KATHMANDU.

The State-1 State Assembly has passed the annual policy and programmes of the State government. A meeting of the State Assembly endorsed the policy and programmes by a majority on Wednesday. Chief of State Somnath Adhikari ‘Pyasi’ had presented the policy and programmes in the State Assembly on June 5. Fifty two State Assembly members had taken part in the deliberations on the state government’s policy and programmes. 

Responding queries raised by the Assembly members in the meeting, Chief Minister Sherdhan Rai reiterated that the policy and programmes have incorporated the aspirations of the people of province-1. He urged all the state agencies to be united in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic at present. The Chief Minister said that the state government has prioritised the agriculture, education and health sectors. He said preparations were being made to upgrade the district hospitals in all the districts of the state, developing the hospital at Urlabari into Madan Bhandari Trauma Centre and constructing a teaching hospital in Dhankuta.

Chief Minister Rai also informed the State Assembly that the government would formulate master plan for developing tourism infrastructure development plan in all the 14 districts of the state, include 50 plans in the Project Bank, and construct a gate at Rani of Biratnagar highlighting the features of the entire province and an international standard conference hall in Itahari. He said 124 out of the 242 coronavirus infected persons in the state have returned home after recovery and that PCR test has been carried out on more than 13 thousand suspected COVID-19 cases. Chief Minister Rai added that now 500 to 1,000 tests for coronavirus would be conducted daily in State-1.