By PR Pradhan Singha Durbar is the government’s central secretariat where the Prime Minister’s Office and many other ministries are located. No doubt, Singha Durbar (Lion's Palace) was built by Chandra Shumsher JBR in June 1908. According to Wikipedia, the palace used to be one of the most exquisite and lavish of palaces in the world until the 1950s. It was built by Chandra Shumsher immediately after accession to the post of Prime Minister. It was initially a small private residence but grew bigger during the construction later. Immediately after the construction was finished, Chandra Shumsher sold this property to the Government of Nepal for 20 million Nepali rupees as the official residence of Prime minister. After his death in 1929, it was used as the official residence of prime ministers of the Rana dynasty except Padma Shumsher JBR, who lived in his own Bishalnagar Durbar. The last Rana Prime minister to occupy Singha Durbar was Mohan Shumsher JBR. Even after the fall of the Rana Dynasty in 1951, Mohan used this place, but in 1953 he was ordered by His Majesty's Government to leave the palace which became a National Property. The structure was designed by Kumar Narsingh Rana and Kishor Narsingh Rana. The architecture of the palace is a unique example of merging building traditions, including Palladian, Corinthian, Neoclassical mansions along with Baroque architecture. Gallery Baithak Wikipedia further reports, Gallery Baithak was also built by Chandra Shumsher, which is wrong. Juddha Shumsher JB Rana, after he became the Prime Minister, had constructed the Gallery Baithak to meet foreign dignitaries. During the Rana days, ambassadors to Nepal used to present their letter of credence at the Hanuman Dhoka Gaddi Baithak but there was no appropriate place for the Prime Minister to meet foreign dignitaries at the then PM’s Office, Singha Durbar. Therefore, Juddha Shumsher had constructed the Gallery Baithak. Later, the Gallery Baithak was used as the Rastriya Panchayat building during the Panchayat days and during the multiparty days, it was used as the parliament building. Commendable plan! Sundar Auto Engineering, in partnership with Suchawa Gohang Automobiles, a Chinese company, has planned to establish an assembling plant to produce two-wheelers and four-wheeler e-vehicles. With an aim to promote and manufacture cheap electric vehicles (EVs), Sundar Yatayat, a private company, which is operating e-buses in Kathmandu Ring Road, has started the process to establish an assembly plant for electric two-wheelers and four-wheelers in Rupandehi district. It is obviously a matter of pride for the Nepalis that at least some entrepreneurs have started assembling plants, however, the task is very much challenging. The initiative for producing vehicles operating from clean energy is a commendable job. At a time, when air pollution has become a serious issue in the country, operation of e-vehicles is important for a country like Nepal, where, there is huge potentiality of generating electricity by using Nepali rivers. Talking about challenges, without the government support or subsidies, such industries financially cannot survive. First of all, the government should give a package that the company should always not remain as an assembling company, but a manufacturing company as well by using more and more local products year by year so that different spare parts industries can also exist. The other factor is that the Nepali market is very small. Therefore, the government should lobby with friendly countries to import Nepal made e-vehicles. Furthermore, the government should give tax exemption on import of spare parts and also in production of e-vehicles in the initial stage. Likewise, the government has to encourage on use of locally assembled e-vehicles in government offices and encourage citizens to use e-vehicles, which will enormously contribute on substituting imports of petro-products. Accordingly, the government should encourage the establishment of charging stations for such vehicles in urban areas as well as in highways. The government which has been collecting above 280 percent of tax on imports of vehicles will actually not lose revenue, rather it will be self reliant. Accordingly, the government is enjoying enough gains from tax on import of petro-products. Obviously, the government will face immediate loss from increasing number of operation of e-vehicles, however, in the long-run, the nation’s treasury will become strong by substituting imports of petro-products and also vehicles from foreign countries. Currently, every day, every month and every year, imports of petro-products have increased in a tremendous figure. The main factor behind the increasing gap in between exports and imports and also the increasing trade deficit is due to the import of petro-products. When we don’t produce petro-products, we should discourage this trend. Therefore, it is very much important to think on its alternate. Although, to dream about exporting hydropower to the neighbouring countries is sweet, however, a landlocked country like Nepal, having neighbours like India, should think about producing hydropower in our own investment as much as possible and consuming it within the country by establishing huge power consuming industries.