BUDGET DISCUSSIONS IN PARLIAMENT BEGINS

BUDGET DISCUSSIONS IN PARLIAMENT BEGIN MONDAY

Kathmandu, 12 Sept. Discussions on a national annual budget for 2011/12 presented by the previous government of Jhalanath Khanal but adopted by the Baburam Bhattarai government begin in parliament Monday.
Detailed discussions on allocations for ministries by the previous government will be held for six days continuously.
The budget will be adopted Sunday after Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai relies to points raised by lawmakers.the same day.
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SURVEYOF SCHOOLS IN SUNSARI UNDERWAY

Kathmandu, 12 Sept.: A government survey of schools in Sunsari district along with the Indian state of Bihar started Monday. districts
Enrolment at 1,500 registered educational institutions in the district is inflated to secure government dole
Altogether 1,500 teams are conducting the survey
Students from across the border have been brought in to inflate number of enrolments.
Several persons have been arrested for snuggling in Indian students for the survey.
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FINANCE MINISTER PUN WANTS PROBE OF IC MISAPPROPRIATION
Kathmandu, 12 Sept.: The government is planning to form a high-level committee to investigate misappropriation of a huge amount of Indian currency with fake customs documents on the pretext of importing goods from India, The Kathmandu Post reports.
Finance Minister Barsa Man Pun said the government opted for such a committee as initial investigations revealed large scale IC misappropriation and that banks’ names are being dragged into the issue. “It seems there has been misappropriation worth billions of rupees,” Pun said. “A separate task force will be formed to make the investigation prompt and effective.” He said the scandal could be as big as the fake VAT bill scam.
Five Indian traders were arrested with nine fake customs clearance documents worth Rs 10 million on August 29. Police confiscated fake customs documents worth Rs 7.52 million and bank vouchers of NIC bank worth IRs 2.3 million from them.
The DRI suspects the illegal transfers were carried out to pay Indian traders for under-invoiced goods and for selling IC notes in the black market. The central regional branch of the DRI in Pathlaiya is investigating the matter. “Given the seriousness of the issue, there is a need to form a high level team,” a Finance Ministry source said.
As the Birgunj Customs has been giving little time to match the customs documents from banks to find out whether they are real, the investigation has gone slow.
Ministry officials say the regional office is not being able to take the probe to a higher level as it also has to carry out its regular duties. Officials said there is a possibility that an experts’ team under the leadership of a DRI official and with participation of Nepal Rastra Bank, Department of Customs and Inland Revenue Department could be formed. The ministry has received suggestions to in-clude the police in the panel.
Although the central regional office of the DRI had sought details from banks, a number of them are delaying the documents’ submission, according to the DRI. The documents obtained from the banks need to be verified by NRB. “Banks where we suspected huge transactions had taken place reported non-transaction or little transaction,” said Mahendra Baniya, chief of the central regional office. “As such, we are going to seek information on this from the central bank.”
Of late, the DRI has found that Siddhartha Bank also issued demand drafts worth Rs 61.1 million in the name of Shyam Galla Bhandar, one of the five firms involved in the IC misappropriation.
Nepal Bangladesh Bank has issued drafts worth Rs 7.8 million and Nabil Bank has been found to have issued drafts worth Rs 411,000. “Pathalaiya office looked into the documents of six banks on Sunday,” Baniya said.
Earlier, DRI found that drafts had been issued by NIC Bank worth Rs 770 million, Rs 62.9 million by Everest Bank and Rs 16.4 million by Nepal Investment Bank in the name of firms such as Digital World, Maxwell, GS Traders and Jai Mata Di Traders, all involved in the misappropriation. A DRI official said that the depa-rtment has been keeping an eye on promoters of banks that issued the drafts.
Birgunj Customs Chief Lavanya Dhakal said the fake customs documents can be id-entified clearly as the customs has not issued documents having code numbers above 200,000. The confiscated fake documents have code numbers in the series of 900,000.
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QATAR HIRES 15,702 NEPALIS
Kathmandu, 12 Sept.: Hiring of Nepali workers by Qatar has increased significantly with the gulf nation intensifying the development of infrastructure in preparation for the FIFA World Cup 2022, Ramesh Shretha reports in The Kathmandu Post..
The Department of Foreign Employment’s data shows that a total of 15,702 Nepali workers left the country for employment in Qatar in the first month (mid-July to mid-Aug) of the current fiscal year. The figure also includes workers returning Qatar after vacation in Nepal. This is a three-fold growth compared to 5726 individuals who migrated to Qatar in the same period last year. However, the last year’s data does not include those returning back to work after vacation.
“Compared to other labour destinations, hiring from Qatar has increased significantly for huge infrastructure projects,” said Kumud Khanal, general secretary of Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies. Khanal added that Nepali workers in the construction sector, who normally used to get normally 600 riyal a month, are now being given 800-1,000 riyal due to shortage of construction workers.
In the Qatari capital of Doha, the ongoing construction boom is poised to move up several gears as work kicks off in 2012 under the massive infrastructure programme in preparation for the World Cup. Qatar is expected to see a huge growth in the migrant population during the run-up to the World Cup when infrastructure investments are expected to top $100 billion, according to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)’s report titled ‘Hidden Faces of the Gulf Miracle’.
The report says the country will need up to 1 million additional workers to build 12 stadiums, 70,000 new hotel rooms and a network of road and railway links planned for the football extravaganza. Qatar’s 2010 census shows that it has 504,684 foreign construction workers—a majority of them being Nepalis.
Hundreds of thousands of construction workers have been drafted in to build mammoth projects related to World Cup infrastructure, according to the report. Most are from Nepal, India, Pakistan and other South Asia nations although the mix includes many other nationalities from Africa as well.
Being the second largest labour destination after Malaysia, Qatar had absorbed a total of 102,966 Nepali workers, including 313 females, in the last fiscal year, a growth of 84 percent compared to 55,940 in FY 2009-2010.
On an average, a Nepali construction worker earns $3,600 a year in Qatar—the richest country in the world in terms of per capita income with $88,000, according to the ITUC report.
The trend of leaving the country for job in Qatar has been increasing since February 2011, especially in the construction sector, which is known as dirty, difficult and dangerous. The Qatari government has already announced plans to improve conditions for migrant workers expected to flock in for the 2022 construction boom, including model housing complexes and tighter laws to prevent abuse.
“However, pressure will be on the world football body FIFA and the Western companies lining up for lucrative World Cup contracts to ensure that workers are provided with decent working, wage and housing conditions,” read the report.
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PATNA HC SENTENCES 11 UCPN-M LEADERS
Kathmandu, 12 Sept.: The Patna High Court of India has slapped a jail term and fine on 11 Nepali Maoist leaders in absentia on the charge of indulging in activities against the sovereignty of India and Nepal, it is learnt, Tika R.Pradhan reports in.The Himalayan Times

