Mahendranagar, Feb 11: Nepali
Congress lawmaker Ramesh Lekhak has said if consensus eludes among political
parties on transitional justice, due process would be followed to conclude
it.
Lekhak said he was devoted to lawmaking since his first term of House of Representatives (HoR) membership.
However, people are shared development agenda rather than law and policy making
before election, he mentioned.
He blamed that lawmakers are
obsessed more on development of their constituencies than law-making. He
underscored the need to take together law-making and development agenda.
Lekhak who is Chief Whip of Nepali
Congress now shared that he was not able to give time to his constituency after
becoming Chief Whip.
He shared his views while talking
to RSS reporter Sher Bahadur Singh for the 'Lawmaker with RSS' segment.
According to him, parliament should
make government accountable, while parliament should be accountable to people.
But, present government has failed to make parliament active up to the
mark.
The NC Chief Whip admitted that he
too had foibles to this end. "Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal
'Prachanda' has said he would be active to give business to the parliament.
Let's see how the running parliament delivers," he stated.
Lekhak expressed worry over
protracted law-making to address transitional justice (TJ). The TJ bill to
amend the previous Act has been pending in the parliament for a long. It has been
17 years the TJ is in the surface. But, we're entangled in it and yet to sort it
out. Although the TJ Act was brought nine years back, the Supreme Court ruled
against some provisions in it, rendering the Act ineffective. The commissions
on TJ are also non-functional. We've been making efforts for consensus, but it
is still elusive. If the consensus eludes again, due process would be adopted,
he explained.
As he informed, the ruling
coalition held talks with major opposition CPN UML in this connection, but they
had differing views.
The NC Chief Whip also talked about the geographical difficulty of Sudurpaschim Province. He shared that it is not only
distant from the federal capital, Kathmandu, but also allocated a limited budget,
thereby facing development confines. Economic and educational indicators need
improvement here, he suggested.
Constituency no 3 of Kanchanpur
district has huge potential, but we have not been able to identify and unlock.
The important places as of economic corridors and tourist destinations of India
and China are not far from here. Not only this district but entire Nepal can be
benefitted from these places after establishing strong links.
"I've been raising the issue
of trilateral border since my political career to reap benefit and boost
national economy. In this vein, we stressed construction of dry port at Dodhara
Chandani. An agreement has been made with India for the detailed project report
(DPR) for it. Similarly, a four-line motorable bridge over the Mahakali River
is being completed soon. The Mahakali corridor to link China is also speeded
up," he informed.
Lekhak is a HoR member elected from
constituency no 3 of Kanchanpur district representing the Nepali Congress
through the general election, 2079. He is in NC politics for long. (RSS)