HIMALAYA PLAYS SARASHWATI IN FOOTBALL LEAGUE Kathmandu, 23 Dec.: Himalaya plays Sarashwati in the Martyrs Nemorial A Division Football League Championship Sunday. Machapuchere plays Three Star in another match. nnnn KFCTO IMPORT CHJICKEN FROM THAILAND Kathmandu, 23 Dec International fast food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) has started importing chicken from Thailand, Republica reports. KFC had tried to import chicken from India, according to government officials, and when this effort failed its fast depleting stock threatened to affect its operations. Import of chicken products from India is banned. "The company brought in the new consignment of chicken from Thailand this week," an official of Devyani International Nepal, the operator of KFC in Nepal, said on condition of anonymity. Anil Singh, animal technician at the Animal Quarantine Office at Tribhuvan International Airport, also confirmed that the company received around 5,008.67 kgs of chicken from C P Merchandising Corporation Limited of Thailand on Thursday. “We were almost out of chicken stock. So, the new import has ensured smooth operations for now,” said the KFC official. However, he informed Republica that the supply would barely suffice for nine days. Unless the company made arrangements to get the supply from Thailand regularly, it would face difficulties soon, he added. KFC, when it started its services in Nepal three years ago, had announced it would import most of the chicken from Brazil and the rest from Thailand, stating that locally available chicken did not meet its standards. “The company was importing chicken from Brazil in the initial year. But our records suggest, it has been a long time since a chicken consignment entered via TIA from Brazil or any other country,” said Singh. Singh´s statement suggests the company had gradually shifted its source and was probably sourcing chicken from India alone in recent years. However, such a practice by the company is regarded as foul play as the government has identified India as bird flu-prone and imposed a ban on the import of any poultry item from there since four years ago. Farmers at Dharke in Dhading on December 15 took control of containers ferrying chicken illegally from Pune, India. The consignment belonged to KFC. Following the action by the farmers, the government had instantly disposed of the import, and also sacked four senior quarantine officials in Birgunj who let the containers enter Nepal. Devyani International Nepal has remained tight lipped over the matter so far. However, company insiders said KFC had been sourcing chicken from India since it suffered loss due to a month-long closure over a labor row in September. Soon after the company resumed services in October, its country manager, Vishnu Reddy, resigned and since then nobody has been appointed to that post. Presently, KFC in India is looking after its management here. Nnnn ________________________________________ HIMALAYA PLAYS SARASHWATI IN FOOTBALL LEAGUE Kathmandu, 23 Dec.: Himalaya plays Sarashwati in the Martyrs Nemorial A Division Football League Championship Sunday. Machapuchere plays Three Star in another match. nnnn KFCTO IMPORT CHJICKEN FROM THAILAND Kathmandu, 23 Dec International fast food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) has started importing chicken from Thailand, Republica reports. KFC had tried to import chicken from India, according to government officials, and when this effort failed its fast depleting stock threatened to affect its operations. Import of chicken products from India is banned. "The company brought in the new consignment of chicken from Thailand this week," an official of Devyani International Nepal, the operator of KFC in Nepal, said on condition of anonymity. Anil Singh, animal technician at the Animal Quarantine Office at Tribhuvan International Airport, also confirmed that the company received around 5,008.67 kgs of chicken from C P Merchandising Corporation Limited of Thailand on Thursday. “We were almost out of chicken stock. So, the new import has ensured smooth operations for now,” said the KFC official. However, he informed Republica that the supply would barely suffice for nine days. Unless the company made arrangements to get the supply from Thailand regularly, it would face difficulties soon, he added. KFC, when it started its services in Nepal three years ago, had announced it would import most of the chicken from Brazil and the rest from Thailand, stating that locally available chicken did not meet its standards. “The company was importing chicken from Brazil in the initial year. But our records suggest, it has been a long time since a chicken consignment entered via TIA from Brazil or any other country,” said Singh. Singh´s statement suggests the company had gradually shifted its source and was probably sourcing chicken from India alone in recent years. However, such a practice by the company is regarded as foul play as the government has identified India as bird flu-prone and imposed a ban on the import of any poultry item from there since four years ago. Farmers at Dharke in Dhading on December 15 took control of containers ferrying chicken illegally from Pune, India. The consignment belonged to KFC. Following the action by the farmers, the government had instantly disposed of the import, and also sacked four senior quarantine officials in Birgunj who let the containers enter Nepal. Devyani International Nepal has remained tight lipped over the matter so far. However, company insiders said KFC had been sourcing chicken from India since it suffered loss due to a month-long closure over a labor row in