Kathmandu, 17 August
Speaker Dol Prasad Aryal (DP Aryal) has directed the government to respond within three days to issues raised in the House of Representatives by lawmakers Gopal Sharma and Ashika Tamang.
Nepali Communist Party lawmaker Sharma reminded the House that he had raised concerns on August 7 about people affected by the Jajarkot earthquake.
He said he had urged the government to take responsibility for relief and reconstruction work in Jajarkot and Salyan but had not received a response.
“On August 7, I gave the government a nine-day deadline and sought at least a response. I raised this as a shared concern. Since there has still been no response, I request the Speaker to issue an immediate ruling with a deadline,” Sharma said.
Rastriya Swatantra Party lawmaker Tamang raised the issue of the body of Santosh Rai from Dhading, which remains in Cambodia, saying the government had failed to take the necessary steps to bring it back to Nepal.
“Thirty-seven days ago, I raised the issue during the zero hour, asking that Santosh Rai’s body be brought back to Nepal from Cambodia. But the issue disappeared into the zero hour,” she said.
“I thought that once an issue was raised in the House, it would be implemented. But how long must a lawmaker keep going from one minister’s door to another secretary’s door to pursue the same issue, Speaker?”
Tamang said the Ministry of Finance had allocated a budget for managing the body but the process could not move forward because there was no procedure for using the funds.
She said she would continue standing in the House until she received a response on the matter.
Following the concerns raised by the two lawmakers, Speaker Aryal directed the government to provide a response within three days.
“I direct the government to respond within three days to the issues raised by Honourable Member Gopal Sharma and Honourable Member Ashika Tamang,” Aryal said.
Earlier on Monday, Speaker Aryal had also directed Prime Minister Balendra Shah (Balen) to appear before the House of Representatives and respond to lawmakers’ questions.
The Speaker issued the direction under Rule 56 of the House of Representatives Regulations for the direct question-and-answer session with the prime minister.
