SEVEN INJURED WHILE FIGHTING FOREST FIRE IN KAILALI Kathmandu, 11 May: Seven persons were injured Thursday while attempting to control a forest fire in Kailali. Fires caused by a dry spell have caused widespread destruction ahead of the monsoon this year. nnnn RAMESH KUMAR SHRESTHA CONVICTED FOR FINANCIAL IRREGULARITY Kathmandu, 11 May: Special court Thursday convicted Managing Director Ramesh Kumar Shrestha of Trade Promption Center of financial irregularities. The money was misappropriated during a trade fair. Shrestha was freed after paying a Rs. 1.35 million nond. nnnn SETI RIVER FLASH FLOOD LOST ESTIMALED AT RS/ 50M Kathmandu, 11 May: The Kaski District Natural Disaster Rescue Committee has put the material loss of Saturday´s Seti flashflood at around Rs 50 million. A meeting of the committee on Sunday had formed a team and sent them to field, Manoj Adhikari writes in Republica from Pokhara. The preliminary study of the committee showed that properties worth Rs 49.62 were destroyed by the flood including houses, domestic goods, water supply pipes, vehicles and other goods, Chief District Officer (CDO) Chet Nath Bhattarai said sharing the findings of the preliminary report. A dozen houses, three suspension bridges and two kilometers of road have been destroyed. Likewise, 144 ropanis of land, including maize crop in around 100 ropanis, was swept away by the flood. CDO Bhattarai said each of 30 affected families have received food grains, clothes and other relief materials worth Rs 8,000 from district Red Cross, while 15 families have received Rs 25,000 each as cremation expenses from the District Administration Office. Similarly the District Development Committee has given Rs 5,000 each to five injured persons. Bhattarai also revealed that Rs 2.5 million has been received from the center on Thursday for distribution among flood victims The committee´s recommendations include continuation of search for the missing persons, collection and distribution of relief materials by a single body, reopening of schools and arrangements of proper care of orphans. It has also recommended for repair and construction of three damaged suspension bridges and precautionary measures to prevent outbreak of communicable diseases in the area. The preliminary report put the human casualities of the flood at 28 and said that at least 42 persons were still missing. Nnnn MADESHI, JANAJATI LAWMAKERS PUSH IDENTITY-BASED FEDERAL PROVINCES Kathmandu, 11 May : Following the decision by the major parties to resolve the contentious issues of constitution writing through voting in the Constituent Assembly, a group of lawmakers from the Madhesi parties and the Janajati caucus reached a formal understanding Thursday to stand united to press for identity-based federalism for each of the major ethnic groups, Gani Ansari writes in Republica. While signing the four-point understanding, they said federal provinces should be determined on the basis of the reports prepared by majority members of the State Restructuring Commission (SRC) and the Constituent Assembly´s thematic committee on state restructuring. Both the reports say the country should be federalized on the basis of single ethnic identity. Maoist lawmakers Barshaman Pun, Dev Gurung, Madhesi lawmaker Bijaya Kumar Gachachhadar, Rajendra Mahato, Anil Jha, Mahendra Yadav and Hridayesh Tripathi, CPN-UML lawmakers Prtihvi Subba Gurung and Kiran Gurung are some of those who signed the understanding. They have decided to ask the CA chairman to initiate the process of voting on the unresolved issues as per the CA regulations. According to Vice-chairman of Sadbhawana Party Laxmanlal Karna, the meeting also formed a four-member taskforce to oversee the questionnaire to be prepared for voting. The taskforce comprises lawmakers Karna, Gurung, Bishwendra Paswan and Rukmini Chaudhari. “The taskforce has been entrusted with the responsibility of making suggestion and holding discussion on the questionnaire,” Karna told Republica. CPN-UML lawmaker Dal Bahadur Rana said they would exert pressure on major political parties to address the concerns of the indigenous nationalities, Madhesis, minorities and other groups in the new constitution. “On the one hand the leaders [from major political parties] are afraid of the possibility of floor-crossing by their lawmakers during the voting and on the other hand they have failed to resolve the thorny issues through consensus,” said Rana, adding, “So, we all decided to exert pressure to address our minimum demand, formation of federal provinces based on single identity, in the new constitution.” In a separate context, the meeting expressed concerns over the burning down of a Tharu museum during a recent stir in the western Tarai region and urged all agitating groups to maintain restraint for communal harmony. MPRF-D Chairman Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar, Tarai-Madhes Democratic Party Vice-chairman Hridayash Tripathi, MPRF-R Acting Chairman Rajkishor Yadav, UCPN (Maoist) leaders Gurung and Barshaman Pun, CPN-UML lawmaker Prithvi Subba Gurung, Nepali