KATHMANDU, July 10: The Parliament’s Good Governance and Monitoring Committee on Sunday directed the government to provide vehicle, fuel, driver and security facilities only to former president, former vice-president, former prime minister, former speaker of the parliament and former chief judges.
The committee made the decision endorsing recommendations by a sub-committee formed by Parliament’s Good Governance and Monitoring Committee to study facilities provided to the former dignitaries.
Former president, former vice-president, former prime minister, former speaker of the parliament and former chief judges, former deputy prime ministers, former home ministers, former ministers, former chief justices, former IGPs, former royalty, former Nepal Army chiefs, former chief secretaries and former members of parliament are often accused of misusing facilities provided to them by the government and placing an additional financial burden on state coffers.
Municipalities without facilities
The committee has directed the government to make a clear legal provision to implement its directive. The committee took the decision after a study carried out by the sub-committee estimated that over Rs 4 million is being spent on average every year on each of the former dignitaries, including the former president and former vice-president and the former prime ministers.
“The free reign in facilities for former dignitaries is causing a huge financial burden on state coffeers. So, we had recommended the full committee to direct the government to curtail the facilites being offered to former deputy prime ministers, former home ministers, former ministers, former chief justices, former IGPs, former royalty, former Nepal Army chiefs, former chief secretaries and former members of parliament,” said lawmaker Janak Raj Joshi, coordinator of the sub-committee.
Earlier, the home ministry had prepared a bill on perks and facilities to the former dignitaries and forwarded it to the parliament for endorsement. But after lawmakers criticized the bill saying it proposed more extravagant facilities to the former dignitaries, the committee had directed the government to withdraw the bill from parliament.
Now, with the committee’s Sunday’s directive, the home ministry will have to amend the bill in line with the directive.
The bill had not set out clear criteria on who is a former dignitary.
The sub-committee had found that more than 7,000 security personnel have been deployed for the security of former dignitaries.
Likewise, the committee also directed the government to form a separate mechanism for deciding the number of security personnel to be deployed for the former dignitaries.
