PM TO INTERACT WITH RADIO NEPAL LISTENERS FRIDAY Kathmandu, 29 June: Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai will answer queries of listeners of state-owned Radio Nepal Friday evening The prime minister launched the monthly programme after being installed as government chief 11 months ago. Premier Bhattarai launched a new programme to spend one night every month at a village and directly interact with people after announcement of elections for constituent assembly (CA) 22 November. Nnnn INDIA REINFORCING NEPAL-INIA BORDER Kathmandu, 29 June: According to the security strengthening plan for the Nepal border, over the next five years, 89 new BoPs [Border Out Posts] will be created [by India’s Sasha Sema Bal (SSB)] and the aim is to reduce inter-BoP distance to 3.47 km, PTI reports from New Delhi. At present, India has 450 BoPs along the Indo-Nepal border and the distance between two BoP;s is 4.5 km. The Nepal border is prone to smuggling--- while it has also come to light that terrorists have used this border to cross over to India. nnnn SEPARATE OFFICE FOR INFORMATION AT PM’S OFFICE Kathmandu, 29 June: Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai has expressed commitment that he would set up a separate office to provide information at his Office to establish citizens´ right to information, RSS reports. Receiving the annual report of the fiscal year 2067/068 BS prepared by the National Information Commission (NIC) on Thursday, PM Dr Bhattarai lauded the role of the NIC, saying that it played very significant role on the issues of the public concern. Its role would be further important in the days ahead, he added, according Chief Information Commissioner Binay Kumar Kasjoo. As many as 47 cases were filed, and appealed in the NIC about information seeking during the fiscal year and the NIC took necessary actions over the cases. The NIC has concluded that the Supreme Court gave a verdict that the students of the Tribhuvan University had the rights to see the answer sheets they wrote on was one of the examples the right to information (RTI) was set up. It was because of the active role of the NIC, so a great achievement. As per the SC verdict, the TU needs to keep safely the records of practical exams and provide necessary information once the students demand. The NIC report has directed the government to amend the provision of keeping secret the reports of various investigation commissions because the citizens and stakeholders were deprived of information about this. Moreover, another great achievement in the RTI regime was that the 2067-report on study and investigation over the evasion of tax with fake bill and invoices was made public. On the occasion, Chief Information Commissioner Kasajoo said the atmosphere of the easy access to information by the public as per the RTI Act and laws was still not made. Effective leadership and commitment from the concerned bodies were essential to put into practice the RTI laws. A team of information commissioners including the Chief Information Commissioner had reached the PM´s Office to submit the annual report. Nnnn ..