- Thursday, 19 December 2024
Chitwan, March 17: Two male rhinos of Chitwan National Park have been translocated internally. The rhinos were transferred from the west to the eastern region of the Park.
A male Rhino was brought from near Divyapuri post of Nawalparasi (Bardghat-Sustapurt to the interior of the Kuchkuche area in the eastern region of the park on Saturday. The estimated 17-year-old male rhino was captured from the Divya Buffer Community Forest and released in the interior area across the Rapti River, said information officer of the park, Ganesh Prasad Tiwari.
Earlier on Friday, a rhinoceros was brought from the Kawasoti area of Nawalpur to the east. The male rhino of around 28 years old was released in the east from Kasara. This rhino used to come to the human settlement and cause trouble.
As the number of rhinos has increased in the western part of the park, some of them are going to be internally transferred to the eastern part of the park.
A total of 60 human resources including elephants, elephant mahouts, technical personnel, staff, Nepali army personnel were deployed for the rhino relocation. The park is now preparing to transfer six rhinos internally. Rhinos over eight years old will be transferred, added Tiwari.
According to the latest count, Nepal is home to 752 rhinos. Of them, 694 rhinos are in Chitwan National Park. Likewise, 38 rhinos are in Bardiya national park and 17 in Shuklaphanta national park. There are three rhinos in Parsa National Park.
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02- Fire in mill causes loss of 15 million
Pathari, March 17: A fire broke out at the Koshi bitten rice mill at Buddha Chowk of Pathari Shanishare municipality-1 last night causing a loss of Rs 15 million.
The fire broke out in the mill at around midnight, gutting all the grains stored along with the machinery of the mill.
Fire engines from Pathari Shanishchare, Urlabari, Kanepokhari and Belbari municipalities were used to extinguish the fire. The locals, Nepal Police and Armed Police Force personnel also contributed to bring the fire under control.
Pathari police office said the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained.
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03- Funds insufficient for ‘One District One Industry’ program
Godavari (Kailali), March 17: The funds allocated for running the ‘One District One Industry’ program in Sudur Paschim Province is found to be insufficient.
The Industry, Commerce and Consumer Interest Protection Directorate under the Ministry of Industry, Tourism, Forestry and Environment has stated that the implementation of the program has been difficult as the Sudurpaschim Province government has not allocated sufficient funds for it.
According to the directorate, the government of Sudurpaschim province has allocated a budget of only five hundred thousand rupees for the program in all the nine districts of the province for the current financial year 2080-81.
Information Officer of the Directorate, Yashoda Bohra, said that due to the low funds allocated by the provincial government it is difficult to implement the one district one industry programme. Under the program, proposals are being sought and applications are being collected and subsidies will be given for the purchase of necessary materials for the selected industries.
The office said that the industrialists who have not received technology and other subsidies in the past three financial years will be given subsidies for the purchase of technology. As Rs 500,000 has to be divided into nine parts, it is mentioned in the procedure that the amount should be distributed to the selected industrialists on a shared basis.
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04- Mangsebung Municipality promoting turmeric production
Fikkal (Ilam), March 17: Mangsebung rural municipality-1 ward office of Ilam has started promoting commercial production and marketing of turmeric in the ward.
For this, it has reached a 13-point agreement with the local Agro Ilam Pvt. Limited and Mahila Gujurmukhi Multi-Purpose Cooperatives. The three-year agreement in aimed at promoting the production and marketing of turmeric, said Ward President Bhupal Yonghang.
In the first phase, the ward office in coordination with Agro Ilam has distributed turmeric seeds to the farmers after giving them training on agricultural entrepreneurship. A total of 15 quintals of turmeric seeds have been provided as subsidy to 28 farmers in the ward.
The turmeric that is produced will be purchased by Agro Ilam through the cooperatives. As per the agreement, turmeric will be exported after ‘branding’ it.
Acting head of Agricultural Knowledge Center, Ilam, Ramjugal Yadav, said that 1,970 metric tons of turmeric was produced in Ilam this year. It is currently being planted in 123 hectare of land.
