NAWALPARASI, July 26: Local Development Officer Yuwaraj Kattel of Nawalparasi district, who took initiatives to stop illegal excavations, has been transferred upon direct instruction from Prime Minister (PM) Sher Bahadur Deuba, sources said.

A highly-placed source at the Ministry of General Administration said Kattel was transferred to the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation under the direct instruction of Prime Minister Deuba on July 14.

A meeting of the monitoring and supervision committee had been held at the District Coordination Committee Office under the leadership of the chief district officer on July 14. The meeting discussed imposing a fine of Rs 1.2 million on the ‘New Manakamana Crusher Industry’ registered in the name of Bishnu Karki. LDO Kattel had decided that to stop the operation of the crusher plant until the fine was paid.

A highly-placed source saaid Kattel’s decision to fine the crusher plant led to the transfer. According to Kishan Sharma, in-charge of Nawalpur area and central committee member of CPN (Maoist Center), LDO Kattel was strict against the crusher plants so he might have been transferred under the plant operators’ pressure.Mohan Krishna Sapkota, secretary at Ministry of General Administration, refused to speak on the topic while Dinesh Thapaliya, secretary at Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development, expressed ignorance about the matter. However, reliable sources at the ministry admitted that the transfer was made under pressure from crusher operators.

LDO Kattel said that illegal excavations are going on rampantly after his transfer.

 
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