Kavre, December 8

Minister of Communications and Information Technology Gokul Prasad Baskota has accused the opposition of creating unnecessary ruckus over the issue of procurement of vehicles for president.

Addressing the second annual general assembly of Chandeni-Mandan Agriculture Cooperatives in Mandan-Deupur Municipality-10 today, the minister criticised the opposition for blowing the issue out of proportion.

He said, “What is wrong in buying vehicles for the safety of the president when even government officers have their own official vehicles?”

Further, calling himself as no blue blood of the yesteryear, Minister Baskota said he was ready to follow suit if other members of the government and government employees were ready to ride bicycle.

On a different note, Minister Baskota informed of the government’s preparation to launch a grant scheme for the sugarcane farmers.

“Besides the scheme for sugarcane farmers, as per which sugarcane farmers will get five rupees government grant for per tonne of their produce, a scheme is on the cards for the foreign employment returnees which will allow them to draw loan against their academic credentials and start their own business at home so that they would not have to return to foreign countries for employment,” he said.

While the minister also revealed of the government preparations to open up self-employment centres at all 753 local bodies in the country, he also said discussion is on to figure out what could be done towards pulling out the small farmers from the debt morass.

“While the government is serious about fulfilling the commitments made during the election, there will be drinking water in every household by the end of 2021 and computer labs will be set up at 1,000 schools this year as per the government’s ‘Digital Nepal’ campaign,” he added.