DISCUSSIONS AND NC POLICY PROGRAMME CONTINUES

Kathmandu, 20 Sept.: Discussions on the NC’s policy and programme for the next five years continued for the third consecutive day Monday.
The12th general convention ends Tuesday with the election of central working committee members,
Remaining district presidents and others are presenting their views Tuesday, publicity chief Krishna Prasad Shitaula said.
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KRISHNA PRASAD BHATTARAI ADMITTED FOR TREATMENT

Kathmandu, 20 Sept.: Former prime minister and only surviving founder member of NC, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, was admitted Sunday for treatment at the Natural Treatment Center at Chittapole, Bhaktapur.
He complained of difficulty in walking.
Octogenarian Bhattarai will undergo natural therapy for several days.
“From the day the convention [of NC on Friday] started, he hasn’t taken any food. He takes only 80 ml juice and milk,” his aide Amita Kapali told Kantipur.
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INDRAJATRA FESTIVAL BEGINS

Kathmandu, 20 Sept.: Weeklong Indrajatra festival began Monday morning by erecting the Indradhawaja at Basantaput surate at 9.35 Monday morning.
The chariots of Goddess Kumari, Ganesh and Bhairab will be pulled through the city streets Wednesday 22 September.
The festival ends 27 festival when the Indradjawaja is pulled down at 8.57 in the night.
Then, devotees can offer prayer and worship of Swancha Bhairab, Akash Bhairab, Swet Bhairab at Hanuman Dhoka; puja and worship was be offerd atSwancha Bhairab and Swet Bhairab only once a year only.
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TMLP village leader shot dead

Kathmandu, 20 Sept.: TMLP village leader RajaramYadav was shot dead overnight at a village in Mohottari.
Yadav was a resident of AurahiVDC.
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VICE-PRESIDENT’S AIDE IN JUDICIAL CUSTODY

Kathmandu, 20 Sept.: Rajesh Ahiraj Jha, an aide of Vice-president Paramananda Jha, was Sunday remanded to five-day judicial custody by a special court in the capital to investigate a treason charge.
Police has asked for a 15-day remand.
Rajesh has been charged under the offence against state and punishment act 1989 for inserting an advertisement for military recruitment in a terai underground organization,
He is also editor and publisher of Madeshbani Weekly.
The personal secretariat of the vice-president disassociated itself with the arrest.
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TRADE, COMMERCE, ECONOMY

NIBL TO DISTRIBUTE 25 PERCENT DIVIDEND

Kathmandu, 20 Sept.: Nepal Investment Bank Ltd. (NIBL) will distribute 25 percent cash bonus totaling Rs 602.27 million to shareholders out of its profit for fiscal year 2009/10.
The bank set aside Rs 800 million for tax.
Kist Bank is disbursing five percent cash bonus to shareholders out of its profit in fiscal year 2009/10. International Leasing and Financing Co. (ILFCO) announced a 6.84 percent cash dividend from its profits for the fiscal year 2009/10 profit for fiscal year 2009/10.
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COMMERZ AND TRUST BANK NEPAL STARTS OPERATION MONDAY

Kathmandu, 20 Sept.: Commerz and Trust Bank, the country’s 29th commercial bank, begins operations in the capital Monday with an authorized capital of Rs 3 billion and issued capital of Rs 1.4 billion.
Thirty percent shares of the bank will be sold in public to raise money.
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NEPSE INDEX RECORDS FOUR-YEAR LOW

Kathmandu, 20 Sept.: Nepse index recorded a 1.99 point fall on the first day of five-day weekly trading Sunday closing at 402.44 points when the market closed.
Altogether 75,430 shares were traded in 75,430 transactions totaling Rs 27.54 million.
Nepse index plunged to 402.11 points 1 November 2006.
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INDO-NEPAL JOINT VENTURE TO PRODUCE ANIMAL VACCINES

Kathmandu, 20 Sept.: Hester Bioscience Nepal-a Rs 250 million joint venture Indo-Nepal company- tied up Sunday to manufacture animal vaccines at a plant at Panchkhal in Kavre.
Hester Bioscience India and Him Electronics have 65 percent and 35 percent stakes respectively in the company.
Rajiv Gandhi of Hester Bioscience India and Shekhar Golcha of Him Electronics launched the company Sunday.
Production is expected to start 2012 employing 200 Nepalis and with an estimated annual turnover of Rs 500 to 700 million.
‘We’ll produce 2.5 billion doses of animal vaccines from the Nepal plant. We are expecting to manufacture 15 to 20 vaccines here I n Nepal,” Gandhi said.
The Indian company has branched out of India for the first time.
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NRN DAY TO BE OBSERVED IN POKHARA

Kathmandu, 20 Sept.: Non-Resident Nepal (NRN) Day will be celebrated in the resort town of Pokhara this year to help promote Nepal Tourism Year 2011.
This was announced Sunday by its chief Debman Hirachan.
The day is observed every year 11 October to observe its launch in 2003.
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MEDIA GOOGLE

‘This exhumation [of four human remains by NHRC] is a vital step forward to advance transitional justice and accountability on a key emblematic case of human rights violation related to the conflict.’

(Jyoti Sanghera, Acting Head of OHCHR-Nepal.)

‘Other parties are trying to derail the peace process fearing we will draft a pro-people statute and win polls if the peace process sees completion.”

(Chairman Prachanda, The Himalayan Times, 20 Sept.)
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Save the Himalayas Campaign in peril; US VISAS DENIED

Kathmandu, 20 Sept.: Save the Himalayas Campaign launched in Copenhagen during the 15th Conference of Parties on Climate Change and was scheduled for September 21 in New York in front of the UN headquarters is in peril after the US embassy denied visa to summiters and officials of Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation and National Trust for Nature Conservation.

