FIRE DESTROYS FOUR HOUSES IN BHAKTAPUR CAUSING DAMAGE ESTIMATED AT RS.4.5 MILLION

FIRE DESTROYS FOUR HOUSES IN BHAKTAPUR CAUSING S.4.5 MILLION DAMAGE
Kathmandu, 15 March: Four houses were destroyed overnight in a fire at Bhaktapur overnight causing damage estimated at Rs.4.2 million
RSS adds from the town: This is the season when incidents of fires are frequent and one expects all fire fighting means are in place just in case. But such is the situation in Bhaktapur that most of the fire engines at the municipality here are dysfunctional.

The Bhaktapur fire brigades have to cater to emergencies not only in Bhaktapur but also different places in the neighbouring districts of Kavre, Sindhupalchok and even up to Dolakha.

Most of the fire engines in the district are out of order and only one is functioning. It is said out of the five fire-engines with the Bhaktapur Municipality, only one is working.

Although the municipality has brought new fire-engines at different times, they are dysfunctional due to the lack of repair and maintenance.

When asked as to why the Bhaktapur fire brigade was so ill-equipped, fireman commander Purushottam Khadka pointed out the lack of budget to repair the damaged fire-engines and lack of adequate fire fighters.

He said out of the total 32 posts of firemen with the Bhaktapur fire brigade there were only 11.
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NEW OPENINGS IN NEPAL POLICE
Kathmandu, 15 March: Government has created more posts in Nepal Police deciding to appoint 10 additional SSPs increasing their total to 74.
They’ll deployed nationwide..
Kathmandu will now have two SSPs

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VAT SCAM PROBE NEAR COMPLETE
Kathmandu, 15 March: Inland Revenue Department (IRD) has almost completed investigations of all the 518 firms who were involved in using fake Value Added Tax (VAT) invoices, The Himalayan Times reports.

The department has completed investigations of 512 firms out of the total of 518 who were involved in the scam, said director general at the department Tanka Mani Sharma.

“The investigation of 512 firms has been completed with an assessment of Rs 6.2 billion as taxes and fines,” added Sharma, saying the department slapped a fine of Rs 2.98 billion for VAT, Rs 2.87 billion for income tax and Rs 170 million for excise frauds on firms involved in producing fake VAT bills.

Of the remaining six firms, one has already been shut down and a public enterprise has yet to submit its income detail, according to him.

“The government has issued an arrest warrant for the owner of a company.” Similarly, the department is searching for the proprietors of a company which was being operated as a joint venture company.

“Of the six cases still remaining, the Department of Revenue Investigation is still carrying out investigations of one firm involved in producing fake VAT bills.” The department slapped the actual defrauded amount of VAT and income tax along with fines of up to 100 per cent, according to IRD.

Of the 512 firms already investigated, 130 firms have approached the Administrative Review Committee led by the director general of the department for a review of their tax assessment, according to Sharma. “The committee has already finalised the review plea of 76 firms and the hearing for the rest will finish soon.”

The firms can move the Revenue Tribunal and even the courts if they are not satisfied with the tax assessment, he informed. “The government has collected Rs 1 billion out of Rs 6.2 billion so far,” he added.

Inland Revenue Department started investigations into the fake VAT bill scam from November 2010, after it discovered widespread use of fake VAT receipts. From the beginning of January it started investigations of an additional 1,700 firms suspected of revenue evasion through fake VAT bills.

A majority of traders and firms in the country are taking consumers for a ride to evade VAT by not issuing invoices