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05- New power equation to change the speed of government: PM Dahal
Kathmandu, March 17: Prime Minister and Chairperson of CPN (Maoist Center) Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ has said that a new power equation had to be formed to bring about change in the speed of the government and for collaboration between the communist forces.
Addressing a gathering of the party’s leaders and cadres in Pokhara this morning, Prime Minister Dahal said the Congress has betrayed many times and it was not likely that votes would be ‘transferred’ from the Congress to our party. “On the one hand the government was not accelerating while on other there was mistrust towards the coalition, hence a new coalition had to be formed,” Dahal said.
On the occasion, the CPN (Maoist Centre) chair also shared that a month-long campaign is being organised to strengthen the party. “We are conducting a national awareness campaign covering the Tarai-Madhesh from east to west. The campaign will also connect the mountains, hills and Tarai-Madhesh north-south,” he said.
According to the personal secretariat of the Prime Minister, Dahal said that there is a possibility that the Maoists will take over the leadership in Gandaki province. “We are doing homework for the formation of the government in Gandaki. Once that is over, we will come to a conclusion.”
The Prime Minister also made it clear that the defense and strengthening of the constitution and consolidating the communist movement are the main basis of forming a new coalition in the centre. “When the communist movement is divided, the reactionary forces become stronger in national politics. It would bring a crisis to the governance. That challenge has been overcome. The country’s politics is now on the right track,” he said.
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06- Prosperity through the use of technology, says Prime Minister Dahal
Kathmandu, March 17: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ has said that we should embrace the truth that prosperity can be achieved through the use of information technology.
Speaking at a programme organised to present the freedom fighter Dayashankar Palikhe memorial journalism award held in Pokhara today, Prime Minister Dahal said that the current era is the era of science and technology, mainly information technology. “The information technology sector developed as a means of information and communications has now become a decisive sector for the economy,” he said.
According to his personal secretariat, the Prime Minister mentioned that information technology has a decisive role for the greater development and prosperity of the nation. “Information technology has not only had a positive impact on the human race but the entire world has reached a stage where it is impossible to imagine the existence of the human race without information technology,” he said.
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07- Prime Minister calls for precautions against incidents of fire
Kathmandu, March 17: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ has expressed grief over the huge loss of life and property caused by incidents of fire in the eastern region of Nepal.
Expressing sorrow over the loss of property in Morang, Bhojpur and other districts due to fire on Saturday, the Prime Minister has through his social media account last night requested all citizens to remain alert towards the incidents of fire including forest fire.
“The loss of property due to fire in the hilly districts of eastern Nepal including Bhojpur is saddening. Expressing deep sorrow over the incident, I request the public to take precaution against the possible risk of fire”, he has said in the message.
It may be noted that three children of the same family died in an incident of fire in Hatuwagadi rural municipality-7 of Bhojpur on Saturday. Likewise, in the last two days, there have been incidents of fires and forest fires in Udayapur, Kathmandu, Mahottari, Surkhet, Tehrathum, Saptari, Taplejung and other districts.
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08- Inclusive information policy priority of govt.: Prime Minister
Gandaki, March 17: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ has said that inclusive and democratic information and communications policy is the priority of the government.
Speaking at the freedom fighter Dayashankar Palikhe memorial journalism award ceremony organized by Federation of Nepali Journalists, Kaski in Pokhara today, he said that inclusive ICT policy is the priority of the government to increase the access of all class, regions, castes, languages and communities to the mass media.
Stating that the government’s policy is to protect and promote the media as a national service-oriented industry, the Prime Minister emphasized that professional and institutional development of the media will be carried out for the promotion and benefit of the media and media workers.
He also expressed the commitment to ensure building of necessary structures and infrastructure, including policies, to fully guarantee the freedom of thought and expression, the right to information and the freedom of the press.
Stating that initiatives are being taken to start operation of international flights to and from Pokhara International Airport, he said that initiatives are being taken with both the neighboring countries for it.
