KATHMANDU: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli said COVID-19 has posed a challenge not only to Nepal but to the entire world when the country was heading towards the path of development.
Speaking at the parliament, Prime Minister Oli said this year’s budget was focused on the COVID-19 pandemic. “We were moving ahead with the development efforts when we were hit by the global coronavirus pandemic,” PM Oli said while answering questions of the lawmakers at the House of Representatives (HoR) on Wednesday.
“I want to take some criticisms and suggestions positively when it comes to the government’s efforts to control the coronavirus,” he said adding that the government made every effort towards that end. “By saying so, I do not mean that the government’s efforts were cent percent accurate,” PM Oli said adding that it is high time that everyone cooperated with the government’s efforts to stem the pandemic rather than asking about the nitty-gritty of the budget used for coronavirus pandemic.
“There are weaknesses on the government’s part. There are PCR machines which have not been used properly. I am well-aware of it,” said Oli, adding, “Social distancing, washing hands, maintaining hygiene, including the lockdown among others have been some of the measures that we have been adopting to control the spread of coronavirus.”
Oli went on to say that this is not an issue of the government or the ruling party alone. It’s a humanitarian issue. Everyone has to come together to shoulder the responsibility since it needs support from all walk of life.
PM Oli dismissed allegations that the Prime Minister was trying to consolidate power by bringing some government bodies under the purview of the Prime Minister. “I want to reiterate that the government is not in favor of doing so,” PM Oli said adding that it is meant to keep the government bodies’ functioning in the right track.
He claimed that the effectiveness of those agencies functioning under the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers (OPMCM) has increased in recent times.
PM Oli, however, denied any ulterior motives to bring those agencies under the OPMCM except for making the government’s performance further effective.
He also reaffirmed that the works of those line agencies had been forwarded in an effective manner.
Confessing that he had no intention to concentrate power on him, PM Oli argued that those agencies’ effective performances in the later days had spoken volume for themselves and validated keeping these agencies under the OPMCM.
Government agencies and constitutional bodies such as National Investigation Department, Poverty Alleviation Fund, Development Board, National Planning Commission, National Development Council, National Vigilance Centre, Constitutional Council Secretariat, Department of Money Laundering Investigation, Central Bureau of Statistics and Department of Revenue Investigation and Office of Attorney General Office function under the OPMCM.
PM Oli had brought these agencies under the OPMCM over different periods in his second stint of premiership.
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