GOVT.OFFICES REOPEN TUESDAY Kathmandu, 30 Oct.: Government offices reopened Tuesday after a long closure for Dashain. The reopening marks the end of Dashain. Tihar holidays begin 13 November. Nnnn UML TEA RECEPTION TUESDAY Kathmandu, 30 Oct.:Opposition UML is holding a tea reception Tuesday to mark the festive season. NC held a reception Monday. Nnnn APF-PLAYS FRIENDS CLUB IN SAFAL POKHARA CUP Kathmandu, 30 Oct.: APC meets Friends Club in the opening match of the Safal Pokhara Cup International Football Tournament in Pokhara Tuesday. Twelve teams from home and abroad are participating on the 12-day—eight are home teams. Clubs from Bangladesh, India and Bhutan are participating. The winner will collect a prize money of Rs 305,000 and runner-up Rs 150,000. Nnnn ________________________________________ RAM BAHADUR THAPA CPN-MAOIST CANDIDATE FOR PM Kathmandu, 30 Oct : Claiming itself to be the third alternative political force in the country, CPN-Maoist has formally announced the party´s General Secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa as their candidate for the post of new prime Minister, Kiran Pun writes in Republica. During a meeting of the party´s central committee at party headquarters in Buddha Nagar on Monday, the party also called on the Baburam Bhattarai-led government to step down without further delay and that political dialogue should be held on the formation of the new government and its leader. Talking to Republica, the party´s secretary Netra Bikram Chand said Thapa should be given the post of prime minister for four different reasons. Chand argued that his party should get chance to lead national consensus government by virtue of becoming a progressive force. “Since UML and Maoist leaders have already led the government, there are only NC and CPN-Maoist left to lead the government. Our party´s leadership alone can give out let to the country,” he said. Chand, likewise, argued that since Thapa belonged to ethnic community, there was a possibility of consensus. “Since he is patriotic person and has been fighting for the cause of people, his leadership will guarantee peace and new statute in the country,” he further said. Earlier on Monday, party Chairman Mohan Baidya ruled out the possibility of forming a new government under the leadership of Nepali Congress (NC), and instead floated the name of the party´s General Secretary Thapa for the post of next prime minister. He had added that the new government should be led by a republican, federal and nationalist force. Thapa was the defence minister in the UCPN (Maoist) chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led government. Even before the formal split from the UCPN (Maoist) Baidya led faction had formed a front with the fringe leftist parties to develop a third new alternative force under the leadership of party vice-chairman CP Gajurel. During the CC meeting on Monday, Baidya presented an 84-page long party´s political document. The next meeting will be held on Thursday after the CC members make a thorough study of document that is divided into 13 different parts. Nnnn DEOPOITS OF COMMERCIAL BANKS FALL Kathmandu, 30 Oct. : Deposits of commercial banks fell by over Rs 1 billion over the first two months of the current fiscal year as downward revision of interest rates propelled depositors of category ´A´ financial institution to migrate to development banks and finance companies, Republica reports. A total of 32 commercial banks reported deposit collection of Rs 860.64 billion in the two-month period through mid-Sept as against Rs 861.69 billion in mid-July, according to a recent Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) report. The fall was recorded as the latest rate reduction of up to three percentage points on certain portfolios triggered flight of cash parked in demand and fixed deposit accounts. The central bank report shows that the size of demand deposit had shrunk by 9.1 percent to Rs 82.88 billion in the two-month period through mid-Sept, while cash in fixed deposit accounts declined by three percent to Rs 288.80 billion in the same period. “The deposit portfolio reduced in size after commercial banks started slashing interest rates to discourage depositors from stashing money in their institutions,” a banker told Republica on condition of anonymity. “Although shooing away customers is not a normal business practice, banks resorted to this measure after they started losing money because of mismatch in flow of depositors and borrowers.” As banks started losing depositors, development banks and finance companies witnessed higher flow of deposits as their rates were higher than those offered by category ´A´ financial institutions. In the first two months of the current fiscal year, development banks saw deposit growth of 2.8 percent to Rs 125.57 billion, as against decline of 1.9 percent in the same period of last fiscal year. Although development banks also reported decline in demand deposits, they witnessed 7.9 percent rise in fixed deposits to Rs 40.13 billion. Like development banks, finance companies also recorded rise in fixed deposits in the first two months of the current fiscal year. These category ´C´ financial institutions, which had reported fixed deposits of Rs 36.07 billion as of mid-July, saw the size increase to Rs 37.59 billion by mid-Sept. This helped finance companies to post 1.9 percent hike in total deposits as against a 3.7-percent fall recorded in the same period last fiscal year. With this rise, finance companies reported deposit collection of Rs 76.85 billion as of mid-Sept, as against Rs.75.50 billion in mid-July. Nnnn PM NOT RESIGNING TO PLACATE OPPOSITION Kathmandu, 30 Oct.: Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai today made it clear the national consensus government formed under his