The government on Monday decided to scrap the National Trading Limited claiming that the public sector company continues to bleed the state’s treasury.

The NTL was established in March 1962 under Nepal Company Act to channelise commodity aids from China and the erstwhile USSR with a view to meeting the local cost of development projects initiated by these countries through the sale of goods in the domestic market.

A Cabinet meeting on Monday evening also decided to amend the online media directives for the second time, and to allow national priority projects including Rani Jamara Kulariya Irrigation Project, Nilgiri Hydropower Project, Shivam Cements Factory and Dhadkhola Hydropower Project to use their forest areas. According to Information Minister Mohan Bahadur Basnet, the government has also finalised the hierarchy of the people’s representatives at the federal, provincial and local levels besides the chief ministers.

The caretaker government led by Sher Bahadur Deuba also decided to declare more people as martyrs. They include Dewan Singh Rana, Dev Bahadur Khawas, Bishnu Bahadur Chand, Min Bahadur Baniya Chhetri, Netra Narayan Bhandari and Rana Bahadur Gurung, who were killed during the Maoist insurgency.