Nepal vows crackdown on corruption

Nepalese soldiers patrol a street in Kathmandu yesterday. Nepal's King Gyanendra has taken a huge gamble by seizing power in a bid to end a bloody and brutal Maoist rebellion that has tortured the Himalayan kingdom for eight years, analysts say. PHOTO: AFP

A cabinet meeting chaired by King Gyanendra adopted a 21-point socio-economic programme focused on "good governance and economic growth", state-run radio announced.

"Property amassed through abuse of authority, smuggling, tax evasion, illegal contract and commission will be seized and nationalised," it said, announcing the decisions of the cabinet.

"Strong action against the guilty will also be taken."

Gyanendra on Tuesday fired the government led by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba for failing to organise elections or quell the insurgency by Maoists, who want to topple the monarchy and install a communist republic.

He also named a loyalist cabinet under his "chairmanship", declared a state of emergency and pledged to restore multi-party democracy in three years.

State-run English daily "The Rising Nepal" Saturday outlined other measures the new government planned to take to ensure better governance in the world's only Hindu kingdom.

It said a Royal Commission would be constituted "within 15 days" to investigate corruption while arrangements would be made "of an effective punishment system to bring delays, favouritism, nepotism and bribery to an end".

The government would also accelerate the process of decentralisation by gradually according villages political, economic, social, administrative and semi-judicial powers, the report said.

The government would set up a land bank and make "judicious distribution of land" to squatters, the landless, peasants and freed bonded labourers.

A long-term programme would be instituted to modernise farming, implement irrigation schemes and boost the production of horticulture, cash crops and livestock.

The government also had plans to develop tourism and provide free education to a percentage of needy students.

It would launch housing sche-mes "to narrow the existing gap between the rich and the poor in Kathmandu and other big and small cities."