Lauding the contribution of freedom fighter Dayashankar Palikhe, he said that the award established in his memory has sent a positive message not only in Pokhara but across the country.
On the occasion, Prime Minister Prachanda presented the Freedom Fighter Dayashankar Palikhe Memorial Journalism Award to Dipendra Shrestha and to Tribhuvan Poudel (posthumously).
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09- Earthquake recorded in Rasuwa
Kathmandu, March 17: An earthquake has been recorded with epicenter around Juredhunga in Rasuwa district this morning.
According to the National Earthquake Monitoring and Research Center, an earthquake measuring 4 in the Richter scale occurred today at 9:44 am with its epicenter near Juredhunga in Rasuwa district.
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10- Elderly man killed due to wildlife attack
Janaki (Banke), March 17: An elderly man has died in an attack of wild animal in Banke. The deceased is 71-year-old Nagendra Prasad Sharma, a resident of Darma rural municipality -1, Salyan district.
Sharma who was staying with his relatives at Kohalpur and Dhakeri of Banke district came under the wild animal’s attack near the road at Bhalukhola, two kilometres west of Dhakeri on the East-West highway, said Manoj Kumar Shah, the Banke National Park’s senior conservation officer.
Police Inspector of the Area Police Office Kohalpur, Devraj Bhattarai said it is presumed that Sharma was attacked by the wild animal at 5.30 am today. The body has been sent to the Bheri Hospital in Nepalgunj for a post-mortem examination.
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11- HoR passes condolence message over Ansari’s demise
Kathmandu, March 17: A meeting of the House of Representatives (HoR) today endorsed a condolence motion over the demise of its member Manju Sharma Ansari. In the meeting, Speaker Devraj Ghimire declared that the motion was endorsed by the lower house session anonymously.
The meeting also observed one minute-silence over the passing away of Ansari. The 60-year-old Ansari, the lawmaker from the Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal under the proportional representation system died amidst the treatment earlier today.
The meeting paid tributes to the departed soul and also extended heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family.
The lower house of the Federal Parliament shall meet again at 11:00 am on Monday.
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12- Pokhara Tourism Council hands memo to PM
Gandaki, March 17: The Pokhara Tourism Council (PTC) has submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, calling for, among others, starting international flights from Pokhara International Airport.
A delegation led by PTC Chairperson Pom Narayan Shrestha met with the Prime Minister in Pokhara today and handed over the memorandum to him.
PTC has called attention of the government, citing that the major roadways connecting Pokhara were in dire condition and the international flights from Pokhara International Airport were not regular so far. The Council has called for starting international flights to and from Pokhara at the earliest.
The memorandum states that the tourism entrepreneurs had to face crisis one after the other since some years. Stating that the investment is at risk due to the sluggishness in the economy and employment is also declining, PTC, through the memorandum, called for providing motivation and time to the tourism entrepreneurs to pay back the loan.
The Council also demanded to restructuring of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) and ensuring the representation of Pokhara on the NTB Executive Board Member that is currently lying vacant.
The Council has urged the government to start the international flights from Pokhara International Airport initially from the Nepal Airlines itself and then encouraging other airlines as well providing them incentive packages.
The PTC also mentioned in the memo that the prohibition on individual paragliding has demoralized the paragliding adventure sports players as they cannot conduct practice paragliding flights.
It may be recalled here that the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) had banned individual paragliding after a paragliding accident in course of the Ninth National Paragliding Competition last year.
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13- Pokhara declared Tourism Capital of Nepal
Gandaki, March 17: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ has declared Pokhara as the Tourism Capital of Nepal.
He made this announcement amidst a function organised at Barahighat, near the Phewa Lake in Kaski today. Prior to this, the Prime Minister unveiled a logo and memorial pillar relating to the touristic capital.
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14- Fagu formally begins with installation of Chir at Basantapur
Kathmandu, March 17: Chir was installed following established rituals today at Basantapur, as a mark of the commencement of Fagu or Holi festival. The festival formally begins in the Kathmandu Valley and nationwide with the people from the Manandhar community installing the Chir, a bamboo pole decorated with a tuft of colorful pieces of cloth in three tiers at the top end.
