KATHMANDU, April 7: Most of the lawmakers speaking in the 'Special Hour' of the Legislature-Parliament session on Friday objected to the decision of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City approving the construction of a multi-storey building at the Old Bus Park in Kathmandu despite knowing that the Kathmandu Valley lies in high-risk earthquake zone.
Bhimsen Das Pradhan of the Nepali Congress said it was a wrong decision to give permission for the construction of a mall at the place where the Kathmandu Valley denizens had allowed the space to be used as a bus park on the condition that it would remain an open space.
He also came down heavily on the government bodies and the land brokers for registering whatever open public spaces are available in Kathmandu in the name of individuals by skirting the regulations. He drew the government's attention to curb this tendency saying there would be no open space left in Kathmandu in a couple of years if this rampant encroachment of open public space continued.
From moon to space
Pradhan warned that the lawmakers from the Kathmandu Valley would publicly retaliate if the encroachment on open space was not stopped.
Bhim Acharya of the CPN (UML) said the government should pay special attention to provide shelters and appropriate compensation to over 12 thousand people affected due to the breach of the Koshi barrage in the floods.
Dr Subodh Pokharel called on the government authorities to take appropriate measures for stopping the wild elephants from wreaking havoc in Saptari district, saying the tuskers had caused a great deal of loss to life and property in teh district in the recent days.
CP Mainali of the CPN (ML) said the tendency not assigning the election symbols to certain parties with the intention of preventing them from taking part in the election was wrong and the prevailing laws related to this should be removed.
Prem Suwal from the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party called for withdrawing the constitution amendment proposal registered in the parliament and ensuring the local level election.
Biswendra Paswan, Hari Charan Sah, Ganga Chaudhary criticized the government for what they called activities against the spirit of the constitution not giving election symbols to the fringe parties with the intention of preventing them from contesting the election.
Janakraj Joshi said it was against the letter and spirit of the constitution not to appoint the Chief of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority for long time.
Anjana Tamli and Bir Bahadur Balayar urged the government to provide relief to the farmers whose crops were damaged by the recent spate of hailstorms.
