MAOIST CHAIRMAN PRACHANDA GETS INDIAN INVITE

PRACHANDA GETS AN INDIAN INVITE
Kathmandu, 22 Feb.: Maoist Chairman Prachanda, UML senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal and NC leader Bimalendra Nidhi have been invited to India, Janaastha reports
The invitation is special after the political meetings of former King Gyanendra in New Delhi
They’ll be in India from 25 to 27 February.
They’re going to India on pretext of attending a seminar but with the purpose of meetng Indian leaders.
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SEVEN PARTIES ASKED TO CLARIFY
Kathmandu, 22 Feb. Seven political have been asked through a public notice of
the Election Commission n state-owned daily Gorkhapatra Wednesday to explain
in seven days from Wednesday why their registration with the election body shouldn’t be cancelled.
The commission said written requests to the parties asking them to submit their
annual financial statements as specified in law had been ignored.
NCP (MLM Central), Samajbadi Party Nepal, Prajatantrik Shanti Party, Nepal Jagriti Dal, Nepal Prajatantrik Yuba Party, Nepal Janatantra Party, Prajatantrik Shakti
Party and Rashtriya Jana Eekata Party were asked to furnish replies as per commission decision.
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GOLD IMPORT QUOTA INCREASED
Kathmandu, 22 Feb.:Nepal Rashtra Bank (NRB) Tuesday upped the limit for
gold imports by 5 kg—from 15 to 20 kgs amid shortage in the local market.
Traders said demand during the ongoing wedding season for the precious metal is
around 40 kg a day.
Traders had been pushing for a quota increase
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GOVT. SAYS SORRY FOR D-DAY SNUB AMID ATTEMPTS TO RATIONALIZE
Kathmandu, 22 Feb.: The government on Tuesday apologised before the opposition parties for not organising an official function to mark Democracy Day, The Kathmandu, Post reports.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Bijay Kumar Gachhadar, responding to the concerns of opposition parties at the parliament, said the government would continue the tradition of marking the Democracy Day on Falgun 7. He said the day that marks the downfall of autocratic Rana regime would be accorded national honour and celebrated throughout the country as in the past.
“Instead of marking different dates to honour the establishment of democracy in the country, the government recently decided to mark Republic Day that falls on Jestha 15 (May 28) as National Day,” said Gachchhadar. “We have not underestimated the importance of the People's Movement of 2007. There were some mistakes this year. We will continue to celebrate this day as the national festival in days to come.”
He told the House that the Madhav Kumar Nepal-led government in January 2010 had proposed making May 28 National Day instead of celebrating different dates to mark the establishment of democracy. He argued that it would be cost-effective to celebrate one national day in a year rather than marking Falgun 7 as Democracy Day, Baishak 11 as Loktantra Day and Jestha 15 as Republic Day.
“Many parties, including Nepali Congress and CPN-UML, were one on celebrating all the three important days one time as National Day,” said the home minister.
In the beginning of Tuesday's House session, NC and UML lawmakers had censured the government and sought explanations for failing to commemorate Democracy Day.
“Falgun 7 saw the biggest social, cultural and political change of the country so far. Nepal ended the feudal regime and entered into a modern era after the downfall of Ranarchy,” said NC lawmaker Ram Sharan Mahat. UML lawmaker Rabindra Adhikari said the political change of 1951 is the basis of the republican regime achieved by the country in 2008.
Earlier, UML had allowed the parliament to function after the government committed to form a commission to probe the murder of Chhedu Yadav of Siraha. UML lawmakers had boycotted Friday's session demanding probe into the murder arguing that four of its supporters were framed.
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ATTEMPT TO NORMALIZE GAS SUPPLY
Kathmandu, 22 Feb.: The government and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) traders on Tuesday signed an eight-point agreement with a view to ensuring smooth and safe supply of the cooking gas, The Kathmandu Post reports.
The agreement was signed in a meting held among Minister for Commerce and Supplies Lekh Raj Bhatta, representatives of the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC), gas traders, hoteliers and consumers. As per the agreement, NOC will introduce ‘consumer cards’ and distribute them at the earliest to make the distribution system easier and transparent.
NOC’s acting managing director Suresh Kumar Agrawal said the NOC has prepared samples of the consumer cards and has already sent them to the ministry for approval. “We will distribute the cards as soon as they are approved,” he said.
Earlier on Monday, Bhatta had said his ministry was planning to distribute four million consumer cards within a week. However, this will be a Herculean task for the minister as the NOC will have to go through a procedure as provisioned in the Public Procurement Act that may cost Rs 8 million. Bhatta has been told that the distribution process will take six months if carried out as per the Act. Only the Cabinet can take a decision on this matter.
The other points of the agreement include collecting data of LPG cylinders that are consumed by hotels and restaurants. Around 40 percent of the total cylinders are estimated to be bought by hotels, restaurants and other industries. Industries are allegedly hoarding LPG, fearing a prolonged shortage, thus worsening the supply situation in the market.
The agreement also includes safety issues. As per the accord, the NOC must be “serious” about ensuring a safe and reliable LPG business. The move comes after Bhatta, during a market inspection, found that LPG was sold even in pan shops. Gas dealers have claimed that more than 30 percent of the LPG cylinders are at high risk of exploding anytime. About 4 million gas cylinders are currently in circulation in the country, out of which 30 percent (1.2 million cylinders) have passed through a hydrostatic test to check their quality, according to the dealers.
Likewise, the agreement says bottling plants will have to improve the cylinder refilling, weighing and handling processes, while the NOC will have to monitor the bottling plants.
The agreement also says that the NOC should acquire details of the gas delivered by bottling plants to dealers and submit those details to the District Administration Offices concerned, the Department of Commerce and the ministry.
The NOC has also been told to penalise gas plants that fail to ensure smooth LPG supply in the market, and those who don’t provide the required information.
NOC Spokesperson Mukunda Prasad Dhungel said LPG import from India has improved and he expressed hope the gas will be available easily very soon. “At the moment, the LPG import is as per the market demands,” he said. Around 11,522 tonnes of LPG has been loaded from the Indian Oil Corporation as of February 20, according to the NOC.
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NEPAL, BANGLADESH TO SIGN AGREEMENT TO AVOID DOUBLE TAX
Kathmandu, 22 Feb.: Nepal will soon sign the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with Bangladesh, Kuvera Chalise writes in The Himalayan Times.

