demanded a rollback.

“We condemn the curbs on press and citizens’ rights on various pretexts, and caution the government not to go against democratic principles,” the NC stated in its release.

The NC also condemned the government’s move scrapping decisions taken by the previous NC-led government on social security allowances, senior citizens allowances, and facilities for earthquake survivors and patients of various illness, and demanded that the decisions be executed without delay.

The principal opposition party also demanded that the government immediately form the National Natural Resources and Finance Commission, with cross-party representation. It also demanded deputation of government employees in local levels immediately. “We condemn the brutal murder of Nirmala Panta, and rising number of such incidents. We demand that the government curb such incidents and book the culprits. We also condemn the killing of a teenager during a peaceful protest,” the NC stated in its release.

Nepali Congress leaders including President Sher Bahadur Deuba and senior leader Ramchandra Paudel told the party’s chiefs and deputy chiefs of local levels to deliver service in a way that would boost the credibility of the party.

Paudel told THT that he told party representatives that they needed to focus on good governance and development. “The central government should give enough budget to local levels on the basis of genuine criteria. The government should not give more budget to local levels where the ruling party is at the helm and less budget to local levels ruled by the opposition party,” Paudel said.

According to Deputy Mayor of Biratnagar metropolis Indira Karki, top leaders of the party told local level representatives that their performance in local levels would be crucial in boosting the image of the party across the country.

Both leaders directed the party’s representatives to make their electorate capable of paying taxes rather than imposing taxes on them.

According to Chief of Mechinagar Municipality in Jhapa Bimal Acharya, party president Deuba told party representatives that they needed to increase the area of taxation rather than impose exorbitant taxes on the electorate. According to Acharya, Deuba also flayed the government for ‘using excessive force against those who demanded justice.’

Karki and Acharya said most of the representatives said that the government discriminated against the local levels ruled by NC representatives by allocating less budget than the local levels ruled by the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP)’s representatives.

“Biratnagar metropolis deserves the third largest budget after Kathmandu and Pokhara metropolis but the government has allocated less budget to this metropolis than the budget it allocated for Hetauda Sub-metropolitan City,” she said. Acharya said that local level representatives also told party leaders to improve coordination between the party and its representatives at the local levels.