Govt, families of youths killed in Balkumari incident ink 4-pt agreement; House panel calls investigation into Labor and Transport ministers

Kathmandu / Jan 1: Family members of the two youths who lost lives in the Balkumari incident and the government have inked a four-point agreement today.

According to the agreement reached at the Home Ministry, one person from the victim’s family will be provided appropriate employment, additional relief will be provided to the family, the Home Ministry will request at the earliest to the office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers to declare Birendra Shah and Sujan Raut, the youths killed in the incident, as martyrs and the families of the dead will receive the bodies on Monday (today) and the Home Ministry will arrange for delivering the bodies to the concerned district.

DPM and Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha also held a meeting with the families and relatives of the two youths who lost their lives in the incident.

House panel calls for govt investigation into Labor and Transport ministers’ alleged involvement in Balkumari Incident

Meanwhile, a parliamentary committee under the House of Representatives has instructed the government to investigate the involvement of the Minister for Labor, Employment and Social Security and the Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport in the Balkumari incident.

The State Affairs and Good Governance Committee meeting held at Singha Durbar on Monday directed the government to investigate the involvement of Labor Minister Sharat Singh Bhandari and Transport Minister Prakash Jwala in the incident. While announcing the decision of the meeting, the chairman of the committee, Ramhari Khatiwada, said that the house panel had decided to instruct the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Home Affairs to provide additional compensation to the families of those who died in the protest on the issue of EPS language test on Friday.

The committee has instructed the Government of Nepal, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Labor and Employment, the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport to provide employment opportunities to the families of both the deceased.

Similarly, the meeting instructed the office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Home Affairs to find a fair solution to the problem in order to prevent further unrest among the employees and to maintain the morale of the employees.

The Government of Nepal has also decided to initiate a comprehensive investigation about the involvement of the Minister of Transport and has instructed the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers, along with the Ministry of Home Affairs, to take measures to prevent the recurrence of such incidents in the future.