Madhesh Province Government to Reduce Ministries, Maintain Alliance

Janakpurdham. The alliance of Nepali Congress, CPN UML, and Communist Party of Nepal will continue in Madhesh Province. The three parties, which have concluded to continue this alliance, are preparing to reduce the number of ministries and reshuffle ministers.

The Madhesh government currently has 12 ministries. Preparations are underway to reduce the number of ministries to only 9, according to leaders of the alliance.

Kumarkant Jha, Chief Whip of the Nepali Congress Madhesh Province Parliamentary Party, clarified that although there are rumors of government changes in other provinces, the existing alliance in Madhesh will continue. Talking to RatoPati, he said, 'As the local and provincial assembly elections are due next year, an agreement has been reached to continue the current government rather than changing it.'

Jha stated that there has been no such directive from the center regarding government change so far. According to him, with the government change not happening, an agreement has been reached to reduce the number of ministries in Madhesh. He said that preparations are being made to limit the number of ministries to 9, including the Chief Minister's office, by merging some of the current 12 ministries into others.

Sources indicate that preparations are underway to merge Forest and Tourism into a single ministry, merge Commerce into Home, and place Education under the Social Development Ministry.

Rataneshwar Goit Yadav, a member of the Provincial Assembly from the Communist Party of Nepal, informed that his party is preparing to send new members to the government as the budget has already been released. Talking to RatoPati, he said, 'Cabinet members may be reshuffled by July 30.' He stated that the party will recall ministers who have completed one year and send new representatives.

Yadav also informed that preparations to reduce the number of ministries have already begun. With 12 ministries, all three parties currently in the government held 4 ministries each. According to the agreement between the alliance parties, Congress and UML will now get 3 ministries each, and the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) will get 2 ministries.

The provincial government has decided to award all projects of the current fiscal year through open competition. In the past, development construction work was done through consumer committees. Due to frequent complaints from the public about disputes, corruption, and substandard work in such projects, that system has now been removed. According to Chief Whip Jha, the Madhesh Province government will start the tender process from August to expedite development projects.