The government has decided to vacate the building of Social Welfare Council (SWC) at Lainchour for the office and residence of vice president by mid-December even as the SWC staffers are protesting the decision.
"The Cabinet decision will be implemented. We have already agreed to shift the SWC to the building of Central Child Welfare Board in Lalitpur to shift the vice president's office there," Spokesperson at the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens Rajendra Kumar Paudel told Setopati.
The ministry is the line ministry for SWC. A meeting including Women, Children and Senior Citizens Minister Tham Maya Thapa Magar, who chairs SWC, and joint secretaries of different other ministries on Friday decided to shift the SWC to Lalitpur.
The SWC will be shifted to the building of Central Child Welfare Board in Harhiar Bhawan in Lalitpur for now, and the latter to the building of the Department of Women in Pulchowk which has already been dissolved, according to Paudel. "The Prime Minister's Office has already endorsed the decision to shift both the SWC and Central Child Welfare Board," he revealed.
The SWC staffers have been protesting the Cabinet decision of September 6 to shift the vice president's office to the SWC's building in Lainchaur built with donations collected from the people. "The staffers are demanding appropriate arrangements for SWC office. The demand has already been fulfilled," he claimed.
The four-story SWC building with 45 rooms was built three decades ago by collecting over Rs 30 million from over 10,000 people. It was inaugurated in 1988 by the then king Birendra.
There are two temples in the SWC premises of 28 ropanis and 14 annas. There is open space in front of the SWC building. The space was used to build temporary shelters by the locals for three months after the Gorkha Earthquake in 2015.
