Gandaki Province govt setting up two offices

Nawalparasi, May 14: Lumbini Province government has decided to set up two province offices in Nawalparasi Paschim. The Ministry of Urban Development and Drinking Water and the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Cooperatives will have their division offices.

Minister for Industry, Tourism and Cooperatives, Khadga Basnet, who was elected as an independent representative from Nawalparasi Paschim 2 (a) shared this information with the Rastriya Samachar Samiti (RSS). Both division offices would be established by the end of the current fiscal year.

Minister Basnet further informed that the division offices would cater multiple services to the people. Effective and smooth public service delivery is the top priority of province government, he added.

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02-       Partly cloudy weather predicted in hilly region

Kathmandu, May 14: The country will have a partly cloudy weather in hilly region with the effect of westerly wind and local wind coupled with low pressure system in the vicinity of Bihar, India.

The Department of Hydrology and Meteorology informed that other parts in the country will generally have fair weather today. Similarly, some places of Koshi, Bagmati and Gandaki provinces are predicted to have light rainfall along with thunder, lightning, and storm, while the upper hilly and mountainous belt will witness light snowfall.

Partly to general weather change is forecast coming night in the Koshi, Gandaki and Karnali provinces, while other places will have fair weather.

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03-       Swedish delegation attending EU-Nepal Business Forum

Kathmandu, May 14: Ambassador of Sweden to Nepal, Jan Thesleff, is visiting Kathmandu from May 14 to 17 together with representatives from Swedish businesses and government officials from the Swedish Energy Agency.

During his visit, Ambassador Thesleff will participate in the second edition of the EU-Nepal Business Forum taking place on May 15-16, and meet with the ministers, including Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha.

The business delegation includes companies as Hexagon, Hitachi Energy and Saab.

Since the establishment of diplomatic ties between Sweden and Nepal in June 1960, the bilateral relations have prospered to a strong partnership founded on mutual respect, understanding and friendship over the decades, according to a press release issued by the Swedish Embassy in New Delhi.

The countries have an ongoing cooperation on climate change and matters related to Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

“By participating in the EU-Nepal Business Forum, Sweden aims to further increase trade between our two nations and explore potential business opportunities involving Swedish and Nepalese companies,” Ambassador Thesleff said, expressing hope that the bilateral cooperation with Nepal would be strengthened on climate action and the advancement of the sustainable development goals.

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04-       ‘No result as per investment of donor agencies’

Surkhet, May 14: Chief Minister of Karnali Province, Yamlal Kandel, has said Karnali region was not able to achieve results on a par with the investment of donor agencies.

Although the international development partners had prioritized Karnali, the development works were not noticeable, he complained. CM Kandel expressed such views during a discussion held with international development partners working in Karnali region.

He further argued they could not see the meaningful change as expected in Karnali people’s life with the assistance from donor agencies. CM Kandel expressed worry over the villages deserted in the region, so the donor agencies and their representatives could pay heed to retain them.

He however admitted that sole efforts of government are inadequate to elevate people’s living standard. Kandel assured that province government would prepare the atmosphere conducive for development partnership in Karnali Province.

According to him, once the scattered programmes launched by various development partners were run in an integrated manner, it could yield positive results.

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05-       Farmers receive 130 quintals of improved seeds

Kanchanpur, May 14: Shuklaphanta municipality in the district has distributed 130 quintals of improved species of rice seeds to the farmers in a bid to increase productivity and elevate farmers’ income.

The rice seeds were provided under the cereal seed production programme running for the current fiscal year. It was provided in 50 percent grants.

Karan Singh Budhaair, chief of agriculture development section in the municipality, informed that the farmers of all 12 wards were distributed the rice seeds through cooperatives, groups and agro firms.

Varieties of rice seeds as sawa mansuli, sukkhha-3, radha-4, and sarju-52 were given to the farmers.

Budhaair further informed that the seeds would be sufficient to grow rice in 40 bighas of land.

The agriculture section has been providing the improved rice seeds keeping in account the soil types.

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06-       143 persons undergo eye surgery in Khotang

Khotang, May 14: The Netrajyoti Sangh Khotang chapter organized a three-day free eye camp where a total of 143 persons underwent eye surgeries.

The people as old as 102 years had the operation for cataract.

The camp was held from May 11 to 13. Most of the patients in the health camp were for cataract removal, while thirty-six persons had undergone other eye surgeries.

Saharman Bihswokarma, who had lost is total eye sight for four years, was one among the patients being able to regain his normal eye sight after the operation. He is from Temma village of Diprung Chuichumma rural municipality-7.

Fourteen medical persons had provided the service in the health camp conducted in collaboration with Rupakot Majhuwagadhi municipality and technical assistance of the Sagarmatha Chaudhari Eye Hospital.

Chairman of Netrajyoti Association, Indra Kasajoo, informed that the 3-day medical facility was run targeting those in need of eye surgery. The local level, Khotang chapter of Netrjyoti Association and the Eye Treatment Centre Diktel had publicized the event to collect the service needy people.

At the camp, 373 persons were provided eye glasses and 650 persons the medicine for free of cost.

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07-       Joint sitting of parliaments today, Speaker busy in consultation

Kathmandu, May 14: President Ram Chandra Paudel is scheduled to present the government’s policies and programmes for the coming fiscal year in the joint sitting of the federal parliaments later this afternoon.

The parliament secretariat has finalized the preparation for the meeting slated to begin at 3:00pm.

In this connection, Speaker Devraj Ghimire is consulting the chief whips and whips of major political parties at noon while holding a work advisory committee meeting at 1:00pm.

The parliament secretariat has informed that preparation including security arrangement has been put in place.

It had already made public the schedule for today’s joint meeting of the federal parliaments as per the recommendation of the Council of Ministers. 

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