Bagmati Province CM expands Cabinet, appoints 5 minister, 1 state minister

KATHMANDU: Bagmati Province Chief Minister Rajendra Prasad Pandey appointed five ministers and a state minister on Tuesday.

Pandey appointed two ministers and a state minister from the CPN (Unified Socialist) and three ministers from the CPN (Maoist Centre).

Ghan Shyam Dahal of CPN (Maoist Centre) has been appointed as the Minister for Labour, Employment and Transport, Basanta Prasad Manandhar of CPN (Unified Socialist) has been appointed as the Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Baundhara Humagain as the Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development, Bishal Khadka of Maoist Centre has been appointed as the Minister for Forest and Environment and Ratna Prasad Dhakal as the Minister for Youth and Sports.

Similarly, Indra Maya Gurung has been appointed as the Minister of State for Agriculture and Livestock Development.

With their appointment, Bagmati Province will have 11 ministers including the chief minister and a state minister.

Newly appointed ministers will be administered the oath of office and secrecy today itself.

Earlier in the first phase, Krishna Lal Bahandel of Nepali Congress was appointed as the Minister for Infrastructure, Kumari Moktan of Maoist Centre as the Minister for Social Development, Krishna Prasad Sharma Khanal of Unified Socialist as the Minister for Internal Affairs.

Similarly, Shalikram Jamarkattel of Maoist Centre was appointed as the Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning, and Nima Lama as the Minister for Health in the second phase.

A Cabinet meeting held on December 1 had decided to split eight ministries to make 14.