GYAN CHANDRA ACHARYA APPOINTED UN UNDER SECRETARY-GENERAL Kathmandu, 15 Aug.: Nepal's Permanent Representative to UN Gyan Chandra Acharya was appointed Tuesday Under Secretary-General for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN- OHRLLS). Kul Chandra Gautam, now retired, served as an assistant secretary- general in the UN system. Government backed Acharya’s candidacy even as he was Nepal’s permanent representative to the UN in New York. Nnnn NEPAL PLAYS IRELAND IN ICC U-19 WORLD CUP Kathmandu, 15 Aug.: Nepal plays Ireland Wednesday in the ICC U-19 World Cup in Townsville, Australia in its second group match after a thrashing from Australia by 212 runs. Nepal has to win to remain in the quarter-final hunt. nnnn. DAHAL HITS BACK AT SUSHIL KOIRALA Kathmandu, 15Aug.: Unified CPN-Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal today held Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala responsible for the existing political deadlock in the country,Tika R Pradhan writes in The Himalayan Times. . Citing two examples – organising press conference to oppose the bill registered by the then Deputy Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula and leaving the meeting of the parties on May 28 despite the possibility of consensus – Dahal claimed that Koirala was attempting to disrupt possible consensus among the parties on drafting new constitution. Addressing the reporters at his residence in Lazimpat, he further said Koirala has been trying to spoil the environment of consensus these days. He claimed that some leaders had told him that Koirala was afraid of his (Dahal’s) increasing popularity within and outside the country following Dahal’s decision to handover all the arms and combatants to the government. “Koirala along with UML leaders feared that if they agree on 10-pradesh model with mixed names they would never compete with me and therefore they had played role to dissolve the CA,” Dahal said. He also said it was surprising that the leaders of the age-old parties could even play with the future of the country to make their competitor unsuccessful. Dahal went on say that Koirala has strong desires to become prime minister but could not express his aspiration and therefore creating problems to the country’s progress. On the proposed Federal Democratic Alliance, the Unified CPN-Maoist chairman said that his party was forced to take the move of forming an alliance after all his efforts to forge consensus went in vain. “Those who accept identity-based federalism, republican set up, constitution from CA, either CA election or reinstatement and NC-led election government after constitution could join the alliance,” he said. Dahal said his alliance could hold talks with the fronts formed by the NC-UML and other parties to forge consensus and give a way out to the existing political deadlock as soon as possible. During the meeting, chairman of the Reporters Club Rishi Dhamala handed over a memorandum to Dahal demanding an early way out of the political crisis. nnnn SPECIAL COMMITTEE COORDINATOR BALANANDA SHARMA PROPOSES RESOLUTION ON MAOIST FORMER PLA INTEGRATION Kathmandu, 15 Aug.:ATHMANDU: The coordinator of the Secretariat of the Special Committee (for supervision, integration and rehabilitation of Maoist combatants) has proposed to the Prime Minister a way out of the current deadlock in the integration process, it is learnt, Lekhnath Pandey writes in The Himalayan Times. Coordinatorr Balananda Sharma, who recently called on Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, in his ‘personal capacity’ also requested the government to call a meeting of the committee at the earliest. In his proposal Sharma suggests possible ways to address disputes that have recently surfaced during the integration process, sources said. “I personally called on the Prime Minister and other members of the Special Committee and urged them call a meeting to conclude the stalled process,” Sharma told The Himalayan Times. He, however, refrained from sharing his proposal, arguing that it was his ‘personal’ input. It is learnt that Sharma has shared his view with colleagues at the secretariat. The selection of 3123 former Maoists former fighters, who chose to join the Nepali Army, commenced formally in the first week of July. But the process was immediately halted after there was a dispute surrounding the age of the fighters. If the army’s age criteria were to be strictly followed, around 26 per cent of combatants would be disqualified for integration. It was primarily due to discrepancies between the records of the UNMIN, the body that recorded the age of the combatants in 2007, and the citizenship cards the combatants recently acquired. The combatants have demanded that the UNMIN’s records be recognised along with the academic degrees, which they obtained later on. But the NA has been saying that the demands are against the spirit of the seven-point-agreement. The fighters have also opposed to taking part in the army’s physical test labelling it as an ‘insult’. It has been learnt that coordinator Sharma has suggested that some physical tests such as measuring of height, weight and chest be done in private. On the age issue, he has suggested that either all unfit be sent for voluntary retirement or a new agreement be reached at the committee, a source said. “The issue of education can also be sorted out through the SC.” The Prime Minister’s personal aide Bishwodeep Pandey, when asked about the meeting of the SC, said “no anytime soon.” Sources said the PM was not enthusiastic to call an SC meeting fearing that opposition parties, particularly Nepali Congress and CPN-UML might not show up as they are demanding his resignation. Nnnn