BRITISH OFFER OF ASSISTANCE FOR ARMY INTEGRATION

BRITISH AMBASSADOR OFFERS ASSISTANCE FOR ARMY INTEGRATION
Kathmandu, 5 Dec.: Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai and British Ambassador to Nepal, John Anthony Tucknott held talks on Monday, RSS reports.

At the meeting held at the Prime Minister’s Office in Singh Durbar, discussions were held on Nepal’s peace process and constitution writing, the Prime Minister’s press advisor Ram Rijhan Yadav said.

According to Yadav, the British ambassador expressed happiness on the progress made in the peace process and thanked the Prime Minister for the progress in the army integration front.

The British ambassador held general discussions on what kind of support the British government can provide in the army integration, Yadav said.
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FURTHER DETAILS OF PM BHATTARAI STATEMENT AT PAC
KATHMANDU, 5 Dec.: Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai has said since zero tolerance on corruption and irregularities is the government’s foremost priority, he is focused on this issue, RSS adds.

Speaking at a meeting convened by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Legislature-Parliament at the committee’s office on Monday, the prime minister expressed the commitment to make efforts for bringing about reforms in the public corporations in the backdrop of the investment made by the State in public corporations not producing the expected returns.

The PAC had called the meeting to acquire information regarding the Public Corporations Directive Board (Formation and Work Execution) Order, 2011.

Prime Minister Dr. Bhattarai said the Public Corporations Directive Board (Formation and Work Execution) Order has been brought with the objective of appointing the executive chiefs and the office-bearers through open competition so as to make the public bodies effective and competitive.

Stating most of the public corporations under the ownership of the government are running at loss and a few of them have even closed, he said efforts would be directed to improving the performance of such corporations as per the Public Corporations Directive Board Order that has been brought for that very purpose.

The prime minister expressed the confidence that the Public Corporations Directive Board Order will bring about overall changes in the public corporations.

“The government is carrying out additional home work for operating the public corporations in a professional and competitive manner,” Prime Minister Dr. Bhattarai said, adding that the expected reforms would be seen in the corporations as the executive chiefs and the office-holders to the Board of Directors of these corporations would be appointed based on their skills, qualifications and efficiency.

Stating that the government has so far invested Rs. 190 billion for the smooth operation of the corporations that are either running in a state of bankruptcy or are operating on partial basis, the prime minister said there is the need of cooperation from all sides as still there is a need of big investment and effective plans for fully reviving these corporations.

Prime Minister Dr. Bhattarai said the Public Corporations Directive Board Order has been introduced for making the investment, capacity development, performance, evaluation, terms of service and regulations and monitoring of these corporations more effective. He disclosed that efforts would be made to constitute a seven-member Board.

At the meeting, Minister for Physical Planning and Works Hridayesh Tripathi said it is because of the weakness of the management that the public corporations are not running in an effective manner despite the huge investment by the government. He stressed the need for reforms in the public corporations incurring losses.

Chief Secretary Madhav Ghimire opined that the public corporations are making loss as they have separate operational procedures and suggested bringing uniform process and reform programs for the operation of the corporations.

PAC chairman Ram Krishna Yadav underlined the need of operating the public corporations by tying them up with public service requirement, calling on the government to be serious on reforming the public corporations.

Members of the PAC Surendra Pandey, Shankar Pokharel, Deep Kumar Upadhyaya, Prem Bahadur Singh, Usha Gurung, among others, emphasized that there was no alternative to a complete reform of the public corporations operating on loss and tardy growth.
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