LACKOF WATER TO FIGHT FIRE CAUSED HUGE LOSS OF LIFE, PROPERTYOFL

LACK OF WATER TO CONTROL KALIMATI BLAZE CAUSED MORE
DEATHS AND HUGE LOSSES SAY FIREFIGHTERS

Kathmandu, 5 March: Lack of water to douse the fire at the Kalimati vegetable market caused the huge of life and property, firefighters and locals said.
Only one fire engine has water to put out the blaze spread over a three ropani
complex in the heart of the city surrounded by houses that were threatened.
Thirteen fire engines from the valley’s three towns were mobilized but they had no water which had toe transported all the way to Kalamati from beyond Baudha losing
precious time.
Vegetables were used to put out the fire that killed six persons and injured two others.
Damage is estimated at Rs 500 million.
A firefighter there are fire engines available can fight fires only up to 11 stories.
Another disaster awaits of fires breakout at high rises that have been completed
or are being built when another major fire breaks out.
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CLOSED DOOR SESSION OF UML BEGINS MONDAY

Kathmandu, 5 March: A closed door session of opposition UML begins
Monday on the second day of its three-day conference of national
representatives council meet attended by 900 plus delegates and observers for the
first time in three years.
Delegates will discuss and approve five reports, including a political report of
Chairman Jhalanath Khanal and organization report of General Secretary Ishwor Pokhrel.
Khanal Sunday said the party was united following a series of meetings ahead of the council meet to end groupism that educed the second-ranking party to third
ranking behind UCPN (Maoist) and UN—the biggest opposition party—after parliamentary/ constituent elections in 2008.
UML hopes to be the largest party after organizational party reinforcement and
unity talks with leftist groups.
Besides internal unity, to leaders lashed Maoists as extreme communists at the inauguration Sunday at Open Air Theatre.
Second ranking leader Madhav Kumar Nepal continued his public support in an address at the public gathering of Nepal Army vilified by major parties, including opposition NC and UML, during royalrule.
But the opposition attitude chanted after the 2008 elections with Maoists sweeping the polls and their takeover of government for a short nine-month period. when a confrontation with government and national army broke out.
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LOAD-SHEDDING REDUCED BY ONE HOUR FROM MONDAY

Kathmandu, 5 March: Daily load-shedding was reduced Monday by one hour with the advance of monsoon.
Holi—a spring festival-- is first being celebrated Wednesday in the hill regions
and the terai a day later Thursday.
Students appearing for the SLA examinations will benefit with the additional power cuts
which will still continue for nine hours every day.
Nepal Electricity (NEA) said load-shedding was reduced with increased water storage at the reservoir in Kulakhani to operate two hydro power plants.
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NAI PUBLICATION AWARDS

Kathmandu, 5 March: Nai Publications has decided to honour different personalities for their contribution to society, RSS reports.

At a meeting held yesterday, the publications selected senior journalist Madan Mani Dixit for the Nai Khara Sukriti Award-2012, writer Shyam Das Baishnav for Nai Khara Pradipti Award carrying a purse of Rs 50,000, Kumar Thapa for Nai Khara Suravi Award with the same amount, singer Ani Chhoying Dolma for Nai Khara Gaurab Award with a purse of Rs 25,000 and journalist Prasun Singh with Nai Khara Paurakh Award with a purse of Rs 15,000.

Thapa, who is visually impaired, will be honoured for his role in raising awareness. The awards will be handed over on May 4.
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MEDIA GOOGLE

.“ I asked the former king to stay in his position, otherwise the government would decrease his facility. The government would be compelled to take stern measures if the former king continued giving such expressions. The attention of the PM has also been drawn to Shah’s latest versions.”

(DPM Bijaya Kumar Gachedhar, The Himalayan Times, 5 March)
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MINISTER DATTA AIDS ILLEGAL BETEL NT EXPORT TO INDIA
Kathmandu, 5 March: Minister for Agriculture and Cooperatives Nandan Kumar Datta has been found abetting a racket engaged in importing hefty amounts of betel nuts and exporting them to India through illegal channels, in contravention to a bilateral trade treaty signed between Nepal and India, Bhoj Ran Puudel writes in Republica.k .

