Province 5 has presented its policies and programmes for the current fiscal year.

Governor Umakanta Jha presented the interim policies and programmes in Sunday’s session of the Province Assembly (PA) before it was tabled for discussion by Chief Minister Shankar Pokharel.

The policies and programmes propose, among others, promoting the tourist destinations in the province, including Lumbini, Tilaurakot, Ramgram, Devdaha, Niklihawa, Kakrahawa and Kudan; developing irrigation system and protecting agricultural land; and setting up industrial corridors in  Neapalgunj, Bhairahawa, Krishnanagar and Koilabas.

The policies and programmes also propose setting up cooperative development fund to manage and monitor loan provided to the members of the cooperatives and establishing province level natural disaster management fund.

Discussion on the policies and programmes is scheduled to take place on Monday.

The assembly members of Nepali Congress (NC) and Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum-Nepal (SSF-N) expressed their reservations on the policies and programmes brought by the province government.  

NC Chief Whip Surendra Hamal said the policies and programmes were brought without prior consultations among the parties. He also claimed that the proposed policies and programmes do not include all the regions and districts in the province.

SSF-N Chief Whip Santosh Kumar Pandey also claimed that the policies and programmes were brought unilaterally, and do not include any plan to develop the sectors like hydropower and information technology.

Minister for Physical Infrastructure Development Baijanath Chaudhary, also the spokesperson of the province government, explained that the policies and programmes were presented for the interim period of running fiscal year.

Assembly members criticise lax security in Province 2

JANAKPUR: Province 2 assembly members drew the government’s attention towards the incidents of rape and other criminal activities in Sunday’s PA session.

They also criticised the province and the federal governments for failing to maintain law and order. Rastriya Janata Party Nepal representative Manish Kumar Suman said even

ministers and senior government officials were unsafe.

He told the session that Minister for Physical Infrastructure Development Jitendra Sonal has been receiving death threat from the Jai Krishna Goit-led Janatantrik Tarai Mukti Morcha (Revolutionary) but the province government does not have the authority to mobilise security personnel.