Govt forms panel to clear arrears, four secretaries transferred

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Sept. 21: The government has decided to form a committee to clear arrears, transferred four secretaries to different ministries and promoted a Joint Secretary to the post of secretary.

A meeting of the Council of Ministers held at the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers (OPMCM) in Singha Durbar on September 18 took the decisions.

Speaking at a press conference organised to make the Cabinet decisions public on Friday, Minister for Communication and Information Technology Prithvi Subba Gurung said that Secretary Suresh Acharya of the Water and Energy Commission Secretariat (WECS) was transferred to the Ministry of Energy, Water Resource and Irrigation as Energy Secretary.

Likewise, Secretary Dr. Govinda Prasad Sharma has been transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development from the Ministry of Forest and Environment.

Energy Secretary Gopal Prasad Sigdel has been transferred to the Water and Energy Commission Secretariat (WECS) and Secretary Deepak Kumar Kharal of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development has been transferred to the Ministry of Forest and Environment.

Similarly, the Cabinet meeting has promoted Join Secretary Kamal Prasad Pokharel (Sharma) to the post of Secretary and transferred him to the Office of the Chief Minister and the Council of Ministers in Sudurpashchim.

Minister Gurung informed that the government approved the visit of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Bishnu Prasad Paudel to Washington D.C., America, from October 21 to 26 to take part in the annual meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

Minister Gurung said that the government gave authority to form a dialogue team led by the Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Finance to ink an agreement for concessional loan assistance of Rs. 22. 89 billion and Rs. 2.1 billion as grant assistance to implement the Second Kathmandu Valley Water Supply Improvement Project to be provided by the Asian Development Bank, and Rs. 403 million to be provided by Japan Fund for Prosperous and Resilient Asia and the Pacific.

The Cabinet meeting decided to form an arrears settlement committee led by lawmaker and member of the Public Accounts Committee of the parliament Achyut Prasad Mainali to clear arrears which could not be cleared through the general process. The cabinet has also fixed the working area of the committee.

The government has also decided to mark National Yak Day every year on Baisakh 7 of the Nepali calendar. Likewise, the Cabinet meeting has allowed to initiate visa waiver process for diplomatic and special passport holders of the citizens of Nepal and Indonesia. For this, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been given authority to complete necessary procedures, said Minister Gurung. The government has also decided to establish a bilateral consultative mechanism between Nepal and Indonesia.

The government has appointed Dhruba Acharya of Dolakha, Lalita Kumar Maharjan of Bardiya, and Mahes Prasad Kafle of Palpa as members of the Office of the Problematic Cooperative Management Committee (COOPMC) under the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation. Shriman Kumar Gautam is the current chairman of the Committee.

Similarly, the government has appointed executive committee members to the National Cooperative Development Board (NCDB). The members include Tejendra Bahadur Khadka, Pradeep Raj Adhikari, Gunanidhi Bhusal, Ekraj Niraula and Bhupendra Bahadur Singh.

The government has given approval to Nepal Intermodal Transport Development Board (NITDB) of Kathmandu to use a land area of the national forest for the establishment of Dodhara-Chandani Dry Port and Integrated Check Point.

Further, Minister Gurung said that the government decided to urge all the ministries to help implement the Common Minimum Programme of the government.