By Ranju Kafle
Kathmandu, June 18: Tourism Minister Yogesh Bhattarai denied on Wednesday that the government unfairly collected huge amount of money from its own citizens in foreign lands in the name of rescue.
Responding to the queries of lawmakers made on annual budget allocated for the ministry, Bhattarai said, “I wonder how such baseless myths are created.”
Recently, the government was criticised saying it collected huge air fares in the name of rescuing its own citizens from abroad in the wake of coronavirus pandemic.
Minister Bhattarai said that Nepal Airlines could not collect excessive fares because it was working under the ‘work procedures’ approved by the Cabinet where clear criteria, priorities and modality, including fares were mentioned.
Stating that 108 flights were made from Tribhuwan International Airport during the time of lockdown, the minister said 66 flights involved passenger flights.
“A total of 11,856 passengers availed of the flight services for their transportation in lockdown and air fare was cheaper than foreign airlines,” he added.
“Nepal Airlines is bringing back its nationals from Japan for $935 dollars whereas foreign airlines were asking for 1200 dollars for the same.”
He said it’s just charging $1615 dollars instead of asking $2500 dollars from Australia and only $600 dollars for South Korea was cheaper than any other airlines.
Tourism Minister Bhattarai said that tourism sector was the most unpredictable sector badly affected due to COVID-19. “Allocation of budget is stable in infrastructure development,” he said. Bhattarai said airports were allocated enough resources like previous years. “Heritage sites development is in priority, projects are smooth for tourism promotion,” he said.
Not enough budget is allocated in tourism sector because the government prioritized saving lives from COVID-19, he said.
Not only Bhattarai most other Cabinet ministers appeared in the National Assembly to respond to the queries of lawmakers on budget allocation to their line ministries for the FY 2020/21.
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is scheduled to address the National Assembly on Thursday.
Though the Parliament Secretariat had planned to conclude the post-budget session of National Assembly today, it could not complete due to time constrains.
Bharat Raj Gautam, General Secretary of Parliament Secretariat, said that the session would complete on Thursday after remaining ministers of the cabinet convinced the lawmakers on allocations to their ministry and the programmes included in the budget.
Lawmakers and leaders of various parliamentary parties in the House had raised questions on several programmes of the budget in the ministries of the government for the year.
Minister for Communication and Information Technology Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada said that the government had worked on expanding 4G services across the country. Responding to the queries of the lawmakers about budget allocation for the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, the Minister said that 4G service would reach all the areas of the country within next two years.
Minister for Health and Population Bhanubhakta Dhakal said that the government was working seriously targeting to conduct 10,000 COVID-19 tests daily from July. “As we have already told, we will be able to provide 10 thousand COVID-19 PCR reports on a daily basis,” he added.
Lawmakers were unhappy with poor COVID-19 test mechanism in the country.
Responding to the same, Minister Dhakal said that health services in the country were not as weak as they were said to be. “We are providing better services than any other country of South Asia has provided,” he added.
According to him, neither COVID-19 test mechanism nor PCR test or other services were poor in comparison to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Stating that the health services of the country were improved well,

Minister Dhakal clarified that health services would be more efficient after purchasing required equipments, machines and other materials for the health centres.
Programmes of the government like widening health insurance, one doctor in each local body, constructing hospitals and improving its services were the best parts of the budget, he said. “However, we have constraints of managing several things with limited resources, several programmes have been included in the budget,” he added.
Similarly, Minister for Forest and Environment Shakti Basnet said that government prioritised community-based forestry. “Community-based forestry is the best way of environment protection, it plays vital role in economic prosperity,” he said.
Lekhraj Bhatta, Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies, said that manufacturing industries were in priority of the government for the coming fiscal year. “130 industrial villages will be established in a year in the country which will create enough job opportunities and support the national economy,” he said.
Ministers including Pradeep Gyanwali, Ghanshyam Bhusal, Ishwor Pokharel, Giriraj Mani Pokharel, Ram Bahadur Thapa had responded to the queries of the lawmakers in the National Assembly today.