Minister of Peace and Reconstruction Ram Chandra Poudel is telling to anyone who will listen that he had told "Girija babu" not to allow the Maoists to control the Ministry for Physical Planning and Works because they'd make a mess of Melamchi. Poudel also says Girija Prasad Koirala told the Maoists that Poudel's ministry would take on some of the tasks of the Ministry of Physical Planning to create a rift between the Maoists and Poudel.

Any time Poudel and Minister of Physical Planning and Works Hisila Yami meet, they argue. They recently argued at a meeting to discuss how to spend the money allocated for the camps. The general opinion was that the committees, comprising the chief district officers of the districts where the camps are, PLA cantonment commanders, representatives from Department of Buildings, and district accounts officers, should approve spending on the building of permanent structures for the fighters in the camps. Yami said the budget should be coordinated just by Maoist army commanders.

"We don't know who the fighters are, how many there are, or how many want to return home, so why spend taxpayers' money?" Poudel asked recently. He says the construction should only start after the next round of verification, when the number of Maoist fighters would drop by over 50 percent.

Meanwhile, it is understood that the engineers who will be involved in the survey will be paid Rs 75,000 plus benefits. The country is paying Rs 3.1 million for the survey alone.