PM BEGINS INDIA VISIT LATER THURSDAY

PM BHATTARAI ON FOUR-DAY INDIA VISIT LATER THURSDAY

By Bhola B Rana

Kathmandu, 20 Oct. Prime Minister
Dr Baburam Bhattarai leaves Thursday afternoon on a four-day
India visit described as official by the
governments of the two South Asian states but downgraded to
goodwill status by the government chief’s own UCPN (Maoist)
The cabinet approved Wednesday agreements on Bilateral Investment
Protection and Avoidance of Double Taxation to be signed during the
visit.
Visit to India will be the premier’s second foreign tour; he visited to address the annual UN general session in September,
Parties in and out of government forced the resignations of Defence
Minister Sharat Singh Bhandari of MJFL and Maoist Land Reforms
Minister Prabhu Sah before on the eve of the visit.
Bhandari was accused of treason for threatening the cessation of 22 terai districts along the Indo-Nepal border while the Maoist minister was implicated in a murder case.
The dismissal was recommended by Bhandari;s own party and also demanded by Maoists heading the coalition government.
The minister quit government only 35 days after his appointment
And angrily denied the charges against him.
Main opposition NC obstructed four sessions of parliament demanding the resignations of the ministers
Three main parties attempted to be negotiate a breakthrough
Thursday hours before the visit for the second consecutive to
to conclude a stalled peace process.
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PM ARRIVING IN DELHI THURSDAY

New Delhi.: Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai is arriving in India on Thursday on a four-day official visit at the invitation of his counterpart Dr Manmohan Singh. Aknshya Shahawrites in Republica from New Delhi.
The prime minister will be accompanied by a 40-member entourage. Besides, mediapersons and businessmen, among others, from Nepal will also be in Delhi during his visit.

Dr Bhattarai will stay at grand Leela Palace Hotel in Chanakyapuri, Delhi.

Dr Bhattarai will address a gathering of prominent civil society members, some of whom are his close friends, on Thursday. The gathering will be organized by the South Asian Forum for Peoples Initiative.

The gathering will be followed by a close interaction with editors, senior journalists other prominent reporters of the Indian media. He is later scheduled to attend a reception hosted by the Indo-Nepal Friendship Solidarity Committee on the invitation of Chairman of the committee DP Tripathi, who is also the general secretary of the Nationalist Congress Party of India.

On the second day of his visit, Dr Bhattarai will hold bilateral discussions with PM Singh before calling on the President of India Prathibha Devisingh Patil. He will also hold meetings with Vice-president of India Shri M Hamid Ansari. This will be followed by meetings with India´s Home Minister P Chidambaram, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Foreign Minister S M Krishna and Defense Minister A K Anthony.

An interaction with the Indian business community is also scheduled for October 21, which will be jointly hosted by ASSOCHAM (Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India), CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) and FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) in honor of PM Bhattarai.

Dr Bhattarai is scheduled to address a gathering of faculty and students of Jawaharlal Nehru University on October 22 at the invitation of the Vice-Chancellor Prof SK Sopory. Dr Bhattarai is an alumnus of this university.

He completed his PhD degree at the Centre for Study of Regional Development in 1986, where he got his first lessons in communism. His dissertation, The Nature of Underdevelopment and Regional Structure of Nepal - A Marxist Analysis, was published later as a book by a Delhi publisher when the Maoists were underground in Nepal, waging an armed struggle against the state.

On the same day, more meetings will be lined with opposition leaders, some communist leaders, and Sarad Yadav of Janata Dal (United). These meetings are yet to be finalized.

PM Bhattarai on the last day of the visit on October 23 will visit Dehradun in Uttarakhand state of India where he will tour a proposed special economic zone for industrial development. He will return home the same day.
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IRD SLAPS FINES OF Rs 3.45 BILLION

Kathmandu, 20 Oct.: The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) has slapped tax bills of Rs 3.2 billion on firms founded involved in 365 cases of fake VAT bills racketeering.

Laxman Aryal, joint-secretary at the IRD told Republica, said the firms have been slapped with VAT of Rs 1.91 billion, income tax of Rs 1.5 billion and excise duty of Rs 23.8 million.

IRD has been looking into 518 cases of revenue evasion, which is expected to be in tune of Rs 10 billion, by using fake VAT bills.

“Out of the total of Rs 3.45 billion slapped on tax evaders so far, around half a dozen firms have paid tax worth Rs 61.9 million,” Aryal said.

