Nepal

It does not suit lawmakers who are trying to get Dashain allowance for themselves

Kathmandu, July 7

Lawmakers today urged the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee of the House of Representatives to drop the provision of the new Federal Civil Service Bill that allows civil servants to receive medical allowance without undergoing treatment for any illness.

Section 50 of the new bill stipulates that civil servants will get medical allowance as prescribed. It adds that civil servants who did not claim medical allowance during their service would be entitled to get additional amount apart from the earned medical allowance after retirement.

Nepal Communist Party (NCP) lawmaker Pampha Bhusal told the panel that claiming medical allowance without undergoing treatment for any illness was akin to receiving bribe and hence this provision should be dropped.

Lawmakers Yashoda Subedi, Dila Sangraula, Mahesh Raj Gahatraj, Chhaka Bahadur Lama, Prem Suwal and Rajkishor Yadav also questioned the rationale of the provision and demanded its removal from the bill.

Some lawmakers said the provision was not justified as the government had built a civil hospital in Kathmandu where civil servants could get up to 50 per cent discount.

Section 50 of the new Federal Civil Service Bill, however, stipulates that notwithstanding anything mentioned in the bill, the government may initiate health insurance scheme for civil servants in place of medical allowance.

Secretary at the MoFAGA Yadav Koirala defended the billprovision, saying that the provision had been part of the existing law since 2013 and it was also an international practice.

Rule 94 of Civil Service Rules stipulates that a gazetted class employee shall be entitled to medical expenses equal to salary of 12 months, non-gazetted first class employee to salary of 18 months and employees below that level to salary of 21 months during his/her service period.

Lawmakers told the panel that civil servants could get the amount they receive at present under medical allowance from other headings but the medical allowance heading should be removed from the bill.

According to MoFAGA Spokesperson Bhupal Baral, serving civil servants were required to submit medical bills to get medical allowance, but retired civil servants were not required to submit bills. &If calculated in todaymonetary value, a section officer will get between Rs 350,000 to Rs 400,000. This amount is not unjustified because almost all civil servants spend lakhs during their service period,& Baral said.

Chairperson of Government of Nepal Collective Bargaining Authority Punya Prasad Dhakal said medical allowance was the only attractive allowance in civil service which most of the civil servants choose to receive after retirement and there was no rationale for lawmakers to oppose this allowance. &It does not suit lawmakers who are trying to get Dashain allowance for themselves to oppose civil servants& medical allowance. After all, civil servants have to be ready to do governmentjob at any time of the day when required,& he added.

He said the government should think of adding to pay and perks of civil servants rather than trying to reduce their allowances. There are around 80,000 civil servants and up to 2,200 of them retire every year.

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Kathmandu, July 7

The ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) is all set to release its much-awaited political document, putting an end to speculations surrounding the viewpoints and ideologies of the countrylargest political party.

NCPtwo co-chairs Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal endorsed the document today. It will be sent to the printing press tomorrow.

The partypolitical document was drafted by a nine-member committee led by senior NCP leader Madhav Kumar Nepal. NCPStanding Committee had unanimously endorsed the document and handed it over to the two co-chairs for their final approval around a year ago. But it has not been made public till date due to differences over partypolitical ideology among senior party members.

&The PM and I finalised the document today. It will be printed tomorrow,& former PM Dahal told a programme organised by the Nepal Telecommunications National Employees& Association today, adding, &No change has been made to the document submitted by the Nepal-led committee.&

There has been a lot of speculation about the partyideology ever since the political document was drafted. &Some of the leaders have been asking us about the partypolitical line,& said Dahal. &They&ll know about it after they get the document.&

Earlier, there were debates on whether the NCP — which was formed following merger between CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist Centre in May 2018 — should embrace &peoplemulti-party democracy& or &21st century peopledemocracy& as its key political ideology.

Members of the erstwhile CPN-UML were lobbying for &peoplemulti-party democracy& whereas members of the former CPN-Maoist Centre were pushing for &21st century peopledemocracy&. Later NCPtwo co-chairs agreed to embrace &peopledemocracy& as the partykey ideology until the first convention is held.

&The partyideology, political stance and leadership will be finalised during NCPfirst convention. We had agreed on that at the time of merger,& Dahal said. &We&ll finalise these issues through consensus and not on the basis of majority.&

This is an indication that the partyfirst convention will not see any voting and will settle most of the issues, including election of its leader, through discussions and negotiations. &The conventions thereafter, however, will see competition among party members,& said Dahal.

The party was supposed to hold its first convention a year after signing the merger agreement. But the party has not been able to wrap up its unification process even more than a year after signing the merger pact. The party has still not selected its districts& in-charge and co-in-charge, nominated politburo members and brought the departments into operation.

The two NCP co-chairs had agreed to complete the unification process within three months of signing the merger agreement.

&We will soon complete the remaining unification process,& said Dahal. Yesterday, PM Oli also said the partyunification process would be completed soon.

• NCP yet to publish political document

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