INDIAN REGISTERED TRUCK SET ON FIRE Kathmandu, 25 June: A gang of hooligans set a truck bearing Indian number plate on fire at Ratna Nagar in Chitwan on Sunday night, RSS reports from Chitwan. The group sprinkled petrol on the truck with registration number NL 02 K 7661that was heading towards Narayangadh from Raxual, according to the District Police Office, Chitwan. Members of the gang that came on motorcycles stopped the cargo vehicle at Ratna Nagar-3 last night, ordered the driver and his assistant to come out of the vehicle and torched it. The front part of the truck has been burnt. Thw fire was brought doused with the help of fire fighters. It is said the truck was carrying small vehicles and various goods of the British Embassy in Nepal. Police is hunting for the miscreants nnnn. NA PREPARES FOR INTEGRATION Kathmandu, 25 June: The Nepal Army (NA) is all set to start selecting former Maoist combatants to be inducted in the national army next week, Phanindra Dahal reports in The Kathmandu Post. . The commencement of the selection process will end the protracted stalemate on the fate of 3,123 former PLA combatants who opted for integration during the regrouping process in April. The process will be the final step in mainstreaming the former rebel soldiers living in cantonments since the peace process began in 2006. Preparations for the selection process come amid reports that former combatants putting up in 15 makeshift camps are increasingly frustrated over the delay in the integration process. No progress has been made since the handover of the combatants, cantonments and weapons to the NA on April 10. According to officials, a selection board formed by the Special Committee and led by the prime minister is busy making final preparations to kick start the recruitment process. “The panel has recently concluded a series of meetings and is all set to begin the process as per the decision taken by the Special Committee two months ago,” said Ramindra Chhetri, the NA spokesperson. “Most probably, the selection process will begin next week.” Chhetri said plans are afoot to begin the process on July 1. The selection board, comprising representatives from the NA and the Public Service Commission, is awaiting a response from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) for the last two months on whether the date of birth mentioned in the citizenship or the one on the identity card issued by the United Nations Mission In Nepal (UNMIN) should be the basis for integration. “Parties have already agreed that the information verified by UNMIN would be the basis for integration. The seven-point deal signed on November 1 clearly says that the combatants would be given concessions on age and educational status based on information collected by UNMIN,” said Balananda Sharma, the Special Committee Secretariat Coordinator. Sharma suggested that the PMO respond immediately so that the integration process can move forward. According to officials in the Special Committee, around 500 to 700 combatants have backtracked from integration and expressed their wish to retire. If they go ahed with their plan, the number of combatants to be integrated in the Army will go below 2,500. The NA plans to conduct the selection process for the rank of junior personnel in its seven regional barracks and for officers in its barracks in Bharatpur. According to sources, the process for the lower ranks should be completed within seven days, but it could take a maximum of two weeks for the officers. Sharma said the government must release funds for those combatants who no longer want to serve in the Army to ensure quick progress in the selection process. Nnnn INDIA PROPOSES CLOSING DOWN KOSHI PROJECT OFFICE Kathmandu, 25 June:- India has proposed suspending the Joint Project Office (JPO) assigned to conduct a feasibility study for the Sapta Koshi High Dam Multipurpose Project and the Sun Koshi storage-cum-diversion scheme. The JPO was set up in 2004 and is based in Biratnagar, Mahesh Acharya writes in The Kathmandu Post from New Delhi.. India’s plan to shut it down temporarily has come amid obstructions from local groups preventing it from doing its job. Last week, officials of the Joint Technical Team from the two countries met in the Indian capital New Delhi to discuss the hindrances faced during the feasibility study. “It has been so many years since we set up the office, but even the feasibility study has not been completed. If work cannot go ahead, what is the meaning of paying for the costs of the office and the officials posted there?” said a source quoting Indian officials. There are currently 40 officials working at the JPO, 30 from India and the rest from Nepal. Meanwhile, Nepali officials have told their Indian counterparts that the hindrances should be sorted out at the political level. “Local NGOs and the concerned groups at the prospective project site have a lot of demands, and we can observe some anti-dam lobbyists behind this,” said Dilli Bahadur Singh, director general of the Department of Electricity Development who headed the Nepali team at the meeting. “The problems at the project site seem to be of a political nature. We need a political move, but we don’t have an energy minister now, and the prime minister who is looking after this ministry is out of the country,” Singh added. According to Singh, a geological study has not been done while hydrological and seismological studies have been completed. “Local people obstructed the work of drilling, and the geological study could not go ahead,” Singh said. Though the Joint Technical Team meets regularly every six months, the officials held their meeting two months ahead of schedule following obstructions to the geological study. The last meeting was held in Kathmandu in February where the officials agreed to carry out the joint feasibility study by the end of 2013. The Joint Ministerial Commission on Water Resources (JMCWR) held last year in New Delhi had directed that a Detailed Project Report be prepared by February 2013. “It is not possible to meet the deadline as we have a lot of work to do. The environmental study, which is yet to be started, takes two and a half to three years to complete,” said Singh. nnnn