Kathmandu, 8 Dec.: Two-way traffic movement of vehicles has been halted are being made Saturday to restore normal traffic after by removing an overturned truck beyond Nagdunga at Thankot Vehicles couldn’t proceed to the far-West from the capital. A passenger fell off th roof of a bus at Bhaktapur Fridwy when he fell off w bus. nnnn PM GRETED WITH BLACK FLAGS IN TIKAPUR Kathmandu, 8 Dec.: Prime Mnister Babram Bhattarai was greeted with black flags by opposition party activists in Tikapur He has gone to the far-West town to spend the night with a freed kanaika nnnn DPM SHRESTHA SAYS NO ELECTION WITHOUT DEAL Kathmandu, 8 Dec.:: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Narayankaji Shrestha today said it would be impossible to hold fresh Constituent Assembly election in mid-May unless the parties struck a deal on all political and constitutional issues by December 15, The Himalayan Times reports. Talking to a group of journalists at the ministers’ quarters in Lalitpur, DPM Shrestha added that he was not very optimistic about parties reaching a deal on all issues by that time. He cast doubt over opposition parties’, particularly the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML, commitment to federalism, republic, secularism and inclusiveness. He said they had proposed nothing new in the latest rounds of talks with NC and UML about giving a political outlet to the current deadlock. “We have proposed that all the parties express full commitment to federalism, republic, secularism and inclusiveness — the four issues on which all major parties have agreed upon — and we said that these be made the basis to go for fresh elections,” said the foreign minister. He said the NC and UML, however, did not agree to the UCPN-Maoist proposal, refusing to take ownership of what was achieved by the dissolved CA in the past four years. “If they (NC and UML) do not accept the ownership of what had been done by the dissolved CA, it will take another four years to draft a new constitution if we have to start from scratch,” Shrestha said. Besides taking ownership of the agreements made in the dissolved CA, the UCPN-M has also proposed to amend the Interim Constitution and election laws and reach an agreement on the strength of new CA, appointment to the Supreme Court and constitutional bodies, and leadership and structure of the consensus government. He added that new CA would work as a constitution-drafting body for the first one year and it would later function as Parliament. Asked if he was also interested in leading the consensus government, Shrestha said it would be better to turn the incumbent one into a consensus dispensation. “But I am also prepared to take that responsibility if the party decides so,” said Shrestha, adding that an extended meeting of the party’s central office today firmly stood in favour of next prime ministerial candidate from within the Federal Democratic Republican Alliance,. He, however, was quick to add that party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal was ever ready to take the mantle of the consensus government if all the parties, including the opposition, agreed on his name. THT reports from Dgangadi: Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai today said election to the Constituent Assembly can be held in April/May by forging a package deal among the political parties. Inaugurating the Far-west Festival in Dhagadhi today, Bhattarai stressed on the need of CA election at the earliest and urged the parties to work towards it to put an end to the long-standing constitutional deadlock. Expressing hope that a deal among the parties will be sealed within this week regarding the formation of a national consensus government, the prime minister also dwelled on the economic agenda. He expressed his commitment for the economic prosperity of the residents of the region and the country at large. nnnn DEPOSITORS OF BIG COOPERATIVES AT RISK OF LOSING SAVINGS Kathmandu, 8 Sept.:: The financial health of big cooperatives in the country has been deteriorating by the day due to the lack of a regulation, The Himalayan Times.. About two dozen savings and credit cooperatives are facing a liquidity crisis, and the number is growing because of their failure in managing deposits and also due to over exposure to the realty sector. Liquidity crisis has been seen in 23 big cooperatives due to the irrational use of money, said an officer at the Department of Cooperatives. “Deposits worth more than Rs 11 billion are at risk,” the officer said. Cooperatives that invested more than 40 per cent in land and housing have suffered due to the slowdown in the real estate business which began three years back. The situation has worsened in the recent past since the central bank — Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) — withdrew its authority in monitoring big cooperatives. “Nepal Rastra Bank has withdrawn its staff who had been facilitating the monitoring of financial transactions of big cooperatives two weeks back,” said coordinator of the department’s team Upendra Bahadur Dhungana. The central bank had been supporting the Department of Cooperatives in monitoring 133 big cooperatives since 2009. Some of the big cooperatives have annual transactions worth Rs 50 million. According to Dhungana, the department does not have expertise in financial monitoring to analyse complex investment procedures. Further support from the central bank is necessary when financial problems crop up in the cooperatives sector, he said adding that four big cooperatives are already in a problem, as they are not returning deposits. However, he refrained from naming those cooperatives. A report prepared by the Department of Cooperatives reveals that the trend of cooperatives shutting shop and fleeing has been increasing in the recent past due to financial crisis. Authorities at Axiom and Paridrisha cooperatives have run away, cheating depositors of Rs 470 million and Rs 23.5 million, respectively. Other cooperatives are also in a critical condition. “Oriental is also not returning deposits but has not closed its office yet,” he said. The cooperatives sector has deposits of about Rs 120 billion –– mostly from poor and middle-income families. Of the total investment, about 11,500 savings and credit cooperatives have Rs 92 billion investment. However, a weak monitoring mechanism has put the deposits at risk. A central bank study on savings and credit cooperatives two years back had revealed numerous irregularities, including large and irrational investments in real estate and housing sector, charging loans at up to 60 per cent interest, loans being given to promoters, and up to eight per cent service fee. The central bank had advised that such practices must be controlled through law and policy. The government had announced that it would develop and enforce the National Cooperatives Policy four months back, but there has been no further progress, giving enough room for financial embezzlement and putting depositors’ hard earned money at risk. nnnn