FIVE SERIOUSLY INJURED IN RASUWA TRUCK ACCIDENT

FIVE SERIOUSLY INJURED IN RASUWA TRUCK ACCIDENT
Kathmandu, 22 Sept.: Five passengers were seriously in a truck accident Thursday morning on the Pasang Lamosanghu highway in Rasuwa.
Rasuwa is a border district along Nepal-Tibet border.
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INDIVIDUAL WORKERS’ DEPARTURE UP FOUR-FOLD
Kathmandu, 22 Sept.: The number of Nepali migrant workers leaving for foreign employment through personal contact has soared in comparison to those leaving through manpower agencies. In the first two months of the current fiscal year, the number of workers securing jobs abroad on their own increased almost four-fold compared to the same period in the last fiscal, The Katmnandu Post reports.
According to the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE), 41,314 workers left for foreign jobs through personal contact in the first two months against 10,934 in the corresponding period last year. Nepali workers can go for overseas jobs in two ways -- through foreign employment agencies and through personal contact.
Migrant workers finding jobs on their own accounted for 49.81 percent of the total worker departures in the review period. According to the department, 82,927 workers left the country for foreign employment during the first two months.
Department officials said that the number of migrant workers leaving through personal contact had soared mainly due to the government's new rule requiring workers returning to their jobs to obtain a fresh permit after their initial contract has expired. They added that around 50 percent of the 41,314 worker departures in the individuals category were repeat migrant workers.
"Earlier, many workers used to return to their jobs abroad with expired work contracts after their vacation, and there was no law to stop them," said Kashi Raj Dahal, director of the department. He added that the provision had been introduced with the workers' interest in mind.
The new rule has been designed to curb the trend of leaving the country with outdated contracts and to guarantee insurance and compensation in case of death or accident at the work place. It requires workers to buy insurance covering the work contract period and contribute Rs 1,000 to the Foreign Employment Welfare Fund to get a re-entry permit to their labour destinations. However, the DoFE does not have any accurate data of workers who have returned after getting a re-entry permit.
The department has been preparing more detailed data following demands to prepare a breakdown of worker departures into those leaving through the mediation of agencies and individual contact and those who have left the country after acquiring a re-entry permit.
Narendra Raj Sharma, director general of the department, said that they would release the data separately within two weeks to avoid confusion. "We have been keeping the data of returnees separately for mid-Sept," he added.
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NEPAL MAY SEEK NEW OIL IMPORT ARRANGEMENT WITH INDIA
Kathmandu, 22 Sept.: Nepal could push for importing petroleum products from India on an export parity price basis ending the existing system of import parity price when the Petroleum Supply Agreement comes up for review in March 2012, Sangam Parsai writes in The Kathmandu Post.
Nepal and India will be revising the agreement after five years. According to the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies, state-owned oil monopoly Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has been paying extra money to Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) while importing fuel on an import parity price basis as price adjustment factor. Hence it would be beneficial to import fuel on an export parity price basis.
Recently, a report prepared by the High-Level Petroleum Reform Taskforce had underlined that NOC had been paying an additional Rs 6.40 billion in import bills annually due to fuel imports based on an import parity price basis. The report has asked NOC to import fuel on an export parity price basis.
“We are planning to review the clause to import petroleum products on an export parity price basis as per the recommendation of the report,” said Ganesh Prasad Dhakal, spokesperson at the Commerce and Supplies Ministry. As import parity requires NOC to pay additional duty, the ministry said that the price of petroleum products could be relatively lower if the export parity price was adopted.
NOC officials said that it could be a good move to propose to IOC for the import on an export parity price basis. However, Nepal should first do a cost analysis of both factors before implementing it. “Import parity pricing is a pricing policy adopted by suppliers of products for sale to domestic customers, and IOC has put Nepal in the same category,” said an NOC official.
On July 15, the ministry had formed a committee under the coordination of the secretary of the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies to evaluate the existing Petroleum Supply Agreement and recommend improvements that could be proposed to remove past difficulties in the next accord with IOC.
The committee includes joint secretaries from the Finance, Law, Foreign Affairs ministries and representatives from NOC.
The current secretary-level committee has been formed following the charge in the High-Level Petroleum Reform Taskforce’s report that NOC and its ministry were not serious about dealing with IOC in terms of pricing, quality and the supply mechanism.
Officials at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies said that other topics will also be discussed minutely before signing a new oil trade deal with IOC. “Similarly, issues like enlisting other fuel suppliers for NOC and an NOC-IOC cross-border oil pipeline are among the major subjects to be discussed,” Dhakal said.
IOC has been supplying fuel to Nepal since 1974 when the two countries signed the Petroleum Supply Agreement to start formal petroleum trade between the two countries. As per the agreement, IOC is the sole exporter of petroleum products to Nepal.
Nepal’s imported petroleum products worth Rs 76 billion in last fiscal year, and NOC expects it to grow to Rs 100 billion in the current fiscal year.
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