MORNING CAPITAL TEMPERATURE 24 DEGREES CELSIUS Kathmandu, 28 June: The morning temperature in the capital Thursday was 24 degrees Celsius. The mercury is expected to rise to 32 degrees Celsius in the afternoon n a cloudy day. nnnn SEVEN JEWELS MISSING FROM BHOTO Kathmandu, 28 June: Seven jewels of Rato Machndranath bhoto were found are missing before ts displayfrom the chariot this year, Gorkhapatra reports. They were kept in a thaili [purse] which was inspected tis year before display of bhoto. Patan Guthi was entrusted responsibility this year for the bhoto display. The jewels had fallen off the bhoto and were kept in the purses. (Note: The original bhoto is on display at a California museum. Government has not made any effort to get it back nor has any effort been made to find out how the vest was smuggled out of the country.) nnnn 12 ACCUSED IN IC SCAM RELEASED Kathmandu, 28 June: In a major setback to the Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI) in Indian currency misappropriation case, the Parsa District Court on Wednesday ordered the release of 12 individuals accused of misappropriating Indian currency by producing fake custom clearance documents, Bhusan Yadav writes in The Kathmandu Post from Birgunj.. The court ordered to this effect stating that the seized amount be considered as the amount of property to be confiscated and in turn be charged as bail amount. While filing the case, the DRI has claimed that as per the existing provisions, if the property to be confiscated is more than Rs 10 million, the accused is liable to face three years in jail in addition to a fine three times of the confiscated amount. However, a single bench of judge Baidya Nath Gupta stated that the amount seized from the accused is less than Rs 10 million and that no Indian currency was recovered from them. The court slapped a penalty of Rs 3 million on Sandip Shah, Rs 2.7 million on Arabinda Kumar, Rs 2.1 million on Ramesh Kumar, Rs 3.4 million on Sukesh Mishra and Rs 2.1 million on Mukul Mishra. The court verdict came as a big setback to the DRI that has sought stringent action against the fraudsters. According to the DRI, the accused had misappropriated Indian currency on the pretext of importing goods from India. The department in September had found out that traders had been involved in transferring Indian currency to India through banks by producing fake customs clearance documents on the pretext of importing goods. “The verdict is silent on the fake documents recovered from the accused” said The DRI had also asked the Nepal Rastra Bank to take action against branch managers concerned of nine commercial banks through which Indian currency was transferred to India. According to the DRI, the banks concerned failed to abide by the ‘Know Your Customer (KYC) norms. Nnnn SETI ERODES BANKS Kathmandu, 28 June: The Seti river is fast eroding its banks, putting the Pokhara-Baglung highway at risk, LalPrasad SHrma writes in The Kathmandu Post from Pokhara.. Breaching its banks, the river has advanced 60 meters towards the eastern side of the highway at Yamdi area in Hemja, Kaski. The river has eroded up to 60 meters of its 300-metre banks. Nine households at Yamdi had been displaced by floods in the river on June 18, while six other households are preparing to shift to a safer place after the river started advancing towards the settlement on Tuesday. Local people said the highway would be swept away and over 50 houses in the vicinity and local Bal Kalyan Primary School would be at risk if immediate measures were not taken to control the river. The victims said the water level rose up to 12 meters due to the deposition of silt and sand following the May-5 flood. They said the river has also changed its course and eroded the protected area. Local people said that although the authorities concerned including the local administration and road division office were informed of the situation, no initiatives except a site inspection have been taken to contain the river. They have demanded immediate rehabilitation of the displaced, construction of embankments, dissemination of information about the situation and long-term measures to control the river. Min Bahadur Thapa, secretary of Seti-Gandaki Flood Victims Concerned Committee, Hemaja, said 10-20 meter high embankments should be constructed at Lamachaur to control the river. “The road division office and regional road office have been asked to take relevant measures,” said Chief District Officer Chetnath Bhattarai, also chairman of the committee. Umesh Bindu Shrestha, chief of the division road office, said that they would start work in the river by diverting its course at Lamachaur-road section. The flood victims are awaiting rehabilitation. “The river swept away our concrete house and farmland. We are now worried about our survival,” said Parbati Sunar, whose family has been living in a hut in her neighbour’s farmland. Meanwhile, Kaski Chamber of Commerce and Industries (CCI) has urged the authorities to control the river and remain alert about possible further threats. Issuing a statement on Wednesday, Sanjiv Bahadur Koirala, CCI general secretary, said that some parts of Kaski and Dhaulagiri zones might face shortage of essential commodities if the highway got blocked. Nnnn MEDIA GOOGLE ‘The PM wants us to follow his path of consensus, but NC will never follow Baburampath.): (NC leader Dr. Minendra Rijal in The Himalayan Times, 29 June) (Note: Rijal and UML’s Bhim Rawal said at the meet the NC and UML will boycott meetings of a special committee on army integration headed ex-officio by the premier.) nnnn