Members of the Development Committee of the House of Representatives (HoR) on Tuesday have taken exception to nomination of contractors in the committee.
Speaking on contemporary issues in the committee after recently-held election for committee chairman, lawmakers raised questions about why the contractors were kept in the committee violating regulations.
The political parties nominate members in the parliamentary committees on the basis of quota they get depending on their strength in the House.
Durga Paudel, who was elected on a Rastriya Janamorcha ticket with support of the left alliance that included the then CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Center), said the committee should first discuss why the contractors have been included in the committee.
The HoR regulation prohibits any lawmaker from attending meeting of HoR committees on issues of conflicting interests.
She also demanded that the government should be asked why Pappu Construction, that has delayed construction of bridges across the country, has been awarded a new contract.
Lawmaker from the ruling Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) Yagya Raj Sunuwar also asked for the reasons for nomination of contractors in the committee.
The committee currently has three contractors including promoter of Pappu Construction Hari Narayan Rauniyar from Federal Socialist Forum Nepal, and Jeep Chhiring Lama of Lama Construction and Bahadur Singh Lama of Himdung and Thokar Company from the main opposition Nepali Congress (NC).
Only Jeep Chhiring Lama was present in the meeting on Tuesday but he did not respond to the questions raised.
CPN lawmaker Ganesh Kumar Pahadi said today's meeting was focused on contracts. "There are complaints of dallying and corruption in projects of national pride. We must seek answers on that from the government," he stated.
Chairman of the committee Kalyani Kumar Khadka of CPN assured the lawmakers that she will not allow the decisions to be influenced by the members with conflict of interest.
