IGP THAUKARI APPEARING BEFORE CIAA

IGP THAKURI APPEARING BEFORE CIAA

Kathmandu, 4 April :IGP Ramesh Chand Thakuri is appearing Monday before the
CIAA which summoned him to probe a Rs 440 million scam in the purchase of
armed personnel carriers (APCs) for Nepali police keepers with the UN in Sudan.
The sub-standard APCs have endangered the lives of peacekeepers in the African state.
Police has called for tender to supply new APCs aid threat by UN to send back the Nepali peacekeepers.
Government and parliament’s public accounts committee have asked CIAA to push the case.
CIAA is preparing to file a charge sheet at the special court.
Two predecessors of Thakuri are also implicated.
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KHANAL TO APER BEFORE PARLIAMENT

Kathmandu, 4 April :Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal is addressing parliament Monday after repeated obstruction of the legislature by min opposition NC demanding a
statement from the government chief on major issues, including the embarrassing resignation of Finance Secretary Rameshwor Khanal.
Khanal didn’t appear before parliament to address demand of the NC which refused to hear a government position on Khanal’s resignation by Deputy Prime Mnister and Finance Minister Jhalanatha Khanal. .
Parliamentary parties on the UML and nC are meeting before the legislative session.
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WORKERS’ DEMAND RS. 2,000 ONTHLY SALARY

Kathmandu, 4 April Workers affiliated with a Maoist trade union close to
Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya and terai-based parties have demanded minimum Rs. 2,000 monthly wage and
other facilities.
The union last week gave management four days to consider their demands and stopped their strike to create an atmosphere for talks which are being held later Monday.
An agreement for a Rs. 1,500 monthly wage increase agreed by three trade unions affiliated with Maoists, NC and UML was denounced as a sellout.
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2,000-YEAR-OLD ARCHEOLOGICAL OBJECTS FOUND





Kathmandu, 4 April: The ruins of two thousand-year-old buildings have been found in Kichakbadhsthal, a historic place in Jhapa district in course of excavation, RSS reports from Jhapa.
The remains of walls of building made of bricks measuring 36 centimeters long, 26 centimeters wide and 5 centimeters thick have been unearthed. They were excavated from one meter under the surface. An earthen lamp and an urn have been also found at the excavation site.
According to Uddav Acharya, chief officer at the Department of Archeology, the archeological remains found in the area bear a resemblance to those of buildings constructed during the period of Sunga and Kupan some two thousand years ago.
The condition of remains shows the buildings were collapsed by the strong earthquake.
According to Sismic, a French organization studying about earthquake, the buildings might have been collapsed by the earthquake took place in the fifth century.
The first excavation in the area was conducted in 2058/059 BS.
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ORPHANAGE OPERATOR HELD, KIDS RESCUED
Kathmandu, 4 April: April 3: Police have rescued 20 children from Mukti Nepal, a Maharajgunj-based orphanage, and arrested its operator last week after finding that the orphanage does not meet minimum standards. The rescued children are aged between five to 15 years, Arjun Paudel reports in Republica.

Police arrested Goma Luitel, chairman of the orphanage, at the behest of the Central Child Welfare Board (CCWB).
“We found the children living in pathetic condition. Six boys and 14 girls were kept in one room,” Lochan Regmi, a CCWB monitoring officer said.

Regmi added that some foreigner, including a representative of Save the Children Norway, had complained about the orphanage.

He said a 12-year-old girl died in the orphanage in November. But the orphanage has not informed about the incident to the CCWB.

“They could not show the authorized documents about the child´s death,” Regmi said adding, “We have been told the child died at Kanti Children´s Hospital, but they showed papers from Kantishwori Cultural Center.”

The children rescued from the orphanage complained they were not given enough food.

“Children were also compelled to go out to fetch water when there was a water shortage at the home,” chief of District Child Welfare Board (DCEB) Suneeta Shah said.

She added that the children themselves had to cook meals and wash clothes. “Some children were not sent to school,” Shah said.

Children have complained that operator Luitel used to beat them.

“The kids were living in a terrible condition. We decided to rescue and transfer them to another home,” Shah said.

She also revealed that children are from the outskirts of the capital and all have parents. The DCWB is working to find their parents. “In the name of charity work, the operator was doing business,” she said.

The orphanage has been operating since 2004.

The CCWB said the orphanage is now closed permanently.
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OFFICIALS DENY MEDICINE CAUSED DEATHS





Kathmandu, 4 April: At a time when the elephantiasis medicines were alleged to have caused four deaths and several cases of sickness in Banke, Epidemiology and Disease Control Division Sunday claimed that the medicines had no link with the deaths, The Rising Nepal reports from Banke.
The committee formed to probe into the deaths claimed that there was no relation between the medicine consumption and the deaths.
Organising a press meet in Nepalgunj, Dr. Yadu Chandra Ghimire said that all four people died due to different causes.
The team further said that final investigation was yet to conclude.
Saying that all four died just after consuming the anti-filariasis medicine, Dr. Ghimire clarified that medicines had no link with the deaths. They died of other diseases, he said.
The Ministry of Health and Population had sent a team for the investigation in Banke after the spread of news that Buresh Kadu, 66, Aabi Dhobi 11, Samman Behana 5 and Tilku Tharu, 88, reportedly died by taking anti-elephantiasis medicine.
The campaign to feed the medicine was launched on 26 and 27 March as a national programme. After the incidence, the programme was affected. So far only 60 per cent people took the medicine.
The District Public Health Office of Banke admitted that unskilled women volunteers were mobilized for the programme.
Meanwhile, a case of public concern was filed in the appellate court of Nepalgunj on Sunday demanding that the elephantiasis medicine distribution programme should be halted.
Gopal Yogi, central secretary of Federation of Non-Governmental Organisation, and other eight advocates jointly filed the writ.
In the writ petition, they said that the elephantiasis medicine claimed four people and more than 500 people got sick in Banke.
The writ was filed against the district public health office and district administration office.

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