The campaign was launched to plead for saving the Himalayas from the impact of climate change with record holding summiters marching in Copenhagen with mountaineering gears in December while world leaders were negotiating how to tackle climate change issues. A similar drive was expected in New York, where world leaders have gathered to dwell on millennium development goals.

To participate in the campaign, 10 summiters and eight officials from MoFSC and NTNC had applied for visa a week ago.

However, the summiters blamed the negligence of MoFSC and NTNC for visa refusal. “Visa applications were submitted only on September 10. The delay was due to the ministry and NTNC,” said Diwas Pokharel, Secretary, Nepal Mountaineering Association, who was denied visa.

Mountaineers in the United States also decided to boycott the event, saying it was unfair to block the record holding summiters and condemned forest minister Deepak Bohara for negligence. “We felt insulted after the minister flew to USA without informing us. We decided not to let our friends who were already issued visa to take part in the campaign,” added Pokharel. Bohara flew to USA on Friday.

However, executive officer at NTNC Dr Siddhartha Bajracharya said it was unethical to blame the ministry or NTNC for visa denial. “We tried our best to obtain the visa but the embassy informed us that it was not able to provide the visa due to several reasons. The summiters have tried to politicise it, which is not fair,”said Bajracharya.

He added that financial support of Rs 1.5 million that was received by NTNC from the Nepal Mountaineering Association for the programme will be returned.

“This is not just a summiters’ summit. The programme will not be hampered and record holding climber Apa Sherpa, along with other summiters from Nepal, including Dawa Steven Sherpa, have already confirmed their participation,”added Bajracharya.
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PM TELLS SECURITY CHIEFS BE READY FOR MAOIST INTEGRAION

Kathmandu, 20 Sept.: Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal has directed heads of all the security agencies to be prepared for possible integration of the Maoist combatants in their respective forces and plan accordingly, Republica reports.
The prime minister issued such instruction during his meeting with Army Chief Chatraman Singh Gurung, IG of Nepal Police Ramesh Chand Thakuri, IG of Armed Police Force Sanat Kumar Basnet and Chief of National Investigation Department Ashok Dev Bhatta, at his office in Singha Durbar Sunday.
‘The prime minister has sought a possible number of Maoist combatants that each security organization can accommodate,” Peace and Reconstruction Minister Rakam Chemjung said. Chemjung, senior official from Prime Minister’s Office, Home Ministry, Defence Ministry and Peace Ministry were present at the meeting.
The meeting was held against the backdrop of the agreement between the government and the Maoists to accomplish outstanding task of the peace process ‘basically’ before 14 January 2011.
The meeting also follows a decision of the special committee to disassociate Maoist combatants from the UCPN (Maoist) in principle last Thursday.
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KMC rip-off can of worms opens

Kathmandu, 20 Sept.: In yet another startling revelation, an anti-graft body has found that millions of rupees allocated to the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has been “misused” for the last 10 years, thanks to the connivance of employees and representatives of political parties, Bhadra Sharma reports in The Kathmandu Post..

The National Vigilance Centre report made available to the Post said that millions of rupees budget allocated to the KMC had been spent by the employees and representatives of the political parties as “advance payments” while most of them failed to furnish the “advance clearance”. A total of Rs 124.5 million is still awaiting clearance from the respective recipients. “Most officials are found taking advance but they are yet to file the details for their clearance. A total of 46 employees have taken advance payments ranging from Rs. 50,000 to 1,00,000, while 68 have taken between Rs 1,00,000 to Rs 46,75, 00,” the report says.

The KMC has not taken any initiative to collect the details of the amount unaccounted for. Interestingly, the 17th Metropolis Council decided to waive repayment by employees who have taken payments below Rs 50,000.

“The report has found several financial irregularities within the KMC. We have just identified the loopholes. Now, it needs deeper digging,” said NVC Chief Executive Officer Tana Gautam. The NVC had deployed a six-member probe committee to investigate the irregularities. The report says former deputy Mayor Bidur Mainali is yet to file clearance for an advance payment of Rs. 8,49,375 that he took in 2001. Mainali is still getting facilities from the KMC as he is still a member of an all-party mechanism formed to run local bodies in the absence of elected representatives. Around two dozen governmental offices, institutions and corporations have taken millions in advance money under different heads. “There is no accurate record of income and expenditure and the financial irregularities have crossed the limit,” added Laxmi Rijal, an Accounts Officer and member of the probe committee deployed by the NVC.

The 22-page report says the KMC officials have not updated the bank accounts or the name-list of employees who have taken advance amount from the state coffers.

For instance, Lhotse Multi-purpose Pvt Ltd had agreed to pay Rs 52,000,00 annually but no amount accrued to the KMC account. The probe team found that over Rs 40,000,00 was distributed as

financial assistance while existing regulations say KMC has no right to distribute over Rs 1,00,000.

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Viral fever, dengue kills 19 in Chitwan

Kathmandu, 20 Sept.: Viral fever and dengue have gone out of control in the district, Shriram Sigdel reports from Chitwan in Annapurna Post.
Nineteen persons have been killed and 7,000 have fallen sick in the last one month.
Dengue fever has been confirmed in every 10 to 12 patients coming every day for treatment at Chitwan Medical College.
Majority cases have been recorded at Bharatpur and Ratnanagar municipalities.
One swine flu case has been reported at Binauna VDC across the Rapti in Banke, the newspaper reports from Nepalgunj.
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