UPDATE NEPAL BATTING FIRST IN ACC TWENTY20 CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER WINNING TOSS

UPDATE NEPAL BATTING FIRST IN ACC TWENTY20 CHAMPIONSHIP ; MATCH REDCTED TO 16 OVERS EACH
Kathmandu, 9 Dec.: Nepal won the toss and elected bat in the ACC Twenty20 Championship.
The start has been delayed because of bad weather; it was scheduled to start at 9.15 in the morning Friday.
The match has been limited to 16 overs each.
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SUSPECT OF NAC STAFFER KILLER ARRESTED
Kathmandu, 9 Dec.: Raju Ghimere, 26, was arrested from Ramechap Thursday.
He’s suspected of murdering Nepal Airlines Corporation employee Govinda Dhungana in the capital this week, police said.
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TWO BOMBS DEFISED IN KANCHANPUR
Kathmandu, 9 Dec.: Two bombs were defused by a bomb disposal unit of Nepal Army at Lalpur—2, Suda VDC, Kanchanur. Thursday.
The bombs were planted near a house of a civilian by an unspecified group.
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SUSPECTD BANK ROBBER ARRESTED
Kathmandu, 9 Dec.: A man suspected of robbing Rs.20 million from the Kamaladi branch of Bank of Kathmandu four years ago was arrested in the capital Thursday.
Raju Thapa Magar, 49, was arrested with Rs.20,000 in cash and q driving license.
Several persons wanted in the robbery case are still absconding.
Most of the stolen money has been recovered already.
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POLLUTION TAX TOBE DIVERTED TO REHABILITATN PACKAGE
Kathmandu, 9 Dec.: While the air quality in the Kathmandu Valley is deteriorating at an alarming rate, around Rs 690 million collected for the environmental protection in the capital city is likely to be spent for the rehabilitation package of the discharged UCPN (Maoist) combatants, Pragati Shahi reports in The Kathmandu Post.
A senior government official at the Ministry of Environment (MoE) said the money collected as pollution tax since 2007 is likely to be utilised for the package.
“We have not been able to utilise the money collected as pollution tax although it is within the ministry’s purview,” said Jay Ram Adhikary, under secretary at the Environmental Promotion and Fund Mobilisation Centre under MoE.
It is interesting to note that the government had established the Environment Protection Fund (EPF) under the Environment Protection Act 1996 for the protection of environment, control of pollution and protection of national heritage related with environment conservation. Similarly, although Financial Act 2002-2003 decided to collect pollution tax of 50 paisa from a unit of petroleum products sold in the Kathmandu Valley and provide it to EPF, the provision has not been implemented.
Adhikary said since the government’s decision to collect pollution tax in 2007, MoE data shows around Rs 690 million has been collected. However, the government has decided to institute another fund (yet to be named) and deposit the money collected as pollution tax, he said. “At present the money is collected under central revenue account of the
government.”
Lok Darshan Regmi, joint secretary at the Ministry of Finance, said although the rehabilitation package is on top priority of the government, nothing has been decided regarding funds for the package. “We have not decided whether the money will be collected internally or through external sources,” he said.
During a meeting of EPF management committee two months ago, the committee chairman and MoE secretary had raised the concern about implementing EPF by the ministry and utilising the money for environmental programmes but it did not elicit any response. The meeting included representatives from the National Planning Commission, Finance Ministry and Rastrya Bank.
“MoE is helpless as environment is less prioritised sector for the government compared to Finance and Home ministries,” said Adhikary.
Meanwhile, a recent meeting of the Climate Change Council chaired by Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai laid stress on utilising tax amount in pollution control programmes in the Valley.
It is a general trend in the developed countries to levy a pollution tax as per the universal principle of polluter pays, according to environmentalist Bhusan Tuladhar. “The money collected as pollution tax should be used to fund programmes to prevent and control pollution like promoting electric vehicles, establishing monitoring stations and formulating policies, among others; however, it is not happening in our context,” he added.
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SOME CASINOS CLEAR DUES AS PRESSURE MOUNTS
Kathmandu, 9 Dec.: Mounting pressure from the Parliamentay Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has forced ‘disobedient’ casinos to pay royalty dues right before the expiry of the PAC deadline expires, The Kathmandu Post reports.
With the deadline expiring on Thursday, three casinos—Everest, Tara, and Venus—cleared their royalty dues of the current fiscal year, while two others—Grand and Rad—settled half their royalties and taxes that were due.
Likewise, Casino Anna has paid Rs 19 million as of Thursday. However, it still owes a hefty sum of Rs 100 million to the government. Of the 10 casinos operating in Kathmandu and Pokhara, Casino Nepal and Casino Royal in Kathmandu and Casino Fulbari in Pokhara have not paid even a penny.
Casino Shangri-la has, however, already cleared all taxes and royalties, according to the Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI). Eight of the 10 casinos are in Kathmandu.
Following a PAC directive to close down defaulting casinos within 15 days on November 22, the DRI has recovered Rs 91.2 million from seven casinos. .
Although the PAC deadline expired on Thursday, the DRI said it is confused on whether to honour the PAC directives as the Finance Bill allows them to collect the dues until next week.
“We are confused whether to wait for seven more days or recommend the government to shut down the gambling houses as per the PAC directives,” said Shanta Bahadur Shrestha, the director general of the DRI.
The Finance Bill 2011-12 says that five months’ time could be extended (two months with 15 percent annual fee) and (three months with an additional 15 percent penalty) for any firm reluctant to clear their dues in the end of the fiscal year.
If they do not clear the dues even within the three months after the expiry of the first two-month deadline, government agencies can recover the dues from any other assets of the operator and even cancel their operating licence.
“We will discuss the issue with the Finance Ministry on Friday and look for possible alternatives to settle the matter legally,” Shrestha said.
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