Meanwhile, firms associated with 65 cases of tax evasion have applied for administrative review at IRD.

As per the existing provision, firms that are not satisfied with the tax amount slapped on them can ask for administrative review within 60 days of the determination of fine. Director general of IRD must complete review within 60 days of the registration of application for review.

“We have also collected Rs 666.8 million from the firms seeking administrative review as deposits,” added Aryal.

If the firms are not satisfied with tax slapped by the department even after the administrative review, they can appeal against the decision at the Revenue Tribunal within 60 days

The department has been looking into fake VAT bill racket through its head office and three area offices in Kathmandu as well as offices in Bhadrapur, Biratnagar, Dharan, Birgunj, Hetauda, Bharatpur, Bhairahawa, Lalitpur, Nepalgunj, Bhaktapur, Krishnanagar, Butwal, Pokhara, Simra, Janakpur, Lahan, Dhangadhi, Mahendranagar and Dang.

According to IRD, Large Taxpayers Office (LTO), Lalitpur has still to settle 105 of the 153 cases assigned to it.

Similarly, IRD´s Area Office No.1 is still to settle 11 cases.
“We are preparing to complete investigation into the racket by mid-Nov if things go as planned,” said Aryal.
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PRACHANDA SAYS HIS PARTY CCOMMITTED TO FOUR-POINT DEAL





Kathmandu, 20 Oct.: 19, UCPN-Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ on Wednesday said that his party was fully committed to the four-point agreement made with the Madheshi Front for the formation of the government and emphasised that no changes would be made in the pact, The Rising Nepal reports from Kaski.
Speaking at a press meet organised by the Revolutionary Journalist Association in Kaski, he said that the discussions could be held within party regarding the agreement but that evaluation to change the pact would not occur at any cost.
He told that the party was fully committed to the pact and expressed his belief that his party’s central committee would approve it officially.
Commenting on the statement made by Defence Minister Sarat Singh Bhandari, Dahal said that it had somehow offended the national sentiment but was not an anti-nationalist statement.
"We asked minister Prabhu Shah to tender his resignation so as to focus ourselves on concluding the task of peace process and constitution writing," he said, adding that the issues related to the defense minister Bhandari would also be settled soon.
Dahal also made it clear that no controversial political agendas would be discussed during the prime minister’s visit to India. "Bilateral agreements on trade, economic prosperity and transportation would be done by according high priority to the spirit of the national independence during the visit," he said.
He expressed his belief that consensus on reclassification of Maoists combatants would be made by Wednesday evening or early Thursday morning prior to the prime minister’s visit to India. "A consensus is likely to be made on the issues of integration and rehabilitation of the combatants before PM’s visit," he said.
Chairman Dahal also informed journalists that there were no major issues hindering constitution writing and that the political forces had very few differences of opinion on most of the issues.
Dahal who had arrived at Pokhara on Tuesday to inaugurate the district level sports jamboree held meetings with various district level leaders and party cadres.

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NO ANTI-NATIONAL DEAL IN INDIA





Kathmandu, 20 Oct :Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai Wednesday said that he would not sign any agreement that went against national interests and consensus during his visit to India, The Rising Nepal reports.
"I will not do anything against national interests and consensus during my India trip," Prime Minister Dr. Bhattarai said, speaking at the Legislature-Parliament this afternoon.
He is embarking on India visit from tomorrow [Thursday].
PM Dr. Bhattarai said that he had carried out necessary preparations for the visit, which he said, would primarily be a goodwill one.
"This will be a goodwill visit aimed at easing and normalizing the bilateral ties," he said.
He said that he consulted with the major and minor political parties in group or separately to solicit their views about the visit.
He said that he was highly optimistic that the visit would turn fruitful adding that all parties would cooperate with him in this regard.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs

Narayankji Shrestha said that controversial treaties would not be signed during the PM’s India visit.
Speaking at the parliamentary Committee on International Relations and Human Rights, DPM Shrestha said that it would be merely a goodwill visit.
He said that the visit would focus on curbing cross-border crimes, inundation problem caused by Laxmanpur Dam and
Bhutanese refugees issue.
Shrestha informed that the PM would hold talks with the concerned sides on reducing the country’s huge trade deficit with India, removing double tax system and promotion of export from Nepal to India.
He said that treaty on soft loan could be signed and the Nepalese side would urge India to increase the loan for infrastructure development here.
The committee’s members stressed on taking stance on the issues of national interests and not to agree on allowing marshal and extradition treaty
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