September. Soon after the company resumed services in October, its country manager, Vishnu Reddy, resigned and since then nobody has been appointed to that post. Presently, KFC in India is looking after its management here. Nnnn ________________________________________ HIMALAYA PLAYS SARASHWATI IN FOOTBALL LEAGUE Kathmandu, 23 Dec.: Himalaya plays Sarashwati in the Martyrs Nemorial A Division Football League Championship Sunday. Machapuchere plays Three Star in another match. nnnn KFCTO IMPORT CHJICKEN FROM THAILAND Kathmandu, 23 Dec International fast food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) has started importing chicken from Thailand, Republica reports. KFC had tried to import chicken from India, according to government officials, and when this effort failed its fast depleting stock threatened to affect its operations. Import of chicken products from India is banned. "The company brought in the new consignment of chicken from Thailand this week," an official of Devyani International Nepal, the operator of KFC in Nepal, said on condition of anonymity. Anil Singh, animal technician at the Animal Quarantine Office at Tribhuvan International Airport, also confirmed that the company received around 5,008.67 kgs of chicken from C P Merchandising Corporation Limited of Thailand on Thursday. “We were almost out of chicken stock. So, the new import has ensured smooth operations for now,” said the KFC official. However, he informed Republica that the supply would barely suffice for nine days. Unless the company made arrangements to get the supply from Thailand regularly, it would face difficulties soon, he added. KFC, when it started its services in Nepal three years ago, had announced it would import most of the chicken from Brazil and the rest from Thailand, stating that locally available chicken did not meet its standards. “The company was importing chicken from Brazil in the initial year. But our records suggest, it has been a long time since a chicken consignment entered via TIA from Brazil or any other country,” said Singh. Singh´s statement suggests the company had gradually shifted its source and was probably sourcing chicken from India alone in recent years. However, such a practice by the company is regarded as foul play as the government has identified India as bird flu-prone and imposed a ban on the import of any poultry item from there since four years ago. Farmers at Dharke in Dhading on December 15 took control of containers ferrying chicken illegally from Pune, India. The consignment belonged to KFC. Following the action by the farmers, the government had instantly disposed of the import, and also sacked four senior quarantine officials in Birgunj who let the containers enter Nepal. Devyani International Nepal has remained tight lipped over the matter so far. However, company insiders said KFC had been sourcing chicken from India since it suffered loss due to a month-long closure over a labor row in September. Soon after the company resumed services in October, its country manager, Vishnu Reddy, resigned and since then nobody has been appointed to that post. Presently, KFC in India is looking after its management here. Nnnn ________________________________________ HIMALAYA PLAYS SARASHWATI IN FOOTBALL LEAGUE Kathmandu, 23 Dec.: Himalaya plays Sarashwati in the Martyrs Nemorial A Division Football League Championship Sunday. Machapuchere plays Three Star in another match. nnnn KFCTO IMPORT CHJICKEN FROM THAILAND Kathmandu, 23 Dec International fast food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) has started importing chicken from Thailand, Republica reports. KFC had tried to import chicken from India, according to government officials, and when this effort failed its fast depleting stock threatened to affect its operations. Import of chicken products from India is banned. "The company brought in the new consignment of chicken from Thailand this week," an official of Devyani International Nepal, the operator of KFC in Nepal, said on condition of anonymity. Anil Singh, animal technician at the Animal Quarantine Office at Tribhuvan International Airport, also confirmed that the company received around 5,008.67 kgs of chicken from C P Merchandising Corporation Limited of Thailand on Thursday. “We were almost out of chicken stock. So, the new import has ensured smooth operations for now,” said the KFC official. However, he informed Republica that the supply would barely suffice for nine days. Unless the company made arrangements to get the supply from Thailand regularly, it would face difficulties soon, he added. KFC, when it started its services in Nepal three years ago, had announced it would import most of the chicken from Brazil and the rest from Thailand, stating that locally available chicken did not meet its standards. “The company was importing chicken from Brazil in the initial year. But our records suggest, it has been a long time since a chicken consignment entered via TIA from Brazil or any other country,” said Singh. Singh´s statement suggests the company had gradually shifted its source and was probably sourcing chicken from India alone in recent years. However, such a practice by the company is regarded as foul play as the government has identified India as bird flu-prone and imposed a ban on the import of any poultry item from there since four years ago. Farmers at Dharke in Dhading on December 15 took control of containers ferrying chicken illegally from Pune, India. The consignment belonged to KFC. Following the action by the farmers, the government had instantly disposed of the import, and also sacked four senior quarantine officials in