Kathmandu. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and all members of the Cabinet have decided to deposit their Dashain aloownace in the  ‘Coronavirus Infection Prevention, Control and Treatment Fund.’  Minister for Communications and Information Technology and spokesperson for the government Parbat Gurung informed about the decision of the Council of Ministers at a regular press conference today.

The Social media were abound with severe criticism when the news of the members of the Federal  Parliament receiving Dashain allowance flashed out. It seemed contradictory and senseless as, on one hand, the government had decided not to bear expenses of the medical treatment of COVID-19 patients citing lack of fund, and on the other hand, the  government treasury was being misused.

Minister Gurung also clarified that the government has nut shunned its responsibility of looking after the COVID-19 patients. He claimed that the cases have been categorized by the Cabinet meeting on October 5 and the treatment for COVID-19 has been planned accordingly. Contrary to the government’s claim, however, from Monday onwards, hospitals have notified that the treatment costs have to be borne by the patients themselves. This has led to an outburst of rage among the netizens.

As the government’s actions, one after another, added fuel to the already burning irritation  among people , the members of the Federal Parliament and the ministers took a step to allay their dissatisfaction  by  returning the allowance they had received for Dashain. Public discontent made them deposit the money in the corona treatment fund. The ruling party with two-thirds members in the Parliament, the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) and the second largest party in the Parliament, the Nepali Congress (NC) have made institutional decisions to deposit the allowance in the covid fund.

Chief whip of Nepali Congress Bal Krishna Khand released  a statement earlier, informing that NC had made a  decision  to provide 4,320,810 rupees, received as the Dashain allowance, to the the  Coronavirus Infection Prevention, Control and Treatment Fund. It can be expected that other parties will follow suit.