BANGLADESHI WHO BROKE JAILSS IN NEPAL ARRESTED Kathmandu, 28 Nov.: Subrata Bayen, a Bangladeshi who broke jail at Jhumka in Sunsari, Nepal, this month, has been arrested a hideout in Bowbazar Kolkata by the Special Task Force, The Times of India reported. He is the main accused in the grenade attack on an Awami League rally in Dhaka in 2004, where 24 people died. "A country-made gun, ammunition and fake Indian currency of Rs 11 lakh were recovered from his possession," said police commissioner R K Pachnanada. Sources, however, hinted that Bayen was picked up from Haroa area of North 24-Paraganas. Bayen, who hails from Bangladesh's Barishal district, stepped into the underworld as a teenager. By his mid-twenties, he had turned into one of the most dreaded names in Bangladesh. There was an Interpol red corner notice for him. During the interim government in Bangladesh, several gangsters like Bayen fled across the border. Some took shelter in West Bengal. Sources hinted that some Indian agencies provided shelter to Bayen and a few other fugitives In 2007, the state CID started a crackdown against Bangladeshi dons camping in Bengal. They arrested nearly a dozen of them, including dreaded criminals like Tanvirul Islam Joy and Harris Ahmed Harris. "The Bangladesh government had put pressure on India to arrest them," said an officer. Some of these arrested criminals were handed over to Bangladesh but most got out on bail as the CID did not submit chargesheet on time. Sources say STF and CID used these Bangladeshi dons to explore the fake currency rackets operating from across the border and these criminals are believed to have helped Indian police track down several HuJI sleeper cells. In 2008, STF arrested Bayen from Karaya, central Kolkata. But like Joy and Harris, he was also released after a few months and fled to Nepal. An STF team followed him there and nabbed him but they were all detained by the Nepal authorities for 'intrusion'. The STF officers were released but Bayen was locked up in Sunsari jail in Nepal. On November 9, he and 11 other prisoners escaped by digging a 70-foot-long tunnel. He did not want to return to Bangladesh, though. Sources say he was trying to flee to Europe or Canada where several other gangsters are already hiding. Joy is now in Canada and Harris is reportedly in Italy. Bayen was probably betrayed by his contact man, said a source. nnnn PARTIES WILL MISS DEADLINE TO ASSEMBLE CONSENSUS GOVT.. Kathmandu, 28 Nov.: Parties, it appears, won’t meet Thursday’s deadline (10.15 GMI) set by President DR. Ram Baran Yadav to recommend a consensus candidate for to succeed Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai who has been in office for 15 months. Major political parties are nowhere near consensus Maoist Chairman Prachanda Tuesday asked he president if Thursday’s deadline to nominate a prime minister can be extended. Maoists heading a government with a coalition of five parties have suggested an alternate to Prime Minister Bhattarai, UCPN Maoist’s first choice to lead a consensus government. The second and third choices are a government headed by Deputy Prime Minister Narayan Kazi Shrestha, who is a party vice-chairman, or a government headed by a Madeshi in the coalition—Deputy Prime Minister Bjaya Kumar Gachedhar who heads a five-party front or Chairman of TMLP Mahant Thakur. Main opposition NC south their support Tuesday to form a coalition national government headed most likely by President Sushil Koirala. NC office bearers and later the central committee meet to select the party candidate. Koirala’s party is pushing what has been called a ‘democratic alternative’ when consensus is being sought. UML politburo, which meets for the second day Wednesday to discuss a deadlock, decided on the first day Tuesday not to support a Maoist-led government. nnnn MINIMUM TEMPERATURE IN CAPITAL 3 DEGREES CELSIUS Kathmandu, 28 Nov.: Wednesday morning’s temperature in the capital was 3 degrees Celsius. The mercury is expected to rise to 20 degrees Celsius on a clear and sunny day in the afternoon. Nnnn SHANKATA PLAYS SARASHWOTI IN FOOTBALL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP Kathmandu, 28 Nov.: Shankata plays Sarashwoti in the A Division Martyrs Memorial League Championship Wednesday at Dahsrath Rangashala. Nepal Police Club (NPC) plays Machindra Club in the second match . Nnnn INFLATION MODERATES Kathmandu, 28 Nov.: Inflation eased to 10.5 percent in October from 11.2 percent in September, as prices of food items, like cereal grains, legume varieties and fruits, coupled with communications cost fell, Republica reports.. Prices of cereal grains and their products, which command a weight of 14.81 percent in the inflation basket, came down by 0.2 percent in mid-October compared to a month ago, while prices of legume varieties and fruits fell by 1.1 percent and 4.9 percent, respectively, Nepal Rastra Bank´s latest macroeconomic report shows. Communications cost too dropped by 0.2 percent during the period. These reductions backed by prices of sugar, sweets, alcoholic beverage and tobacco products that did not change over the month helped inflation to moderate in mid-October. Also, costs of housing, transport and education remained unchanged over the month which did not exert upward pressure on the consumer price index. The central bank report shows consumer prices rose 11.1 percent in the hilly region, the most in all three regions of the country, followed by 10.8 percent in the Tarai and 9.7 percent in Kathmandu Valley. BoP Situation The overall balance of payment (BoP) surplus fell to Rs 347.3 million in the first three months of the current fiscal year, as against a surplus of Rs 33.66 billion recorded in the same period last fiscal year. The