UPDATE FOUR KILLED, 10 INJURED IN JANAKPUR BOMB BLAST Kathmandu, 30 April: Four persons were killed and 10 others were injured in a bomb blast in Janakpur, fresh reports said. The blast went off at 10 in the morning. MORE GOVT. COALITION REJECTS DEMAND FOR GOVT. CHANGE UPDATE Kathmandu, 30 April: A meeting of Maoists leading the government and Madesh Morcha headed by Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai decided Monday the incumbent government should be transformed into a national government rejecting a demand of opposition NC and UML for government change under leadership of NC. The coalition partners said a national government is a second priority after constitution drafting, participants said after the meeting concluded. Demand for government change has created uncertainty, the ruling parties concluded. nnnn THREE FINANCE COMPANIES TO MERGE Kathmandu, 30 April: Butwal Finance Limited and Alpik Everest Finance Limited and C.M.B. Finance Limited have decided to merge. Butwan Finance Limited has Rs. 220 million paid-up capital. Alpik Everest Finance Limited and C.M.B. Finance Limited have Rs. 110 million and Rs. 150 million paid-up capital respectively. Nnnn STRIKE AFFECTS FAR-WEST FOR FOURTH CONSECUTIVE DAY Kathmandu, 30 April: A regional strike in nine districts of the far-West for the fourth consecutive day Monday has brought life to a standstill inconveniencing people. The strike was convened to oppose the division of the region into provinces, opposed by groups demanding an undivided region. Nnnn BUDGET CRUNCH HITS MDG Kathmandu, 30 April: The pace of progress being achieved by Nepal in relation to Millennium Development Goal (MDG) is likely to be slowed due to the insufficient allocation of budget, Gita Sapkota writes in The Rising Nepal.. Health officials said that this is sure to affect quality service delivery. The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) has been proposing 10 per cent budget allocation for health sector of total budget for some years. Last year a total of 24 billion rupees (seven per cent of the total budget) was allocated for health sector. The Ministry of Finance has put a ceiling of 27 billion rupees in the health sector for this year. Dr. Baburam Marasini, programme coordinator of Health Sector Reform under the Ministry of Health and Population, said the MoHP would be unable to launch any new programmes in existing budget conditions. The allocated budget is insufficient even to meet pays and perks of the employees and operational costs of institutions, Dr. Marasini said. According to an assessment of the National Planning Commission, a budget of around 70 billion rupees was needed to meet MDG 2015. However, the government has failed to allocate half of the estimated amount. In line with the MDG, the government has targeted to lower maternal mortality, child mortality, and neonatal mortality rates and increase the coverage of nutrition. So far, Nepal is on the right path towards the MDG goal. Some compact and comprehensive programme is needed for further achievement. However, insufficient budget may hinder the progress, Dr. Marasini added. Still 65 per cent women can not visit health institutions during delivery. The MoHP had targeted to extend safe motherhood programme, launch mental health programme and nutrition coverage programme, decrease disparity in health access among urban and rural population during this year. However, due to budget constraints, all these programmes would be affected, Dr. Marasini said. On the other side, the government has not added a single position in health sector manpower in the last 21 years. The MoHP had targeted to extend safe motherhood programme, launch mental health programme and nutrition coverage programme, decrease disparity in health access among urban and rural population during this year. However, due to budget constraints, all these programmes would be affected, Dr. Marasini said. On the other side, the government has not added a single position in health sector manpower in the last 21 years. The MoHP had proposed an increase of 15,000 posts of health manpower during three years some months ago. The proposal is lying idle in parliament. Nnnn DETAILS OF NA RESTRUCTURING PROPOSAL Kathmandu, 30 April: Chief of the Army Staff (CoAS) Chhatra Man Singh Gurung Sunday floated a proposal about restructuring the Nepal Army, Ram Prasad Dahal reports in The Rising Nepal. Gurung briefed about the NA restructuring proposal at the meeting of the State Affair Committee under the Legislature Parliament. Briefing the synopsis of the proposal in the meeting, Gurung claimed that the existing structure of Nepal Army could not work properly in the new federal republic state. He proposed to add the posts of high ranking army officials starting from lieutenants to major generals. According to his proposal, NA was seeking four lieutenant generals in place of two and 24 major generals in place of 18. Likewise, he proposed to increase the number of brigadier generals to 80 from existing 70, colonels to 147 from 133 and lieutenant colonels to 400 from 388. CoAS Gurung informed that NA has strength of 92,753 personnel in total and it has approved posts for 95,753 .He proposed to add the high level officer posts without increasing the existing strength of NA. According to him, NA had only 18,000 personnel in 1965. "Now the old structure of NA cannot work, it needs timely reforms," he said. Gurung told at the meeting that a10-year master plan was in implementation phase for strengthening the NA. He also informed that NA needs RS. 1.18 trillion to implement the 10-year master plan. His proposal was in line with the NA restructuring panel report of a year back At the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Bijaya Kumar Gachchhadhar pointed out the need of restructuring the NA. He said that the processes for the relevant reform of the NA were underway. "The Ministry has started a positive initiative to make the NA a more capable, transparent and professional organization" he said. Defense Secretary Madhav Prasad Regmi said the NA was facing lack of physical infrastructure and called for making it more competent by developing the needed infrastructure. Colonel Raghu Bhandari said the NA was founded in 1816 B.S and got recognition of national army in 2009 B.S. The NA’s proposal would be submitted to the Committee within two days in written. After the meeting, committee chairman Ram Nath Dhakal said the committee would reach in conclusion about the proposal in another meeting. nnnn