NC Veep Poudel’s son elevated to plum government position
Chintan Poudel, the son of Nepali Congress Vice-president Ram Chandra Poudel, has been appointed the executive vice-chairman of Poor Family Identity Card Management Board.
Chintan Poudel, the son of Nepali Congress Vice-president Ram Chandra Poudel, has been appointed the executive vice-chairman of Poor Family Identity Card Management Board. The Cabinet meeting on Thursday took a decision following a proposal tabled by the Ministry of Poverty Alleviation and Cooperative.
However, when the proposal was tabled in the Cabinet, only the ministers from Nepali Congress knew that Chintan was the son of NC leader Poudel.
Chintan will get facilities, perks and remuneration equal to government secretary, and other allowances as per the board’s regulations.
A UML minister said that he did not know that Chintan was the son of NC vice-president. “The Cabinet did not discuss the matter in detail,” the UML minister said of Chintan’s appointment.
The board was formed in 2011 by the Baburam Bhattarai-led government to issue ID cards for poor families after identifying their economic and social status. The office has already conducted survey in 25 districts, and currently exploring ways to ensure social security to poor families.
Chintan is an MBA graduate from India. He had been working in a local cable company at the management level. Sources said that NC Vice-president Poudel had been putting pressure on Prime Minister Sushil Koirala to appoint his son in a “plum government job”.
Earlier, Poudel’s in-law Yubraj Bhusal, who had retired as finance secretary on July 25, was appointed the chief of Nepal Administrative Staff College. The recommendation was made on the same day Bhusal was set to retire from civil service.
Ahead of Bhusal’s retirement, sources said that NC vice president had put pressure on Prime Minister Koirala and NC ministers to remove the incumbent Chief Secretary Leelamani Poudyal and replace him with Bhusal. The proposal, however, was objected by the Prime Minister, UML ministers and some NC ministers. Poudel had also lobbied for the appointment of his brother-in-law, Parameshwor Pokhrel, as the chairman of Nepal Drinking Water Corporation. It is said that the NC vice-president had put constant pressure on Urban Development Minister Narayan Khadka to award Pokhrel the job.
The Thursday’s Cabinet meeting also approved appointments in chairman’s post in five hospitals, executive directors in three dissolved state-run corporations and offices, and dissolved the Nepal Cricket Association.
18.12°C Kathmandu
