Minister Gurung affirms continuation of coalition

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Dec. 23: Minister for Communication and Information Technology Prithvi Subba Gurung has said that the present government will not collapse at any cost as this government was formed to end political instability in the country. 

"We, the two largest parties (Nepali Congress and CPN-UML), in the House of Representatives, enjoy a comfortable majority and there is no need to seek others' support and backup to retain this present government, so the coalition and the government will continue until the general election of 2027," Minister Gurung said. 

"The formation of the present government led by the largest and second largest party is a kind of rare occurrence in the history of national politics," Minister Gurung, who is also the government spokesperson, said at a press meet organised to make the Cabinet decisions public on Sunday. 

"There was an urgency and necessity to form the present government having different political ideologies to give the nation a breakthrough in terms of political instability and momentum to the national development projects," Minister Gurung claimed. 

When there was not a durable government in the past, all the national budgetary plans and programmes, capital expenditure and many more things could not be achieved, he said. 

"This situation caused a risk of moving the nation into national and financial failure and thus we, the two largest parties, united to form this new government," Minister Gurung said.

When a sustainable government could not be formed, the nation's trade deficit also increased, he said. 

Meanwhile, the Cabinet meeting held on December 20 decided to approve the use of 3.45 hectares of national forest land for the construction of the Godawari Multipurpose Stadium in Lalitpur. 

Similarly, the government has designated Nepal Rastra Bank as the regulatory body to prevent money laundering in the case of loans issued for the purchase of vehicles and the Social Security Fund.

For vehicle sale businesses, the Department of Transport Management has been appointed as the regulatory body to prevent money laundering, and for investment companies, the Securities Board of Nepal has been designated, according to the Minister.

Additionally, the government has approved the revised terms of reference for the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers.

Likewise, the government promoted  Deputy Inspector Generals (DIGs) Durga Singh and Bharat Bahadur Bohara to the rank of Additional Inspector General of Police (AIG) to fill two vacant positions in the Nepal Police. 

The promoted officers have been assigned to the Nepal Police Headquarters, Human Resource Development Department, and the Nepal Police Headquarters, Provincial Coordination Department.

The government has nominated Shriram Subedi from Kaski as the Chairman of the Kanti Children's Hospital Development Committee.