KATHMANDU.

Representatives of various private sector organisations, including the Federation of Contractors’ Associations of Nepal (FCAN), have urged the government to make arrangements for making the economy functional. They made this call in a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Ishwor Pokhrel, who is also the coordinator of the High-level Coordination Committee for Prevention and Control of COVID-19, here on Tuesday.

On the occasion, the private sector representatives apprised DPM Pokhrel of the problems faced by the private sector due to the lockdown. On behalf the Federation, FCAN president Rabi Singh suggested making the lockdown flexible by adopting safety measures so that the economic activities can resume as the coronavirus pandemic is going to stay for long time. He said that the river-based construction materials and other building materials should be made easily available for pursuing public development and construction works. Singh was of the opinion of implementing a package programme for providing employment to the locals and to the around 1.5 million people including those returned from foreign countries. He suggested opening the construction projects of up to Rs 50 million in the districts.

The FCAN president also called on the government to address the remaining suggestions not already included in the government’s policy and programmes and the budget from among the suggestions given to the government during the pre-budget consultations. Meanwhile, traders at Jorpati Chok have organised demonstration demanding that they be allowed to open shops and operate their businesses as they are on the verge of going hungry and without money to pay rent due to the drawn-out lockdown. They had opened shops as a mark of protest.