contraction in surplus came as current account posted a deficit of Rs 2.94 billion in the three-month period this fiscal year as against a current account deficit of Rs 13.82 billion in the same period last fiscal year. "The current account deficit was reported due to a substantial rise in imports of merchandise and service”," NRB report says. The fall in BoP surplus was triggered by net service income deficit of Rs 2.47 billion in the three-month period as against a surplus of Rs 3.29 billion recorded in the same period last year. However, 25.5 percent growth in net transfers to Rs 110.42 billion in the period partially offset pressure created by current account and net service income deficits. Under net transfers, remittances sent by Nepalis working abroad rose 28.8 percent to Rs 97.72 billion. Nepal also received foreign direct investment of Rs 2.05 billion in the three-month period. Forex reserve Despite hike in remittances, gross foreign exchange reserves shrunk 2.2 percent to Rs 429.95 billion in mid-October from Rs 439.46 billion in mid-July 2012. However, in terms of US dollar, the forex reserves expanded by 2.5 percent to US$ 5.08 billion in mid-October. On the basis of import trend seen in the first three months of the current fiscal year, the existing reserve is sufficient for financing merchandise imports of 9.7 months and merchandise and service imports of 8.2 months, according to the central bank Nnnn ADB RAISES EYEBROWN OVER NEPAL’S PERORMANCE Kathmandu, 28 Nov : Nepal failed to capitalize on loans and grants allocated by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the country in 2012 as bureaucratic feet-dragging and insufficient government budget led to delay in contract awarding and fund disbursement processes, an ADB review shows, Republica reports.. The Manila-based regional development bank allotted US$171.1 million for the purpose of awarding contracts for Nepal in 2012 and another $117.8 million for disbursement purpose. But the country met mere 40 percent of the target set for contract awards and 62 percent for fund disbursement purpose as of November 23. Since there is only a month left for the year to end, it is believed the gap between annual target and real achievements cannot be narrowed substantially in the coming days, leaving much of the funds separated for different sectors unused. This kind of performance is expected to hamper development initiatives of Nepal, eventually creating the pressure on economy. “At the moment, the country´s capital investment is less than what is required. The country needs to enhance public investments substantially, in terms of both quantity and quality, in order to go into a much higher growth trajectory of 7-8 percent per annum,” Kenichi Yokoyama, country director of ADB Nepal Resident Mission, said while delivering opening remarks at the two-day Country Portfolio Review Workshop which kicked off in Kathmandu on Tuesday. Nepal´s performance was highly praised by the ADB in 2011 when the country met 93 percent of the target of $246.5 million set for contract award purpose. During the year, the country also attained 97 percent of the target of $216.2 million set for fund disbursement. The ADB considers 100 percent contract awards and disbursement of 20 percent of funds within first year of project approval as an idle practice. But in case of Nepal it takes over two years to award 25 percent of the total contracts and similar amount of time to disburse 10 percent of the funds allocated for disbursement purpose, ADB report shows. “These delays are basically caused because of insufficient project readiness,” Priyantha DC Wijayatunga, chief of portfolio management unit at ADB Nepal, said. For instance, the government takes an average of four months to sign a project agreement and another three and half months to make them effective, ADB report shows. “A lot of time is spent on preparing bidding documents and completing other bureaucratic formalities. These factors prevent us from disbursing the amount needed for approved projects in time,” Wijayatunga said. In case of 2012, the introduction of one-third budget also affected many projects, as it prevented the government from providing counterpart fund - money that the state has pledged to contribute in donor agency-supported projects. ADB report shows energy related projects were the most affected in 2012 as only 37 percent of $15.02 million allocated for disbursement purpose was actually given away. Transport and communications sector also bore the brunt as only 41 percent of 20.39 million allotted for disbursement was actually distributed. “2012 was a challenging year. We hope the ongoing workshop will discuss these issues and come up with viable actions to improve portfolio performance in terms of timely and quality implementation,” Yokoyama said. ADB awards best projects KATHMANDU : The Asian Development Bank has awarded three projects in recognition of their excellence in delivering results and for improving lives of the rural poor. The Rural Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Sector Project, the Subregional Transport Enhancement Project and the Secondary Town Integrated Urban Environmental Improvement Project were given the awards amidst a function held in Kathmandu on Tuesday. All of these projects are supported by the ADB. “The awards recognize the project teams´ strong performance, efficiency in implementation and achievement of targets,” said Kenichi Yokoyama, country director of ADB Nepal Resident Mission. ”The successful implementation of these projects has significantly contributed toward maximizing ADB´s overall contribution to helping reduce poverty in the country, and in supporting efforts to promote sustainable development.” Nnnn