Leader of the main opposition and former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has criticised the government’s policies and programmes presented by President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Friday saying that the document was disoriented.

“First, this government has no knowledge of the damage caused by Covid-19 and the extent it can go to. Second, this government does not feel the woes of the people and has no heart to feel their pain,” Deuba said in the House of Representatives on Monday.

“Third, this government has no plans to assure the people on their future. The plan of one year looks like an imagination for multiple years.”

The federal parliament has started discussions on the government’s policies from Monday. A meeting of the Business Advisory Committee on Saturday had decided to use Sunday and Monday to discuss the government’s programmes. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli will respond to the lawmakers’ queries on Tuesday.

According to Deuba, the Oli government has failed to make the preparations needed to control the pandemic. It’s almost four months since the first case of the coronavirus was reported in Nepal and 55 days since the lockdown was instituted.

“The government lacks reliable testing kits, and appropriate relief for those affected by the coronavirus. Since it has no plans to bring in citizens living abroad, they have no realisation that their government exists,” he said.

The programme for the new fiscal year is silent on the ways to safely bring home the Nepalis stranded abroad.

“The government is full of self-praise in the policies and programmes. It claims to have accomplished a lot of work but I would like to request the prime minister to read the policies and programmes of the last two years again,” Deuba said.

“The government will feel ashamed seeing the policies and programmes of two years ago. It had said the Gautam Buddha airport would be completed in a year. Transmission lines at three major corridors and Nijgadh Airport still wait [to be completed].

These policies and programmes echo the plans and programmes this government promised two years ago. This shows how weak their implementation is,” Deuba said.

“Low capital expenditure is making a mockery of the government that claims to have accelerated development. There is a trend that anything could be done for political publicity and gains, which has eroded people’s trust in the policy and programme.”

Deuba also questioned the government’s commitment to controlling corruption. “Instead of probing corruption on essential materials like medicines, the prime minister came to its defence. This proves that the government is completely unsuccessful in [ensuring] good governance. Instead, the prime minister accused the media and social media of promoting instability.”

The Nepali Congress president also expressed concerns over the government’s reluctance to endorse the Millennium Challenge Corporation compact agreed with the US government. “Let me warn that this attitude of breaching the agreements and decisions of previous governments will set a wrong precedent,” he said.

“This policy and programme has not spoken anything about the multi-dimensional effects of the pandemic and has failed to explore both its short- and long-term effects on the Nepali society. I would like to suggest that the government take these points into account seriously while preparing the budget,” Deuba said.