Minister Mahato had been invited to the committee meeting to clarify why he lifted a ban on the export of sand, grit and stones to India violating the committee´s directives in this regard. It is perhaps the first time after the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections that a parliamentary committee has passed a censure motion against a sitting government minister. [break]
“The committee passes a censure motion against the minister for avoiding the meeting despite his commitment to answer the lawmakers´ questions,” committee member Laxman Ghimire said while announcing the committee´s decision on behalf of the committee chairman.
Countering the defiant minister, the parliamentary committee on Wednesday also directed all government bodies to immediately enforce a ban on sand and stone export.
The committee members, cutting across the party-lines, also accused the minister of corruption, and decided to summon him again. “The minister has trampled upon the dignity of parliament. He has shown his high-handedness and there are reasons to suspect that he lined his pockets for taking the decision,” said Maoist lawmaker Lokendra Bista Magar.
On January 4, lawmakers had directed the government to stop the sand, grit and stone export to India until they prepare a field report on environment impacts by the extraction of these materials. Subsequently, a cabinet meeting also directed the concerned ministries to abide by the committee´s decision.
The parliamentary wing acted on the reports that the Shiwalik hills and southern plains of Nepal are at risk of being converted into desert lands due to unrestrained extraction of these materials, and that the overloaded vehicles carrying such materials to India are fast destroying the roads.
While the committee was still at the final stage of releasing its report, Mahato hastily introduced a regulation, through a ministerial level decision, lifting a ban of these construction materials.
The Ministry secretary Purushottam Ojha was present at the meeting to answer the queries, but the lawmakers did not entertain interaction with him.
Earlier, Ojha said the government lifted the ban in view of the country´s receding export level and help diffuse the current balance of payment (BOP) crisis. He also argued that the regulation puts certain restriction on the export and takes the issues of environmental impact and road destruction into account.
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