By Ram Mani Dahal

Hetauda, Apr. 9: All the political parties of Bagmati State have agreed to form a united front against the COVID-19 pandemic. They made this pledge at an all-party meeting organised by the Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers in Hetauda on Wednesday.
Stating that the virus would not differentiate between the ruling party and the opposition, all the parties assured their cadres and citizens would support the government in its fight against the virus. At the same time, they stressed the need for identifying possible patients and asked the government to expand its testing programme.
At the meeting, Chief Minister (CM) Dormani Poudel told everyone that the crisis was just beginning and requested them to mobilise their resources towards resolving any problem that may arise in the future.
He told everyone that the State government was doing all it could to prevent and control the spread of the coronavirus but said that managing the markets amid the lockdown was proving difficult. “Market management of the produced eggs, feed for reared birds and livestock are among the challenges that we are facing today,” CM Poudel said.
He also highlighted the crucial role of the local levels. “The local levels have an important role to play in identifying foreign returnees and those in need of aid,” he said.
The State’s Minister for Internal Affairs and Law Salik Ram Jamarkattel said that the hilly regions of the State were experiencing a shortage of food and that the government had faced a few challenges in distributing relief to the needy. He also informed the meeting’s participants that funds had already been released to all the local levels and District Disaster Management Committees to prevent and treat COVID-19 cases in their areas.
He also said, “With the lockdown in place, we are looking at how to stop people’s movement within and into the State. We are also trying to help our agricultural produce find proper markets.”

Minister for Industry, Tourism, Forest and Environment Arun Prasad Nepal clarified that there were no problems in the supply of essential food items and informed that the government had intensified market monitoring. He also pointed at the need to develop alternative sources of energy.
Minister for Social Development Yuvaraj Dulal shared that the government was working towards expanding its testing programme and also said that the government had begun monitoring the quarantine and isolation facilities. He further added, “We are facing an increasing demand for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and are facing difficulties in ensuring their supply as well as safeguarding the health of the medical professionals involved.”
Speaking at the meeting, Member of the House of Representatives Birodh Khatiwada urged the government to quickly manage seeds and fertilisers for the agriculture sector and stressed the need to restart small projects by maintaining social distance among the workers.
Former Minister Sesh Nath Adhikari, who attended the meeting as a representative of the opposition Nepali Congress (NC), asked the State government to introduce a long-term plan to fight this outbreak.
Kedar Neupane, leader of the ruling Nepal Communist Party, called lockdown and social distancing as the two most effective weapons against COVID-19 and asked the government to focus its attention on these measures.
Indra Bahadur Baniya, leader of the NC Bagmati State parliamentary party, asked the government to create an atmosphere where industries can resume their operations and called on it to help deliver produced goods to the markets. Representing the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Madhu Adhikari said that the private hospitals had not effectively played their part and asked the government to take appropriate steps in this regard.