to customers, according to the department.
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MINISTER MISTREATS FEMALE SECRETARY
Kathmandu, 15 March: Tension ran high in the country's main administrative hub, Singha Durbar, on the second consecutive day on Wednesday with civil servants protesting "nepotism and favouritism" in reshuffling hundreds of civil servants in various government agencies and ministries, Anil Giri, Ashok Thapa write in The Kathmandu Post..
On Wednesday, Irrigation Minister Mahendra Yadav and his aides 'verbally abused' Secretary Brinda Hada, who, along with other officials at the Ministry of Irrigation (MoI), were protesting the mass transfers. Some officials at the ministry claimed Yadav manhandled Hada inside her chamber on Tuesday, as civil servants under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) protested and police personnel fanned out across the MoHA premises.
The civil servents are claiming that ministers "manipulated" the transfer decision in direct breach of set standards and criteria. They have accused ministers of transferring those loyal to them to lucrative posts.
A senior official at the ministry Prakash Poudel said the civil servants will continue their protests until the decisions are "corrected." He said Yadav and one of his personal aides hurled abuses and expletives at Hada on Tuesday night. "We will continue our protest until and unless the minister apologies."
Poudel said Yadav even asked Hada, the only female secretary currently serving at the higher level of bureaucracy, to resign and leave immediately.
Yadav, Hada, state minister Ramani Ram and two of the ministers' aides were supposed to settle the transfer row by Tuesday midnight.
However, things took a nasty turn after Hada refused to buckle under the minister's pressure to transfer some individuals to some attractive irrigation projects, ministry sources said. "The minister then started abusing her," they said.
On Wednesday, the agitating employees met Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai and demanded action against Yadav and his aides. Bhattarai assured the delegation that he would look into the matter and act accordingly.
"This kind of discrimination and ill-treatment was undergoing since long. I do no want to recall the incident as it was very disgraceful and humiliating for me," Hada said. Minister Yadav could not be reached for comment despite several attempts.
Senior officials and non-gazetted officers at the MoI were busy charting out a protest plan against Yadav till late in the evening.
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FURTHER DETAILS OF BIZARRE HAPENINGS IN GOVT.
Kathmandu, 15 March: Enraged at what they called ‘unfair transfers’, employees affiliated to major political parties today vandalised the Financial Comptroller General Office in Anamnagar, The Himalayan Times reports.

Accusing FCGO Secretary Pratap Kumar Pathak and other senior officials of favouritism, the disgruntled employees today barged into Pathak’s office chamber to vent their ire at him. They alleged that Pathak and other officials had shown favouritism while taking the transfer decision and had posted ‘employees close to them’ at lucrative destinations.

Riot police had to be mobilised after irate demonstrators vandalised four windowpanes of the office. Work at FCGO was halted. No arrests were made though. Nonetheless, Pathak, Joint-Secretary Suresh Pradhan, Under-Secretary Ishwor Giri and Deputy Comptroller General Ramesh Siwakoti did not turn up at the office fearing physical attacks from the demonstrators.

A source claimed that today’s protest was led by some employees affiliated to the Mohan Baidhya faction of the Unified CPN-Maoist. FCGO on Sunday and Monday had decided to transfer more than 1,000 employees but had informed the transferred employees by handing over letters to each, instead of pasting notice on the board.

Joint secy padlocks office

KATHMANDU: Joint Secretary at the Parliament, Sudarshan Khadka, on Wednesday padlocked the office of Women Constituent Assembly members’ caucus at the CA Secretariat in Singha Durbar to protest his transfer from the caucus office to CA’s Committee for Determining the Base of Cultural and Social Solidarity. Khadka not only padlocked the office but also replaced the caucus signboard with CDBCSS signboard and removed the nameplate of caucus Coordinator Kalpana Rana. After he barred lawmakers from using the caucus meeting hall on Wednesday morning, they had approached CA Chairman Subas Nembang and CA General Secretary Manohar Prasad Bhattarai and then the padlock was removed.

