KATHMANDU, APRIL 14
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has expressed frustration at the delay in tabling the Millennium Challenge Corporation agreement in the House of Representatives.
Addressing the nation today on the occasion of Nepali New Year, the PM said that the MCC agreement, which was signed with the United States of America when the coalition of Nepali Congress and the CPN-MC ruled the country, had been registered in the Parliament for adoption, but the agreement had not been put to vote yet. He said the constitutional provision required that the MCC agreement be put to vote in the Parliament, and yet the constitutional provision had not been honoured.
CPN-MC leaders and some leaders associated with the Madhav Kumar Nepal-Jhalanath Khanal faction of the CPN-UML are against the agreement. The PM said the HoR was reinstated after a court battle and those who fought the legal battle were themselves obstructing the parliamentary process. An instance of this was seen on the first day of the HoR meeting after reinstatement when opposition parties stalled House proceedings preventing the government from tabling some key ordinances, including the ordinances brought to curb the COVID-19 pandemic, and sexual offences and acid attack.
The PM said the government was able to minimise the impacts of COVID-19 and also initiate some new projects to spur socio-economic development in the country.
Stating that some developed countries of Europe were imposing lockdown to control the sudden spike in COVID-19 infection, the PM said that his government was trying its best avert such a situation in the country. He urged the public to follow all measures to ward off COVID-19.
He said that the government had succeeded in bringing the Netra Bikram Chand-led communist party that had espoused violence, into the political mainstream. He said his government was able to create an environment of peace and security, thereby creating conducive environment for foreign direct investment in Nepal's development projects.
He urged the public not to believe those forces that undermined the government's development efforts in an attempt to mislead the public.
The PM said that social security allowance for the targeted people would be increased from the next fiscal year.
The PM said the government was building more than 5.5 km road every day and would continue to spur development in the new tear.
He also said the government had recently inaugurated 165 road projects in 165 electoral districts.
The PM said that the government had issued a new political and administrative map which had reminded the people of the glorious past of Nepalis' ancestors. The PM urged the youths to work in the country without looking for options abroad so that they could contribute to nation building. "In the past, our youths looked for employment opportunity outside the country due to conflict in the country, but today, the situation in labour destinations was bad compared to our own country. I urge you all to use the employment opportunities available in the country," the PM added.
A version of this article appears in the print on April 15, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
