June 3 : Representatives of various private sector organisations, including the Federation of Contractors’ Associations of Nepal (FCAN), have urged the government to make immediate arrangements for bringing the economy hit by the COVID-19 pandemic back on normal track.
They made this call in a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Ishwor Pokhrel, who is also the coordinator of the High-level Coordination Committee for Prevention and Control of COVID-19, here on Tuesday (June 2).
On the occasion, the private sector representatives apprised DPM Pokhrel of the problems faced by the private sector due to the lockdown imposed since March 24 to tackle the pandemic.
FCAN president Rabi Singh suggested making the lockdown flexible by adopting safety measures so that the economic activities can resume as the coronavirus crisis could well persist for some more time to come.
He said that the river-based construction materials and other building materials should be made easily available for pursuing public development and construction works.
Singh was of the opinion of implementing a package programme for providing employment to the locals and to the around 1.5 million people including those returned from foreign countries. He suggested opening the construction projects of up to Rs 50 million in the districts. The FCAN president also called on the government to address the remaining suggestions not already included in the government’s policy and programmes and the budget from among the suggestions given to the government during the pre-budget consultations.
Meanwhile, traders at Jorpati Chok have organised demonstration demanding that they be allowed to open shops and operate their businesses. “Due to the prolonged lockdown, our entire livelihoods are at stake. So, we simply want to protect them.” they said. They even opened shops as a mark of protest.
