KATHMANDU, Sept 14: Prime Minister Sushila Karki will formally assume office today at the new building constructed within the old Ministry of Home Affairs compound. Rajkumar Shrestha, secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office, said the swearing-in program has been scheduled for 11 a.m. on Sunday. Senior officials have been called early in the morning to welcome the new Prime Minister.
According to Ganesh Karmacharya, undersecretary at the Federal Secretariat Construction and Management Office, Karki moved into the Prime Minister’s official residence in Baluwatar on Friday evening. A staff member from the secretariat said, “After taking the oath on Friday, Prime Minister Karki had wanted to return to her private residence, but security personnel advised her to stay at the official residence for security reasons.”
A staff member at the PM’s Office stated that items salvaged from the old Prime Minister’s Office and Council of Ministers, which were damaged in a fire, have been relocated to the new office. On Friday morning, Chief Secretary Ekanarayan Aryal and other staff looked for a suitable office for the new Prime Minister. They decided that the newly constructed building meant for the Home Ministry was the most suitable for the PM’s office. Cleaning, interior decoration, and other arrangements have been completed.
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Ministries on the move
The current Home Ministry will be shifted to the old General Administration Ministry building within the Singha Durbar complex. The General Administration Ministry previously had its own separate office before it was merged with the Ministry of Federal Affairs and shifted to the old Local Development Ministry building, leaving its original building vacant. That vacant building will now house the Home Ministry.
Similarly, the Education Ministry will be moved to Keshar Mahal, where the Public Procurement Monitoring Office is currently located. The Education Ministry was previously housed at Keshar Mahal before being shifted to Singha Durbar. The current Health Ministry will move to the office of the Nepal Health Research Council, located behind the ministry building. Most rooms in the Health Ministry building at Ramshahpath were burned, but some surviving rooms will still be used.
The Department of Roads’ central office, currently in Babarmahal, will be relocated to Chakupat near Patan Dhoka. The department’s office had been temporarily shifted to Chakupat after the 2015 earthquake damaged its old building.
The Babarmahal office was reconstructed and made operational two years ago, but it was torched during the Gen Z protests. Since the building is no longer usable, the office will move back to Chakupat this week, according to Director General Bijay Jaishi. “Even after we shift the main office to Chakupat, we will continue to use the remaining usable rooms in Babarmahal,” he added.
According to Director General Macchakaji Maharjan of the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction, work will continue by using the rooms that survived the fire. He said two blocks inside the department’s compound were destroyed. Ministry of Urban Development spokesperson Narayan Mainali said the ministries whose offices were destroyed by fire will need to arrange for new office space on their own.
