KATHMANDU: Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) lawmaker Bipin Acharya on Thursday expressed dissatisfaction with the functioning of the government, questioning whether issues raised by lawmakers in Parliament are being acted upon.
Speaking during the zero hour of the House of Representatives meeting, Acharya said there was growing concern that concerns voiced by lawmakers were being recorded but not translated into action.
“If the issues we raise during zero hour are heard, noted and implemented, then we should call it ‘full time’ instead of ‘zero hour’,” Acharya said. “But if public grievances, lawmakers’ questions and national issues continue to disappear into nothingness no matter how often they are raised, then it should be called ‘black hole time’ instead.”
Using the analogy of a black hole, where even light disappears, Acharya warned that citizens’ voices, parliamentary accountability and government responsibility should not be allowed to vanish within the legislative process.
He stressed that zero hour should not be treated as a mere formality but as a constitutional platform through which public concerns enter Parliament.
“Zero hour is not just a ceremonial opportunity to speak. It is the constitutional gateway through which the people’s concerns enter Parliament,” he said. “But once the door is opened, there must also be a pathway forward.”
Acharya proposed that issues raised during zero hour should not remain confined to parliamentary records. Instead, he urged that such matters be immediately forwarded to the relevant ministries and that lawmakers be informed of progress within a specified timeframe.
The RSP lawmaker also called for an end to what he described as a culture in which lawmakers speak, the government fails to listen, and public demands go unanswered.
“Lawmakers speak, the government does not listen, and citizens continue to raise their voices without response. This tradition must end,” he said. “Zero hour should become the full time of the people’s voice.”
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