leadership would hold the next election in the country, The Himalayan Times .writes from Argaknchi Addressing his party’s function in Argha, Bhattarai said, “There is no legal provision to form another government as per the Interim Constitution. That’s why parties can go for fresh polls by giving shape of national unity to the incumbent government.” The prime minister expressed hope that parties would find an outlet to the political stalemate within mid-November. “Country will get a way out very soon as talks between the parties are underway,” he added. Bhattarai who is also the UCPN-Maoist Vice-chairman, held that his party had opted for the revival of the dissolved Constituent Assembly for a short period. “We have kept both options CA revival and fresh polls open. If the Nepali Congress and UML have new option then we are ready for deliberation,” Bhattarai said. On a different note, the PM said all the parties were equally responsible for the current political deadlock. He said parties have no choice but to make consensus and extricate the country from the crises. “We all are traveling in a same boat. If the boat develops a hole, all will sink,” he noted. Claiming that his government had prepared grounds for national prosperity, the PM said the government had brought 201-point work plan for good governance, introduced IDs for poor and formed investment board for attracting national and international investment for projects of national importance. Bhattarai held that if he got the opportunity to govern for ten years then he would uproot poverty and unemployment from the country. At the programme, Minister for Physical Planning and Works Top Bahadur Raymajhi said that UCPN-Maoist was seeking for economic revolution and transformation in the country. In another context, he said only his party could establish the agendas of transformation in the country. Raymajhi clarified that the prime minister would not put in his papers in the prevailing political situation. He also accused the NC and CPN-UML of trying to capture power at any cost. Nnnn CONTROVERSY OVER DEATH OF SPORTS OFFICIAL CONTINIES Kathmandu, 30 Oct.:The stove has virtually stopped burning at Buddhimaya Lopchan’s rented room in Jorpati after she has lost the family’s main breadwinner. More than that, she is finding it difficult to come to terms with what she has heard: Her wheel-chair bound husband missed the flight back to Kathmandu and committed suicide in London’s Paralympic Village in the early hours of September 11, Prakash Rimal writes in. The Himalayan Times. “Why would he choose to kill himself in another country, in a place half a world away?” This question has bothered her no end since she heard the shocking news. She refuses to believe her husband would do such a thing. The same is true of Santa Bahadur, her 26-year-old son, who speaks highly of his father. “He used to drive heavy trucks till he met with an accident 25 years ago. He suffered spinal injury and has been paralytic since then, but he dedicated his life to service of the disabled,” he said. Santa Bahadur has been attending several phone calls in the past week. Often, the caller is either a policeman or an airline staff asking him to come to the airport and receive a consignment from London that landed on October 21. He refused to oblige. “The recipient of the consignment is Surendra Bahadur Basnyat, Chairman of the National Paralympic Committee. He should receive it first, then only will the family accept it,” he said. Like his mom, Santa Bahadur doesn’t think his father could have killed himself in an alien land. “They killed him or created an environment for him to commit suicide.” He accuses National Paralympic Committee officials, thus. “This should be investigated thoroughly and the family must be compensated,” says Santa. The 26 year old has knocked on the doors of the Chief District Administration demanding action against those refusing to explain the cause behind his father’s death. In a three-page chargesheet registered at Kathmandu District Administration Office, he has implicated Chairman Basnyat, General Secretary Pashupati Parajuli, Secretary Rajendra Adhikari and his dad’s roommate Tek Bahadur Gurung in the “mysterious murder’ of his dad and demanded thorough investigation into the circumstances leading to his father’s death. THT’s repeated attempts to get comments, including the controversial Committee’s official statement on the death, have failed. While Chairman Basnyat would neither receive calls nor respond to text messages, General Secretary Parajuli had one excuse or the other to avoid talking. “Newspapers have written all that we have to say,” Parajuli said curtly and disconnected his cell phone. Secretary Adhikari, the only official occasionally available for comment, was of little help. Even he stopped entertaining calls. These perhaps give enough grounds to the Lopchans to doubt whether Man Bahadur committed suicide and to suspect that he was murdered for protesting irregularities in the Committee, including the jumbo team of officials comprising wives, son and son-in-law to manage two players and a coach” participating in the London Parlympic Games. “On August 29, my father called my uncle Dilip Lama and talked to him about how he was being singled out for protesting against the 20-member contingent heading for the London Paralympics,” according to the chargesheet, filed on October 17. “My father also told my uncle that they had even threatened to make him disappear in London.” As things stand, the family is not at all convinced with what they have heard about Man Bahadur’s death, nor are they in a mood to accept the body, which was shifted to TU Teaching Hospital yesterday. As for the family, the Paralympic Committee has done precious little even by way of consoling the bereaved. nnnn