CABINET DIVIDED ON UPPER TRISHULI -1 OPERATING LICENSE WHICHHS BEEN CANCELLED Kathmandu, 15 Aug.: The Cabinet´s Economic Infrastructure Committee meeting today could not decide about reviving the 216 MW Upper Trishuli -1 project as members were divided for and against, Ramesh Prasad Bhusal writes in Republica. “The meeting discussed the hydro project but could not reach any conclusion as the discussion became strenous. So we decided to seek more clarifications from the energy ministry why the license had to be scrapped,” said Minister for Environment, Science and Technology Keshav Man Shakya, who is also a member of the Economic Infrastructure Committee. The license was scrapped a few weeks ago. The license for Upper Trishuli-I was scrapped by the Energy Ministry after the license holder, Nepal Water and Energy Development Company (NWEDC), failed to complete necessary work for receiving the generation license. However, once the license was scrapped, political lobbying started for its revival and it reached even the level of the prime minister. The issue became more complex after IDS Energy and China Hydro submitted an application at the Department of Electricity Development (DoED), seeking a license for the same project just two days after NWEDC´s license was scrapped on June 29. “No one else had applied when we scrapped the license. So, it´s not our duty to predict and take decisions. It was decided as per existing laws,” said a highly placed source at the ministry. According to ministry sources, the prime minister exerted pressured to move forward a proposal to restore the scrapped license to the same company, after which Secretary at Energy Ministry Hari Ram Koirala forwarded the file to the Cabinet for a decision. Following heated discussion at the Cabinet a few days ago, where most of the ministers argued for not reviving the license as that would place moral pressure on the government for breaching legal norms, the file was forwarded to the Cabinet´s Economic Infrastructure Committee for further discussions. The ministers said they were worried that the project was becoming highly politicized and getting blown out of proportion and asked instead for initiating of a new process to award the license through competitive bidding. However, some of the ministers demanded revival of the license, claiming the company´s work was satisfactory and the necessary financial arrangement had also been seen to. “This is a serious issue, so we decided to take a final decision only after getting more details from the energy ministry,” said Shakya, who attended the meeting. Officials at the Ministry of Energy claim that the company had not even completed an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) and other feasibility study processes that were to be completed by the end of five years maximum, a period that ended a month ago. “Their claim is not correct as the work was not completed and the ministry took its decision to scrap the license as per existing law,” said a high-level official under condition of anonymity. “If they are not satisfied they can go to court but turning to media houses and political leaders is no way to seek justice,” he added. nnnn GOVT. GAS DEALERS EAR AGREEMENT Kathmandu, 15 Aug.: The government and striking Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) bottlers on Tuesday agreed form a technical committee to fix the profit margin on import and distribution of gas, Republica reports. According to Narayan Bidari, director general of Department of Commerce and Supplies Management (DCSM), the committee would recommend the reasonable profit margin for bottlers after studying the transport fare and overhead costs while procuring and distributing the LPG. “We have made a draft of an agreement incorporating the points agreed on previous negotiations. Hence, we have called agitating bottlers to come to us for formal negotiation.. We are ready to increase the profit margin if the study suggests so,” said Bidari. Bottlers have demanded the government to raise bottlers´ commission (profit margin) to at least 5 percent of the retail rates, which at the present prices will stand at around Rs 70 per cylinder. So far, they were allowed to take profit of around Rs 30 per cylinder. Nepal LPG Industries Association (NLPGIA) has also been demanding that the government withdraw its decision to introduce dual cylinder and pricing system planned to be enforced from August 17. Bidari, who is also the coordinator of the government negotiating team, said the government was ready to resolve the problems that may crop up during the implementation of the dual cylinder system. However, blue colored cylinders must be supplied to commercial consumers such as hotels, restaurants, factories and automobiles so as to making such users pay as much as actual import rate. As per the new system, the government will allow LPG bottlers to continue selling gas at the existing subsidized price to the household consumers in the red colored cylinders. After series of talks between gas bottlers and officials of Department of Commerce and Supplies Management (DoCSM) failed to yield breakthrough, chief secretary Lila Mani Poudel intervened and issued strong warning to agitators to immediately withdraw their strikes or face tough action enforced through the Essential Service Act that provides sweeping power to law enforcement agencies enabling them to use force to intervene in supplying essential commodities including gas. However, agitating bottlers said they have not fully withdrawn their demands. “Our agitation is still continuing though we are positive on some issue,” said Shiva Ghimire, senior vice president of the association, said. Nnnn