DEUBA GROUP FORMALLY DECIDES TO BOYCOTT NC CENTRAAL COMMITTEE MEET

DEUBA GROUP FORMALLY DECIDES TO BOYCOTT NC CENTRAL COMMITTEE MEET UPDATE

Kathmandu, 23 Nov.: A meeting of central committee members of NC close to Sher Bahadur Deuba Wednesday decided to boycott a party central committee later in the day, Pushpa Bhusal said.
The Deuba group charged the establishment wasn’t serious on settling issues raised by dissidents.
The faction charged President Sushil Koirala wasn’t serious when he declined Tuesday to meet dissidents to discuss Deuba demands.
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MAOIST CENTRAL COMMITTEE MEET WEDNESDAY

Kathmandu, 23 Nov.: Repeatedly postponed meetings of the Maoist central committee meets Wednesday to discuss a seven-point agreement between UCPN (Maoist) leading the government and six Madeshbadi parties in the coalition.
The meeting comes amid deep differences in the UCPN (Maoist).
Central committees of NC and UML are also being conducted do discuss other and related issues.
UML standing committee Tuesday demanded the resignation of the nearly three-old government of Baburam Bhattarai saying government had lost its utility.
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PAC ASKS GOVERMENT TO CLOSE DOWN CASINOS THAT HAVEN’T SETTLED DUES

Kathmandu, 23 Nov.: Parliament’s public account committee Tuesday again directed government to close down casinos that haven’t cleared dues with government in the next 15 days.
Casino Shangri-Anna, Casino Nepal, Casino Royale, Casino Fulbari, Casino Everest, Casino Tara, CasinoVenus, Casino Radd and Casino Pokhara Grand haven’t settled dues amounting to Rs.90 million.
The directive was issued to the council of ministries and the finance, tourism and home ministries.
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NEPALI TEAM FOR ACC TWENTY20 CUP ANNOUNCED

Kathmandu, 23 Nov.: The U-19 wicketkeeper Subash Khakurel has been preferred ahead of senior pro Mahesh Chhetry in the 14-member Nepali squad for the ACC Twenty20 Cup announced by the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) on Tuesday. Paras Khadka was named the skipper while Gyanendra Malla will be his deputy for the December 3-11 tournament. Other members in the squad are Mehboob Alam, Binod Das, Prithu Baskota, Sharad Vesawkar, Basanta Regmi, Pradeep Airee, Anil Mandal, Binod Bhandari, Amrit Bhattarai, Rahul BK and Sanjam Regmi, The Himalayan Times reports.

Mahesh, Shakti Gauchan, Krishna Karki and Naresh Budhayer have been named as reserves. The 23-member squad has been undergoing closed camp training under the former Sri Lankan and Canadian International Pubudu Dassanayake.
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SECRETARY-LEVEL INDO-NEPAL TALKS BEING HELD
Nepal and India are all set to resume the secretary-level bilateral talks on water resources after a two-year gap, Mahesh Acharya reports in The Kathmandu Post from New Delhi .
The two-day meeting of the Joint Committee on Water Resources (JCWR), beginning Thursday, will discuss an entire gamut of issues related to water resources. A Nepali delegation led by Energy Secretary Balananda Poudel is scheduled to arrive here on Wednesday.
“All the issues which have been under discussion between the two countries for years—ranging from Pancheshwor to Koshi projects—will continue to feature in the talks,” said ASP Sinha, Senior Joint Commissioner at the Indian Ministry of Water Resources.
Among the issues to be discussed during the meeting are construction of embankments, establishing Pancheswor Development Authority as envisioned by the Mahakali Treaty, issue related to the Tanakpur and Sarada barrages, construction of the Tanakpur-Mahendranagar link road and release of irrigation water for the Chandani Dodhara area, among others. Previous JCWR meetings had seen discussions on issues related to Tanakpur, Sarada, Mahalisagar, Laxmanpur barrage, Kalkalawa and Rasiawal KhurdaLotun bund, Gandak Project, Koshi afflux bund breach, progress review of Naumure multipurpose project and Power Trading Arrangement, among others.
Some days ago, Indian Minister for Water Resources Pawan Kumar Bansal had said the talks will focus on shared water programmes. “Such programmes include discussions on the progress of 6,000-MW multi-purpose Pancheshwor hydropower project on the Mahakali River near the border,” said Bansal.
The meeting is also expected to set dates for ministerial level talks on water resources.
This meeting is the first of its kind to be held after the countries agreed on swift deliberations while revitalising existing bilateral mechanisms during Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai’s recent India visit.
During former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s visit to India in 2008, both the countries had decided to establish a three-tier bilateral mechanism at the ministerial (JMCWR), secretary (JCWR) and technical (JSTC) levels to oversee cooperation in water related issues.
Although deliberations at secretary (JCWR) and technical (Joint Standing Technical Committee (JSTC)) levels have made headway, the Joint Ministerial Level Commission on Water Resources (JMCWR) is yet not meet. The last JCWR meeting was held in Pokhara in 2009.
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