Ministers reply to lawmakers’ queries

Kathmandu / Feb 18: In a meeting of the House of Representatives today, lawmakers put questions before Minister for Education, Science and Technology, Giriraj Mani Pokhrel, and Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Barshaman Pun about the respective issues.

Dila Sangraula asked about the government action plan to address the issues such as shortage of physical and educational materials and non-payment to staffs facing most of child development centers across the country.

In reply, the minister said the situation of physical infrastructure there had been upgraded with the rise in teachers’ perks and facilities. Besides, the budget had been allocated to local levels in this regard. Required action had been taken in cooperation with social development ministers of all provinces.

Sangroula, Prem Suwal, Laxmi Pariyar, Ram Kumari Jhankri, Yagya Raj Sunuwar and Rekha Kumari put a supplementary question regarding the minister reply who said that the government was committed to teaching and learning activities.

A new bill is afoot to improve the entire education system in the country. Pushpa Bhusal on behalf of Dilendra Prasad Badu asked why it was being delayed to summon the Senate of the Sanskrit University. In response, the minister said the vice-chancellor should make initiation for the Senate and the Ministry had received a letter only in regard with the budget issues.

Ram Kumari Jhankri, Mekhmani Chaudhary and Laxmi Chaudhary put supplementary questions to this regard. According to the Minister, universities have been already instructed to forge a consensus to hold the election of the Free Students Union (FSU) by April-13.

In the meeting, lawmaker Bhusal wanted to know from the Minister whether it was true that 1,053 Resource Persons (RPs) working under the secondary education stream were being removed from service.

In reply, Minister Pokhrel said that out of this number of RPs only 75 were pure RPs while the rest were working on deputation, elaborating that the government has decided not to keep the RPs under the scope of work of the federal government.

Lawmaker Dil Bahadur Mahat Chhetri, on behalf of lawmaker Khagaraj Adhikari who had registered his name for asking question to minister Pun, sought to know about the progress regarding operating the reservoir-type power project by using water of Rupatal and Begnas lakes.

To this, Energy Minister Pun said work has been forwarded to construct a reservoir-type power project using the water from Rupatal and Begnastal lakes in Kaski district, stating that it would provide some relief at times when there is high demand for power.

Stating that survey and other studies regarding the project were ongoing, Minister Pun said the Nepal Electricity Authority was working to complete the study and survey on the project by the end of fiscal year 2076/77 and mobilizing investment for construction of the project.

Minister Pun also informed the House about the current situation of demand and supply of power in the country backed by data.

Another MP Ram Bahadur Bista asked Minister Pun whether it was true that the Upper Karnali Project was not going to be completed in time due to the negligence of the contractor company. In reply, Minister for Energy, sharing the progress made by the project, said the Detailed Project Report of the project has been prepared and the EIA been approved. He added that a decision has been taken for using the land under the forest in preparation for construction of the transmission line of the project.

Also, Minister Pun said that frequent discussions have been held with the contractor company for carrying out the project works in time. He said an agreement has been reached with Bangladesh regarding exporting the power generated from this project. RSS