January 11: The Law, Justice and Human Rights Committee of the House of Representatives has instructed the Government of Nepal to submit the details of the agreements reached during the visit of Indian External Affairs Minister Subramaniam Jaishankar to the committee within seven days. The committee has also instructed the government to provide a copy of other agreements reached with India earlier.

The Law, Justice and Human Rights Committee has directed the government to provide clear details of the treaties and agreements made with various countries or governments and organizations to which the Government of Nepal is a party to, the date of completion and the status of the agreements, and whether they have been approved by the parliament or not.

Chairperson of the committee Bimala Subedi, while announcing the decision of the committee meeting held at Singha Durbar on Wednesday, said that she has instructed the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs to provide the copy of the agreements to the secretariat of the parliamentary committee.

"We have instructed the relevant bodies to provide within seven days the full copy of the agreement reached between the Government of Nepal and the Government of India during the recent visit of the Indian Foreign Minister to Nepal," said Subedi.

The committee had summoned Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal to discuss some controversial issues related to the agreement with India.

During the meeting, PM Dahal said that the agreement that India can spend up to Rs 20 million rupees in Nepal is not against the national interest. He questioned the MPs that how is taking Rs 50 million in the past not against the national interest, but taking Rs 20 million now is against the national interest?

“This matter was discussed in the House. This was approved by the House," Prime Minister Dahal said, adding, "Even though this agreement was made public when the Indian foreign minister arrived, the decision was taken by the government 20/25 days ago.”

During the committee meeting, CPN (UML) parliamentary party whip Mahesh Bartaula demanded that the agreement with India be made public.

According to Prime Minister Dahal, there is no provision in the current agreement with India that the Indian side can unilaterally choose and implement projects.

Prime Minister Dahal said that efforts are being made to get India to purchase electricity from the Chinese-invested power project. Dahal informed the house committee that although India has agreed to purchase electricity from Nepal, it has reservations about buying electricity produced by Chinese companies. According to him, Nepal did not sign any agreement which specifically mentions that India will purchase electricity produced with only Indian investment.

“Any country can produce electricity in Nepal,” said PM Dahal, adding that an agreement has been reached with India for the latter to purchase 10,000 MW in 10 years.

The only 'concern' of the Indian government is that it has 'reservations' in accepting electricity produced with the investment by the Chinese government.