SUSPICIOUS OBJECT FOUND ONBOARD SPICE JET FLIGHT TAKING OFF FOR NEW DELHI BREAKING STORY

SEARCH OF SPICE JET AIRCRAFT AFTER SUSPICIOUS OBJECT FOUND ONBOARD BREAKING NEWS
Kathmandu, 25 Sept.: A suspicious object was found Sunday onboard Indian private carrier Space Jet flight taking off for New Delhi.
Army has encircled the aircraft and is searching it.
All flights in and out of Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) have been cancelled.
Nnnn

MORE ON BUDDHA AIR CRASH
Kathmandu, 25 Sept. A Buddha Air US-built Beachcraft caught fire when it crashed against a hill, an eyewitness said.
The aircraft was flying low, he said
Rescues said angrily police didn’t help in efforts to help a lone survivor who died later en route to hospital.
nnnn

GLIMMER OF HOPE FOR PASHUPATI
Kathmandu, 25 Sept.: After remaining in a state of neglect for years, a dilapidated Pashupati Temple can finally hope to get renovated. According to the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT), a technical report on the condition of the temple and renovation plan will be prepared in a week, The Himalayan Times reports.

The PADT had planned to renovate the temple two years ago, but the plans have been gathering dust due to fund crunch and a conflict of interest among the shrine’s caretakers, storekeepers and priests.

“Once the report comes out, the process for temple renovation will begin,” Narottam Vaidya, treasurer at the PADT, said, stressing the need to preserve the historic temple without delay.

The last time the temple underwent major renovation was about 200 years ago, according to the PADT.

In the absence of timely maintenance, the shrine’s silver-mounted doors, pillars and arches are in a sorry state. With water seeping in, woodcraft has suffered extensive damage,” said Vaidya. “On top of it, mice have been wreaking havoc.”

With caretakers, storekeepers and priests misusing the funds coming from devotees, the temple does not have enough funds to carry out repair work, Vaidya noted. Millions of rupees is needed for the renovation, which has remained on hold due to successive governments’ apathy, according to the PADT treasurer. Commenting on the ‘misuse of funds’, officials at the Ministry of Federal Affairs, Constituent Assembly, Parliamentary Affairs and Culture said the ministry cannot interfere in PADT’s activities as it is an autonomous body.

“The ministry will continue to play the role of a patron,” said Rishi Kesh Niraula, under-secretary at the ministry, adding that it is up to the Cabinet to decide on renovation fund.

“The ministry has recently suggested the Cabinet on renovation. The Cabinet is yet to respond,” Niraula informed.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the pagoda-style temple is believed to be more than 2,000 years old.
Nnnn


US SUPPORTS MAOIST GOVT.

Kathmandu, 25 Sept.: The United States on Saturday said it is supportive of the efforts made by Nepal’s Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai on the drafting of a new constitution and expressed willingness to remove the terrorist tag from the Maoist party if it renounces violence, Suresh Nath Neupane writes in The Kathmandu Post from New York..
Speaking to journalists at a press meeting in New York on Friday, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert O Blake said the US welcomes the urgency shown by the new prime minister in completing the peace process.
“We wish him well in the important task that he has already set up himself for his government in move to peace process to draft a new constitution,” said Blake, add-ing, “And, I think he himself is very eager to make progress on this and he has set up himself pretty ambitious timet-ables which, again I think is very appropriate and welcome and we support them.”
When asked if the US would consider removing the terrorist tag from the Maoist party, Blake said that US would be happy to take them off the list, given that the Maoist Young Communist League abandons violence. He said: “We have set out a number of criteria that we hope the Maoists will meet that will enable us to look at this and ultimately, perhaps remove them from this list. This includes things like stopping the violent activities of the Young Communist League, renouncing terrorism, and some other steps.”
He said that the US supported the government and that Washington was continuing its engagement with the Maoist party.
“We are continuing those conversations and again, we would like to see progress on all of these things, because we would be happy to remove but it’s important for the Maoists themselves to make progress on these criteria,” Blake said.
nnnn