Kathmandu – Nepali Congress MP Deepak Giri has demanded that NRNs with non-resident Nepali citizenship should be charged the same fee as Nepalese citizens when traveling by air in Nepal.
Participating in the budget allocation discussion in the House of Representatives on Friday, MP Giri said that there should be no discrimination after non-residential Nepalese citizenship can be granted according to the constitution. “I request that the non-resident Nepalis carrying NRN citizenship should be charged the same fare as Nepali while traveling by air within Nepal.”
It is estimated that thousands of NRNs have taken Nepali citizenship till now.
MP Giri said that the European Union (EU) has kept the Nepali ships in the black list since 2013 and demanded to take diplomatic initiative to remove Nepal from the list. “Nepal, which has bilateral air agreements with 41 countries while being on the black list of the EU, has been flying international flights to only 20 destinations,” he said.
“In order to reduce the rate of air accidents in Nepal, I request the government to inform the government about the progress made in the implementation of air safety standards by investing in the necessary technical equipment in mountain airports and making them technology-friendly,” said MP Giri.
Demand to build a maternity hospital in Lumbini
Congress MP Giri said that the proposal to promote Janakpur as a ‘wedding hub’ and Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Gautama Buddha, as a ‘birthing hub’ proposed in the budget is positive. He demanded to make Lumbini a ‘birthing hub’ in cooperation with the Lumbini state government and arrange a hospital that can provide high-quality maternal and child services. “If we cannot provide reliable pre-natal and post-natal services to the mother and child before and after the baby is born, then no one will risk coming to Nepal to give birth. Taking the services available at Lumbini’s ‘Birthing Hub’ as a model, similar services will be implemented throughout Nepal. The government should have the ambition to provide,” he said.
MP Giri said that there is a problem of drinking water in Swargadwari, one of the major religious centers of the country in Pyuthan district, and said that it is necessary to build comfortable accommodation for pilgrims. He also demanded that the road leading to Swargadwari is winding and that there are accidents on the road, and for the safety of the pilgrims, an action plan should be formulated and implemented in coordination with the road department.
MP Giri said that the tourism sector in Nepal has provided direct employment to 4.5 million people and seasonal employment to 3.5 million people and requested to identify the potential of Bangalore-Kathmandu, Kolkata-Kathmandu, Janakpur-Banaras and Biratnagar-Sikkim air flights with the help of private sector.