Nepali Congress (NC) President Sher Bahadur Deuba has instructed the party's federal lawmakers to return the Dashain allowance.
Some lawmakers of NC and ruling CPN have already made individual announcements to return the Dashain allowance but NC has taken a decision instructing all the lawmakers to return the amount.
The main opposition leader in the House of Representatives) has instructed the federal lawmakers to return the Dashain allowance to the Parliament Secretariat through the parliamentary party, according to NC Chief Whip in the HoR Bal Krishna Khand.
Deuba has issued the instruction without convening meeting of the parliamentary party as convening one is not possible due to the COVID-19 pandemic and many lawmakers have gone to their home districts for Dashain, according to Khand, even as a few NC lawmakers are demanding the decision be taken by the parliamentary party meeting.
"President Deuba has already instructed the lawmakers to return the Dashain allowance. Formal announcement will be made through a statement in the afternoon,"
Khand added.
NC has 63 lawmakers in the HoR and six in the National Assembly. The federal lawmakers have been given Dashain allowance of Rs 64,070.
The main opposition party has also slammed the government for shirking its responsibilities to test and treat COVID-19 patients.
