Govt to provide Rs 1.5B to NOC

Kathmandu, Dec. 27, The government Tuesday decided to provide Rs 1.5 billion to the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) to ease the supply of the petroleum products in the nation. Similarly, the government also decided to provide Rs 25,000 each to the families of those died in the cold-wave in the Terai. The meeting of the Council of Ministers held at Singha Durbar decided that the amount would be provided to the families of the cold-wave victims through District Natural Disaster Rescue committees. The government directed the local administrations for making necessary arrangement to control the damages caused by cold-wave. The meeting also decided to provide Rs 1 million to the family of Manbir Sunar, who was killed on the charge of intruding the kitchen of so-called upper caste in Kalikot district. Talking to media persons, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayankaji Shrestha said that the government also decided to carry out a special campaign to create awareness against the untouchability by forming a special mechanism at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), The government also decided to provide Rs 10 million to construct the building of Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ). The cabinet meeting decided to appoint Umeshchandra Jha and Prachandaraj Pradhan as the chairman and Vice-chairman of Nepal Law Commission, respectively. Similarly, the government has relieved chairman of Nepal Railway Suresh Yadav, Administrator of the Employees’ Provident Fund Ramesh Kumar Bhattarai and Director of Institute of Foreign Affairs Tika Jung Thapa of their posts. The government also decided to form a three-member taskforce under the coordination of lawmaker Devi Khadka for Prison Reforms Committee. Director of Department of Prison Management was appointed the member-secretary of the taskforce. Ramesh Kumar Shrestha, Sunil Ranjan Singh and Bhagawati Chaudhary are the other members of the taskforce. The taskforce has been given a two-month time to submit report. It will prepare a report by studying the infrastructure of prison houses, open-jail and study the recommendations given by the committees. The government appointed Vice-Chancellor of Tribhuvan University Prof Dr Hira Bahadur Maharjan, Vice-Chancellor of Purbanchal University Maheshwor Man Shrestha and others as the members of the University Grant Commission. The government has decided to promote Acting Secretary of the Ministry of Law, Bheshraj Sharma. The meeting also approved the resignation tendered by Dr. Sudha Sharma, Secretary at the Ministry of Health and Population.