Mukherjee to land in Nepal on Nov 2

Published On: October 27, 2016 11:04 PM NPT By: Republica  | @RepublicaNepal


Govt announces public holiday to welcome Indian Prez

KATHMANDU, Oct 27: Indian government on Thursday made a formal announcement regarding Indian President Pranab Mukherjee's visit to Nepal. 

The Ministry of External Affairs (MoEA) of India, issuing a press statement, informed that Indian President Mukherjee will pay a state visit to Nepal from November 2 to 4 at the invitation of Nepalese President Bidya Devi Bhandari. 

Mukherjee's visit to Nepal will be the first visit by Indian president in the last 18 years.

During the visit, Indian President will hold talks with the President of Nepal and hold meeting with Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and other leaders in Nepal on a wide range of issues of mutual interests, according to the statement. 

The MoEA of India has stated that 'the State visit reflects the priority that the Government of India attaches to further strengthening its age-old, unique partnership with Nepal, and our shared historical and cultural linkages and wide-ranging people to people contacts.'

During his three-day state visit, the Indian president is also scheduled to visit Janakpur and Pokhara.

Earlier, it was said that the Indian President would also visit Lumbini, the birth place of Budhha, apart from Janakpur and Pokhara. But the visit to Lumbini has been removed from the itinerary.
 
Indian President Mukharjee will visit the Ram Janaki Temple and other religious and cultural places in Janakpur and visit tourist places in Pokhara.
 
Meanwhile, in the wake of Indian President Pranab Mukharjee's visit to Nepal, the government has decided to give one day's public holiday during visits by the heads of state of the two neighboring countries--India and China--to Nepal. A cabinet meeting held at Singha Durbar on Thursday made the decision.

"The decision was also made so that announcing public holiday in honor of the heads of state from our two intimate neighbors also helps to further consolidate the bilateral relations," Minister for Information and Communications Surendra Prasad Karki told reporters following the cabinet meeting. 

Minister for Education Dhani Ram Poudel said that Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal himself had floated the idea of announcing public holiday during the visit of the head of states from India and China.

"He came up with the holiday proposal in the cabinet based on the understandings reached among major three political parties in Wednesday's meeting. And the cabinet endorsed his proposal and decided to give public holiday," he added. 

However, the decision has met with criticism by the general public. They have said the decision was unnecessary.  

People from various quarters took to various social media sites, such as facebook and twitter and expressed their strong objections to the government's decision.  

Stating that India does not observe a public holiday when Nepali leaders visit the southern neighbor, many have pointed out that the government's decision is against the policy of reciprocity. 

Even top political leaders have also criticized the government's decision. 

Former Foreign Minister Kamal Thapa tweeted that the decision to announce public holiday during visit of the head of the state from the neighboring countries was "inappropriate and wrong decision". 

Likewise, former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai also denounced the government's decision. He also tweeted that foreign guests should be given warm welcome but by announcing public holiday on their arrival will not benefit the country and make the foreign guests happy. 

Similarly, the cabinet has decided to upgrade the Thankot-Chitlang road section, which is known as Ganeshman Marga.    


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