Govt to spare no effort in managing no-man's-land: DPM Shrestha

Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha clarified that the government had not issued any permission for installation of siren at Kechanakawal in Jhapa district and border outpost (BOP) in Sunsari district.

Responding to the queries raised by parliamentarians in today's meeting of the House of Representatives, DPM Shrestha assured that the government would leave no stone unturned to further manage the no-man's-land and make it orderly.

Shrestha informed the lawmakers that a total of 250 BOPs had been set up so far and more would be set up for border security. Considering the problems surfacing in national economy, the construction of additional BOP would be difficult for the government at present, admitted the DPM.

He also assured that the government was committed towards arranging proper accommodation for the Nepal Police and the Armed Police Force's personnel, especially those guarding the borders in the BOP.

On a different note, he shared that there had been no any official discussion on devising counter intelligence mechanism yet. However, he did not rule out the discussions on the same taken place informally from time to time.

Stating that the government was serious about forceful conversion of religion, he also appraised the parliamentarians that some action were taken against those preaching religion with vested interest and those making others forcefully converting religion.

According to him, yoga and meditation session would be conducted regularly in the security agencies and arrangements were placed to further motivate the traffic police personnel. Regarding the fake Bhutanese refugee scam and the culprit, the DPM stated that the culprits will not be spared and investigation into the scam was not closed.

The government, according to him, had included research on marijuana for its medicinal use.

Furthermore, the DPM shared the discussions were being held with the Prime Minister to bring the National Investigation Department under the Ministry of Home Affairs. It may be noted that the Department is currently under the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers.