SANGHAI SENT TO JUDICIAL CUSTODY Kathmandu, 10 Dec.: Govinda Lal Sanghai was sent to judicial custody by the Kathmandu district court Sunday for four days. Metropolitan Police sought the extension to prepare charge against the businessman arrested last week for forgery. Sanghai is director of Triveni Plasto Polymers Pvt Ltd. The businessman allegedly forged documents while placing a tender for supply of materials to Dairy Development Corporation (DDC) Nnnn NEW UML LEADERSHIP IN RAMECHAP Kathmandu, 10 Dec.:: The CPN-UML has got new leaderships in both constituencies in Ramechhap district on Sunday, RSS reports from Ramechap.. The constituency level conventions of the party elected Asha Bahadur Tamang as chairman in constituency no 1 with 25 members, while Prem Kumar Lama is leading the constituency no 2 with 27 members. The leaders said they unanimously elected the leaderships in order to strengthen party unity. The outgoing Chairmen of both constituencies had presented political, financial and organisational reports in the conventions. nnnn HUMAN RIGHTS DAY OBSERVED Kathmandu, 10 Dec.:On the occasion of the International Human Rights Day today, Amnesty International Nepal Secretariat organised a cycle rally in the Capital on Monday morning, RSS reports.. The rally was organised in a bid to spread awareness on human rights. The rally begun from UN House, Polchowk of Lalitpur visited Thapathali, Maitighar, New Baneshor, Thapagaon, Padmodayamod, Bhadrakali and converged into a gathering reaching Basantpur Durbar Square. More than 200 members of the Amnesty International participated in the rally which carried the placards bearing the slogans with the theme of ending impunity to protect human rights. Addressing the gathering, human rights defender Krishna Pahadi said the unchecked impunity was a threat to human rights protection in Nepal. Nnnn MURDER CONVICT RECRUITED IN NEPAL ARMY Kathmandu, 10 Dec.: This startling revelation is sure to embarrass the country’s law enforcement agencies, including the national army. Himal Dhungana writes in The Himalayan Times from Ramechap.. It has come to light that a youth, who should have been doing a 20-year jail term for a murder, has been serving the Nepali Army using a fake identity. The truth came to light with the arrest of Tilak Bahadur Tamang outside Singha Durbar in the Capital on Friday. Tamang, a resident of Bijulikot VDC, Ramechhap, had vanished, literally, after the Ramechhap District Court sentenced him and two others — Lal Bahadur Sunwar and Lok Bahadur Khadka — to a 20-year term in 1994 for the September 1, 1993, murder of locals Khadga Bahadur Sunwar and Dhan Bahadur Sunwar. After the verdict, the three moved the Janakpur Appellate Court, which imposed on Tilak a fine of mere Rs 20 and sentenced the other two to 10 years in jail with a fine of two lakh rupees each in June, 1996. Dissatisfied with the appellate court decision, the victims’ families moved the Supreme Court. In May 2002, the top court upheld the district court’s decision to jail the three for 20 years. According to police, Tilak joined the national army’s Narayandal Battalion at Ramechhap in 2005 after obtaining from the District Administration Office a citizenship certificate in the name of Milan Lama on February 9, 2005. Police said murder convict Lal Bahadur has been doing time at the Ramechhap district jail whereas Lok Bahadur has died. Nnnn IDM TO FIX NEW RATES FOR LAND, BUILDINGS IN INDUSTRIAL ESTATES Kathmandu, 10 Dec.: Industrial Districts Management (IDM) Ltd will fix a new rate for the rent of land and buildings inside industrial districts within a week, The Himalayan Times reports. Due to growing complications regarding the revision of the rent, IDM has decided to form a seven-member committee with representation of three industrialists to discuss on the revised rent. “We have already requested the industrialists to forward the names of their representatives to sit for a dialogue with representatives of the management to revise the current rent of land and buildings of industrial districts,” said chairman of IDM Devendra Kumar Yadav. There are 11 industrial districts in the country and IDM is responsible for their management. “Rent at industrial districts has not been revised for a long time and we will come forward with a revised rate within a week after the committee is formed,” he said. According to Yadav, infrastructure at industrial districts has become obsolete and needs renovation according to present requirements. “We plan to increase the rate only to modernise current infrastructure for its sustainability,” he said. He also added that industrial districts are the responsibility of IDM and it needs to take care of the infrastructure. The current rent for one ropani land at the industrial districts is Rs 450 per month, which is quite low and it must be revised for infrastructural development of the industrial districts, says IDM. However, industrialists have blamed IDM for making an arbitrary decision to hike the rent. According to the Federation of Nepal Cottage and Small Industries, IDM has tried to increase the rate by 850 to 1400 per cent, which is not acceptable. “The decision to increase the rent was arbitrary, hence it is not acceptable,” said general secretary of the federation Bishnu Bahadur Luitel. He said that it would be difficult for industrialists to pay the rent with such an instant huge hike. The federation has also requested concerned authorities to address the issue of unusual rent hike. Nnnn EUROPE DOES NOT DESERVE PEACE PRIZE SAY PROTESTORS Kathmandu, 10 Dec.: Around a thousand members of left-wing and human rights groups marched in Oslo on Sunday to protest against the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union, Reuters reports from Oslo. Around 50 organisations held the torch-lit march on the eve of the award, arguing that the EU is undemocratic and maintains a large military even as its people suffer an economic downturn. "Alfred Nobel said that the prize should be given those who worked for disarmament," Elsa-Britt Enger, 70, a representative of Grandmothers for Peace said. "The EU doesn't do that. It is one of the biggest weapons producers in the world." Past prize winners Desmond Tutu, Adolfo Perez Esquivel and Mairead Maguire have also said the EU does not deserve the award. Norway's Socialist Left party, part of Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg's government, joined the march. The Oslo-based Nobel peace committee gave its 2012 prize to the EU for uniting the continent following two world wars and to give it a boost as it tries to overcome its economic crisis. "The EU brings lasting peace among former enemies who fought... among others two world wars," EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Sunday. Barroso, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Parliament President Martin Schulz will accept the prize on behalf of the EU on Monday. nnnn