KATHMANDU: Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) lawmaker Gyanendra Shahi has said that instead of blaming each other during the time of disaster, the government should cooperate and focus on the rescue and relief of the citizens.
Putting the partisan view during the special hour of the House of Representatives on Wednesday, lawmaker Shahi said that the all-party meeting also discussed on how to support the government during the time of disaster, where and how the government should work and how all the political parties could unite.
“We are supporting the government in this time of disaster. The time now is about how to save the citizens, find the missing people and wipe the tears of the victims. We are with the government. We are standing shoulder to shoulder with the government,” he said.
Lawmaker Shahi said that it was the responsibility of all to wipe the tears of the victims of the disaster and rebuild the damaged houses and bring the people back to normalcy.
“This disaster has not been brought by anyone. No one has come to come. This disaster has come all of a sudden,” he said.
He blamed that despite the mobilization of the state machinery in the aftermath of the disaster, there was not enough urgency in the rescue of the people trapped in the Chilime tunnel.
According to Shahi, he reached the Ministry of Home Affairs within 2 pm on the day of the flood and informed the disaster management department that there were people inside the tunnel and also provided their phone numbers. He claimed that he had also informed the Home Minister about this but the information was not heard on time.
According to him, the monitoring team reached the tunnel only after 72 hours and the rescue team reached after 96 hours. He said that the rescue team was not from the government but the mountaineers sent by them.
“We put the person who is the victim himself in a helicopter and took him to the main gate of the tunnel. Such a situation was created,” he said.
Lawmaker Shahi said that the people’s representatives do not have the executive authority to mobilize the state’s resources and deploy rescue teams. He said that since such authority is with the government and the concerned minister, they have been requesting accordingly.
“We are the people’s representatives, but we do not have the executive authority to mobilize the resources of the state and deploy rescue teams. The executive authority is with the honorable minister. That is what we are asking for,” he said.
He also said that they do not have the authority to purchase equipment and mobilize the necessary technology for rescue. He said that he is not an expert on the issue of rescue by going inside the tunnel and he does not go out and take photos.
Lawmaker Shahi also alleged that the mini-excavator that could be used for rescue in the tunnel could not be provided on time. According to him, it took a long time for the equipment to be made available even though the mini-excavator could be brought to the tunnel route within five hours or by air from the neighbouring country.
“Normally, we could bring a mini-excavator from within our country or from neighbouring countries to the tunnel route within five hours, but the mini-excavator was available only after 24 hours, 48 hours, 96 hours and 144 hours,” he said.
Shahi countered the Prime Minister’s statement in the parliament that there is no technology in the world that can be sent to the mud inside the tunnel. He claimed that such technology is being used in different parts of the world.
“Today, the Prime Minister speaks in Parliament, there is no technology in the world to send a tunnel that has entered the mud. But I can say with certainty that work is being done all over the world. Now search on ChatGPT, now search on Google, it is all over the world, work is being done all over the world,” he said.
Lawmaker Shahi said that he was not blaming any party, person or party, but was drawing the government’s attention to the fact that his relatives are still inside the tunnel.
He also accused the government of not inquiring about the condition of the five survivors of Jumla.
“Even now, I can bring a living person to the parliament, if the parliament gives it. Five living people from Jumla have come from inside the tunnel. The government did not ask these people even once, ‘What was your condition?’ he said.
Shahi said that they rescued the five people and some others at their own expense and sent them home. “We could have saved the lives of many people, but we are not,” he said.
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