BUST OF KING TRIBHUVAN TO BE REMOVED FROM SAHID GATE,

BUST OF KING TRIBHUVAN TO BE REMOVED FROM SAHID GATE
Kathmandu, 3 Jan.: The cabinet Monday decided to remove a bust of King Tribhuvan atop the marble arch shaped Shahid Gate to Narayanhiti Museum.

Busts of four martyrs Dharma Bhakta Mathema, Ganga Lal Shrestha, Dasharath Chand and Sukra Raj Shastri, killed during the anti-Rana 2007 revolution re also t the memorial.
A plaque of the Father of the Nation placed at the bottom of the memorial
gate was stolen several years ago.
The government move was announced by Spokesman and Deputy Prime
Minister Narayan Kazi Shrestha, who is also foreign minister.
The country has adopted a republican agenda..
Nnnn
MAOIST CENTRAL COMMILTTEE MEETS TUESDAY

Kathmandu, 3 Jan.: An extended meeting of the Maoist central committee
meets Tuesday to discuss rival political proposals of Chairman Prachanda and First Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya for adoption.
The top leaders were scheduled to address points raised y speakers at Monday’s meet which was adjourned until Tuesday because of the busy schedule to leaders
Two dozen central members spoke at Monday’s meet.
Prachanda has proposed a proposal to unite the divided party and complete the peae process and constitution writing.
Opposing the proposal, Baidya has proposed street and parliamentary processes to ush the people’s revolution.
Nnnn

YOUTH INJURED IN SARLAHI BOMB BLAST

Kathmandu, 3 Jan: : A boy was injured Monday in a bomb blast at Barahathwa, Sarlahi.
Sanjeev Raya of Hempur-1.was injured in a stampede
nnnnnt.

FACTORY BOMBED IN DANG
Kathmandu, 3 Jan.: A bomb blast at Aashirbad Food Production Pvt Ltd in Tulsipur, Dang, Sunday night, caused minor damage

Pamphlets of Janatantrik Tarai Madhes Mukti Morcha were recovered from the site.
nnnn
20 MICRON PLASTIC BAGS BANNED
Kathmandu, 3 Jan.: The Government of Nepal has decided to put a ban on the production and use of polythene bags weighing below 20 micron, RSS reports.

The Government has developed a guideline in this regard and would soon publish it in the gazette to bring it into affect from second week of this month.

Speaking at the regular press meet organised at the Ministry of Communications today, spokesperson at the Ministry of Environment, Meena Khanal said anyone violating the ban would be fined up to 50 thousand rupees.

Accordingly, the polythene bags would have to include information about their weight and would have to be of different colours for different purpose, including white colour for carrying food products and green ones non-food products, and black for carrying solid waste.

On the occasion, Spokesperson Khanal also said that 75 metric tons of date-expired pesticides were sent to Germany for destruction.
nnnn

ELECTRONIC CHEQUE CLEARNCE UNDER DISCUSSION
Kathmandu, 3 Jan.: The government anti graft body, deputy governors of the central bank and Nepal Clearing House Ltd (NCHL) officials today held discussion on the alleged ‘corruption’ in the software purchasing for the electronic cheque clearing system, The Himalayan Times reports.

After a complaint that the company paid triple the price for the software, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) on Thursday has halted the operation of NCHL that has just started its operation from a day ago.

“The CIAA is positive towards the clearing house,” said Nilesh Pradhan, chief executive of the NCHL that has central bank, Nepal Bankers Association (NBA) and SCT as its share holders.

The Electric Cheque Clearance (ECC) was supposed to start from December 29 after repeated postponements but the anti graft body directed it to halt the service the next day.

The system that will be in operation in the Kathmandu Valley only in the beginning is expected to take couple of months to expand the service across the country.

The NCHL has postponed its operation twice due to dispute among the banks and financial institutions regarding the high cost of operations and alleged corruption in software purchase.

The banks and financial institutions themselves are also not comfortable with the transaction cost too as they claim the recurring cost could become burden for the financial system in the long run.

According to the current structure, it will cost Rs 10 per cheque above Rs 5,000 and Rs 5 for a cheque up to Rs 5,000 transaction cost, except the costs that banks and financial institutions have to bear to get membership of the clearing house, buy software, network connectivity, login fee and annual renewal fee, which they are claiming to be high.

The finance companies and development banks associations are yet to finalise their mode of participation as according to them they have to bear 64 per cent of the cost and the commercial banks will bear only 36 per cent of the total cost, whereas 70 per cent of the total cheques that come for clearance everyday belongs to the commercial banks and only 30 per cent belongs to development banks and finance companies.

The central bank has also been blamed for discouraging the government policy of transacting through cheque of over Rs 50,000 by making it expensive for the customers, though the central bank has cautiously said that it will not let the banks and financial institutions pass on the cost to customers.

nnnn
UTL SERVICE TO BE STOPPED
Kathmandu, 3 Jan.: Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) — the regulator of telecom service providers — today asked Ministry of Information and Communications to stop service of United Telecom Ltd (UTL), Shiromani Dhungana writes in The Himalayan Times ;.

The regulator has written a letter to the ministry also seeking the help of Home Ministry for ‘service stopage’ of the telecom service provider that has failed to clear its outstanding royalty dues.

