NINE FAR-WEST DISTRICTS CLOSED DOWN FOR SECOND DAY SATURDAY Kathmandu, 28 April: Nine far-West districts were closed down for the second consecutive day of an indefinite strike Saturday called by the All-party Struggle Committee demanding the ‘Akhanda’ for Greater Far Western state. The strike comes after Maoist suggestion to divide the region into provinces. Markets were closed down and movement of vehicles screeched to a halt inconveniencing people. nnnn NEPAL AGAIN OFFERS TO TRAIN INDIAN PEACEKEEPERS Kathmandu, 28 April: Nepal has offered to train Indian Army officials who will take part in the UN peacekeeping operations under various international assignments, Anil Giri writes in The Kathmandu Post. Nepal made such offer during the ninth series of Nepal-India Bilateral Consultative Groups on Security Issues that concluded in Pokhara on Friday. “This is the first time Nepal offered such training slots to Indian Army,” said a Nepali official. The Nepal Army has been imparting training two senior Indian army officers at the Shiva Puri-based Staff College for the last two years. NA has two training centers exclusively for peacekeepers—Pachkal (Kavre) and integrated training centre at Saljhandi (Rupandehi). The bilateral security meeting mainly dwelt on eight agendas that included imparting various types of training to NA personnel, purchasing vehicles for the NA, upgrading NA’s Sundarijal arsenal factory, maintaining NA helicopters, and providing hardware and logistic assistance for NA’s new directorate. “We discussed all the agendas and will forward our requirements to India later. We also discussed about requirements for the NA’s new directorate,” Dipak Dhital, joint secretary at the Foreign Ministry, told the Post. He said that the two sides agreed to strengthen the bilateral mechanisms to manage the Nepal-India border. The officials also stressed the need for stressed the need for strengthening security cooperation to curb cross-border criminal activities and share information promptly on such activities, said Dhital. nnnn AGRICULTURE SECRETARY TAINTED Kathmandu, 28 April: An investigation of the National Vigilance Centre has concluded that Nathu Prasad Chaudhary, Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperative has committed serious administrative lapses, The Kathmandu Post reports. The 23 page report prepared by the NVC team states that Chaudhary violated the formal procedure before flying aboard, abused his authority and promoted irregularities in promoting and transferring officials at the ministry. The report prepared by the NVC team has also recommended the Office of the Prime Minister to take legal action against Chaudhary for his fault. "We found serious administrative lapses over the allegation filed against him [secretary]," said a source close to the NVC. The anti-graft body was assigned to investigate into his move to go on foreign trip without prior approval from the PMO, promoting irregularities in supplying chemical fertilizers, distributing seeds and appointing chief of the Kalimati Fruits and Vegetable Marker Development Board. Several complaints were lodged at the PMO citing that Secretary Chaudhary had frequently gone on foreign visits without approval and allowed his juniors to follow his footstep. Chaudhary had left for Australia to attend a workshop on bird flue as the leader of the ministry. Following the complaints, PMO has asked the NVC Secretary Suresh Man Shrestha to submit the report probing into allegation imposed against Chaudhary. Later a three-member investigation team head by the Joint-secretary Shyam Raj Khanal was formed to look into the matters. After two weeks investigation the NVC has prepared the report and it will be submitted to the PMO on Sunday, according to sources. nnnn