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Kathmandu Tuesday October 17, 2000 Kartik 01, 2057.
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Home Secy transferred too
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Oct 16 - The cabinet meeting held today has
appointed Health Secretary Srikant Regmi as the new Home Secretary, and the erstwhile Home
Secretary Padam Prasad Pokharel has been sent over to the Ministry of Health as secretary.
The shakeup confirms rumours that Pokharel would be
transferred out of the Home Ministry in the aftermath of the killings of policemen in
clash with the Maoist insurgents in Dunai, Dolpa, late last month.
The then Home Minister Govinda Raj Joshi had also been forced
to resign after the incident as was the Inspector General of Police Achyut Krishna Kharel
who was sent on a forced home leave.
According to highly placed sources in the government, Kharel
is now no longer on leave. His resignation has been accepted formally by today’s
cabinet meeting, sources said. The cabinet however has recommended that former IGP Kharel
be appointed the Royal Nepali Ambassador to Myanmar, and the recommendation has been sent
to His Majesty the King for formal approval.
Among other high level changes made by today’s cabinet
is the transfer of the Defense Secretary Keshav Raj Rajbhandari. He has been shifted to
the Cabinet secretariat, and Padam Kumar Acharya of the Cabinet has been moved to the
Defense Ministry as secretary.
The Cabinet has also appointed Krishna Prasad Sharma as the
chief of the Special Police Department. Sharma was joint secretary at the Home Ministry.
Another important decision taken by today’s Cabinet was
to open up the exports of paddy to international markets. A bumper crop in both Nepal and
India has led to plummeting paddy prices in Nepal causing farmers to protest. The cabinet
also decided, according to sources, to regulate the import of Indian paddy in a bid to
drive up prices as a relief measure for farmers.
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