February 26: At a time when the government is facing widespread criticism for providing the land of Nepal Trust on lease to Yeti Holdings to fulfill the interests of the business group, the trust has issued a white paper with details of all its properties including land and assets.
The white paper unveiled by Deputy Prime Minister Ishwar Pokharel, who is the chairman of the trust, on Tuesday reveals the fact that former governments led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Sher Bahadur Deuba had also leased other lands of the trust to Yeti Holdings.
The white paper states that Dahal and Deuba were the respective prime minister of Nepal when the trust decided to lease its land in Durbarmarg and Tahachal to Yeti Holdings.
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had courted controversy after extending the lease of Nepal Trust’s land in Gokarna to Gokarna Forest Resort owned by Yeti Holdings, especially because the lease was extended six years before the expiry of the existing lease. In order to dispel its critics, the government issued the white paper. While unveiling the white paper, DPM Pokharel declined to elaborate on the issue saying that everything has been mentioned in the white paper.
“Everything has been mentioned in details. Please read it carefully,” said Pokharel, responding to the queries of reporters.
“Everything is clear about the deals made by previous governments,” he added.
Pokharel admitted that 172 ropanis of land belonging to the trust have been transferred to the names of individuals. That happened when Baburam Bhattarai was the prime minister and Bijay Kuamar Gachchhadar was the then chairman of the trust, the white paper states.