Nepal's new map discussed in HoR session

Lawmakers speaking in the meeting of the House of Representatives (HoR) today called the attention of the government through the Speaker on various pertinent issues.

Speaking during the Special Hour of the meeting, they also spoke on the need for all parties to come together to make initiatives for repatriating the Nepali territories as per the revised new map.

Nepali Congress lawmaker Pushpa Bhusal said the government had shown its 'patriotism' by publishing the new map but it has failed to live up to that as the territories included in the new political map were not displayed in the image on the medals and decorations which President Bhandari conferred on various personalities recently.

She also sought clarification from the government that it prevented the new map from including in the school and university curricula. Bhusal also demanded that the government should table the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact in the parliament as per due process.

Pradip Yadav of the Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal called for passing the Citizenship Act after thorough discussions in the parliament. It should not be delayed for very long as doing so would deprive many citizens of getting their citizenship certificates and other State facilities, he said.

Nara Bahadur Dhami of CPN-UML said the present government has taken a historic and bold step in including the Nepali territories encroached upon by India in the new map, albeit late. The government has carried out satisfactory work regarding the post-quake reconstruction and construction of other infrastructures.

Nawaraj Silwal of the same party said there should be 'intellectual' debate in parliament but it seems only invectives were being traded in parliament of late which has hurt the dignity of the House. The good and result-oriented works carried out by the government should be appreciated with an open heart and mind, he stressed.

Prem Suwal of the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party drew the attention of the government on the need of adopting the required alertness at the border transit points in view of the spike in coronavirus cases in neighbouring India.

Pradip Giri of the Nepali Congress drew the attention of the political parties to the need of creating an election environment by forging consensus to find an outlet of the political imbroglio in the present context.

"Political agreement is necessary at present. The important question is not who leads the government. The main issue is to forge ahead by protecting the constitution," he reiterated, stressing on making the parliament effective by allowing it to complete its full term.

CPN (Maoist Centre) lawmaker Shakti Bahadur Basnet said his party has not withdrawn support to the present government to safeguard the parliament.

Metmani Chaudhary of the same party called for forming a national level committee for resolving the land-related problem which has emerged as a big issue in the country. He said the government should stop the fragmentation of land, stop the encroachment of public land and protect the farmers from becoming landless.

Similarly, speaking in the 'Zero Hour' of the parliament today, the MPs called the attention of the government on a host of issues including the looming risk of COVID-19 and the need for taking effective steps to contain it, its adverse impact on the employment sector and debating the MCC in parliament.

The lawmakers speaking in the Zero Hour today were Khaga Raj Adhikari, Gagan Kumar Thapa, Anjana Bishankhe, Anil Kumar Jha, Uma Regmi, Krishna Bahadur Rai, Khem Prasad Lohani, Ganga Chaudhary Satgauwa, Ghanashyam Khatiwada, Chand Tara Kumari and Chhakka Bahadur Lama.