Congress lawmakers Jip Tshering Lama Sherpa and independent lawmaker Sadrul Miyan Haq among other lawmakers were present at the meeting. Meanwhile, the Broader Madhesi Front (BMF), a cross-party alliance of Madhesi lawmakers, has formed a seven-member sub-committee to hold talks with lawmakers from indigenous, Muslim, Dalit and other backward communities in order to forge common stance during the CA voting on the contentious issues of the new constitution. Nnnn CONSUMER CARDS FOR LPG CYLINDERS INEFFCTIVE Kathmandu, 11 Mat: With only four days left for the deadline to complete the distribution of consumer cards, Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) is yet to verify over half of the dealers making the much ambitious plan of the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies a failure, The Himalayan Times reports. Though the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies had claimed that the distribution of the consumer cards would be completed by May 15, only 18 gas bottling plants have partially verified their dealers so far out of the 42, according to vice president at Gas Dealers Federation of Nepal Maheshwar Kumar Shrestha. “More than half the bottling plants have yet to finalise the list of their dealers.” Only 500 dealers have been verified so far and they have been distributing consumer cards, a source at the ministry said, adding that the distribution of consumer cards through other dealers is still uncertain until they have been verified. “The working style of both NOC and dealers is very lethargic and ‘suspicious’ too,” the official said, questioning their motive. The ministry had already suspected that the mechanism within NOC, dealers and bottling plants was rampant with corruption, he said. “Despite the suspicion, the ministry decided to utilise NOC but there had been debate on whether to utilise the local administration to distribute the consumer cards.” The Ministry of Commerce and Supplies will ask NOC to submit a progress report of the distribution of consumer cards on Friday, said spokesperson at the ministry Deepak Subedi. “It will seek an explanation from NOC for the delay.” Nnnn NOC, NEA BLEED GOVT. DRY Kathmandu, 11 May: Two financially ailing state bodies — Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) and Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) — have bled the government coffers dry, Kuvera Chalise writes in The Himalayan Times.. The government has failed to meet its revenue target due to the failure of NOC and NEA to pay back, finance secretary Krishna Hari Baskota said, adding that the hugely indebted state oil monopoly — that has still been asking for some Rs 2 billion for the smooth supply of petroleum products — and Nepal Electricity Authority’s poor performance hit the non-tax revenue mobilisation directly hurting the total revenue mobilisation. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has also mentioned that the economy has suffered from several market distortions due to the fragile political environment compounded by the poor law and order situation. “Electricity theft and technical leakages — that amounts to 29 per cent of total output — business cartels, fuel hoarding and frequent shortages, and transport syndicates are responsible for exacerbating the already poor investment climate,” according to a flagship report of ADB that has attributed the snail-paced reform of the state oil monopoly to the chronic fuel shortages. The government’s populist decision and untransparent state oil monopoly that distributes freebies to leaders has put NOC on a death bed. Though the government is planning to recruit a professional managing director, the problem cannot be sorted out without a complete deregulation of oil prices and a legal provision to allow the private sector into the petroleum business with a well directed social protection policy that could make Nepal Oil Corporation cover its own operating costs and make a reasonable return on the government’s investment, it added. “These two institutions were supposed to pay the government some Rs 10 billion apart from the interest,” said Baskota. “Had these institutions been able to pay back, the government would have exceeded its revenue mobilisation target for the current fiscal year,” he added. The Finance Ministry had targeted to mobilise Rs 247.60 revenue, an increase of over 20 per cent as compared to the last fiscal year but it has been able to mobilise Rs 172.90 billion by the end of Chaitra (mid-April) that is however, only an 18.1 per cent increment as compared to the same period of the last fiscal year. “There is still a shortfall of Rs 2.22 billion of the target for the nine months of the current fiscal year,” according to Baskota, who attributed the shortfall largely to NOC and NEA. Of the total revenue target, non tax revenue target for the current fiscal year stands at Rs 36.94 billion and by the end of nine months, the government has been able to mobilise Rs 25.25 billion, a shortfall of some Rs 2 billion from its target of Rs 27.25 billion for the month ending Chaitra. nnnn