Panel formed to probe Terai damages, Melamchi to be decided Saturday

The government has constituted a high level judicial commission to probe into the damages of life and property during the Terai movement. A meeting of cabinet held on Friday decided to constitute a five member panel led by Supreme Court judge Khilraj Regmi.

In the commission, DIG for the eastern region Rabindra Pratap Shah, deputy attorney general Rajnarayan Pathak, deputy head of the National Investigation Department Sukhchandra Jha and district court judge of Siraha Sahadev Bastola have been selected as the members.

Formation of the high level commission to probe into the loss of Terai has been one of the major demands of the madheshi lawmakers.

Emerging from the meeting, government spokesperson and Minister for Information and Communication Krishna Bahadur Mahara said the cabinet also discussed the issue of the Melamchi Drinking Water Project, the fate of which has become uncertain after the main funding agency ADB decided to pull out of it accusing the government of failing to abide by its conditions.

However, the cabinet could not take any decision on the issue, according to Mahara.

Similarly, the meeting also discussed the deadlock of schools. All the schools have been closed for over a week now due to the strike called by Maoist-aligned teachers and students unions but no decision has been taken on the same.

The cabinet has agreed to call a top-level meeting of the eight parties at Baluwatar at 8:00am Saturday morning. Home Minister Krishna Pradad Sitaula said Saturday’s meeting would take a common decision on Melamchi’s issue.