Govt recommends envoys for 18 countries

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Aug,1: The government has recommended new ambassadors to 18 countries and recalled envoys from four other countries. A meeting of the Council of Ministers held on July 29 made decisions to this effect. 

Speaking at a press conference organised to make the Cabinet decisions public on Wednesday, Minister for Communication and Information Technology Prithvi Subba Gurung said Dr. Shankar Sharma would continue as Nepal’s ambassador to India while ambassadors from four countries had been recalled. 

All ambassadors appointed from the quota of CPN (Maoist Centre) and CPN (Unified Socialist) have been recalled.

Those recalled include Bishnu Pukar Shrestha (China), Basu Dev Mishra (Sri Lanka), Milan Tuladhar (Russia) and Kailash Pokharel (Australia), according to Minister Gurung. 

Minister Gurung said that the government had recommended Kanta Rijal (Australia), Naresh Bikram Dhakal (Saudi Arabia), Prof. Dr. Kapilman Shrestha (South Africa), Prof. Dhana Prasad Pandit (Israel), Ram Krishna Bhattarai (Sri Lanka), Sanil Nepal (Spain), and Dr. Shail Rupakheti (Germany) as ambassadors.  

Similarly, Lok Darshan Regmi (USA), Chandra Kumar Ghimire (UK), Dr. Shiva Maya Tumbahamphe (South Korea), Junga Bahadur Chauhan (Russia), Ramesh Chandra Poudel (Qatar), Prof. Dr. Krishna Prasad Oli (China), Dr. Sumnima Tuladhar (Denmark), Dr. Netra Prasad Timilsina (Malaysia), Prakash Mani Pokhrel (Portugal) and Rita Dhital (Pakistan) are among those recommended as ambassadors.

Three provincial chiefs changed   

The government has made a reshuffle of the provincial heads for three provinces.

In the Cabinet meeting held last Monday, a decision was made to replace the provincial chiefs of Bagmati, Lumbini, and Karnali with new appointees.

As per the decision, Deepak Prasad Devkota of Kailali will take over as the provincial head for Bagmati, Krishna Bahadur Ghartimagar of Rolpa will be the new provincial chief for Lumbini, and Yagyaraj Joshi will assume the role for Karnali.

Previously, under the Maoist-led government of Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, Yadav Sharma, Amik Sherchan, and Tilak Pariyar had been appointed as provincial chiefs for Bagmati, Lumbini, and Karnali, respectively.

CGS Sigdel Acting Army Chief 

Likewise, the Cabinet meeting held on Monday decided to appoint Chief of the General Staff (CGS) and Lieutenant General Ashok Raj Sigdel as Acting Army Chief to come into effect from August 9, 2024.

Minister for Communication Gurung said that the Cabinet meeting decided to assign the responsibility of Acting Chief of the Army Staff to CGG Sigdel.

The current Chief of the Army Staff Prabhuram Sharma, who is set to retire, will hand over command of the Acting Army Chief to Sigdel on August 9 before he formally retires from September 10, 2025. General Sharma will stay on a home leave from August 9.

22 secretaries transferred 

The government has transferred 22 secretaries en-masse through a Cabinet decision on Monday. As per the decision, Ram Prasad Ghimire has been given the responsibility of Secretary at the Ministry of Finance by transferring Madhu Kumar Marasini to the Office of Vice President.

Similarly, the government has sent Ghanshyam Upadhyay to the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) by transferring Rameshwor Dangal to the Ministry of Defense.

Likewise, Dinesh Ghimire has been given the responsibility of Revenue Secretary. Mukunda Niraula has been sent to the Ministry of Labour Employment and Social Security. Dilliram Sharma has been transferred to the Public Service Commission from the Office of President.

Radhika Aryal has been brought to the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology as the new Secretary by transferring Ram Krishna Subedi to the Public Procurement Monitoring Office.

The secretary of the Ministry of Defence, Kiranraj Sharma, has been transferred to the Natural Resources and Fiscal Commission. Bharat Mani Subedi has been transferred to the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration.

In the same way, Keshav Kumar Sharma Bidari has been sent to the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport and Gopal Sigdel to the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation.

The Cabinet has decided to send Narayan Prasad Duwadi to the Office of President and Raj Kumar Shrestha to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers.

Similarly, Madhusudhan Burlakoti, Ramadhar Sah, and Pramila Devi Bajracharya have been transferred to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Nepal Trust, and Ministry of Water Supply, respectively.

Suresh Acharya has been transferred to the Water and Energy Commission and Gokarna Mani Duwadi to the National Statistics Office. 

Arjun Prasad Pokharel has been transferred to the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation and Saraju Kumar Baidhya to the National Vigilance Centre from the Prime Minister’s Office.