‘Profit belongs to NOC, consumers bear the brunt of loss’, rant lawmakers

KATHMANDU: Parliamentarians speaking in the Special Hour of the House of Representatives (HoR) meeting today voiced their concern about the ever-rising prices of petroleum products and demanded to slash the price. The parliamentarians aired their concerns in the wake of the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC)'s issuing notice mentioning that the corporation was in loss and asserted that it could not consider cutting down the prices although fuel was brought from India at reduced price twice recently. Pradeep Kumar Gyawali demanded the government consider reducing the price of the fuel, arguing that although Rs 31 was reduced per litre while procuring the fuel from India, the consumers were forced to purchase that at high price. "When there is profit, the NOC reaps the benefit but when it is in loss, the consumers are hardest hit. What kind of justice is this, honourable Speaker?" Gyawali questioned. Blaming the government for not reducing the fuel prices so as not to drag NOC into controversy, he viewed that the incumbent government had turned into 'caretaker' after the announcement of the election dates and it should not give a new 'business' to the parliament. Furthermore, he opined that it was inappropriate to broach the matter related to impeachment motion against the Chief Justice while the parliament's tenure was nearing an end. According to him, issuing an arrest warrant against members of CPN led by Netra Bikram Chand 'Biplab' was also a wrong course of action by the incumbent government. The parliamentarian urged the government to be serious about the Taiwan incident and appealed to stay firm in the One-China Policy. He drew the attention of the government to make public its view that no one should interfere with the internal affairs of any nation. Stating that the country's economy was going through a serious condition, he said the parliamentary Investigation Committee could not complete all its process while probing the issue related to tweaking of the tax rate. Likewise, UML lawmaker Yogesh Kumar Bhattarai called for operating the health insurance programme in an effective way. Stating that 1.7 million families were covered by this insurance programme and the government has made payments of more than Rs 20 billion under it, he said the budget for the current fiscal year has not given due priority to it. Bhattarai drew the attention of the government to run the health insurance programme in the status quo ante. He also demanded that the insurance coverage be expanded to Rs 1 million. The UML lawmaker complained that even the payment has not been made to the Covid 19 insured persons. Similarly, Sita Devi Yadav called for making the rescue, relief and rehabilitation efforts for the flood and landslide survivors more effective. She drew the government's attention to checking the widespread use of tobacco products that is happening despite the law prohibiting smoking at public places. Durga Bahadur Rawat demanded to stop harassing the conflict-affected teachers and revising the Education Act in keeping with the changing time to remove the commercialisation and discrimination in the nation's education system. Pushpa Kumari Karna Kayastha said that the practice of high-ranking civil servants teaching tuition classes to the Public Service Commission exam candidates at the 'mushrooming PSC exam preparation tuition centres' was hampering the service delivery as the civil servants who teach at such tuition centres have to divide their time between office and the tuition centres. She also said the trend of taking such tuition classes was also robbing the candidates preparing for the PSC exam of their money. Kayastha suggested the PSC determine a common syllabus for the security agencies and conduct their examination simultaneously. She stressed that the same should be for all public corporations. Naramaya Dhakal said that cases related to the prisoners and detainees should be heard promptly by giving them the same priority as is given to habeas corpus cases while Durga Poudel criticised the government for not being serious when it comes to guaranteeing the voting rights of thousands of migrant Nepalis while announcing the dates for the general election. Prem Suwal drew the attention of the government regarding the recent developments in Taiwan while Gokul Prasad Baskota complained that the government was turning a blind eye towards the monkey and wild pig menace in Kavrepalanchok district and also failed to provide any relief to the farmers whose crops and vegetables were destroyed. Lawmakers Bhimsen Das Pradhan, Rajendra Kumar KC, Nawaraj Silwal, Durga Kumari Bishwakarma, Teju Lal Chaudhary and Mohan Baniya also called the attention of the government to a range of pressing public issues during the 'special time' in the session of the House of Representatives today. READ ALSO:

• Price of petroleum products will not be adjusted: NOC
• HoR passes Citizenship Bill
• Government to provide Rs 7 billion loan to NOC