CASINOS NEEDS NEPALIS IGP SAYSIN CONTROVERSIAL STATEMENT

SPEAKER HEADS LUMBINI PANEL

Kathmandu, 4 June Speaker Subash Nemwang has been appointed head of a 19-member committee by parliament to monitor implementation of Lumbini master plan.
Parliament last year passed a resolution asking government to implement the plan and develop the birthplace of The Buddha as an international peace city within three years.
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CASINOS NEED NEPALIS SAYSNEW IGP

Kathmandu, 4 June: Newly-appointed Inspector General of Police Rabindra Pratap Shah on Friday said casinos will not survive without Nepalis gambling in them, Sangan Parsain writes in The Kathmandu Post.
Shah’s statement comes at a time when the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has been criticising the government’s failure to scrap licences of casinos that allow Nepalis to gamble.

“With the casino industry employing hundreds of workers, they have no choice but to allow Nepali gamblers. It is not possible for the government to secure the jobs of those hundreds of workers by barring entry of Nepalis (in casinos),” Shah told a PAC meeting.

The Gambling Act forbids Nepalis from gambling in casinos and says they are intended for foreign tourists only.

However, soon after the casino business started to dwindle in Nepal, operators had opened doors to Nepali gamblers, inviting a number of police raids.

Hoteliers say that lack of international promotion has slowed down casino business in Nepal.

“The government must either close down all casinos or state clearly which class of Nepalis should be allowed entry in the proposed casino guidelines to regulate the industry,” Shah said.

Lawmakers on Friday flayed the government for not obeying the PAC order to scrap the licences of some casinos. Lawmaker Dhan Raj Gurung said the PAC had twice directed the Tourism Ministry to scrap the licences of the casinos. He said the PAC’s directive should be implemented at any cost.

Continued defiance of government orders by casinos to clear their royalty dues and bar Nepalis from entering their premises have prompted the PAC to issue stern directives several times.
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