SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON MAOIST SOLDIERS MEETS

PARLIAMENTARY HEARING COMMITTEE RFUSES TO CONDUCT BUSINESS

Kathmandu, 18 July: A parliamentary hearing committee Sunday refused to conduct a hearing on the nomination of career diplomat Hari Kumar Shrestha as ambassador to Bangladesh.
The committee concluded the nomination was improper while Pradip Kumar Khatiwada was still ambassador.
Committee members said clause 119 of a parliamentary regulation a hearing will beheld only when posts are vacant.
Foreign Minister Upendra Yadav has repeatedly been avoiding the committee meetings. Yadav was represented in the committee Sunday by Agriculture Minister Hari Narayan Yadav.
The committee asked Speaker Subash Nemwang to intervene. Nnnn

SPECIAL COMMITTEE MEETS AFTER REPEATED MAOIST ABSENCE

Kathmandu, 18 July: A special committee headed by the prime minister for the integration, resettlement and supervision on 19,000 Maoist former fighters at 28 satellite camps and cantonments was held after long postponements Sunday.
The meeting discussed a secretariat report on the activities at the cantonments and camps.
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EXPO OF PAKISTAN GOODS

Kathmandu, 18 July: The second ‘Made in Pakistan-Product Exhibition’ is being held in the capital 19 to 25 July.
A trade group of more than 8o persons will participate.
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HOME MINISTER FLYING FOR BHUTAN FRIDAY

Kathmandu, 18 July: Home Minister Krishna Bahadur Majara flies for Bhutan to attend a one-day conferece of SAARC home ministers.
Home secretaries and chiefs of immigration departments are also attending.
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THREE PAKISTANIS, INCLUDING FATHER,DAUGHTER, ARRESTED

Kathmandu, 18 July: Three Pakistanis, including a father and daughter, were arrested from a hotel in the capital Saturday night
With Rs. 1.899 million counterfeit Indian currency notes in Rs 1,000 and Rs. 500 denominations.
Father Muhammad Akhbar,59, daughter Areeba, 19 and Haider Ali were arrested.
They flew in the same day on a Gulf Air flight from Karachi.
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JAILS PHYSICALLY POOR,INADEQUATE





Kathmandu, 18 July: The Home Ministry and Jail Management Department officials said that the jails established across the country were inadequate to keep the increasing number of inmates and physically they were in a poor condition, The Rising Nepal reports..
Rising number of inmates has increased the crowds in jails posing a threat to the jails’ security and their physical infrastructures, they said.
The officials said that overcrowded jails have become havens for those who plot the criminal activities sitting behind bar. "Many of the jails are in the verge of collapse," they added.
According to Anil Poudel, an official at the Jail Management Department, currently there are altogether 74 jails in 72 districts of the country.
He said that the jails of Ilam, Arghakhanchi, and Khotang districts were not in functioning conditions as they were destroyed during the decade-long conflict period.
The jail of Mugu district is also in a dilapidated condition and it may collapse at any time killing the inmates, he said.
"We are forced to keep the inmates in the risky jails as we and the government lack alternative to house the inmates," Poudel said.
Similarly, the condition of Valley’s Bhadragol Jail and Dillibazaar Jail and the Nakkhu Jail in Lalitpur is no different.
According to Poudel, crowd of jail birds inside the jails is another serious and equally crucial problem.
Everyday some 100 to 150 new inmates get entered the jails of the country, Poudel told The Rising Nepal.
The 74 jails have a capacity to keep only 6,491 inmates. But today’s records show that 11,374 inmates are kept in these jails, Poudel informed.
According to him, currently over 2,000 jail birds are passing their jail sentence at the Central Jail that has the capacity to house just 1,200.
Outside the valley, the Parsa Jail is the most crowded jail.
Meanwhile, Home Ministry spokesperson and joint secretary Sudhir Kumar Shah told The Rising Nepal that the problem of growing number of inmates is increasing and the Nepali jails have actually failed to become rehabilitation or recovering centres.
"We are failing to filter those inmates whose daily behaviours have changed," Shah said.
"We have thus planning to launch the concept of ‘Open Jail’ to reduce the increasing number of inmates with full fledge facilities and high security management and with the provision of filtering inmates every year," Shah said.


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POKHARA TO BE PLASTIC-FREE
Kathmandu, 18 July:::-
Good news for those who want to see plastic-free Pokhara. The country’s lake city will soon be without polythene bags, Lal Prasad Sharma writes in The Kathmandu Post. From Pokhara.

The Pokhara Sub-Metropolitan City on Sunday has taken firm steps to make make the city plastic-free, launching a campaign and issuing an order that bans the use and sale of thin polythene bags thinner than 20 micron.

The local authority resorted to this move in view of the harmful effects of plastic to people, environment and animals. “We want to rid the city of polythene bags within five years,” said Sushil Poudel, an engineer of the sub-metropolitan city.

“To make Pokhara clean, healthy and beautiful, it is essential to do away with polythene bags,” said environment expert Krishna KC, adding that the ban should be effectively implemented.

Poudel said industrialists and traders were informed about the new move. “At their request, we will be carrying out inspection in the first week of the campaign and start implementing the ban from second week they will.”

The decision has received warm welcome from local entrepreneurs. Chairman of Western Regional Hotel Association Biplav Poudel said, “The move is laudable at a time when the city is becoming an international tourism destination. We all should help implement it,” he said.

An estimated 40 million polythene bags come into use yearly in Pokhara that has the total population of more than 300,000.

“There is no alternative than to banning the use of polythene bags to save Pokhara and our environment,” Poudel said. Officials of the sub-metropolitan city have urged all to take steps to create awareness among the people about the bad effects of plastic and also to cultivate the habit of using biodegradable bags.
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