SPEAKER OBJECTS TO RELIEF ANNOUNCEMENT OUTSIDE PARLIAMENT

SPEAKER OBJECTS TO ANNOUNCEMENT OF RELIEF PACKAGE OUTSIDE PARLIAMENT
Kathmandu, 10 Sept.: Speaker Subash Nemwang has objected to Friday’s announcement by government of its relief package outside parliament which is in session.
“People should learn of such programmes through parliament when it’s in session. Why wasn’t the relief programme announced in parliament?,” he asked at sub-committee led by Prachanda on a constitution, according to Annapurna Post.
‘Government should have waited until Monday when parliament was due to meet,” he said.
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ONE PERSON INJURED IN LANDMINE EXPLOSION IN VALLEY
Kathmandu, 10 Sept.: Binod Bahadur Tamang was injured in a landmine explosion at Kanidabda Naldu-3 in Lalitpur this week while searching for wild mushroom.
Nepal was declared mine free this week.
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MEDIA GOOGLE

‘The key controversy in UCPN (Maoist) should have been immediately resolved. But with the postponement of its central committee meet, the question now arises whether the 45-day commitment of the prime minister will be met or not.”
(Information Minister Jayaprakash Prasad Gupta, Gorkhapatra, 10 Sept.)
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THIRD TRADE LINK WITH BANGLADESH NOW AN OPTION FOR NEPAL
Kathmandu, 10 Sept. India and Bangladesh signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to upgrade the Rohanpur-Birol rail route between the South Asian states during the just concluded visit of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Dhaka.
Rohanpur is in India and Birol in Bangladesh.
‘Not only will Nepal-Bangladesh trade be strengthened, a sub-regional trade network can also be formed between India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan,” said Minister Economic, Nepal embassy India, Kedar Adhikari in The Kathmandu Post.
With the upgrade, a third transit route for land-locked Nepal’s trade with Bangladesh and overseas trade via Bangladesh will be available,
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m STOLEN MALLA-ERA WONDER IDOL LIFTED FROM PATAN DURBAR SQUARE RECOVERED
Kathmandu, 10 Sept,: Art lovers and historians have something to cheer about, for the country has got back one of its lost treasures — a beautiful idol of Laxmi-Narayan dating to the 1640s — which ‘vanished’ during the renovation of the Sundari Chowk, a part of the Patan Durbar, on November 5, 2009, The Himalayan Times reports.
Yesterday, a team of detectives from the Metropolitan Police Crime Division rounded up Prajwal Shakya (19) of Purnachandi, Lalitpur-21, Raj Kumar Tamang (31) of Kaule-4, Nuwakot and Shailesh Tamrakar (22) of Ikhalakhu, Lalitpur-18, from Lalitpur, while the three, confident that police had stopped looking for the lost idol, were holding a meeting to sell it for Rs 15 million.
A Department of Archaeology report has priced the 15-kg idol having the height of 30 cm and length of 29 cm, at Rs 50 million, though the law does not allow trading in items of archaeological importance.
“We had been looking for the three for the past one month based on intelligence that they are in possession of a precious idol and are looking for clients, who can pay a good price,” SSP Hemant Malla Thakuri said.
Senior archaeologist Prakash Darnal described the retrieval of the archaeological piece as a big achievement for the entire nation.
He said King Siddhi Narsingh Malla had got sculptors to carve out the idol in the 1640s. “History has it that King Siddhi Narsingh used to offer prayers to deities in Sudari Chowk that sported the idol of Laxmi-Narayan,” Darnal said.
DSP Raj Kumar Lamsal, part of the team that rounded up the three, said Tamang may have lifted the idol with help from labourers hired for the renovation work and teamed up with Shakya and Tamrakar to sell it.
Police records show that Shakya and Tamrakar were freed two months ago after doing time in the Lalitpur-based Nakkhu Jail on robbery charges. Tamang is also suspected of involvement in criminal activities.
The investigating officials have handed over the trio to Lalitpur police for legal action. The idol will be handed over to the Patan Durbar Square after the completion of legal formalities.
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