DoHS DG pacifies staff

KATHMANDU: The Director General of the Department of Health Services, Dr Yasho Bardhan Pradhan, on Wednesday said he would do the needful to address ‘genuine issues’ raised by employees affiliated to trade unions, who are protesting the transfer of more than 700 employees. DoHS on Tuesday published the notice of transfer of more than 700 fourth to seventh level officials, only to prompt employees’ unions to stage protests. The agitating employees said the decision to transfer employees had flouted Nepal Health Service Act and Civil Service Act. Dr Pradhan said DoHS was ready to amend the decision if it was against the past agreements that the employees’ unions had signed with the Ministry of Health. He admitted that some of the employees from unions — single women and differently-able were transferred — due to lack of data.
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BHARAT PETROLEUM OFFERS TO SELL PETROLEUM
Kathmandu, 15 March: Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) has offered to supply petroleum products to Nepal with the government beginning preparations to sign a new oil supply agreement with India, Sangam Prasain/ Ashok Thapa write in The Kathmandu Post.
A top level BPCL team met with officials of the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS) and Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) on Tuesday asking the government to let it supply petroleum products. According to Minister of Commerce Lekh Raj Bhatta, BPCL has been asked to present a detailed proposal within a week.
“We have asked them to send us a proposal mentioning the type and quantity of petroleum products, the mechanisms to be developed while importing products from them and the benefits Nepal can get by buying from BPCL,” said Bhatta.
He added that if BPCL’s proposal looked favourable, the government would ask the Indian government to pave the way for BPCL to supply fuel to Nepal.
This is not the first time that BPCL has shown interest in doing business with Nepal. In 2010, it had urged the Indian government to end Indian Oil Corporation’s (IOC) monopoly on exporting oil to Nepal. The oil supply agreement between Nepal and India expires on March 31. The two countries review the agreement every five years.
NOC officials said BPCL’s offer was worth considering. “Given the growth in demand for petroleum products, we need to have alternative sources to continue imports,” said Suresh Agrawal, acting managing director of NOC.
Meanwhile, Essar Oil, another Indian petroleum giant, has also shown interest in supplying fuel to Nepal. In 2009, an Essar Oil team visited Kathmandu and met with the then Commerce Minister Rajendra Mahato to explore the possibility of becoming an alternate oil exporter to Nepal. It is still too early to say whether the government will switch suppliers given its long-standing relation with IOC.
In 1974, Nepal signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on petroleum supply with India which defines import procedures. Nepal has been importing fuel only from IOC, but experts have long been urging the government to enlist an alternate supplier to bring competition in the supply system.
The High-Level Petroleum Sector Reform Taskforce has also made a similar recommendation. The taskforce suggested that every possible option with regard to fuel imports should be explored, from purchasing crude from oil producing nations and refining it in Indian refineries to importing oil from China Nepal’s oil imports in the first six months of the current fiscal year were worth Rs 40 billion. Imports stood at Rs 76 billion in the whole of the last fiscal year.
Govt intensifies talks as new pact nears closing
As the new petroleum supply agreement between the Nepal Oil Corporation and Indian Oil Corporation nears closing stages, the government is holding discussions with experts so as to identify complexities in the existing pact and changes required in the new accord.
Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai has asked the committee formed to review the existing NOC-IOC agreement to hold extensive discussions to ensure that the new deal is in favour of national interest, as NOC and IOC are still in variance over some issues, according to the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS).
The NOC and IOC review the agreement every five years and the existing one is expiring on March 31. The agreement review committee was formed last year under the recommendation of the High-Level Petroleum Sector Reform Task Force.
Nuta Raj Pokhrel, under secretary at the ministry, said IOC has shown flexibility in some of the issues raised by Nepal. IOC has said it is ready to negotiate on marketing margin issue, according to Pokhrel.
IOC, while agreeing to put an end to the Price Adjustment Factor (PAF) in the new agreement, had proposed to raise the marketing margin to 5 percent from the existing 2.5 percent charged to Nepal under PAF. PAF includes refinery charge and transportation charge, among other technical losses. “Now, IOC has shown flexibility to negotiate marketing margin,” said Pokhrel.
While proposing raising the marketing margin to 5 percent, IOC has agreed to a rebate of IRs 350 to Nepal.
IOC has also agreed to receive payments fortnightly from the existing four instalment payments a month, according to the ministry. Pokhrel said this would reduce hassles in arranging payment funds every week for NOC.
IOC has also said that it is flexible on the modality for the construction of Amlekhgunj-Raxaul Cross-Border Oil Pipeline. “It was also positive to provide technical assistance and training, among others, for the oil pipeline construction,” Pokhrel said.
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