Birgunj who let the containers enter Nepal. Devyani International Nepal has remained tight lipped over the matter so far. However, company insiders said KFC had been sourcing chicken from India since it suffered loss due to a month-long closure over a labor row in September. Soon after the company resumed services in October, its country manager, Vishnu Reddy, resigned and since then nobody has been appointed to that post. Presently, KFC in India is looking after its management here. Nnnn ________________________________________ WARMER SUNDAY ON OVERCAST MORNING Kath WARMER SUNDAY ON OVERCAST MORNING Kathmandu, 23 Dec.: Minimum temperature in the capital is expected to be six degrees Celsius Sunday.. Mercury is expected to rise to 21 degrees Celsius n the afternoon. nnnnGOVT. EASES VISA PROCESS Kathmandu, 23 Dec.: The government has adopted an integrated visa issuance procedure, aiming to enable foreigners working in multinational and joint venture companies to enter Nepal with relative ease, and has also started renewal and approval of visas for them, Republica writes... It had stopped processing visa requests since about two months ago, admitting that the existing procedures were not clear and posing difficulties for applicants seeking renewal of work visas. “On Friday, we introduced the integrated checklist of documents that companies need to submit and the procedures they need to follow for getting visas for foreigners working in Nepal,” Bishnu Dhakal, under secretary at the Ministry of Industry (MoI), told Republica. With the introduction of new arrangements, he said, the Department of Industry (DoI) has resumed processing their issue and renewal applications as well. Under the new arrangements, any company hiring foreigners need to submit more than a dozen documents at DoI, including application letter, certificate of industry registration, certificate of PAN registration, original copy of vacancy notice published in a broadsheet Nepali daily to confirm that there is no candidate available in Nepal for the particular work, and details of facilities that the company provides to the foreign employee, among others. The new arrangement says that companies can employee foreigners in two ways only. One is under technology transfer agreements and the other is by advertising the vacant post. To get a visa under the latter arrangement, the company needs to prove that there is no local manpower suitable for the post. "The new process will help us identify genuine requirement for foreign workers in a company," said Dhakal, adding that the government will now be processing visa applications under the newly introduced procedures. The government had decided to introduce an integrated system to issue new visas and renew work permits to foreign workers in order to cater to their needs through a single window. “Previously, companies were required to go to different offices to get clearance and acquire work permits for their foreign staff. The new integrated system has ended that practice, easing matters for them,” Dhakal said. According to a DoI official, the stalling of visa processing had hampered more than half a dozen multinational and joint venture companies, such as NCell and Unilever Nepal, in getting due renewal of work permits for their foreign staff over the last two months. “We will now process their applications with top priority,” he stated.REPUBLICA KATHMANDU, Dec 22 The government has adopted an integrated visa issuance procedure, aiming to enable foreigners working in multinational and joint venture companies to enter Nepal with relative ease, and has also started renewal and approval of visas for them. It had stopped processing visa requests since about two months ago, admitting that the existing procedures were not clear and posing difficulties for applicants seeking renewal of work visas. “On Friday, we introduced the integrated checklist of documents that companies need to submit and the procedures they need to follow for getting visas for foreigners working in Nepal,” Bishnu Dhakal, under secretary at the Ministry of Industry (MoI), told Republica. With the introduction of new arrangements, he said, the Department of Industry (DoI) has resumed processing their issue and renewal applications as well. Under the new arrangements, any company hiring foreigners need to submit more than a dozen documents at DoI, including application letter, certificate of industry registration, certificate of PAN registration, original copy of vacancy notice published in a broadsheet Nepali daily to confirm that there is no candidate available in Nepal for the particular work, and details of facilities that the company provides to the foreign employee, among others. The new arrangement says that companies can employee foreigners in two ways only. One is under technology transfer agreements and the other is by advertising the vacant post. To get a visa under the latter arrangement, the company needs to prove that there is no local manpower suitable for the post. "The new process will help us identify genuine requirement for foreign workers in a company," said Dhakal, adding that the government will now be processing visa applications under the newly introduced procedures. The government had decided to introduce an integrated system to issue new visas and renew work permits to foreign workers in order to cater to their needs through a single window. “Previously, companies were required to go to different offices to get clearance and acquire work permits for their foreign staff. The new integrated system has ended that practice, easing matters for them,” Dhakal said. According to a DoI official, the