YCL moved out from only 2 sites, House panel told

KATHMANDU, Feb 3: A senior bureaucrat told a special parliamentary committee on Tuesday that the Maoist youth wing, Young Communist League (YCL), has moved out from only two among a number of industrial areas.



Secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Tana Gautam, told the parliamentary special committee formed to monitor implementation of the Prime Minister’s commitments, that the YCL has moved out from Balaju (Kathmandu) and Nepalgunj (Banke) about four weeks after Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal promised to evacuate them "within three weeks". [break]



Gautam said industrial estates in Patan (Lalitpur), Pokhara (Kaski), Dharan (Sunsari), and the magnesite factory in Lamosanghu (Sindhupalchowk), among other areas, have yet to be vacated. He said a group of people are still capturing Himal Cement Factory’s rooms in Chobhar.



Home secretary Govinda Prasad Kusum told the meeting that on December 29 the Ministry sent a letter to all the District Administration Offices to ensure return of the property, and sent another follow-up letter on January 18.



He informed that the Maoists have returned the property and house of former Prime Minister duo Surya Bahadur Thapa and Lokendra Bahadur Chand, former army chief Satchit Shumsher rana, and Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) leader Amrit Bohara, among others. “But still the lands and property captured in Siraha have yet to be returned, except staff quarters of a technical school.”



Speaking at the meeting chaired by CA chair Subas Nembang, chief secretary Bhoj Raj Ghimire said the cabinet secretariat asked the Home Ministry on December 29 to ensure return of the property to concerned owners.



He said no private land or property has been found seized by Maoists in 36 of the 75 districts in the country.



Later, the committee, which was formed to monitor a number of commitments made by Prime Minister Dahal in the parliament on January 7, asked the cabinet secretariat to furnish details on the progress made toward that end by February 13.



No Comment on YCL: Chief Secy



Despite clear commitment from the prime minister to ensure return of property through use of force by the government if the Maoists did not move out voluntarily, chief secretary Ghimire said he would not comment on YCL activities. “Let me not to comment on the YCL as it is sister wing of a political party,” he said. He repeatedly said he would not comment on the YCL who are solely blamed for capturing the buildings belonging to industrial estates and government offices.

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