Government’s response to FATF ‘grey list’ demanded

KATHMANDU: Lawmakers have asked for the government’s response in the aftermath of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)’s putting Nepal in the grey list. Speaking in the Special Hour of the House of Representatives meeting today, Udaya Shumsher JBR demanded to know what the government was doing to remove Nepal from the FATF’s grey list.

“Nepal has been placed in the FATF’s grey list mainly due to weak regulation of the cooperative sector. What is Nepal’s plan to increase the regulation of cooperatives and get out of the grey list soon? Let this be informed to the Parliament,” he said.

He said Nepal should benefit from the ‘double B minus’ in the credit rating and it is better than most south Asian countries.

He also drew the government’s attention to the delay in the reconstruction of Kanti highway and to speed up the construction of the BP highway damaged due to floods and landslide triggered by incessant rains towards September-end last year. The lawmaker raised the issues of delay in the construction of various road sections and the risk of floods and landslides due to indiscriminate digging of roads.

He urged the government to assess the damage caused by the floods and landslides in September last year and expedite the reconstruction work in those places. Corruption a shameful topic Nepal Communist Party (UML) lawmaker Thakur Prasad Gaire has said that the flourishing corruption in the country is a matter of shame. “Corruption, bribery and commission mongering trend is on the rise. Let’s present it in parliament backed with facts and figures. Let’s create conditions for action against this,” he said. Lawmaker Gaire stressed the need of fulfilling the responsibilities of building a society with good governance and social justice.

Stating that the ordinance has opened the way for development, he said the UML was moving ahead to take the country towards socialism by ending instability and anarchy.

Lawmaker Gaire said, “We have to move forward in a stronger way to control corruption.” Nepal Communist Party (Maoist Centre) lawmaker Rekha Sharma said that it is natural to reprimand and criticize the wrongdoers in democracy and parliamentary system.

She accused the government of bulldozing the parliament by introducing the ordinances. She also alleged that the ministers amended the bills passed by the parliamentary committees. Lawmaker Basudev Ghimire said the State should pay attention to the promotion of religious tourism as it would contribute to the country’s economic growth.
“Religious tourism can be promoted by showing tourists many places including Lumbini, Muktinath, Pathibhara, Pashupatinath and Manakamana in Nepal. For this, the development of physical infrastructure is necessary.” Mangal Prasad Gupta called for prevention of flood risk at Krishnanagar Municipality-12 in Kapilbastu district. Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) lawmaker Anisha Nepali has demanded that the national electricity transmission line be extended to Salyan.

Call for timely completion of physical infrastructure-related works Likewise, lawmakers have called on the government to carry out the works related to construction of physical infrastructures on time.

They drew the attention of the government to this topic, citing the people were facing inconveniences due to this.

Lawmakers Bhagawati Chaudhary, Bhanubhakta Joshi, Man Bahadur Gurung, Bijula Rayamajhi, Manish Jha, Mahesh Basnet, Madhav Sapkota, Mukta Kumari Yadav, Menaka Kumari Pokharel, Metmani Chaudhary, Raghuji Panta, Rama Koirala Poudel, Ram Kumar Rai and Rukmani Rana voiced this issue in the Zero Hour of the HoR session today. Likewise, Maina Karki, Rana Kumari Balampaki Magar, Ranendra Baraili, Ranju Kumari Jha, Rajendra Kumar KC, Ram Krishna Yadav, Ram Shankar Yadav, Rupa Sosi (Chaudhary), Laxmi Tiwari and Lal Prasad Sanwa Limbu, among other lawmakers called the government’s attention on a host of issues of public importance.