Home Minister Janardan Sharma has assured of strengthened security arrangements for the upcoming second-round of local-level elections scheduled for June 28.

In his address to a press meet organised by the Press Centre, Chitwan on Wednesday, Minister Sharma said the government had mobolised all available resources and used its full strength to hold the election peacefully.

On a different note, the Home Minister said the decision to hold the local-level elections in three phases was taken with the consent of the dissenting political parties and this had helped build poll-friendly atmosphere.

Praising the enthusiasm of a mass of people and many parties including those against the polls to participate in the polls, he said the move of the Communist Party of Nepal led by Netra Bikram Chand, which was against the election, to file candidacy nominations from some parts was welcoming.

In his response to a query about the reason behind the government decision to 'compensate' the guilty in the Tikapur violence, the Home Minister said the matters of punishing the guilty and compensating for the damages should be dealt separately as they were different in nature and the government believed in the principle of justice to all.

"The government does or would never tend to discourage the morale of police administration," he said, adding that entire mechanisms would be mobilised to enforce the constitution and government policies and programme. "The police administration is one of the important mechanisms and the government never tends to discourage it, rather always promotes it."

Prior to this, addressing the convocation ceremony of basic training for the 173 batch of Assistant Sub Inspector of Police operated by the Junior Police Officer College, Bharatpur, the Minister said the State never wanted to see politicization, factionalism and division in police mechanism and would not hesitate to go for action if such situation arrived. He directed those who passed out the training to prove themselves competent by remaining within in the 'chain of command'.

Inspector General of Police Prakash Aryal sought the dedication of the new ASIs to the profession, directing them to work keeping the interests of the country and people in the center.

Likewise, officiating Deputy Inspector General of Police Debendra Subedi informed the programme about the launching of National Police Academy e-library at the college which was inaugurated by Home Minister Sharma earlier today.

Also, Deputy Inspector General of Police Rana Bahadur Chand presented a report on training at the event. A total of 150 ASIs passed out the training. RSS