Govt. to form committee of distinguished persons to help expand Nepal-India relations

The Government has decided to constitute a committee comprising distinguished persons to look into the overall aspect of Nepal-India relations and help further expand multi-dimensional relations between the two countries. A decision to this end was taken by the meeting of the Council of Ministers held at the Prime Minister's official residence in Baluwatar this evening, according to government spokesperson and Minister for Information and Communications Sherdhan Rai. The decision to form such a committee with a two-year term had been reached by the meeting of the Nepal-India foreign ministerial joint commission held in Kathmandu in 2051 B.S. Deliberations were held in the meeting today to nominate former Foreign Minister Dr Bheikh Bahadur Thapa, former Chief Commissioner of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority Suryanath Upadhyay, former UN Under-Secretary General Kul Chandra Gautam and Member of Parliament Dr Rajan Bhattarai to the Committee on behalf of Nepal, Minister Rai said. The names will be finalised in the next cabinet meeting. The cabinet today also fixed the date for the election of the official trade union of civil servants unions for coming April 10. Likewise, a decision was taken to approve the Ministry of Urban Development to work together with the National Reconstruction Authority in developing a planned settlement for the quake survivors of Laprak VDC-6 and 7 in Gorkha district in the Bhumemuntali community forest and in the 18.32 hectares of area in the neighbouring national forest in the same VDC. Similarly, the meeting decided to allow the authority concerned to acquire 140 bigaha of land necessary for the upgrade of Bhairahawa-based Gautam Budhha Airport into the international standard. As per the meeting decision, the government will seek clarifications from the then Secretary at the Ministry of Urban Development Arjun Bahadur Karki for his alleged involvement in the misappropriation of funds in the purchase of tents for the quake survivors. It may be noted that the Commission for the Investigation for the Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has recommended to the government to initiate departmental action against him. Besides, the meeting approved the resignation tendered by Director General of Ayurved Department Dr Devkala Bhandari. Dr Prem Dangal has been appointed the Vice Chair of Youth and Small Employment Fund. Likewise, the meeting agreed to allocate Rs 68 million for preparations for the 12th South Asian Games. Similarly, Nepal Army's Dr Bharat Prasad Singh has been promoted to the vacant post of Nepal Army's technical Brigadier General and posted at the Army Rehabilitation Center. Brigadier General Shamser Thakurathi has been promoted to the post of Major General and deputed at the NA Directorate of Public Relations. The government Wednesday approved transfer of 27 Nepal Army officers and 14 joint-secretaries. The meeting extended the deadline for submitting the quarterly programme of budget of the constituency infrastructure development programme and constituency development programme. Besides, the meeting agreed to accept foreign aid of Rs 6.7 billion for implementing the school sector reform programmes and Rs 1.4 billion promised by the Swiss Government for the implementation of the Skill Enhancement Project Sustainable and Motivation Employment programmes, according to Government Spokesperson Rai. RSS