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Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Monday appointed Janata Samajbadi Party lawmaker Deepak Karki as State Minister for Forest and Environment.

Prime Minister Dahal appointed Karki as State Minister for Forest and Environment as per Article 76 (9) of the Constitution of Nepal.

Newly appointed State Minister Karki will take the oath of office and secrecy today itself.

He was elected as a lawmaker from Dhanusha-1, defeating Matrik Yadav of the CPN (Maoist Center).

Senior leaders of three major political parties held a discussion on the by-elections to be held on April 28.

During a meeting held on Monday morning, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli and CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Madhav Nepal discussed fielding candidates for the by-elections.

On the occasion, CPN (US) Chairman Nepal informed that the party will field its candidate for the by-election in Bajhang.

Saying that discussions are underway between the CPN (Maoist Center) and CPN (Unified Socialist) to field a candidate in Ilam, Nepal clarified that no one can stop the party from fielding its candidate in Bajhang.

CPN-UML has already made a decision to field Suhang Nembang in Ilam-2 and Daman Bhandari in Province Assembly-1 of Bajhang.

Other parties have not finalized the candidates for the by-elections yet.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has pledged to address the issue concerning the establishment of Shaktikhor industrial corridor in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

The PM made this promise during his meeting with a delegation led by CPN-UML Chair KP Sharma Oli and comprising the Kalika Municipality mayor in Chitwan and others today.  The meeting was held at the Prime Minister's official residence in Baluwatar.

It may be noted that despite talks for a long time, there is no substantive progress over the establishment of an industrial corridor at Shaktikhor in Kalika Municipality. 

During the meeting, the delegation drew the Prime Minister's attention towards the need to establish the Shaktikhor industrial zone and undertake endeavors for development and prosperity of the local level, according to Mayor Binod Regmi.

In response, the head of the government assured of addressing the concern for the establishment of the corridor in the upcoming budget, directing Finance Minister Barshaman Pun to resume budget allocation for the same.

Finance Minister Pun, CPN-UML Deputy General Secretary Bishnu Rimal, central member Kapil Pokhrel, education activist Dr Baburam Dhungana and outgoing chair of the National Federation of the Deaf Nepal, KP Adhikari, were among those present in the meeting.

Matters relating to the Trishuli diversion project, equalization grant, and the establishment of an inclusive school were discussed in the meeting, according to the local representative.

National Assembly (NA) Chairperson Narayan Prasad Dahal said the NA would work to connect all three tiers of governments.

Talking to journalists today, he said the NA would work as a link between the local level and province assembly.

Chair Dahal shared that NA has initiated discussion on the topics of aspirations, challenges and potentials of province and local levels.

He further said the issues discussed in the NA would reach the government through the House of Representatives.

Chair Dahal said discussions were already started in the NA on the problems of all the seven provinces in the last week of every month. "I have made arrangements for the members representing all the seven provinces to raise the issues of their provinces," he said.

Dahal insisted on making NA a space to play a crucial role in connecting the three tiers of government.