Kathmandu, May 20 : Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Barshaman Pun, has urged the industrialists and businessmen to operate industries and resume construction works by paying attention to health safety.    
He said this during a virtual meeting organised by Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) on Tuesday.    
The Minister shared that the government has made arrangement for operation of industries, for carrying out works of stalled development projects and for transportation of raw materials necessary for industries in an effort to revive the industry amidst the COVID-19 pandemic itself.    
"Nobody knows how long the pandemic will last and we have to be used to seek livelihood amidst the crisis," he said. Stating it is projected that one million Nepalis in foreign employment would return home after losing their jobs with the extension of the pandemic, Energy Minister Pun said the government was carrying out works for managing the 2.6 million workforce, including the 1.1 million foreign returnee workers and the 500 thousand workforce that comes every year in the domestic labour market.    
He said agriculture sector can employ a large chunk of this labour force and attention of many people has gone to this sector after the coronavirus pandemic. The Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation together with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development were doing homework regarding providing employment to this workforce.