The Ministry of Home Affairs, which is about to bring a bill to increase services and facilities for former special officials, has been stopped after protests everywhere.
Among the former special officials, the Ministry of Home Affairs was engaged in internal preparations to bring a bill to increase some financial facilities in the case of the former president, vice president and former prime minister.
Despite the approval from the Council of Ministers for moving forward with the bill, there was strong opposition from political parties and civil society after the news that the internal discussion about the number of services and facilities to be provided started to be published.
Home Minister Ramesh Akhtar has backed away from the task of moving the bill immediately after the growing dissatisfaction within the ruling Congress. Congress MPs including Congress leader Shekhar Koirala, Chief Minister Gagan Thapa and Vishwaprakash Sharma protested in the Parliament regarding the issue of facilities.
Congress General Minister Thapa, who is also the coordinator of the two-party political mechanism formed to support the government, demanded that the law should be brought and arranged in such a way as not to provide lifetime service but to reduce it from the current one. According to sources, even Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has been interested in introducing a bill by increasing some facilities for the former president.
'The Ministry of Home Affairs was in the home task of advancing the bill as the Supreme Court asked the pre-specific officers to provide service facilities only by making a law . We were making internal preparations about how much service facility to give to former special officials. The bill would go ahead only after the finance ministry gave its consent, but when the news came out while the internal discussion was going on and there was intense dissatisfaction, we came to the conclusion that the bill should not be brought immediately," said an official of the Ministry of Home Affairs. However, what is happening now could have been to increase the service facilities of some officials . The bill will not come even after opposition to it.'
Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, who was initially positive about increasing service facilities for pre-specialized officials, also backed down after increasing dissatisfaction within his own party. Deuba also advised the Home Minister not to bring the bill now after the protests.
