NC BODY ON ETHNIC PROVINCES TO PRESENT REPORT FRIDAY Kathmandu, 20 July: Main opposition NC team is submitting its report on demands of some Janajatis and Madeshi leaders for a single ethnic province in a federal structure. The 11-member team formed one month ago is headed by veteran leader Bhim Bahadur Tamang. The report is submitted its report to party ahead a a meeting of separate meetings of presidents and secretaries where the reports will also be discussed. Another opposition UML has opposed similar demands and taken action against leaders active in the drive. nnnn MAOIST PLENUM CONTINUES Kathmandu, 20 July: Maoist plenum continues Friday with seven groups expected to submit their written comments on Chairman Prachanda’s political report at the body’ meeting after18 months. The plenum is discussing a party strategy after a split, a general convention meet likely February 2013 and other issues. “The allegations have to be cleared to help create a new revolutionary party, “ Maoist military leader Nanda Kishore Pun said of allegations of fund misuse at cantonments where former combatants were kept for six years for integration of Nepal Army. Fighters demanded massive irregularities of funds. Two party commissions have been formed to look into the charge and even assets of top party leaders. Pun tried to dismiss charges of lack of transparency and financial mismanagement saying government was also involved in the running of cantonments/ :Government is involved in the management of cantonments,” Pun said. There are seven . s beenformed in miseUN saidimplement ACTION AGAINST BUSINESSES IN EASTERN REGION Kathmandu, 20 July: The regional office of the Department of Standards and Metrology (DSM), Biratnagar, has taken action to a number of 2,267 business houses based in the eastern region for substandard metrology and cheating the consumers, RSS reports from Biratnagar.. According to the office, action to the traders was taken during the last fiscal year after carrying out monitoring of the markets in all 16 districts in the region. Chief of the office, Shashi Bhusan Yadav said licenses for metrology of some 4,150 firms were renewed by deploying teams in different markets. The office said that 1,223 traders were given license for metrology. Similarly, licenses of 214 petrol pumps were renewed after carrying out monitoring in the region. The office also collected revenue Rs 1.64 million during the last fiscal year. RSS nnnn MOHAN BAIDYA’S CONFIDANT IN INDIA TOGET SUPPORT Kathmandu, 20 July: In a bid to expand his party’s international base, an influential leader of the newly formed CPN-Maoist is in India for the past one week, Mahesh Acharya, reports in The Kathmandu Post.. At a time when party Chairman Mohan Baidya is on a China visit, international bureau in-charge of the party, Dharmendra Bastola, has kept himself busy here meeting Indian leaders who are believed to be watching political developments in Nepal. On Thursday, Bastola met Sitaram Yetury, leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and discussed about the formation of his party, its policy and the present political situation in Nepal. He also held discussions with General Secretary of Nationalist Congress Party DP Tripathi. “I tried to know India’s views on Nepal and informed them about my party policy,” Bastola said. “During the meetings I found that the Indian leaders were in favour of peace and constitution in Nepal.” However, he was quick to add that the Indian side did not seem so in practice. “Nepal and India have relations like that between two colonial states after Sugauli and the 1950 treaty. In a true sense we want to transform it as the relations between the two states and their people.” The leader said that his party wants to establish friendly relations with India. Before its defection from the UCPN (Maoist), CPN-Maoist leaders used to blame India for intervening in Nepal’s internal affairs and demanded that the party leadership declare the southern neighbour as the “principal enemy”. In another context, Bastola said his party wants to reinstate the dissolved CA for a short time to promulgate a new constitution if the parties forge consensus. Nnnn RIVERS OVERFLOW BANKS IN DANG CAUSING THREAT AND CONCERN Kathmandu, 20 July: A bridge over the Rapti in Banke district risks being swept away as the swelling river is eroding its banks, J. Pandey, Thakur Singh Tharu write in The Kathmandu Post from Nepalgunj. The erosion is fast approaching one of the ends of the 400-metre bridge that links nine VDCs to the east of Rapti with Nepalgunj. Unless the ongoing flood and erosion is controlled in earnest, there is high probability of the bridge collapsing, said Bhilananda Yadav, engineer at the Water Induced Disaster Prevention Office (WIDPO). As many as 80,000 people in the Baghauda region would be directly affected in case of a disaster. The water level reading in Rapti crossed the danger point on Thursday. Meanwhile, the sirens installed at the District Administration Office (DAO) and the Ministry of Home Affairs went off, warning of a danger. Chakrapani Pandey, assistant Chief District Officer, said the river could sweep the bridge any time. A team from the DAO and the Nepal Police visited the site in the afternoon. Last year’s flood eroded more than 200 metres of the embankment to the north of the bridge. As the breach was not plugged, the river is now eroding the banks from the same point. The WIDPO, District Road Division Office and the People’s Embankment Office all shrugged off responsibility to repair the infrastructure. nnnn MEDIA GOOGLE “The Foreign Ministry has directed its missions in Egypt and South Africa to rescue around 20 Nepali migrant workers stranded in Madagascar for the past four months. The workers have run out of money to pay for food and accommodation.” (The Kathmandu Post, 20 July) nnnn