“We are prepared to go to Dhaka to finalise the draft of the DTAA, but the host country has not yet finalised the dates,” said director general of Inland Revenue Department Tanka Mani Sharma, who will lead the Nepali team to Dhaka.

Though, Kathmandu has tried to finalise the draft and sign the DTAA with Dhaka during the SAARC Finance Ministers’ meet in Dhaka on January 30, the process to finalise the draft has delayed the signing of the agreement which is expected to help boost bilateral trade and exchange information of tax frauds between the two South Asian countries.

The cabinet has mandated Sharma to lead a team to Dhaka as soon as possible to finalise the DTAA draft. “But the Foreign Ministry has not received any dates from the Bangladeshi Finance Ministry,” he said, adding that after the draft is finalised, the signing ceremony could be held either in Dhaka or Kathmandu anytime soon. The DTAA with Bangladesh that was finalised some two years back was delayed due to a couple of issues like whether to accept the SAARC or the OECD model.

Nepal revised the DTAA with India in November 2011 on the basis of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) model that is thought to be practical and updated.

The OECD model of DTAA has incorporated the provision of exchange of information on banking and tax evasion which will facilitate effective tax collection and control fiscal evasion.

“Similarly, Kathmandu has received a DTAA draft from Bahrain, and has already exchanged a draft with Oman, according to the joint secretary of the Finance Ministry Shanta Raj Subedi.

“Last year, Nepal forwarded DTAA drafts to Canada and Brazil through the Foreign Ministry and is awaiting their response,” he said, adding that the Inland Revenue Department is also considering the benefits of signing DTAA with Japan, USA and Russia after request from Non-Resident Nepalis to enter into agreements with these countries to attract more investment for hydropower and infrastructure projects.

Nepal has already entered into DTAA with 10 countries including India and China. “The DTAAs with various trading partners will also help the country’s efforts to track and unearth black money,” according to finance secretary Krishnahari Baskota. The Detailed Action Plan of the Finance Ministry has vowed to enter into DTAA with all the SAARC countries to encourage intra-regional investment.
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ASON FIRE LEAVES DAMAGE WORTH RS 13M
Kathmandu, 22 Feb.: Property worth over Rs 13 million was gutted after a massive fire engulfed a house belonging jointly to Tulsi Maya Joshi, Upendra Joshi, Arun Joshi and Arabindra Joshi in the Capital city today [Tuesday], The Himalayan Times reports.

According to police, the fire broke out at around 6:45 am from the first floor of the five-storey house at Balkumari Keltole in Ason.

Spokesperson for the Kathmandu Police, DSP Dhiraj Pratap Singh, said the fire was caused by an electric short-circuit in the first floor, where Manjir Chitrakar of Banasthali operated a restaurant.

Property in the house worth Rs 10 million was gutted whereas the restaurant saw damage of other goods worth around Rs 2.5 million. The fire that spread to two other adjoining houses of Chaiteratna Bajracharya and Ramesh Shrestha caused minor damage.

Police said Arabindra suffered minor injury in the head after debris fell upon him while he was trying to fight the fire that engulfed the over 100-year-old traditional mud house studded with woodworks. He was discharged from Bir Hospital later in the day.

Tension ran high in the unplanned downtown, which is dotted with old houses that are built too close to each other, as narrow roads gave difficulty to firefighters to reach the incident site.

Firefighters of Nepal Police, Armed Police Force, Nepali Army and local people backed by four fire engines and 11 private water tankers had to struggle for more than six hours to douse the inferno. Help of private water tankers was sought after the fire engines ran dry within two hours.

Police had evacuated adjacent buildings immediately after the fire was reported.

Officials have long been complaining that they face a hard time to fight fire that rages residential areas of old downtown due to lack of logistics, traffic jam in congested roads, unplanned urban settlement and skyscrapers built breaching building codes.

Fluctuating voltage and potential electric sparks have been blamed for most incidents of fire.
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