Congress demands formation of parliamentary committee to probe against home minister

KATHMANDU: The main opposition party Nepali Congress has called for forming a parliamentary committee to investigate the linking of Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Rabi Lamichhane in the cooperatives’ fraud.

Nepali Congress leader Sanjaya Kumar Gautam said, “This is also the issue of ethics. The government should be serious on this (the linking of DPM Lamichhane’s name in the cooperative fraud). A parliamentary probe committee should be formed in this connection.”

He contended that a doubt has arisen regarding how justice can be done on this topic based on the Prime Minister’s replies in Parliament and the Police Chief’s response on this topic in the parliamentary committee meeting.

Stating that the main opposition party Nepali Congress is well aware of the fact that the Parliament should not be held hostage over certain demands, he called upon the government also to be serious regarding its responsibilities.

Lawmaker Gautam demanded that the Parliament should also press the government for addressing the livelihood issues of the people. He reiterated that the main opposition party would continue raising this issue until the parliamentary investigation committee was formed.

“The then Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha had responded in the Parliament itself that an investigation was on in this connection. But now the investigation is stopped,” he said, adding that appointing Lamichhane as the Home Minister is a conflict of interest.

Lawmakers draw govt’s attention to address farmers’ problems

Meanwhile, speaking in the Urgent Time in the meeting of the HoR today, lawmakers voiced various contemporary issues, including the increasing number of road accidents and the farmers facing a plethora of problems.

Lawmaker Hitraj Pandey expressed concern over the increasing number of road accidents in recent days and urged the government to take effective measures to reduce road fatalities, referring to the car accident that took place on Saturday near Muglin.

Eknath Dhakal also drew the government’s attention on this topic while Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan urged the government to resolve problems faced by the citizens while accessing various public services. He also called on the government to provide relief to the farmers after assessing the damage caused by the windstorm and hailstone.

Lawmaker Ashok Kumar Chaudhary raised the issue of the maize cultivated by farmers in the Tarai districts producing cobs without grains due to the ‘flawed’ hybrid seeds. He demanded action against the dealers selling such seeds and providing compensation to the farmers.

Chaudhary stressed on the urgent need of taking steps to mitigate the impact of climate change on agriculture and the problem of wild animals consuming and damaging the crops.

Dr Amaresh Kumar Singh said a question has arisen regarding the adjudication of justice by the judiciary. He alleged that the judges were appointed on the power-sharing basis among the parties and the judges also gave verdicts in an unfair way.

He called for an investigation on the decisions of the judiciary and formed a parliamentary committee to assess the conduct of the judges. He also through the Parliament called attention of the judiciary to what he called ‘the contamination’ of the judiciary. Lawmaker Singh complained that only few of the complaints filed with the Judicial Council are investigated into.