Lokantar news impact: Parliamentarians return festival allowances

Kathmandu, 20 October (2020) - Members of the federal parliament have returned their festival allowances following the publication of a news report on Lokantar.com.

Secretariat of the parliament had distributed Dashain allowances to the members based on the cabinet decision taken in the previous year. The Prime Minister, Speaker, Ministers and parliamentarians had pocketed the allowances equivalent to their monthly salary (more than 65,000 rupees or US$557) even at a time when common people have been struggling to join hand and mouth due to COVID lockdowns.

Following Lokantar's exposé, top brass and members of the parliament have tried to show as if they are icons of morality by returning the allowances. Lokantar's news report, thus, has stopped millions of rupees in the state treasury going to waste.

Immediately after the publication of news report on Lokantar, incumbent NCP leader Bhim Rawal wrote a letter to the parliament secretariat requesting to take back the allowance money. Parliamentarian Janardan Sharma announced that he will spend the allowance money on the treatment of ex-People's Liberation Army combatants.

The ruling and the opposition parties took a formal decision to deposit the allowance money to the COVID-19 Control and Treatment Fund. The PM himself took a proactive stance in depositing Dashain allowance provided to the members of the Cabinet to the Corona fund.

Federal government also urged the provincial governments to deposit the allowance money to the Corona fund. Provincial governments have obliged to this request from the federal government.

Big political parties Nepal Communist Party and Nepali Congress have decided to return the allowance money.

The opposition Nepali Congress took an institutional decision to give back the allowances to state treasury and incumbent party NCP followed the opposition's lead.

Nepali Congress decided to deposit more than 4 million rupees received by the members of the parliament in the form of Dashain allowances to COVID fund. Balkrishna Khand, Chief Whip of the party, published a press statement on Monday to inform about the depositing of the allowance to the fund.

"At a time when common Nepali people have been facing hardships in the form of disease, hunger and loss of employment, distributing Dashain allowances to members of the parliament is untimely and inappropriate. That is why the party has decided to return the allowances," the statement reads.

Janata Samajwadi Party has protested against the convention of distributing Dashain allowances and has decided to deposit the allowance to the COVID fund.

Former Minister and NCP leader Gokarna Bista returned the allowance money and said that distribution of allowance at this time is against the principle of social justice.

Mahesh Basnet, Member of Parliament from Bhaktapur-2, provided the allowance money to Bhaktapur Hospital before his party NCP took a formal decision to return allowances.

Handing Rs. 65,000 to the hospital on Monday, he said that people should celebrate festivals by helping the poor and needy rather than showing off through lavish merriment.

He urged all local governments to build hospitals at the local level for ease of access to treatment.