BAIDHAYA REJECTS PRACHANDA TO CALL OFF NATIONAL MEET Kathmandu, 6 June; Maoist Fist Vice-chairman Mohan Baidhaya Wednesday rejected a request by Chairman Prachanda to call off a national meet of the dissident facion of UCPN (Maoist) in the 15 June. The request was made over telephone. Baidhaya told Prachanda plans for the meeting had advanced to call off the meet. nnnn IOC REDUCES GAS SUPPLIES FOR NON-SETTLEMENT OF DUES Kathmandu, 6 June: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has curtailed supplies of gas from Tuesday because on non-settlement of dues by NOC, Nagarik reports. Only 13 bullets equivalent to 235 tons were received Tuesday against normal supply of 900 tons every day. Dues amount to Rs.3.2 billion. “Problem has surfaced following non-payment of des. The prime minister has been informed,” said NOC Managing Director Suresh Kumar Agrawal. nnnn NAC’S DELHI FLIGHTS TO BE SUSPENDED UNTIL OCT. Kathmandu, 6 June: Nepal Airlines Corporation, has extended flights suspension to New Delhi for another five months. The national flag carrier, which has already put on hold the flights to the Indian capital for nearly seven months, will not be flying until the last week of October 2012, Mahesh Acharya writes in The Kathmandu Post from New Delhi. “We have received a circular from Kathmandu telling us to suspend the service till October,” said Sanjay Bikram Pant, manager at NAC’s Delhi office. NAC has not divulged the reasons behind its decision. The carrier has only two aircraft for international operations, and they are kept busy flying to popular destinations for Nepali migrant workers like Doha, Dubai, Malaysia and Hong Kong. With the flights suspended, NAC staffers at its Delhi office do not have much to do except take care of regular correspondence and pay bills. NAC has to pay a hefty rental for its check-in counter at Delhi International Airport even though it lies unused. The rental for the office and telephone, fax and electricity bills are quite high. NAC’s monthly expenses come to around Rs 3.2 million. The NAC has 39 staffers at its two offices in New Delhi, one at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) and the other in the city at Gole Market. Three of the employees have been deputed from Kathmandu while the rest are locals. Among the local staff are 26 Nepalis and 10 Indians. The suspension of NAC’s Delhi service has been an opportunity for Indian carriers. Following the Kingfisher and Air India crises, other Indian airlines have been expanding their market share. NAC shifted its city office from Janpath to Gole Market on June 1, 2011. It was forced to leave the Janpath office after the court gave a verdict in favour of Shristi Properties, the company which owns the house. NAC set up its office at Janpath in 1975. Though its 25-year lease agreement ended in 2000, NAC refused to vacate the place. Shristi Properties then moved the court and in 2011, after 11 years, the court ruled in favour of the house owner. NAC appealed the decision but the upper court upheld the lower court’s decision and it was ordered to vacate the house within six months. NAC has now signed a nine-year lease agreement with the owner of its office building at Gole Market which will be renewed every three years. The carrier has to pay Rs 240,000 monthly including service tax. The rent will be increased by 15 percent every three years, according to the officials. Nnnn RAHABILITATION OF KASKI FLOOD VICTIMS START Kathmandu, 6 June: A month after the ‘Himalayan tsunami’ left a trail of devastation in villages in Kaski district, the government has started rehabilitating families displaced by the Seti flash flood, LalPrasad Sharma writes in The Kathmandu Post from Pokhara.. Twenty-two families from Sadal, Abang, Chibang and Talunge in Machapuchhre VDC will be provided with plots of land at Sano Khobang village, according to VDC Secretary Toyanath Acharya. The displaced families will be allowed to use the land as they please, he said. They will, however, not get the land ownership documents for the time being. The flash flood on May 5 killed around 70 people and displaced scores of families living in settlements downstream. In the wake of the disaster, the displaced families have been taking shelter at their friends’ and relatives’. With the local administration deciding to rehabilitate the displaced on the public plots of land, some families have already started building temporary shelters there. “The location has been decided and we will now shift our focus on other relief programmes,” said Local Development Officer Ishwar Raj Poudel, also the secretary of the District Natural Disaster Rescue and Relief Committee. Different NGOs and locally formed committees also extended financial and material support to the flood victims. Annapurna Relief Fund, for instance, provided Rs 50,000 each to six families. Nnnn MAOIST SPLIT TO BE ANNOUNCED 15 JUNE SAYS CP GAJUREL Kathmandu, 6 June: Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Secretary CP Gajurel today said the gathering of party’s radical faction scheduled to begin on June 15 will take a formal decision to part ways from the party, The Himalayan Times reports.. Addressing an interaction, he said Dahal’s claim that he would quit as party chairman was mere propaganda and added that even if he quit that would not solve the problem. “The question is whether he admits to his mistake or not, whether he is ready to correct party’s line or not,” he added. Gajurel, an influential leader of the hardline faction led by senior vice-chairman Mohan Baidhya, claimed that the gathering itself would christen the new party. He hastened to add that the radical faction would prefer to go by the established name that the party had been using. Addressing a function in the capital today, another hardline leader, Dev Gurung, said Baidhya faction was ready to join the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML in the streets to pressure the Baburam Bhattarai-led government to form a consensus government. Gurung said the prime minister dissolved the Constituent Assembly in order to remain in power and said unless a political consensus was forged crisis would not be resolved. Speaking at the interaction, Gurung clarified that his faction was ready to support the NC and CPN-UML’s agitation for a consensus government. He further opined that the election would not help resolve the crisis and demanded that a broader political conference be called. However, Gajurel said the radical faction of his party would not physically take part in the protest programmes organised by NC and UML but would express solidarity. Meanwhile, Gajurel said his faction would organise an interaction with the diplomats and experts in foreign affairs to have their take on an all-party roundtable conference to resolve the impasse. nnnn