According to a local Tirthalal Tandukar, the placing of the Chir marks the commencement of the festival of color and the people of Kathmandu pay homage to the Chir.
Following the completion of the Holi festival, people would collect the pieces of clothes from the Chir and keep it in their homes with a belief that it will bring good luck for them. The Chir will be dispersed in local Tundikhel.
This year, the festival falls on March 24 in hilly districts including the districts in the Kathmandu Valley and it is being observed on March 25 in the Terai/Madhesh.
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15- Aushadhi Ltd launches three products from today
Kathmandu, March 17: The Nepal Aushadhi Limited has started manufacturing additional three genres of drugs beginning today. Limited general manager, Kailash Kumar Paneru, said the production of Centrimine, Amzit and Amzit-DF tablets has commenced from today.
According to the Company, 150,000 tablets of each medicine will be produced each day.
Prior to this, its productions include Jeevan Jal, Cetamol, Distilled water, Glycerin, folic acid and Hemodialysis fluid and powder.
As Paneru said, the Company is in the position of manufacturing more drugs provided that the government supports for the same.
The Limited that was established in 2029 BS as a government entity once used to manufacture 120 types of medicines. But over the course of time, it was closed in 2062 BS and revived in 2074 BS with the production of Cetamol.
With the newly launched products, the numbers of products by the Limited has reached 11.
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16- Economy is sluggish but not in crisis: Finance Minister Pun
Kathmandu, March 17: Finance Minister Barshaman Pun has said that although the country’s economy is somewhat sluggish, it has not reached to a situation of crisis.
Addressing the 34th anniversary programme of the Citizen Investment Trust (CIT) here today, he claimed that the economy is beyond crisis and much improvement has been seen in the external sector.
However, Minister Pun admitted that some structural challenges remained in the public finance sector. As he said, the negative over-publicity that the country’s economy is on the verge of collapse has had its impact in the market.
“We have foreign currency reserves sufficient to cover the imports of goods and services of over one year. The remittance inflow is excellent. There is adequate liquidity in the banks and financial institutions. The investment will also gradually increase now,” the Finance Minister said.
According to him, the external sector has presently become stronger as against the criticism some time back that Nepal’s economy is also heading towards collapse like that of Sri Lanka, as the external sector, especially the balance of payments, looked bleak.
The Finance Minister expressed worry, saying the market thinking has not improved yet despite of the positive economic indicators. He said investment can go up which will help in the economic growth if there is positive thinking and self-confidence in the market.
On the occasion, he gave assurance that he would continue the positive policies and plans brought by the former finance minister and adopted by the government before this. He added that the strict policies adopted in the past due to the economic contraction would be gradually made flexible.
According to him, discussions are being held with various line ministries and various agencies about this. Stating that signs of improvement have been seen in the stock market of late, he believed that it would help stimulate the market.
The Finance Minister stressed on the need of all sides and agencies to be responsible and accountable for facilitating the service delivery. “The political leadership has problems. We ourselves have felt the need of political sanctification. There is need for administrative reforms in our public bodies,” he reminded.
He urged the CIT management to invest the deposits with it in the productive sectors, big infrastructure construction projects and employment generation sector, becoming more professional. Minister Pun called on CIT to contribute to the national capital formation by mobilizing its deposits in the productive sector increasing productivity and job creation.
CIT executive director Parbat Kumar Karki said the CIT has played important role in determining the basis of national capital formation by mobilizing the savings. According to him, the CIT is carrying out works in a planned way in expanding its business, profit-oriented investment and risk management, among other sectors.
Executive Director Karki claimed that CIT is increasing investment in the infrastructure sector prioritized by the government, making the CIT’s works more technology-friendly and facilitating the service delivery. He further shared that a study has been initiated to connect the citizens in foreign employment in the CIT’s programmes.