The racket surfaced after Siddharthanagar Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), which received an order from the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoAC) to issue a certificate of origin (CoO), a mechanism that certifies that the goods in question are produced in Nepal, declined to comply.

MoAC, allegedly under direct instructions from the minister, asked SCCI last month to issue a CoO for 3,000 tons of betel nut of unspecified origin and owned by the trading firm Excel Trading Concern (ETC). At the present market rate, the consignment’s value is estimated at Rs 900 million.

“A trader approached us along with the letter from the ministry and sought a CoO, but we declined to comply as he failed to disclose the origin of the beetle nut,” Mahendra Kumar Shrestha, president of SCCI, told Republica over the phone.

SCCI had sought clarity over the origin of the betel nut mainly in view of the fact that Rupandehi, where Siddarthanagar is located, is not a beetle nut producing district.

Senior officials at MoAC, who are familiar with the development, acknowledged that the ministry had issued such a letter as per the instruction of Minister Datta.

When Republica contacted him, Datta flatly denied having any links with the racket or assisting it in smuggling betel nut to India. But he did not deny that he had instructed officials to send a letter to SCCI urging it to issue a CoO to a private firm. “I sign more than 100 letters a day that come to me and I hardly get time to go through them,” he said.

However, at the beginning of his conversation with this reporter, he declined to admit that he had issued any instructions in this regard to the officials concerned.

“I believe officials at the ministry do things as per the established norms and laws,” he said when asked why he had bypassed the normal process for issuing the CoO.

“After receiving the request from the private firm, I had just instructed the officials to take necessary action as per the established practice, which means that the officials were free to take a decision as per standard practice,” Datta said.

Illicit outflow of imported betel nut from Nepal to India has been on the rise in recent years as India imposes customs duty of 108 percent on its import from Indonesia, the main exporting country, whereas the duty on betel nut imported from Nepal is just 25 percent.

In Nepal betel nuts are produced only in the eastern districts, including Jhapa, Morang, Ilam and Sunsari. Statistics at MoAC show that total production of beetle nut in the country in 2010/11 was recorded at 7,247 tons, and in the same year Nepal had imported more than 108 thousand tons of beetle nut.

Dr Hari Dahal, joint secretary at MoAC, said, “There is no data available showing the amount of domestic betel nut consumption.” He further added, “When we don’t know the amount of domestic consumption, we can’t say how much of the total import is consumed in the country.”

India has constantly raised the issue of illicit export of beetle nut from Nepal at Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) meetings. India had claimed at an IGC meeting held in 2010 that Nepal exported 165 thousand tons of beetle nut in 2008/009.

Moreover, India had requested Nepal at an IGC meeting held in Delhi in March 2011 to increase the tariff rate on betel nut imports.
Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Turkey are the main countries from where Nepali traders import beetle nut.
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ANOTHER US BANK REFUSES TO MAINTAIN ACCOUNTS OF NEPAL EMBASSY
Kathmandu, 5 March: Barely two months after Citibank asked Nepali diplomatic mission in the US to shift its accounts to another bank, another financial institution through which Nepali embassy was acquiring banking services, has issued similar instruction due to Nepal´s inability to take concrete actions to fight global financial crimes like money laundering and terror financing, Rupak D Sharma writes in Republica..

Around two months ago, Citibank had asked Nepali embassy in the US to shop for other banks to maintain its accounts after Nepal couldn´t come up with adequate legal tools to fight activities that aid terrorism and other illegal activities. After that the embassy moved its accounts to WashingtonFirst Bank. Now, WashingtonFirst Bank has also issued similar instruction to Nepali embassy, an official of Nepali embassy in the US told Republica on condition of anonymity.

“Although both banks have not explicitly mentioned Nepal´s half-hearted approach to controlling financial crimes as the reason for sending circulars to close down the accounts, their veiled remarks clearly suggest they are not interested in dealing with a country that has weak legal structures to criminalize financial crimes,” a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Finance told Republica on condition of anonymity.

This also suggests other banks in the US may also follow suit and restrict Nepali embassy from maintaining its accounts in their institutions, the official said, warning, similar instructions may be issued by other banks in the UK and euro zone, as they have close links with the US and share similar regulations.

