Author: Himalaya Post

Kathmandu – Finance Minister Dr Yubraj Khatiwada said to end fiscal anarchy remains in the list of the major priorities of the government. At a meeting of the Finance Economic Committee, the House of Representatives today, the Finance Minister, he said to leave no ground for raising questions about the utilisation of revenue collected through people’s tax was a challenge for the Finance Ministry. He went on to say that the Ministry was clear that an expansion of bases for taxes not increase in its rate could contribute to the revenue collection, adding that only people capable of paying the tax would be obliged to tax rules. According to him, the constitution has clearly stated about provisions relating to the tax collection (the areas to be covered by tax system and jurisdictions for its collection). “Production rise in agriculture, energy and construction materials is essential to replace import,” the finance minister said, adding that there would be special focus on exports of Nepali carpet, pashmina products and readymade garments. Committee member and former prime minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai said it seemed difficulty to bring big investors into the country until an atmosphere was built for supplying productions to major markets. He was of the view of offering more and more facilities to foreign investors, of making no further delay in signing the BIPPA and coming up with programmes capable...

Kathmandu – Lawmakers speaking in the meeting of the House of Representatives today have drawn the attention of the government to the need of managing relief to the flood and landslide affected people at the earliest. A majority of the MPs airing their views in the meeting of the lower house of parliament complained that the natural disaster affected people have not got relief and compensation yet and they were having to lead a difficult life due to this. Tek Bahadur Basnet called the government’s attention to the need of repair and maintenance of the Rapti highway which is vulnerable to landslide and is blocked almost daily due to this reason. Damodar Bhandari talked about the disruption of road transport in the hilly districts of the Province 7 due to the frequent occurrence of landslips and floods. Parbati Kumari Bisankhe said that 160 families were affected due to the landslide and flood in the hilly areas of Lalitpur district and they were on the verge of displacement. She called for providing immediate relief to these families. Dilendra Prasad Badu said that the local level has been neglected by the government in the recent days although it was the bedrock of the federal system. He also demanded setting up police outposts at the three local levels in Darchula district. He said banks have refused to open their branches at these...