According to him, the net reserves of CIT as of mid-January of the current fiscal year is Rs 240 billion and 510 million while it has invested Rs 235 billion and 50 million during this period.
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17- Two journalists awarded
Gandaki, March 17: Two journalists from Pokhara have been awarded with the Democracy Fighter Daya Shankar Palikhe Memorial Journalism Honour. The Honour is instituted by the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ), Kaski chapter.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ handed over the award carrying a purse of Rs 101,111 to journalist Deependra Shrestha. On the occasion, PM Dahal presented a shawl to Shrestha as a mark of honour.
Similarly, journalist Tribhuvan Poudel has been honoured posthumously. PM Dahal presented the award carrying a purse of Rs 101,111 and a shawl to the family of the late Poudel.
Addressing the programme, the Prime Minister said that the two awarded journalists have made a significant contribution to the Nepali journalism and social sector.
He asserted that the government is always committed to upholding democracy and press freedom. “The present government is committed to fully guaranteeing the freedom of thought and expression, the right to information and free press as well as to ensuring legal and practical exercise of these tenets by building the necessary structures and prerequisites,” he added.
Stating that an inclusive democratic information and communication policy aimed at increasing the access of people of all classes, regions, castes and linguistic communities to the mass communication media is the government’s priority, PM Dahal said the government has the policy of giving protection to the media recognizing it as a national service industry.
FNJ Chairperson Bipul Pokharel said that the government should not delay formulation of the media laws. Stating that the media sector is not in the State’s priority, he rued that the FNJ’s repeated demand for the formation of the Mass Communication Academy has not been heard by the government.
FNJ Kaski chapter president Bimala Bhandari said the Democracy Fighter Daya Shankar Palikhe Memorial Journalism Honour Trust was set up in 2052 BS. The family of the late Daya Shankar Palikhe instituted the revolving fund for the Trust in honour of the freedom fighter of Pokhara.
Journalist Shrestha who was awarded the Honour in 2079 is the former president of FNJ Kaski chapter and the Executive Director of Everest FM.
Similarly, the late Poudel, who is awarded the Honour for 2080 BS, was the founding president FNJ Gandaki Province Committee. Poudel was killed in a plane crash last year while serving as the FNJ central committee member.
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18- PM Dahal pledges support for Pokhara’s development
Gandaki, March 17: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ has pledged to lend necessary support and cooperation for the development of Pokhara, the Tourism Capital of Nepal.
In his address to a function organised to announce Pokhara as the Tourism Capital of Nepal here today, the Prime Minister said the government will accord top priority to develop Pokhara as further green, safe, systematized, beautiful and prosperous city.
He also assured of seeking support and cooperation from the international development partners for the enrichment of infrastructure development needed for the tourism capital. The Prime Minister said the Investment Summit that Nepal is hosting next month will be helpful in such efforts.
The Prime Minister on the occasion announced that the government will take initiations to operate commercial international flights from the Pokhara International Airport.
According to the Prime Minister, the government will take further measures to effectively operate the Korala-Tribeni transit serving as the gateway to Muktinath, the famous religious shrine.
As he said, the scale of cooperation and monitoring will be intensified to conclude the Mid-Hill Highway and the Muglin-Pokhara section along the Prithvi Highway. He called for the cooperation among the private, government and civic level to promote the internal tourism.
On the occasion, Gandaki Province Chief Minister, Surendra Raj Pandey, said the announcement of Pokhara as the Tourism Capital will help in its branding.
Pokhara metropolis mayor Dhanraj Acharya was of the opinion that the announcement would contribute to improving living standard of the citizens of Pokhara, creating employment opportunities and eliminating poverty. He pledged to intensify the infrastructure development in Pokhara through combined efforts among the three-tier government.
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19- Construction of emergency safe house stressed in Mugu
Mugu, March 17: Stakeholders have laid emphasis on the need of constructing emergency safe house in Mugu district.
