NA session: Lawmaker Subedi urges ruling, opposition parties to work together on corruption control

Kathmandu: CPN (Maoist Centre) lawmaker Jhakku Prasad Subedi has underscored that the ruling and the opposition parties work together to control corruption and irregularities as they are the impediments to national prosperity.

Speaking during the ‘special hour’ in the meeting of the National Assembly today, he said it is regrettable that the person holding the highest position in the bureaucracy has been implicated in a corruption case. He was referring to the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filing cases against government employees including the Government Chief Secretary Dr. Baikuntha Aryal on corruption charges.

Lawmaker Subedi pointed out the need for the ruling and the opposition sides to join hands in the fight against corruption as it is the obstacle to good governance. He expressed sadness over the incident in which a woman who was staying in the Chhaugoth (a shed where menstruating women are kept in seclusion) in Achham had been raped by her relative and demanded an investigation into the incident and action against the culprits.

Nepali Congress lawmaker Kamala Panta said corruption was rife in the country and stressed carrying out works for its control both at the political and administrative levels. She said corruption takes place through the collusion of both parties, calling on all to work to control this menace by finding out its causes.

Lawmaker Panta described the registration of cases of corruption against some government employees including the Chief Secretary Aryal as regrettable and said this incident has tarnished the image of the entire civil service. She pointed out the need to enact a powerful bill allowing investigation into, hearing of and prosecution also in the case of policy-level corruption.

Lawmakers call for controlling VAW incidents Similarly, the lawmakers in the upper house of the Federal Parliament have called on the government to take stringent measures to control violence against women and children, stating that such incidents have escalated in various places in the country in recent days.

Lawmaker Sumitra BC condemned the incident of rape of a 16-year-old girl that took place in Achham on June 17 and demanded that the government find out the perpetrators and punish them. She also urged the Home Minister to brief the parliament on this after finding out the truth.

Lawmaker BC also called for bringing to justice the culprit who abetted a 16-year-old woman to commit suicide in Bajura district as well. CPN (Unified Socialist) lawmaker Rajendra Laxmi Gaire called on the bodies concerned to swing into action for the effective implementation of the citizen’s right to health which has been enshrined in the constitution as the fundamental right.

She drew the government’s attention to the shortage of basic medicines such as paracetamol and oral rehydration formulations in the remote areas of the country. Gaire also stressed the need to launch a campaign to demolish the Chhaugoth throughout the country to banish the harmful practice.

Lawmaker Bamdev Gautam called the attention of the government regarding the Shalgram boulder that was taken from Nepal to Ayodhya of India for use in the construction of a Ram Temple there.