The case came to light after those who stood as personal guarantee to the Maoist leaders following their release, informed Nepali leaders about the verdict.

According to Maoist Central Committee member Anil Sharma ‘Birahi’, the Indian police had apprehended the Nepali Maoist leaders in May 2004.

They include politburo members Lokendra Bista Magar and Kul Prasad KC ‘Sonam’, central committee members Hit Bahadur Tamang, Kumar Dahal, Anil Sharma ‘Birahi’ and CA members Tara Gharti, Chitra Bahadur Shrestha, Dilip Maharjan and Min Prasad Aapagain, along with Suman Tamang and Shyam Kishor Yadav.

They were released following the political change in Nepal after serving more than two years in Beur and Boxer prisons in Patna.

Commenting on the verdict, Lokendra Bista said the party would study the verdict after consulting the lawyers.

“Both political and diplomatic means should be used as it is a bilateral issue,” he said, adding that the party would request the government to help annul the verdict.

Bista, who was informed about the verdict a week ago, had received detailed information today. “We have taken this issue very seriously,” he said.

Commenting on the development, Maoist CC member Tamang said the move to convict the leaders, many of whom have already become ministers, was nothing but a ploy to derail ongoing peace process. He said the government should resolve the issue through diplomatic channels.

Sharma — one of the accused — said Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai had told the leaders that he would request the Indian government to withdraw the case. He said party’s central committee meeting will discuss the issue.

The court has slapped politburo member Bista Magar with six-year jail and IRs 700,000 fine, another politburo member KC with six-year jail and IRs 680,000 fine, Kumar Dahal with five-year jail and IRs 500,000 fine, Sharma with six-year jail and IRs 700,000 fine, Hit Bahadur Tamang with five-year jail and a fine of IRs 490,000 and CA member Tara Gharti with two-year jail and IRs 375,000 fine.

Convicts

• Politburo members Lokendra Bista Magar and Kul Prasad KC sentenced to six years

• Central committee members Hit Bahadur Tamang and Kumar Dahal get five-year term, while Anil Sharma sentenced to six years• CA member Tara Gharti gets two-year term.
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FACTIONAL IN-FIGHTING IN NC AS WELL ON DISSOLUTION OF FRATERNAL BODIES
Kathmandu, 12 Sept.: A dispute has come to the fore in Nepali Congress after its two factions — one led by the party President Sushil Koirala and the other by senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba — wanted to hold conventions of the party’s sister organisations under the leadership of their own supporters, The Himalayan Times reports.

Deuba camp, at Thursday’s Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting, took exception to the establishment’s attempt to pass a proposal brought by the party General Secretary Prakash Man Singh. The proposal had recommended formation of preparation committees to hold the conventions of sister wings.

As Deuba supporters sway over the existing working committees of most of the sister organisations, the Koirala faction wanted to form preparation committees to hold conventions, blamed Bimalendra Nidhi, a senior leader close to Deuba.

However, the Koirala faction said the existing working committees cannot hold the conventions because their term has expired and they even failed to hold their meetings.

At Thursday’s CWC meeting, the two factions were divided over Singh’s proposal to form the preparatory panels to hold the convention within a year. On April 11, the party’s CWC had decided to dissolve Nepal Student Union’s CWC after forming a convention preparation committee. Following the decision, NSU President Pradip Paudel had tendered his resignation. The Deuba faction had boycotted the meeting.

Deuba is busy discussing with CWC members of the sister wings ways to prevent the establishment’s attempt to dissolve the existing CWCs, sources said. “As the Koirala camp wants to prevail over all wings of the party on the basis of majority, it is against extension of the CWCs.”

Krishna Chandra Nepali, a CWC member close to Koirala, said, “Since the existing CWCs of the sister wings are non-functional, they failed to hold conventions.” If consensus is not forged by the next CWC meeting, Singh’s proposal will be endorsed through voting, Nepali said.
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