Participants of an interaction ‘Gender Equality and Social Inclusion’ organised by Social Development Office, Mugu, here on Sunday, pointed out the need of constructing safe house at Gamgadhi. On the occasion, Chief District Officer Topendra KC said safety of victims would be ensured and it would be easier for legal treatment if a safe house could be built in the district.
Similarly, Deputy Superintendent of Police at the District Police Office, Birendra Thapa, shared that problem has surfaced in lack of safe house in the district to provide shelter to victims of VAW, domestic violence and rape cases.
Likewise, Deputy-Mayor of Chhayanath Rara municipality Aishwarya Malla asked the province and federal governments to provide budget for the construction of the safe house. She mentioned that the municipality would provide necessary support for operation and management after the construction of the safe house.
Chief of Social Development Office, Top Bahadur Budha, urged the three-tier governments to make arrangement for the construction and operation of the safe house in the coming budget and programmes.
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20- Mayor Shah directs employees to reduce visits, seminars
Kathmandu, March 17: Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Balendra Shah, has urged departmental chiefs to carry out activities with high morale.
At a programme organised regarding the achievements gained in first six months of the current fiscal year, problems faced to gain achievements and measures taken to achieve goals here on Sunday, Mayor Shah directed all departmental chiefs to carry out activities making service delivery smooth.
“Punishment should be taken against wrongdoers and those doing good work should be encouraged. Mistake that is occurred while carrying out activities with good intention should not be made a big issue”, he stressed.
Mayor Shah mentioned, “The KMC has received less complaints this year as compared to previous year. There are signs of improvement.” Stating that the KMC has been able to achieve lots of progress from the experiences and capacity of employees working for many years, he added they have implemented ‘Mahanagar Gaurav and Swarnim Yojana’ to give priority to some important programmes among many others.
He also asked the KMC employees to reduce number of visits, seminars, workshops as well as to be active to meet the annual targets, adding activeness of employees was a must to achieve the goals. Deputy-Mayor Sunita Dangol, Chief Administrative Officer Pradeep Pariyar and Vice-Chairperson of Urban Development Commission, Dr Suman Narsingh Rajbhandari were present on the occasion.
Departmental chiefs briefed about the progress achieved so far on the occasion.
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21- President Paudel honours Luintel
Kathmandu, March 17: President Ramchandra Paudel has honoured Rajendra Luintel, who set a Guinness Book of World Record by shooting a music video at the highest altitude above the sea level.
At a programme organised at the Office of the President, Sheetal Niwas, President Paudel congratulated Luintel and his team and honoured them offering garlands and shawls.
The song, written by Dr DR Upadhyay, was shot at Tilicho lake of Manang at an altitude of 5,015 meters. The music video was directed by Michael Chand while Santosh Shrestha is the music composer.
On the occasion, President Paudel praised them, saying they made publicity of Nepal in the world in a different way. The team had received the certificate of the Guinness Book of World Record from the then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba in 2021.
Luintel has already received various awards including Mahatma Gandhi International Award, Global International Award, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Sewa Samman-2022.
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22- Fire guts property worth around Rs 5 million
Inaruwa, March 17: Property worth around millions of rupees was gutted by fire at Barju rural municipality-4 in Sunsari district on Sunday.
The fire started from a house of a local Bishnu Dev Paudar destroyed 15 houses and property worth around five million rupees was turned into ashes. Houses of locals as well as furniture, clothes, food stuffs, utensils were destroyed by fire, said Deputy Superintendent of Police of Sunsari, Nabin Krishna Bhandari.
Fire engines from Biratnagar and Itahari, locals and police doused the fire. Investigation into the incident was underway, according to the District Police Office, Sunsari.
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23- Labour Minister directs officials for ensuring reforms in FEIMS
Kathmandu, March 17: Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security Dol Prasad Aryal has instructed the officials to bring about reforms in the Foreign Employment Information Management System (FEIMS) to give foreign labour permit within an hour.
During an interaction programme with the FEIMS system supplier, Information Technology Section of the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security and consultants on Sunday, Ministry Aryal asked the stakeholders to work for giving foreign work permit within an hour from coming Friday, Minister Aryal’s Secretariat said.
