KATHMANDU, Jan 7: The government of Nepal has decided to formulate guidelines to manage the taking of the salute by the people's representatives and high-ranking officials of the state. The procedure and criteria for taking the salute have not been formulated so far.
Due to the lack of proper procedures, representatives and high-ranking officials have been taking the salute as they wish in various programs. Following the increase in the controversy surrounding the salutes taken by government officials by standing on chairs, pirkas (traditional wooden berths), the government has decided to formulate guidelines to manage the taking of the salute by government officials.
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The controversy over taking the salute intensified further after Minister for Urban Development and CPN (Unified Socialist) leader Ram Kumari Jhakri took a ‘pirka salute’ during her visit to the Gulmi district last Saturday. In the past, pictures of ward chairmen and ward members taking salutes have also emerged on the internet.
According to a source, the government is going to formulate a unified working procedure that would include the Nepal Army, the Armed Police Force, and the Nepal Police to create a structured procedure. Although the Nepal Police has an internal procedure on who, whom, under what conditions, and in what program to give salute within its organization, no procedures on salute have been made in the case of ministers, people's representatives, and local level officials.