stalling of visa processing had hampered more than half a dozen multinational and joint venture companies, such as NCell and Unilever Nepal, in getting due renewal of work permits for their foreign staff over the last two months. “We will now process their applications with top priority,” he stated. Nnnn mandu, 23 Dec.: Minimum temperature in the capital is expected to be six degrees Celsius Sunday.. Mercury is expected to rise to 21 degrees Celsius n the afternoon. nnnnGOVT. EASES VISA PROCESS Kathmandu, 23 Dec.: The government has adopted an integrated visa issuance procedure, aiming to enable foreigners working in multinational and joint venture companies to enter Nepal with relative ease, and has also started renewal and approval of visas for them, Republica writes... It had stopped processing visa requests since about two months ago, admitting that the existing procedures were not clear and posing difficulties for applicants seeking renewal of work visas. “On Friday, we introduced the integrated checklist of documents that companies need to submit and the procedures they need to follow for getting visas for foreigners working in Nepal,” Bishnu Dhakal, under secretary at the Ministry of Industry (MoI), told Republica. With the introduction of new arrangements, he said, the Department of Industry (DoI) has resumed processing their issue and renewal applications as well. Under the new arrangements, any company hiring foreigners need to submit more than a dozen documents at DoI, including application letter, certificate of industry registration, certificate of PAN registration, original copy of vacancy notice published in a broadsheet Nepali daily to confirm that there is no candidate available in Nepal for the particular work, and details of facilities that the company provides to the foreign employee, among others. The new arrangement says that companies can employee foreigners in two ways only. One is under technology transfer agreements and the other is by advertising the vacant post. To get a visa under the latter arrangement, the company needs to prove that there is no local manpower suitable for the post. "The new process will help us identify genuine requirement for foreign workers in a company," said Dhakal, adding that the government will now be processing visa applications under the newly introduced procedures. The government had decided to introduce an integrated system to issue new visas and renew work permits to foreign workers in order to cater to their needs through a single window. “Previously, companies were required to go to different offices to get clearance and acquire work permits for their foreign staff. The new integrated system has ended that practice, easing matters for them,” Dhakal said. According to a DoI official, the stalling of visa processing had hampered more than half a dozen multinational and joint venture companies, such as NCell and Unilever Nepal, in getting due renewal of work permits for their foreign staff over the last two months. “We will now process their applications with top priority,” he stated.REPUBLICA KATHMANDU, Dec 22 The government has adopted an integrated visa issuance procedure, aiming to enable foreigners working in multinational and joint venture companies to enter Nepal with relative ease, and has also started renewal and approval of visas for them. It had stopped processing visa requests since about two months ago, admitting that the existing procedures were not clear and posing difficulties for applicants seeking renewal of work visas. “On Friday, we introduced the integrated checklist of documents that companies need to submit and the procedures they need to follow for getting visas for foreigners working in Nepal,” Bishnu Dhakal, under secretary at the Ministry of Industry (MoI), told Republica. With the introduction of new arrangements, he said, the Department of Industry (DoI) has resumed processing their issue and renewal applications as well. Under the new arrangements, any company hiring foreigners need to submit more than a dozen documents at DoI, including application letter, certificate of industry registration, certificate of PAN registration, original copy of vacancy notice published in a broadsheet Nepali daily to confirm that there is no candidate available in Nepal for the particular work, and details of facilities that the company provides to the foreign employee, among others. The new arrangement says that companies can employee foreigners in two ways only. One is under technology transfer agreements and the other is by advertising the vacant post. To get a visa under the latter arrangement, the company needs to prove that there is no local manpower suitable for the post. "The new process will help us identify genuine requirement for foreign workers in a company," said Dhakal, adding that the government will now be processing visa applications under the newly introduced procedures. The government had decided to introduce an integrated system to issue new visas and renew work permits to foreign workers in order to cater to their needs through a single window. “Previously, companies were required to go to different offices to get clearance and acquire work permits for their foreign staff. The new integrated system has ended that practice, easing matters for them,” Dhakal said. According to a DoI official, the stalling of visa processing had hampered more than half a dozen multinational and joint venture companies, such as NCell and Unilever Nepal, in getting due renewal of work permits for their foreign staff over the last two months. “We will now process their applications with top priority,” he stated. Nnnn