Lawmakers call for prompt relief to flood and landslide affected people

A majority of the MPs airing their views in the meeting of the lower house of parliament complained that the natural disaster affected people have not got relief and compensation yet and they were having to lead a difficult life due to this.

Tek Bahadur Basnet sought the government attention to the need of repair and maintenance of the Rapti Highway which is vulnerable to landslide and is blocked almost daily due to this reason.

Damodar Bhandari talked about the disruption of road transport in the hilly districts of the Province 7 due to the frequent occurrence of landslips and floods.

Parbati Kumari Bisankhe said that 160 families were affected due to the landslide and flood in the hilly areas of Lalitpur district and they were on the verge of displacement. She called for providing immediate relief to these families.

Dilendra Prasad Badu said that the local level has been neglected by the government in the recent days although it was the bedrock of the federal system. He also demanded setting up police outposts at the three local levels in Darchula district. He said banks have refused to open their branches at these local levels as there was no police presence there and the locals had to travel to the district headquarters for banking transactions.

Narayan Prasad Pangeni drew the attention of the government to the problem of monkey menace in various places of Syangja district and the need for controlling this. ‘Troops of monkeys have been feeding on and destroying the farmers’ crops. What will the farmers eat if this goes unchecked,’ he wondered.

The lawmakers also raised the issue of imposition in an arbitrary manner of tax by the local levels which is causing burden on the citizens. They said that the local levels were not giving decent services to the citizens but only putting them under tax burden and demanded that the government should take this matter seriously and address it.

Lawmakers raising this issue were Prakash Rasaili Snehi, Parbati DC Chaudhari, Purna Kumari Subedi and Pramila Rai.

Dal Bahadur Rana, Damodar Bhandari, Durga Bahadur Rawat and Dev Prasad Gurung also drew the attention of the parliament and the government on topical issues.