Skip to main content

Minister Thapa becomes target as government draws flak

  • Brushes aside resignation call, vows to continue fight
  • Medical allowance to Sujata

While the government decision to provide Rs 5 million to Nepali Congress leader and former minister for foreign affairs Sujata Koirala is drawing flak from several quarters, a fare share of criticism has been directed to Minister for Health Gagan Thapa.
After social media users took to Twitter and Facebook to rebuke Thapa, the minister on Monday said “it is unfortunate” that his efforts to stop the trend of doling out funds from the state exchequer for the treatment of VIPs had gone in vain.
Koirala has been diagnosed with breast cancer and has already left for Singapore for the treatment.
A Cabinet meeting on Sunday decided to provide Rs 5 million to Sujata.
Though the proposal for such medical allowances should have been made by the Ministry of Health, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Bimalendra Nidhi had tabled the proposal.

The decision was made amid public outcry.
None of the ministers spoke about the decision on Sunday after the Cabinet meeting. Minister for Information and Communication Ram Karki, also the government spokesperson, just read out other Cabinet decisions and parried questions about the decision to provide Rs 5 million to Sujata. It is learnt that the decision was taken after Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal told the Cabinet meeting that he had already spoken with Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba [about the matter]. “It is a matter of health of a senior leader,” Dahal is learnt to have told the meeting. The decision was taken despite reservations from some Cabinet members, it is learnt.
Minister Thapa has prepared a guideline to put a ceiling on medical allowances to be provided from the state coffers. As per the guideline, a maximum of Rs 1.5 million could be doled out depending on the nature of ailment. The proposal is under consideration at the Prime Minister’s Office. Some of those who have heaped criticism on Minister Thapa have even gone on to say that he should step down for failing “to keep his word”. Thapa, however, has defended his position, saying: Giving up and walking is not a logical choice, as it only makes it easier [for others] to continue bad old habits.
Sujata, however, is not the first politician to have claimed excessive privileges. There is a long list of VVIPs who have claimed medical allowances. The list comprises former prime ministers, ministers and other politicians. Recently, a government decision to provide Rs 6 million to former president Ram Baran Yadav too had run into controversy.
Published: 15-11-2016 08:40

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

India Government raises grant for Nepal by 17 percent

India Government raises grant for Nepal by 17 percent The Indian government has pledged to extend 17 percent more in financial aid to Nepal in the next fiscal year, indicating greater enthusiasm of the southern neighbour to support the landlocked country’s development endeavours. The Indian government has allocated a grant of IRs3.75 billion (Rs6 billion) for Nepal in 2017-18, as against IRs3.20 in 2016-17. The allocation was made through the Union Budget 2017-18 launched by Indian Finance Minister Arjun Jaitely on Wednesday.  In addition to the amount, India has also pledged to extend a grant of IRs113.30 million to Nepal Police Academy in 2017-18, the Indian budget document says. The grant pledged for Nepal in 2017-18 is second highest among South Asian countries, with Bhutan leading the pack. The Indian government has expressed commitment to extend IRs37.14 billion in grant to Bhutan in 2017-18. The amount, however, is 4 percent lower than in 2016-17. In total, Ind...

Reduce Poverty: Much Neglected

Dilli Raj Khanal A progressive distributional policy together with the suitable institutional setups and arrangements at the grassroots for ensuring exclusively the access of poor to social and physical infrastructure as well as financial services is also a necessity . As a part of global event, poverty eradication day was celebrated in Nepal recently with claims that Nepal is one of the best performers in this area. If estimated poverty trends are looked into, there are no grounds to refute such an assertion. According to official figures, in 20 year’s period poverty has reduced by more than 20 per cent, from 41.8 per cent in 1995/96 to 21.2 per cent in 2015/16. Compared to the average GDP growth rate of 3.7 per cent in that period, the poverty reduction rate was about 3.2 per cent per annum. The breakdown by different updated poverty estimated periods give an interesting pattern. For instance, the annual poverty reduction rate was sharpest at 3.7 per cent annually during ...

Bhattarai stresses on rebuilding Nepal-India ties

- Kamal Dev Bhattarai Former Prime Minister and Coordinator of Naya Shakti Nepal Baburam Bhattarai has said that there is a lack of ‘proper understanding’ in India about Nepal. Speaking to Post before concluding his visit to India on Tuesday, leader Bhattarai said mainly young generation of India has some flawed understanding about Nepal and bilateral relations between the two countries. The former prime minister maintained that there is a need of dialogue, debate and discussions to rebuild the bilateral relations in the change political context Nepal and India. Bhattarai made such remark after extensive discussions with Indian intellectual and policy makers during his seven-day stay in New Delhi.  Bhattarai underlined the need for building a bilateral relation between two countries at the top political levels. Bhattarai was of the view that there has been a huge change in the political scenario of both countries and bilateral relation should be rebuilt accordingly. He ...