Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Ishwore Pokharel has refuted the news report about government decision to allow people to leave the Kathmandu Valley on Friday and Saturday disseminated by his own secretariat.
Pokharel's secretariat told Setopati Thursday afternoon that an informal meeting of a few ministers included in the high level coordination committee against COVID-19 earlier on Thursday took a decision to that regard and the Home Ministry will decide about the procedure after holding discussion with the stakeholders concerned.
Setopati covered the news based on information given by Pokharel's secretariat and corroborated by multiple government officials.
But Pokharel posted a Facebook status later in the evening refuting the news.
He has pointed how the government has imposed the lockdown to save the country from COVID-19, the prime minister himself talked about its importance in his recent address to the nation, and questioned how such a decision can be taken in such serious situation.
Spokesperson at the Home Ministry Spokesperson Kedar Nath Sharma had earlier corroborated the information shared by Pokharel's secretariat and revealed that a meeting of stakeholders led by Home Secretary Maheshwore Neupane was held at the ministry. "We are discussing how to send people. It will be known after five in the evening," Sharma had said.
Chief district officers (CDO) of all three districts in the Valley, director general of the Department of Transport Management, chief of the Metropolitan Police Traffic Division and representatives of transport entrepreneurs had participated in the meeting.
Transport entrepreneurs had confirmed with Setopati that Neupane asked for vehicles from them saying the government is sending people outside the Valley during the meeting. "We agreed and asked them to tell us if the decision is taken. But they did not ask us to send vehicles tomorrow itself," General Secretary of the Federation of Nepali National Transport Entrepreneur General Secretary Saroj Sitaula said.
A CDO who took part in the meeting had also confirmed that they discussed how workers, patients who came to Kathmandu for treatment and their carers can be sent back. "We discussed about sending them but no decision was taken," the CDO had stated. "All the participants put their respective views. The high-level committee may now take the decision."
The local bodies slammed the government decision to allow people to leave the Valley after the news reports were published pointing how the government recently had taken a decision to stop people from going to another local body.
Chief Minister of Province 5 Shankar Pokharel took to Twitter to oppose the decision and pointed that there would be no meaning of lockdown if such decision was made.
Deputy Prime Minister Pokharel later took to Facebook to refute the news given to Setopati by his own secretariat making it look like a case of bad journalism.