“That´s why we have been asking our politicians to act fast because snowballing of the problem could create problems for our diplomatic missions in various countries around the world,” the official said.

In order to avert being labeled as a country providing fertile ground for financial crime, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) -- an intergovernmental body that creates standards to fight financial crimes -- last October asked Nepal to comply with 49 recommendations.

In this regard, Nepal was asked to criminalize acts of money laundering, develop mechanisms to identify and freeze terrorist assets, and confiscate funds related to money laundering. The body at that time had also prescribed that Nepal enact a law on mutual legal assistance to enable international authorities investigating financial crime to legally exchange information with Nepal.

To complete these tasks, Nepal was given a deadline of mid-Feb. In this regard, Nepal had already taken steps to amend Acts on Anti-money Laundering and Extradition, and enact laws on Mutual Legal Assistance and Controlling Organized Crime. However, Nepal could not amend or enact the laws on time, due to opposition from the radical faction of the UCPN (Maoist). Yet Nepal averted being demoted to the ´high risk´ zone of the FATF due to intense lobbying by top political leaders and bureaucrats.

Nepal now has been given until June to complete these tasks. “The politicians know we cannot escape like we did in the past, so it is recommended they better act fast,” the official said, warning, carelessness in this regard “may make it difficult for individuals to acquire banking services in the US in future”.
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MAOISTS FLOAT TWO OPTIONS ON SERIOUS OFFENCES
LIKE RAPE AND DISAPPEARANCES
Kathmandu, 5 March:: UCPN-Maoist today floated two alternatives — blanket amnesty for all offences during the decade-long insurgency or make offences related to rape and disappearances punitive, Prakash .Acharya reports in The Himalayan Times.

Leaders of the three major parties discussed contents of two bills for setting up two commissions as part of the peace process at UML Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal’s residence in Dallu, but they could not agree.

After Nepali Congress proposed making five offences — murder in captivity, murder of unarmed person, rape, disappearance and kidnapping and keeping in captivity — punitive, UCPN-M leaders floated their options.

“We are open on two options — effecting reconciliation on all offences through general amnesty as per the spirit of the interim constitution or recognising rape and disappearances as punitive acts as per the national and international context,” said Maoist leader Dev Prasad Gurung. He said the discussions were positive and the next meeting on March 8 would settle the issues.

NC President Sushil Koirala proposed recognising the five offences as punitive acts as they are heinous crimes, but proposed that ‘torture’ not be included in the list of heinous crimes as it could not be quantified.

UCPN-M wants to include offences related to disappearance as punitive crime because state involvement in them is bigger, but don’t want killing in captivity, murder of unarmed person and kidnapping and captivity in the list of punitive acts.
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40,000 GAS PLANTS REGISTERED FOR CARBON TRADING
Kathmandu, 5 March: Nepal’s 40,000 biogas plants have been registered with the Clean Development Mechanism of the United Nations Climate Change Convention (UNFCC) for carbon trading, The Himalayan Times reports.

According to the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) under the Ministry of Environment, the executive board of UNFCCC has approved 40,602 biogas plants so far.

“Now, biogas use helps us reduce carbon dioxide emissions and earn foreign exchange,” said Sandip Joshi, officer, Carbon Mitigation Programme, AEPC.

Nepal received $2.1million for about 20,000 biogas plants in 2006 where the World Bank bought carbon dioxide at $7 per tonne reduced due to the use of biogas. The UNFCCC had established a mechanism to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide under which developed countries can buy carbon from the least developed and developing countries to reduce the global emission of carbon dioxide, a major agent for global warming and climate change.

The biogas plants installed in between April 2005 and July 2007 have been included for the CDM. “We have not yet negotiated with the buyers, so we cannot say how much money we will get. It may be more than $7 per tonne or more than that. It depends on the negotiation between Nepal and the buyer,” added Joshi.

Nepal has claimed that it has reduced 56,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year since 2006 and will sell carbon to the interested party.

For carbon trading, the country should submit details of the biogas plants with calculation of emissions reduced which needs to be approved by the CDM executive board.

“We have been registered now, so we can engage in carbon trade,” said Joshi. AEPC said the money received would be used for constructing new biogas plants. According to AEPC, 260,000 biogas plants have been installed in the country till date.
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