However, the regulator had earlier said that it will scrap licence according to its March 24, 2011 decision. “The March 24 decision is the final decision,” the board meeting of the authority decided today.

On March 24, the NTA had directed UTL to clear its dues of around Rs 896 million with a warning that the company’s operating licence would be scrapped, if it failed to clear dues within 35 days. “But its royalty dues has reached Rs 952.16 million by now,” according to the regulator.

After the regulator’s directive, the UTL had moved to Appellate Committee under the Ministry of Information and Communications protesting regulator’s decision.

“In September the Appellate Committee gave its final verdict in favour of the regulator, which has also informed the ministry asking for its help to collect outstanding royalty dues in December,” board member of Nepal Telecommunications Authority Girindra Raj Adhikari said, adding that the authority will not roll back from its decision this time.

“It is necessary to close all the services of UTL including basic telecom services, STD, ISD and lease line according to the authority’s March 24 decision,” Adhikari said. “So, the authority today requested the ministry to direct Home Ministry for ‘service stopage’ of all the services of UTL.”

The board has also planned to adjust the service holders after the ‘service stopage’. “UTL has some 588,307 subscribers until mid-November,” he said, adding, “Of the total, only 70,000 consumers will face problems, if the service is stopped.”

Pre-paid phone users will be shifted to another service provider and only post-paid and lease service users will be affected, Adhikari added. “The authority is preparing a detail plan to adjust the service subscribers and state’s role after UTL’s service closure.”

The authority today also decided to ask Ministry of Information and Communication to ask tax administration under Finance Ministry to collect royalty dues, he informed.
nnnn

GOVT. TO USE OWN FKND FOR RETIREMENT
Kathmandu, 3 Jan 3: Finance Minister Barshaman Pun said on Monday that the voluntary retirement scheme of the Maoist combatants that requires around two billion rupees in the first phase could be funded using government resources,
Republica reports.

Talking to Republica, Pun, who is also a member of the Special Committee for Supervision, Integration and Rehabilitation, said that the government will manage the required fund from the current budget. "We will arrange the needed budget from the available resources," said Pun.

As per the agreement reached on November 1, the Maoist combatants who have opted for voluntary retirement will receive fifty percent of the promised Rs 0.5 million to 0.9 million rupees in the first phase depending on their rank.

When asked whether the government has asked the Nepal Army to start making arrangements for integration, Pun said that the prime minister might have talked to the army informally. But the prime minister´s personal secretary Biswadeep Pandey said he has no knowledge of the prime minister talking to the Army in that regard.

A government source said the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers is yet to write to the Defense Ministry to ask the Army to make the necessary arrangements for integration.

A meeting of the Special Committee on Sunday directed the government to ask the army to make preparations for the integration.

In the meantime, the secretariat under the Special Committee began administrative arrangements required to start the process of voluntary retirement within a week, according to a member.
nnnn



________________________________________

SPEAKER DRAWN PM's ATTENTION TO DELAYIN FIINALIZING TRC
Kathmandu, 3 Jan.: Speaker Subas Nembang has drawn the attention of the government to the delay in finalizing the bills on Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Disappearance Commission and urged the latter to take initiatives to get them enacted from parliament, Republica reports.

Talking to Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai on the sidelines of the meeting of the subcommittee of Constitutional Committee on Monday, Nembang urged the government to expedite the process for passing the bills.

"I inquired with him what is happening to the bills," said Nembang.

Currently, an all-party taskforce of the parliament´s bill committee has prepared a report on the bill proposing to give general amnesty to those involved in all crimes, except rape, during the conflict. Human rights activists have accused political parties of reaching a tacit understanding to give general amnesty to perpetrators of human rights violations during the conflict.

Meanwhile, human rights activists on Monday held a protest against the political parties´ understanding to have a provision giving general amnesty in the bill relating to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

As they held the protest in the prohibited area in front of the south gate of the Constituent Assembly building, police rounded up 43 human rights activists and held them for nearly three hours.

"We staged the protest to draw the attention of the parties that the general amnesty is not acceptable," said human rights activist and lawyer Govinda Bandi, who was one of the arrested.

According to Bandi, human rights activists have formed Civic Alliance Against General Amnesty and submitted separate memorandums to UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala and CPN-UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal protesting the general amnesty on Sunday.

"The agreement to give general amnesty violates the obligation to international human rights instruments to which Nepal is a party," said Bandi about the justification of the protests.
nnnn



________________________________________

20 MICRON PLASTIC BAGS BANNED
Kathmandu, 3 Jan.: The Government of Nepal has decided to put a ban on the production and use of polythene bags weighing below 20 micron, RSS reports.

The Government has developed a guideline in this regard and would soon publish it in the gazette to bring it into affect from second week of this month.

Speaking at the regular press meet organised at the Ministry of Communications today, spokesperson at the Ministry of Environment, Meena Khanal said anyone violating the ban would be fined up to 50 thousand rupees.

Accordingly, the polythene bags would have to include information about their weight and would have to be of different colours for different purpose, including white colour for carrying food products and green ones non-food products, and black for carrying solid waste.

On the occasion, Spokesperson Khanal also said that 75 metric tons of date-expired pesticides were sent to Germany for destruction.
nnnn