UML STANDING COMMITTEE MEET RESUMES FRIDAY Kathmandu, 4 Jan. Opposition UML standing committee discussing current issus resumes Friday for the second consecutive day. Thursday’s meeting extended support for the candidacy of NC President Sushil Koirala to succeed Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai. The meeting comes amid a continuing roadblock to end an extended Political amid fears constituent assembly elections may not be held April/May. The elected assembly has to promulgate a constitution to institutionalize declared changes Nnnn NRB BANS NINE BANKS FROM CONDUCTING IC TRANSACTIONS Kathmandu, 4 Jan.: In response to the involvement of nine banks in large scale misappropriation of Indian currency, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has banned their 13 branch offices from conducting any Indian currency (IC) transactions, The Himalayan Times reports.. NRB has barred Birgunj based branches of Nepal Investment Bank, Nepal Bank, Citizens Bank International, Laxmi Bank, Siddhartha Bank, Everest Bank, Nepal SBI Bank, NIC Bank and Nepal Bangladesh Bank from undertaking any IC related transaction for their involvement in IC misappropriation case worth IRs 1.24 billion (Rs 1.98 billion). “The branches will not be allowed to conduct any IC transaction till another decision is taken,” said NRB spokesperson Bhaskar Mani Gyanwali. Traders had obtained the amount in Indian currency from the branches by producing fake import documents, known as customs declaration form. The banks had failed to verify the authenticity of the documents and had provided Indian currency to pay for imports that never happened. Department of Revenue Investigation had found Maha Laxmi Enterprises, Shyam Galla Store, Laxmi Traders, Rehan Traders, GS Traders, Maxwell Computers, Digital World and Jay Mata Di International to have used fake documents to obtain IC by producing 2,341 fake customs declaration forms. The banks also failed to check the authenticity of the documents and they were found to be issuing IC without filling the foreign currency exchange forms as required by regulation. Nnnn GOVT. BUYING HOUSES, APARTMENTS FOR JUDGES, SECRETARIES Kathmandu, 4 Jan.: The suffocating housing sector might get a lease of fresh breath in a month as the government has identified some 88 units — 66 units of apartments and 22 units of houses — for secretaries and judges to rescue the sector, The Himalayan Times reports/. The government has decided to buy 22 units of houses for judges and 66 units of apartments for secretaries and is currently preparing procurement procedures, said vice president of Nepal Land and Housing Developers’ Association Om Rajbhandari. “Though the number of units has been finalised, it has yet to finalise the location,” he said, adding that the government is preparing the basic criteria to identify the location. The move will also increase confidence in apartments, as according to tradition, Nepalis prefer independent houses to apartments, Rajbhandari added. “When secretaries themselves buy apartments, common people will follow suit.” The government’s move is expected to not only build public confidence in the sector but also inject fresh cash in the sector that has been cash-strapped. However, it will take a month, he said asking the government to allow all government employees to buy homes from their deposits of provident fund. “It will increase the level of social security among public servants and also reduce corruption,” he suggested. “All public employees should be allowed to buy houses or apartments of their choice with a long-term EMI plan that will push the housing sector — that is currently stagnant — ahead from the current bottom levels to a recovery stage.” Though people are ready to buy houses, recent incidents have made them lose confidence in the sector. A recent study of the central bank has also revealed that the prices of houses will pick up. “House and land prices have declined by around 30 per cent as compared to last year,” the central bank survey has stated, adding that some 43 per cent developers expect prices of land and housing to go up by 15 per cent to 30 per cent. “Likewise, some 40 per cent of the developers expected transactions to pick up by around 20 per cent,” said the central bank’s quick field survey of Land Offices, municipalities, urban development agencies, members of district chambers, and land and housing developers in 10 major districts — Morang, Dhanusha, Parsa, Rupandehi, Kaski, Banke and Kailali — including three districts in the valley — Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur — to gauge the risks due to higher exposure of banks and financial institutions in a single sector. Nnnn NO FREE EVMs SAYS INDIA Kathmandu, 4 Jan.: The India n government has said it will not be able to provide Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) to the Election Commission (EC) in grant, writes Bhadra Sharma in The Kathmandu Post.. In the second week of December, the Nepal government had requested India to provide in grant the EVMs for Constituent Assembly (CA) elections scheduled for April-May. The EC had asked the government to either obtain the machines through a grant or release Rs 1.64 billion for their purchase. "We now have to buy the EVMs if we are to hold digital elections," said Election Commissioner Ayodhee Prasad Yadav. In letters dispatched to the Ministry of Finance and the EC this week, the India n government said Nepal requires thousands of EVMs due to the large number of political parties. A total of 114 political parties are registered with the EC, while dozens of splinter parties have yet to register themselves. EC officials said they require 150,000 electronic ballot units and 55,000 control units, in addition to batteries and totalisers, if digital elections are to be held across the country. The EC has registered over 10.1 million eligible voters under the digital voter registration system. During the 2008 CA elections, the EC used EVMs in six electoral constituencies as a pilot project. All the EVMs had been given by India . Chief of the foreign aid coordination division at the Finance Ministry, Madhu Marasini, said the ministry will hold further talks with the India n government for the EVMs. nnnn