Former Nepal Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal has criticised the country’s new Gen Z-led government over.
The pace of its response to the devastating flash floods, saying authorities need to accelerate rescue and relief efforts as the death toll approaches 800 and more than 3,000 people remain missing.
The catastrophic flash floods and mudslides along the Nepal-China border have caused widespread destruction, damaging communities, roads and hydropower projects. Rescue teams continue to search for missing people, including workers feared trapped inside hydropower tunnels. The disaster has also affected tourists, pilgrims and workers in the region.
Speaking about the government’s response, Madhav Nepal said there was growing concern over the slow pace of relief and rescue operations.
“There is a complaint that the government is not moving fast in many of the things,” Nepal said, stressing that the immediate priorities should be locating missing people, treating the injured and ensuring relief supplies reach affected communities without delay.
He said assistance and financial contributions had been provided by political parties, businesses, banks, government employees, Parliament and international partners. The priority now, he argued, was to ensure that those resources reached victims quickly.
“The speed is less, that’s why we need to act very fast,” the former prime minister said.
Nepal attributed some of the difficulties to the limited administrative experience of officials in the newly formed Balendra Shah government.
“The government people are new, they don’t have that experience,” he said, stressing that managing a national disaster requires “total dedication for the people, love and affection for the people”.
He also called for closer monitoring of officials responsible for rescue and relief operations and urged the government to ensure that its administrative machinery was working effectively on the ground.
“There are some shortcomings, lagunas, in the working style of the government,” Nepal said.
The former prime minister welcomed the eventual deployment of foreign rescue specialists. Nepal had initially been reluctant to accept outside assistance but later allowed specialised teams from India and China to participate in rescue operations, including efforts at difficult-to-access hydropower tunnels.
Addressing questions over China and concerns about whether adequate early-warning information had been provided, Nepal urged restraint and cooperation. He rejected calls for Nepal to adopt an anti-China or anti-India position amid the crisis.
“No one should have any mindset to have anti-China, anti-India mentality. This is not the time to blame each other,” he said.
Instead, Nepal called for Nepal to work with all international partners during the humanitarian emergency.
The disaster is also expected to put significant pressure on Nepal’s economy, with the government facing major challenges related to logistics, healthcare, infrastructure and reconstruction. However, Nepal stopped short of directly blaming the new administration, saying its immediate priority should be to encourage the government to improve its performance.
“I want to inspire them to show them that they should do their work in a fast way, and in a proper way as well,” he said.
Nepal’s strongest criticism, however, was directed at Prime Minister Balendra Shah’s approach to political consultation.
He accused Shah of failing to reach out to political parties, parliamentarians and other sections of society during the crisis.
“That is the problem for our Prime Minister, Mr. Balen Shah. He doesn’t take the initiative to have a consultation with the political parties, parliamentarians, and other people,” Nepal said.
Describing the approach as “really strange”, the former prime minister said regular consultation with political leaders and wider society was essential, particularly during a national emergency.
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