Lawmakers have drawn the government's attention to the challenges facing the Tarai /Madhes region due to a lack of rainfall, which has affected rice planting this year.
They stated that several districts in the region are still waiting for rain and urged the government to declare the area as drought-affected and introduce and implement relief programmes.
Krishna Kumar Shrestha highlighted that districts such as Bara and Parsa are also facing an acute shortage of drinking water.
Independent lawmaker Amresh Kumar Singh said a prolonged drought has caused severe water shortages for both household use and irrigation, from Birgunj to Janakpur.
Ramkrishna Yadav of the Nepali Congress informed the House that hand tube wells and wells in the Tarai /Madhes are drying up due to the ongoing drought.
Gyan Bahadur Shahi of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party expressed concern over the removal of the Jumla-based Water Supply and Sewage Management Office.
Chhiring Lhamu Lama (Tamang) of the CPN (Maoist Center) also opposed the decision, urging authorities to ensure timely completion of the Dhauligad Greater Drinking Water Project in Jumla.
Kantika Sejuwal of the Nepali Congress accused the state of discriminating against citizens of the Karnali region and voiced concern over the closure of the Jumla-based Sewage Office.
Sita Kumari Rana of the Nepali Congress informed the House that the academic calendar of Tribhuvan University has been affected by the ongoing protests of part-time teachers. She emphasized the need to implement a report aimed at managing the issues of part-time teachers.
Rekha Sharma of the CPN (Maoist Center) accused the government of making it more difficult for citizens to access the health insurance facility.
Meanwhile, Durga Rai from the same party alleged that appointments of chiefs of the Kaski District Revenue Office and the Land Commission were influenced by money and favoritism.
Sumana Shrestha of the Rastriya Swatantra Party reiterated her party’s demand to form a high-level investigation committee or commission to address the visit visa scam. After she finished presenting her views, the party’s lawmakers walked out of the meeting hall in protest.
Lawmakers call for prompt rescue, relief and rehabilitation of flood-affected people in Rasuwa
Meanwhile, the lawmakers have urged the government for the prompt search for the missing, treatment for the injured, and for rescue, relief and rehabilitation of the victims of the floods in the Lhende River on the Nepal-China border in Rasuwagadhi.
The flooding was caused by the bursting of the Supraglacial lake on the morning of July 8.
In today's meeting of the House of Representatives, they emphasized that the concerned agencies need to pay timely attention to the matter, as it has been almost a week since the flood incident occurred, and the search for the missing has not been carried out vigorously.
During the special hour of the HoR meeting, lawmaker Mohan Acharya mentioned that due to the flood, a 30 megawatt capacity hydroelectric project was damaged, the Miteri Bridge was swept away, 20 people are missing on the Nepal side and 11 on the China side, and more than a hundred electric vehicles were swept away by the flood.
He demanded that rescue, search, and reconstruction should be expedited.
"With many structures being built near the river areas, we have suffered a lot of damage now. We must construct disaster-resilient infrastructure anticipating the occurrence of natural disasters. We need to pay attention to air rescue matters. Considering the risks that climate change can bring, we must prioritize adaptation programmes now," said Acharya.
Hit Bahadur Tamang also urged the government to expedite the rescue, relief and rehabilitation efforts for the flood-affected people of Rasuwa. He stressed on promptly reconstructing the infrastructure damaged due to the flooding.
Lawmaker Achyut Prasad Mainali praised the current government led by KP Sharma Oli, stating that with the current government's one year in office, the construction of the parapet at the cricket stadium in Kirtipur has reached the final stage, transitional justice has reached a conclusion, foreign investment has increased, extraction of petroleum products in Dailekh, the Gwarko overpass, the Nagdhunga–Thanakot tunnel, the acceleration of the Siddhbaba tunnel construction, and the swift progress of the Narayangadh–Butwal and Muglin–Pokhara road construction.
According to Mainali, we need to move forward together for prosperity, good governance, and development based on the feelings of the people.
Meanwhile, Rajendra Pandey, a member of the Nepal Communist Party (Unified Socialist), called for action against those guilty, stating that the issue of two government ministers taking bribes has come into public.
He demanded that the government should promptly respond as questions have been raised about the Minister for Federal Affairs and General Administration and the Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives, and Poverty Alleviation in that connection.
Similarly, lawmakers Sushila Shrestha of Janata Samajbadi Party, Abdul Khan of the Janamat Party, Rekha Yadav of Janata Samjbadi Party Nepal, Ram Prakash Chaudhary of the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party, Prem Suwal of Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party, Chitra Bahadur KC of Rastriya Janamorcha Party, Prabhu Sah of Aam Janata Party, independent MP Yogendra Mandal, Nagina Yadav of the Nepali Congress and Tara Lama of the CPN (UML) called attention of the government on various issues of public importance.
