Kathmandu, Apr. 15: Minister for Communication and Information Technology Rekha Sharma has said that the government has prorogued the winter session of the federal parliament as per the constitutional practices and as per the necessity to begin preparation for the next fiscal budget.  

“There is no need to end the session of the House abruptly and getting afraid of any other political party as what has been charged as it is done based on the regular practices and necessities,” Minister Sharma clarified while answering the questions raised by the media persons at a press conference organised to make the Cabinet decisions public on Sunday.

“Now, the government makes preparation for presenting the policy and programmes for the new fiscal budget, and this time, the government is also preparing to make public the budget in a different way with different programmes from the previous ones,” Minister Sharma said. 

In another context, Minister Sharma, who is also the government spokesperson, said that the government through its previous actions taken against corruption and breaking the rule of law, was committed and serious towards ending VIP culture of not getting punished anymore embracing a zero-tolerance policy in corruption and establishing rule of law. 

Until and unless the facts and evidence find one guilty or testify accusation, the government or any other institution should not make anyone defendant or arrest them, Minister Sharma said.  She said that although there was a difficult juncture in the national economy, the present situation has not been so adverse as it has been improved a lot after the present government led by Prime Minister Prachanda adopted several measures for controlling the revenue loss and leakage. 

Meanwhile, the Cabinet meeting held on April 12 last week made several decisions including transfer of five government secretaries.

As per the decision, secretary Dinesh Bhattarai of the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers has been transferred to the Ministry of Women, Children, and Senior Citizens.

Similarly, Secretary Arjun Prasad Pokharel of the OPMCM has been transferred to the National Statistics Office, Nepal as chief statistics officer. 

The Cabinet meeting has also decided to transfer Secretary Suman Raj Aryal of the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Secretary Mukunda Prasad Niraual of the Office of Vice-President to the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration and Binod Prakash Singh of the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration to the Office of the National Natural Resources and Fiscal Commission.

The Cabinet meeting has also given authority to table Nepal Media Council Bill to the House of Representatives and given agreement in principle to draft a bill on National Cadet Corps (NCC).

The government has extended the term of the Commission formed to study and submit report to resolve the tariff dispute of dedicated and trunk lines by one month. The government had formed the three-member probe commission headed by former Supreme Court justice Girish Chandra Lal on January 9, 2024. 

The government has also decided to accept grant assistance of 

Rs. 613 million to be provided by the World Bank for institutionalising Gender-based Violence Response Project in Nepal.