Ministers sans portfolio sans nameplates

KATHMANDU, Feb 12: Officials at the Office of the Prime Minister´s Office and Council of Ministers (PMO) on Friday looked as if they were tired of answering those who reached there to meet and offer best wishes to the newly-appointed ministers without portfolio.



The well-wishers reached the PMO because government officials had arranged chambers there for the new ministers. [break]



In normal circumstances, ministers would get their portfolios after taking the oath of office and secrecy. But that was not what happened in the case of newly-appointed ministers Bharat Mohan Adhikari, Bishnu Paudyal and Ganga Lal Tuladhar. Since they didn´t get their portfolios, the PMO had to arrange chambers for them at its premises.



“At least 20 to 25 individuals came and asked about the chambers of the ministers. We are tired of telling them about the ministers´ chambers and their activities,” said a junior officer at the PMO.



Deputy Prime Minister Adhikari attended his office Friday, spent an hour there and then left.



He consulted officials from the Ministry of Finance. “He also briefly met some journalists at his office,” said an official.



Officials put up a nameplate only outside Adhikari´s chamber. As per the arrangement made by PMO officials, Adhikari has been using a room previously used by then Defense Minister Bidhya Devi Bhandari.



“In politics it is common to experience comfortable situations sometimes and sometime difficult situations,” said Minister Paudel, adding, “We are certainly facing difficulties. However, the problems we are facing are less important compared to problems the country is facing as a whole.”



Members of the public reached the PMO hoping to meet the two ministers-- Paudel and Tuladhar-- but couldn´t meet them as there were no nameplates outside their chambers. Officials said they didn´t put up nameplates for Ministers Paudel and Tuladhar, thinking that they could be given their portfolios at the earliest.



The PMO had adjusted chambers for the three ministers at its premises Thursday following the oath-taking ceremony.



Officials have arranged two rooms for Paudel and Tuladhar at a place used by Raghu Panta, former prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal´s principle advisor.



PMO officials, however, have not taken the matter of chambers for ministers without portfolio so seriously, saying that arranging chambers for newly appointed ministers is not a new problem. “We had adjusted various chambers for ministers without portfolio in the past. It´s quite a difficult job but not a new one,” said another official at the PMO.

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