384,210 RECEIVE FOREIGN WORK PERMITS Kathmandu, 14 Aug.: A total of 384,210 people had taken work permit for foreign employment in the fiscal year 2068/69 BS, RSS reports. Of them, 361,555 were men and remaining were women, according to the Ministry of Labour and Employment. A total of 2,465,656 people so far received the work permit for foreign employment, the Ministry said. Of them, 2,408,860 are men and remaining are men. It is said that the Ministry started to keep gender based statistics from the fiscal year 2063/64 BS. Similarly, out of the 2,172 cases of cheating were filed in the last fiscal year. Around Rs. 244 million was collected by settling 59 cases, Spokespersons at the Ministry, Buddhi Bahadur Khadka, said. He said that financial assistance of Rs. 150,000 was provided each to the families of 469 workers who had died in foreign countries in connection with overseas employment. Similarly, Rs. 100,000 was provided each to 64 workers who rendered disabled in course of abroad jobs through Foreign Employment Promotion Board in the last fiscal year. Sharma added that remittance through foreign employment increased by 39.6 per cent comparing to the previous fiscal. nnnn . VALLEY ROAD WIDENING DRIVE TO CONTINUE Kathmandu, 14 Aug.: The task is underway with an objective of widening around 400 kilometers roads including the main and inner roads in the valley, said Bhaikaji Tiwari, District Commissioner of Kathmandu Valley Development Authority, RSS reports. He said the Authority would continue the task until the target was not met though it was disrupted for some days due to some technical problem. So far 60 KM roads in Kathmandu and 11 km roads in Lalitpur district are widened. The government has started the road widening campaign in November last year. District Commissioner Tiwari said a tender has been called to blacktop the widened roads in two rounds. The blacktopping is expected to complete by October/November and March/ April, he said. Nnnn CHURCH CLAIMS IT RECEIVED THREATS FROM HINDU EXTREMISTS Kathmandu, 14 Aug,: A Catholic church in Nepal says it has received threatening phone calls from a person claiming to belong to an underground Hindu group that bombed the church three years ago, AP reports from Kathmandu.. Robin Giri of Assumption Church in the southern suburbs of Kathmandu said Tuesday that the caller last week threatened to bomb the church if they did not give the group money. The caller didn’t specify the amount and said he would call back later. Three people were killed when the church was bombed in May 2009 during prayers. It was the first such attack on a church in Nepal, where most of the population is Hindu and Christians are a small minority. The Nepal Defense Army claimed responsibility for the attack. It wants Nepal to be declared a Hindu state.end of story marker Nnnn