ADBL EARNS RS.1861 MILLION NET PROFIT Kathmandu, 16Aug.: Agriculture Development Bank Ltd. (ADBL) increased profit in Q4 of the last fiscal year ending 15 July to Rs. 1851 million compared to the same quarter the previous year. The bank in same quarter the previous year earned a net profit of Rs.1576.1 million. The bank along with Nepal Bank Ltd, Nepal’s first commercial bank, has received permission to increase their paid-up capital. Nnnn PM SPENDS NIGHT WITHCHIRWAN CHEPANGS Kathmandu, 16 Aug.: - As part of his campaign of visiting a village and holding interaction with the local people every month, Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai arrived at Siddhi VDC of Chitwan district on Wednesday, Dipendra Baduwal and Bimal Khatiwada, write in The Kathmandu Post from Siddi, Chitwan. . The prime minister journeyed to the Chepang village from Shaktikhor on foot accompanied by his security personnel, activists from the UCPN (Maoist), representatives from the Poverty Alleviation Fund and other local government officers. Siddhi village is home to 83-year-old Bandipure Chepang, who has been spending his life in a cave and was featured in the recent editions of the Kantipur daily and The Kathmandu Post. Prime Minister Bhattarai had expressed his interest to visit the village after reading a news article about Bandipure. Upon reaching the village, the prime minister held interaction with villagers and listened to their problems. The villagers told the prime minister that they had little or no access to facilities like schools, health service, road and electricity. Bhattarai assured the villagers to attend to their problems immediately and said the government was planning to implement a long-term programme to uplift the lifestyle of the Chepang community. Chief Secretary Lilamani Poudel and Vice President of the Poverty Alleviation Fund Janakraj Joshi pledged to start the development works in the Chepang village as told by the prime minister. The prime minister also met with Bandipure and provided him with a monetary assistance of Rs 10,000. Meanwhile, the team from the Poverty Alleviation Fund donated blankets, rice and clothes to the villagers. Prime Minister Bhattarai spent his night at a local sub-health post. nnnn INDIA CUT POWER SUPPLY, COMING DRY SEASON WILL BE NEPAL’S WORST Kathmandu, 16 Aug.: The ongoing power crisis is likely to worsen in the days to come as the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the country's sole power utility, has failed to generate power from its stations, The Kathmandu Post reports. Poor monsoon rains, coupled with the inability of the NEA to generate power by constructing new hydro power projects, have worsened load-shedding in the country, according to an official at the NEA. Consumers have been facing daily power cuts of five hours on an average, even during the monsoon season. Assistant director and chief of the NEA's Load Dispatch Centre Bhuwan Chhetri said the situation had gotten worse with India reducing power supply to the country since last week. "We have been importing around 130MW of power from India to meet our demands for the past few years," said Chhetri. “However, citing an increase in power demands in their own country, India slashed the export to Nepal from last week.” Nepal is now receiving a mere 80MW from India. Presently, there is a power deficiency of around 550MW in the country as the demand is around 990MW. Last year, only 8MW of power was added to the national grid and this year has been no different. Meanwhile, the current water level at the Kulekhani Hydro Electricity Project (60MW), the only reservoir hydropower project in the country, is 10 metres less than it was last year this time, leading to a significant drop in power generation. “Power supply forecast for the upcoming dry season is more serious. We are likely to experience the worst power crisis this country has seen so far if immediate measures are not taken,” said Chhetri. nnnn MEDIA GOOGLE “This [desertion of cantonments y former PLA fighters] happened because of poor management of food and drinking water, All of them are in touch with the party and the commanders and they will return once there is progress in the integration process.” (Former PLA Commander Shantu Darai, The Kathmandu Post. 16 Aug.) nnnn