GOVT. TO DISCUSS FIVE-DAY WORK WEEK Kathmandu, 2 Nov.: An administrative committee of the cabinet Friday will consider a five-day work week. The home ministry has proposed two-day holiday per week at all government offices to save electricity during the winter. The recommendation won’t cover offices providing essential services. Government offices will shut down Saturday/Sunday if the recommendation is accepted. The home ministry recommendation was sent to the cabinet Thursday. The idea is not novel. Government offices were shut down for more that one day a week earlier in the Valley to save power.which is in short supply for four month during a dry spell beginning mid-November. Nnnn ________________________________________ NRB ACTION AGAINST ANOTHER BANKER Kathmandu, 2 Nov : Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has taken action against Chairman Bindu Kumar Thapa of Fewa Finance Limited. He has been charged for inappropriate conduct by taking a loan from the finance company for personal use NRB has imposed a Rs 500,000 fine on Thapa who has denied any wrongdoing and debarred him holding positions in the board of any bank and financial institution for five years. The central bank has ordered the immediately appoint another chairman. Nnnn GACHHADAR CLAIMS LEADERSHIP OF GOVT. Kathmandu, 2 Nov.: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Bijay Kumar Gachhadar said today that the elusive consensus could be reached in no time, but added that he needed to be made the prime minister of the country to achieve that, The Himalayan Times reports from Janakpurdham.. Speaking at a press meet organised by his party — Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum-Democratic — Gachhadar urged the Unified CPN-Maoist, Nepali Congress and CPN-UML to be ready to pick a new prime minister from other parties. “I am ready to take up the responsibility of leading the country,” said DPM Gachhadar, who is also the chairman of MJF-D. “If I am made the prime minister, I can lead the country in a better way and I will be able to facilitate the process to build consensus.” MJF-D is a major partner of the United Democratic Madhesi Front, the incumbent government’s main ally. This is not the first time that Gachhadar has expressed his interest to become the prime minister. In the Capital too, he has made public his views quite often that it was high time a prime minister was chosen from parties other than UCPN-M, NC and UML. DPM Gachhadar ruled out any deal among parties anytime soon but said consensus was a must to bail the country out of crisis. He also stressed on the need to hold fresh polls. “If there is the need of a new constituent assembly, the country has to go to the polls. So the parties must make efforts to this effect,” said Gachhadar, adding that the dissolved constituent assembly could be revived for a brief period to clear the decks for holding polls. nnnn POLICEWOMAN FOUND DEAD UNDER MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES Kathmandu, 2 Nov.: Two days after retrieving from Gokarna the body of DSP Basanta Thapa, who is believed to have committed suicide, police today recovered the body of Pabitra Bhattarai, a police constable stationed at the Metropolitan Police Range, Lalitpur, at her rented room in Dhobhighat, Lalitpur, today [Thursday], The Himalayan Times reports. A source said police found Bhattarai’s body dangling from a rope tied to a ceiling fan with an iron hook. Though she has not left a suicide note, a police investigator suspected that she may have killed herself, devastated after Thapa, with whom she was said to be in love, ended his life. The investigator informed that Bhattarai was found to have stayed with DSP Thapa for more than 15 days when he was stationed in Khotang as in-charge of the District Police Office. “Upon hearing about DSP Thapa’s suicide, the policewoman repeatedly called at the Armed Police Battalion No 1 in Naxal using different names to seek Thapa’s whereabouts. We found later that she had killed herself by hanging,” the official informed, adding that police officials are investigating the incident further. Call Detail Records show that Bhattarai and DSP Thapa had talked to each other over the phone for more than 235 times in the past three weeks. “Based on call details, we carried out a search to detain Bhattarai for interrogation, only to find her dead,” the police investigator informed. nnnn ________________________________________ -