BANK DEFAULTER NABBED Kathmandu, 23 July: Police Sunday arrested bank loan defaulter Mohan Sahani from the capital. He was absconding after being convicted seven years ago by a special Court. He was slapped a Rs, 105.05 million finefor defrauding Nepal Bank Ltd causing it a nd Rs.190 million loss. nnnn MEDIA GOOGLE ‘We should begin where we left off when the Constituent Assembly was deadlocked and dissolved. Once there is a deal, we are ready to hand over the government leadership to the Nepali Congress. :We have no intention of prolonging the tenure of the government by even a day, but the PM will not resign without consensus.” (Maoist Chief Prachanda in The Kathmandu Post, 23 July) Nnnn ABUSES OF COURIER SERVICES FOR DRUGS TRAFFICKING BECOMING PROBLEMATIC Kathmandu, 23 July: Courier service is emerging as a new means of safe drug trafficking in Nepal, say experts, The Kathmandu Post reports. According to the police, the lack of an efficient monitoring mechanism is the main reason behind the parcel delivery service being misused for drug trafficking both nationally as well as in the international market. Owing to an increasing surveillance of the illegal activity, traffickers have started using couriers to deliver consignments instead of hiring professionals to smuggle the drug, said SSP Nawa Raj Silwal of the Narcotics Drugs Control Law Enforcement Unit (NDCLEU) under the Nepal Police. Addressing a programme in the Capital on Sunday, SSP Silwal highlighted the need for technical support from both government as well as courier service providers. DSP Rabindra Regmi of the NDCLEU said the main reason behind the courier service abuse by drug smugglers was lax security measures. “Most courier companies don’t even require a detailed identity of the sender,” he said. This provides smugglers safety while dispatching the consignment. “Unless courier companies are strict about senders’ original as well as detailed identity, the problem is likely to persist,” he added. Moreover, according to the police, smugglers do not even courier the consignment to the real receiver, mostly in foreign countries. To protect the dealer on the other side, smugglers sending the drugs often choose innocent persons in the destination, from whom the real receivers collect their parcel. “They are contacted through family or other relations and requested to keep the parcel until the receiver comes to claim his/her possession,” said Regmi. Most often, the courier receiver does not know what the parcel contains. According to Regmi, the person in the foreign country, despite his/her innocence, gets into this trap, mostly due to sentiments associated with their Nepali identity. “Whenever they are requested to help any other Nepali, they readily do so,” he said, adding that the issue could persist unless the public starts becoming sceptical of such requests. Police came across a similar situation in February when an innocent Nepali studying medicine in Japan was trapped. Another Nepali lecturer in a Canadian university was brought under the smuggling web in a similar fashion a couple of months ago. Narendra Khatiwada, chairman of the Courier Service Association of Nepal, said the misuse of the service had been rampant of late. “This is not only hampering the courier business but also widening the scope of crime,” he said. “Courier companies should build a strong monitoring mechanism to identify what the parcels they deliver contain. If anything suspicious is noticed, they should immediately seek police help. A close coordination between companies and the police seems inevitable in controlling the increasing misuse of the courier business for drug trafficking.” Nnnn WORK STARTS ON BUTWAL, GORAKHPUR TRANSMISSION LINE Kathmandu, 23 July: The government has begun homework for the construction of the second cross-border transmission line between Nepal and India. The Ministry of Energy sent a letter to its Indian authorities through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs a few weeks ago in this regard. The Foreign Ministry however, has asked the Energy Ministry to get Finance Ministry’s approval first for the construction of the Butwal-Gorakhpur cross-border transmission line . “We are moving with the second cross-border transmission line project as there will be a number of hydropower projects in the Western Nepal in future and we need transmission lines to evacuate electricity generated by them,” said Energy Secretary Hari Ram Koirala. He said the Energy Ministry will soon seek the Finance Ministry’s approval and then send letter to Indian authorities. “As power trade between the two countries has immense potential, we should not delay the second cross-border transmission line,” Koirala said. Nepal and India had agreed for the construction of the 400KV transmission line during the first meeting of the ministerial-level Joint Commission on Water Resources (JMCWR) held in New Delhi in the second week of February. According to Energy Ministry officials, the Indian side has sought Nepal’s commitment on when and how much energy will be traded. “The Indian government will not invest in the transmission line unless we assure that we are extending power trade in future,” said senior ministry officials, adding that the ministry is also preparing a detailed proposal of the additional power exchange between the two countries. A feasibility study conducted by the Nepal Electricity Authority in 2006 had suggested the transmission line’s length of 130 km (30-35 km on Nepali land) and estimated the cost at Rs 4.25 billion. “The study was conducted for 132 KV transmission line, but it has been upgraded to 400 KV,” said Anup Kumar Upadhyaya, spokesperson for the Energy ministry. He said as there is a huge settlement in the area, another feasibility study should be conducted. The government had previously identified four transmission lines between Nepal and India, including Siligurhi-Anarmani and Duhabhi-Kataiya. However, the Indian side rejected these two lines. The Energy Ministry is planning to seek loans from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the transmission line. “The ministry will approach ADB for the loan after the Finance Ministry approves the proposal,” said an official. Upadhyaya said about 1,200MW electricity can be evacuated from the second transmission line. “The construction of the second transmission line is necessary especially because more than five big hydropower projects with a collective capacity of around 20,000 MW are conducting feasibility study in Gandak basin in the West,” he said. “As the country cannot alone consume the total energy generated, it is necessary to export the surplus power to India.” nnnn