REPUBLIC TOWER AT TU CAMPUS IN KIRTIPUR Kathmandu, 24 April Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai will lay the foundation stone of a Republic Tower in the premises of Tribhuvan University in Kirtipur Thursday. The premier has already laid the foundation stone of a republic complex inside the former Narayamhiti Royal Palawhich is now a national museum. nnnn OVERNIGHT SAPTARI FIRE DESTROYS 250 HOUSES DAMAGNG RS.50M PROPERTY Kathmandu, 24 April: Goods and properties worth over fifty million rupees has been destroyed when over 250 houses were gutted by fire in four Village Development Committees (VDCs) in Saptari district on Monday night, RSS reports from Rajbiraj.. Eighty-four houses belonging to 37 families were destroyed by fire that broke out at Amaraiya Tol at Khadgapur VDC at 11 p.m. The fire is believed to have started from the cowshed of one Balram Ram. The fire was doused by police personnel, locals and the fire brigade from Rajbiraj Municipality after three hours. Similarly, 85 houses of 40 families were destroyed in another incident of fire at Sakarpura VDC-7 on Monday night, police said. Likewise, an inferno which broke out at Lohajara VDC-3 gutted 50 houses of 30 families and another fire at Belha Tol in Simraha Sigyon VDC destroyed as many as three dozen houses, the District Police Office, Saptari said. Property worth over nine million rupees is believed to have been destroyed by the fire at Lohajara. The blaze at both VDCs was brought under control through the joint efforts of the Rajbiraj Municipality fire brigade, locals and police. nnnn PARTIES NEAR YET FAR FROM CONSTITUTION Kathmandu, 24 April: Marathon meetings of four major political forces — Unified CPN-Maoist, Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and United Democratic Madhesi Front — today [Monday] finalised two of the five constitution-related contentious issues — judiciary and citizenship. Leaders had agreed, in principle, on these issues yesterday, Prakash Acharya/ Rika R. Pradhan write in The Himalayan Times. . Nonetheless, the political forces could not hammer out a deal on other three vital issues — election system, forms of governance and federalism. Claiming that negotiations were positive, the leaders expressed hope that they would be able to find a solution on remaining three issues by tomorrow. NC leader Ramchandra Paudel said although they agreed on a mixed election system, they were yet to reach consensus on the number of constituencies and percentage for first-past-the-post and proportional representation systems. According to him, the UDMF proposed not less than 200 constituencies in the Lower House while NC proposed not more than 300 constituencies for both the Lower House and Upper House. NC and UML have come closer to a proposal floated by UDMF on election system and forms of governance, according to another NC leader Bimalendra Nidhi. UDMF leaders had held separate meetings with NC and UML to discuss their proposal earlier today. The UDMF proposal offers two options on the election system and forms of governance. According to the first option, if the President and the Vice President are to be elected directly, the Lower House should be formed on the basis of FPTP system and the Upper House based on PR system. According to the second option, if the Lower House is to be formed on the basis of mixed model — combination of FPTP and PR — the President and Vice President should be elected through electoral college. NC and UML threw their weight behind the second option, according to Nidhi. "First the UDMF held a meeting with UML with their two options and told NC in a later meeting that UML had agreed to their second option. Then NC too backed the second alternative," said Nidhi. "However, the proposal could not be discussed at the meeting of four political forces owing to time constraint." The meeting in the morning had settled judiciary and citizenship issues and the meeting in the evening, scheduled for 5pm, was supposed to discuss the remaining three thorny issues. But the parties remained engaged in their internal meetings till 6pm before entering into inter-party negotiations at 7pm. Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal opened the meeting allowing Maoist leader Dev Prasad Gurung to speak on the election system. Gurung then spoke almost for an hour in support of an election system that called for proportionalism even in FPTP system, which NC and UML outright objected to, saying the idea was undemocratic and smacked of ultra-communist model. The meeting was then called off. "We will resume the meeting at 9am tomorrow and sort out all the issues by noon," said Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum-Democratic Chairman Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar. Maoist hardliners keep playing hardball The hardline faction of the Unified CPN-Maoist on Monday proposed to have a fully proportional election system — an inclusive list of candidates for the first-past-the-post system, besides proportional representation. The idea being toyed by the hardliners calls for giving those a chance through proportional representation who cannot get elected through FPTP. Maoist leader Dev Gurung floated the proposal at the four-party meeting claiming that the system should be adopted as per the spirit of the Interim Constitution and reports of theCA’s different thematic committees. “We want to blend FPTP with the PR system to make the elections more scientific and inclusive,” said Gurung, accusing leaders of other parties of standing against a provision that has already been agreed