The government has appointed Sangita Singh, Kushendra Bahadur Mahat, Shiva Raj Adhikari and Arnico Kumar Panday as members of the National Planning Commission.

A meeting of the Council of Ministers held on Thursday made the appointment to the vacant positions, said Minister for Communications and Information Technology Rekha Sharma, who is also the government’s spokesperson.

Adhikari is the chief of the Central Department of Economics at Tribhuvan University, while Panday, who is an atmospheric scientist, is a central member of the Rastriya Swatantra Party.

The Cabinet meeting decided to promote Chudamani Paudel to the vacant secretary position in a special category of administrative service and also decided to waive royalties for a Nepal-South Korea expedition team.

The meeting also decided to waive royalties for a Nepal-South Korea expedition team on the occasion of Nepal and Korea marking the 50th anniversary of establishing bilateral relations between the two countries.