The FEIMS was brought in use from the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) to make the jobs of DoFE more technology-friendly but the glitches in the system has caused a huge problem and more economic burdens to the migrant workers.
Considering such issues, Minister Aryal has directed to reform the system so that the applicants could obtain the foreign labour permit within an hour after the submission of their documents from any part of the world.
Likewise, Minister Aryal has hinted at looking for alternatives if the existing team failed to resolve the issues within a month. A team of the IT consultants at the Ministry is keeping an eye at the FEIMS system since last week.
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24- Chief of Gandaki Province, Bhatta, assumes office
Annapurna (Kaski), March 17: Newly-appointed Chief of Gandaki Province, Dilli Raj Bhatta, on Sunday assumed his office.
President Ramchandra Paudel had appointed Bhatta as the Chief of Gandaki Province at the recommendation of the government. Appointed as the Province Chief on March 11, Bhatta arrived here on Saturday and assumed his office today.
On the occasion, Province Chief Bhatta said he would work wholeheartedly to fully implement the constitution. During the event, Chief Minister of Gandaki Province, Surendra Raj Pandey, briefed the Province Chief about the activities carried out by the Gandaki Province Government so far.
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25- CPN (US) forms committees for national convention
Kathmandu, March 17: The CPN (Unified Socialist) has formed 13 different committees for holding the party’s national convention.
The party has assigned the responsibility of coordinator of National Convention Main Management Committee to party chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal while Jhalanath Khanal is given the responsibility of coordinator of the Reception Committee.
Party secretary Jibanram Shrestha said that Beduram Bhusal will lead the representative management committee, Pramesh Hamal for finance mobilization committee and Ramchandra Jha for art, culture and literature committee while Bijay Paudel will lead the people’s mobilization and transport management committee.
Likewise, Jagannath Khatiwada is given the responsibility of publicity committee, Keshav Bahadur Bista of volunteer mobilization committee and Ghan Shyam Bhusal as the coordinator of secretariat committee.
All the central committee members and commissions’ office-bearers will be the members in the committee led by party chairman Nepal. The party is scheduled to organize its national convention from May 16 to 20 in Kathmandu.
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26- Finance Minister Pun hints at change in tax rates in new budget
Kathmandu, March 17: Finance Minister Barshaman Pun has said a thorough analysis will be done on the needs and relevance of tax rates in the budget of the upcoming fiscal year.
During a meeting with the journalists at the Ministry of Finance on Sunday, Minister Pun said the reasons would be clearly mentioned if the tax rates were reviewed adding that no question will be raised on the intention behind the decision on change in tax rates. “Transparency will be maintained while determining the tax rates,” Minister Pun said.
He viewed that public participation should be ensured in budget making and determining the tax system as well. On the occasion, the Finance Minister also emphasized the need for an objective analysis of the relevance of tax exemption given by the government to different sectors.
Minister Pun also argued that a debate was needed whether or not multi-rate was needed on value added tax (VAT). Likewise, he said the Ministry has decided to supply some amount of money in the market to ensure a vibrant economy adding that entire market was slow due to shrink in demand and consumption lately.
Minister Pun said that he was studying the ways to make consumption market and capital market more vibrant.
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27- Home Minister asks APF to fully implement laws
Kathmandu, March 17: Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane has said no one has to wait for order to do works specified by the laws, and report could be submitted after execution of the work.
At an inspection visit and senior officers’ conference at the Armed Police Force Headquarters on Sunday, Home Minister Lamichhane directed the officials not to delay in implementation of laws.
Issuing a five-point directive to the APF, he said any unprofessional behaviour would not be tolerated under any pretext. Actions would be taken against commander if attempt were made to save such persons carrying out unprofessional conducts, Home Minister Lamichhane warned.
He further said promotion and responsibility would be determined based on performance evaluation. The Home Minister expressed his commitment to formulate policy, plan and programme as per the capacity of the government to keep the morale of human resources high along with physical and technical upgrading of the organisation.
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