upon. nnnn BAIDYA FACTION CALLS MAOIST GATHERING OF PEOPLES VOLUNTEERS Kathmandu, 24 April: The hardline faction of the Maoist party led by Senior Vice Chairman Mohan Baidya is organizing the first ever national gathering of the "People´s Volunteers" in Kathmandu on Tuesday in a bid to activate it and to chart out its future strategies. People´s Volunteers is a combative youth wing of the Maoist party headed by Netra Bikram Chand, Kiran Pun writes in Republica. Leaders from the faction said the recently retired Maoist combatants as well as disqualified combatants would participate in the gathering to be held at an undisclosed venue in Kathmandu. "The gathering is being organized to activate the People´s Volunteers´ Bureau (PVB) and form a youth´s organization that will have a youth each from all the districts," said party politburo member Hitman Shakya. YCL leader Asal Khadka said around 250 PVB leaders, including district chiefs close to the Baidya faction were expected to attend the first ever national gathering. Even PVB leaders close to the party´s establishment faction had been invited but it was not clear if they would attend. "The gathering has been called to form a common organization of youths drawing members from YCL and other wings of the party," said Khadka. Though it was formed year ago to launch "people´s revolt", the People´s Volunteer Bureau had remained inactive allegedly due to unwillingness of Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal. It was even opposed by YCL leaders close to Dahal. At the time of its inception, the PVB had a military structure, with six commands and the six departments, exactly what the party had during the insurgency . Dahal had told a cadre training that the party would form a combative youth force under the PVB with over 500,000 members to complete the ´revolution. nnnn hough it was formed year ago to launch "people´s revolt", the People´s Volunteer Bureau had remained inactive allegedly due to unwillingness of Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal. It was even opposed by YCL leaders close to Dahal. At the time of its inception, the PVB had a military structure, with six commands and the six departments, exactly what the party had during the insurgency . Dahal had told a cadre training that the party would form a combative youth force under the PVB with over 500,000 members to complete the ´revolution nnnn INSURANCE COVER BEING INCREASED TO RS.500,000 Kathmandu, 24 April: The Insurance Board is mulling over raising accident coverage insurance for every person traveling on both public and private vehicles to Rs 500,000 from current Rs 100,000, Republica reports. The insurance sector regulator is considering raising the coverage amount following rampant exploitation of third-party insurance introduced two years ago. Third-party insurance, introduced by the Board in September 2009, provides coverage of up to Rs 500,000 in case the insured vehicle causes damage to human lives or properties. In other words, it only covers people other than those in the vehicle and property lying outside of the vehicle. Passengers who are killed or injured while travelling in the vehicle are only entitled to amount of up to Rs 100,000, according to the directive on motor insurance rates of the Insurance Board. Lately passengers or their kin who were killed or injured in accidents have started demanding compensation of up to Rs 500,000 - equivalent to sum insured under third-party insurance. Many of these people have also started presenting fake documents to corroborate that passengers who were killed or injured in accidents were not passengers but pedestrians who were hit by vehicles. “This problem has become a headache for most of the insurance companies and is also raising their administrative costs as they have to verify each and every document on third-party claims,” a reliable source of the Insurance Board told Republica. The only way to control this malpractice, according to the source, is raising coverage amount under passenger accident insurance to Rs 500,000. “Since most of the insurance companies agreed to this, we do not have much problem in introducing the new provision,” the official said. However, whether this change will raise the premium amount on third-party insurance is not known yet. “Currently, we are asking insurance companies not to raise premium amounts. But even if they have to the amount would be nominal,” the source said. If the regulator is successful in raising the amount it would mean every person travelling on vehicles, regardless of whether it is private or public, will be covered with an insurance of up to Rs 500,000. It will also mean those injured can legally demand for a sum of up to Rs 200,000 for medical expenses as under the provision included in the third-party insurance, while those who lose an eye can claim for a sum of up to Rs 250,000. Nnnn NC IN FIX OVER JOINING BHATTARAI-LED GOVT. Kathmandu, 24 April: - Nepali Congress (NC) is in a fix over joining the incumbent government. Two distinct lines of thought have emerged within the party of late—one urging the party leadership to join the Baburam Bhattarai-led government without delay, and the other warning that such a move would be ethically wrong, given the party’s longstanding opposition to the four-point deal signed between the Maoists and the Madhesi Morcha, The Kathmandu Post reports. If the party refuses to join the Maoist-led government now, the chances of it securing Maoist support in forming an NC-led unity government in the future would be slim. Earlier, the NC and UCPN (Maoist) leadership had reached an understanding to “rotate” the leadership of the unity government among them on the condition that the NC would join the incumbent government for a short time and Bhattarai would make way for an NC-led unity government before May 27. Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal had indicated this on April 10, the day the Nepal Army took charge of PLA cantonments. “There are clearly two conflicting view points in the NC now. I personally think that for the NC to join this government, either Bhattarai must scrap the four-point deal signed with the Morcha or come up with a new proposal to form a new unity government with a common programme,” said NC leader Bal Bahadur KC. Bhattarai, however, seems to be reluctant to scrap the four-point deal. A meeting between Bhattarai and the Morcha on Saturday made it clear that the coalition would stay put and the incumbent government will promulgate the statute. On the contrary, NC President Sushil Koirala has long been claiming publicly that an NC-led unity government would unveil the statute and hold fresh polls. Koirala’s claims, according to leader Gagan Thapa, could turn to reality if the NC and the Maoists clear all doubts and complexities, and agree beforehand on all the outstanding issues related to joining the government and its formation, chiefly on time, duration and leadership.Prakash Man Singh, Ram Sharan Mahat, Bimalendra Nidhi, and to some extent Krishna Prasad Sitaula, are the likely candidates to lead the party if NC decides joining the Bhattarai-led government, according to sources in the NC. “It’s now or never for NC,” said an NC leader. NC leaders believe the situation has become even more complex after the breakthrough in the peace process. “Incumbent coalition has started arguing that if it has almost completed the peace process, why not continue and promulgate the constitution?” said an NC leader. “And there is little motivation for the Morcha to pull this government down and go for a smaller pie in the NC-UML coalition. The same argument applies to Prachanda.” Besides, there is little hope within NC and outside that the party could garner support for a unity government under NC Parliamentary Party leader Ram Chandra Poudel. “NC could muster support for the unity government only under Suhil’s leadership, but the problem is he is unprepared for this role,” said an NC leader close to Koirala. nnnn MADESH PARTIESDEVELOP A CODE OF CONDUCT AS THEY ATTEMPT TO SLIDIFY A FRONT AHEAD OF CONSTITUTION PROMULGATION Kathmandu, 24 April: Nepali Congress (NC) is in a fix over joining the incumbent government. Two distinct lines of thought have emerged within the party of late—one urging the party leadership to join the Baburam Bhattarai-led government without delay, and the other warning that such a move would be ethically wrong, given the party’s longstanding opposition to the four-point deal signed between the Maoists and the Madhesi Morcha, The Kathmandu Post writes. If the party refuses to join the Maoist-led government now, the chances of it securing Maoist support in forming an NC-led unity government in the future would be slim. Earlier, the NC and UCPN (Maoist) leadership had reached an understanding to “rotate” the leadership of the unity government among them on the condition that the NC would join the incumbent government for a short time and Bhattarai would make way for an NC-led unity government before May 27. Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal had indicated this on April 10, the day the Nepal Army took charge of PLA cantonments. “There are clearly two conflicting view points in the NC now. I personally think that for the NC to join this government, either Bhattarai must scrap the four-point deal signed with the Morcha or come up with a new proposal to form a new unity government with a common programme,” said NC leader Bal Bahadur KC. Bhattarai, however, seems to be reluctant to scrap the four-point deal. A meeting between Bhattarai and the Morcha on Saturday made it clear that the coalition would stay put and the incumbent government will promulgate the statute. On the contrary, NC President Sushil Koirala has long been claiming publicly that an NC-led unity government would unveil the statute and hold fresh polls. Koirala’s claims, according to leader Gagan Thapa, could turn to reality if the NC and the Maoists clear all doubts and complexities, and agree beforehand on all the outstanding issues related to joining the government and its formation, chiefly on time, duration and leadership.Prakash Man Singh, Ram Sharan Mahat, Bimalendra Nidhi, and to some extent Krishna Prasad Sitaula, are the likely candidates to lead the party if NC decides joining the Bhattarai-led government, according to sources in the NC. “It’s now or never for NC,” said an NC leader. NC leaders believe the situation has become even more complex after the breakthrough in the peace process. “Incumbent coalition has started arguing that if it has almost completed the peace process, why not continue and promulgate the constitution?” said an NC leader. “And there is little motivation for the Morcha to pull this government down and go for a smaller pie in the NC-UML coalition. The same argument applies to Prachanda.” Besides, there is little hope within NC and outside that the party could garner support for a unity government under NC Parliamentary Party leader Ram Chandra Poudel. “NC could muster support for the unity government only under Suhil’s leadership, but the problem is he is unprepared for this role,” said an NC leader close to Koirala. nnnn