BIRD FLU AT ANOTHER CHITWAN FARM, CHICKEN CULLED Kathmandu, 1 May: Avian influenza has been confirmed in chickens at a poultry farm at Mangalpur of Chitwan district, RSS reports from Chitwan. One thousand and one hundred chickens at the farm have been culled after the confirmation of bird flu at the poultry farm owned by one Dol Kumari Hamal, said Ram Kumar Karki, Chief of the District Livestock Service Office, Chitwan. The office stated that 900 out of some two thousand chickens at the farm have already died due to bird flu. Karki said that chickens in areas around the farm have also been killed and the area sanitized. Samples were sent on Friday to Kathmandu for veterinary lab for tests. The District Livestock Service Office said that bird flu has been confirmed at five poultry farms in the district in this month alone. The poultry farmers are in a state of anxiety with the detection of bird flu one after another in the district. Nnnn TWO CRUSHED TO DEATH IN GORKHA Kathmandu, 1 May Two people were killed when they were crushed by a dozer in course of constructing a road at Tersey, Ghyalchok VDC-2 in Gorkha District, RSS reports from Gorkha.. The deceased are Buddhi Bahadur Gurunga nd Pasang Tamang, police said. The incident took place last night and police have reached the incident site. Nnnn INDIAN PM SINGH URGES EARLY ELECTION IN MEETING OF MAOIST CHIEF Kathmandu, 1 May: Reiterating that a stable and peaceful Nepal is in the interest of India, Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has said that early elections to the Constituent Assembly will be vital for Nepal´s stability, Akamshya Shah reports in Republica from New Delhi.. He said this during his meeting with Chairman of UCPN (Maoist) Pushpa Kamal Dahal in New Delhi, Tuesday. It is learnt from sources in the Indian capital that Dr Singh said India is willing to extend all out support to Nepal in the upcoming polls. Touching upon the political changes in Nepal, Singh noted that Nepal has experienced many changes lately. He lauded Dahal´s leadership role in Nepal´s peace process and congratulated him on the successful integration of former Maoist combatants. Emerging from his 45-minute meeting with Dr Singh, Dahal told Republica that on the economic cooperation front, the Indian prime minister was positive, describing Dahal´s proposals as realistic, and saying that a new relationship between India and Nepal could be built through a pragmatic approach. Likewise, Dahal also held consultations with Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid on Tuesday. During the meeting, the two discussed all possibilities of strengthening economic cooperation and the stability factor in Nepal. Khurshid, according to sources here, told Dahal that "India too is learning from its experiences" with Nepal and expressed willingness to support Nepal´s democratic process. The two, however, did not discuss the trilateral cooperation mechanism, which Dahal has proposed amongst India, China and Nepal. Asked to comment, Dahal said that although trilateral cooperation was not discussed in his meetings, he has proposed to take the Lumbini Development Project and some hydro-power projects ahead with both India and China on board. "It should now be a fresh start on economic engagement with India and China, and Prime Minister Singh is positive in this regard," Dahal said. On the federalism issue, Dahal said that although there were some queries in Beijing in this regard, in India "there are no serious concerns," adding, "India has taken this issue (of federal restructuring) in an easy manner." Dahal terms visit "highly successful" Terming his visit to India highly successful, Dahal has said that he has been able to work on confidence building between India and his party through his current visit to New Delhi. He has claimed that India too has accepted the transformation that his party is going through and the path which was decided during its recently concluded general convention. Stating that the hospitality extended to him by the Indian side was nothing less than that given to a head of state, Dahal said, "I have been invited here not only as chairperson of the High Level Political Mechanism but also as a representative of Nepal." He said he felt that he now had "added responsibilities" towards the country and he wanted to work to foster a conducive environment for the polls. Nnnn NEPSE DROPS TO A LOW Kathmandu, 1 May: The Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index fell to four-and-half-month low on Tuesday, as investors started raising money to purchase rights shares of Nepal Bank Limited and investment confidence took a blow due to rumors that latest regulatory provision, which allows use of stockbrokers to sell promoter shares of banks and financial institutions, would flood the share market with stocks, Republica reports. The benchmark index, which opened at 502.38 points on Tuesday, fell 1.62 points, or 0.32 percent, to 500.76 points by the end of the day. The last time the index had slumped to that level was on December 13, 2012. “The main reason for today"s (Tuesday"s) fall was public call made by Nepal Bank Limited to investors to purchase shares of the state-run financial institution by May 8 to be eligible for bank"s rights shares,” Stockbroker Nanda Kishore Mundada told Republica. Nepal Bank Limited is extending rights shares in the ratio of 1:9.5 to its shareholders, meaning every investors holding every share of the bank will get additional 9.5 shares at Rs 100 each. “Since the bank has also allowed representatives of shareholders to purchase rights, many investors have started raising funds to buy these stocks,” Mundada said. Share prices of Nepal Bank Limited soared to Rs 626 since they were relisted on the stock market at Rs 100 each on December 2. However, shares of the bank fell almost 10 percent on Tuesday as shareholders who do not have capacity to purchase huge amounts of rights dumped the stocks, according to Mundada. Another reason for Nepse fall, according to Mundada, is rumor that the Securities Board of Nepal"s (Sebon"s) latest decision to allow stockbrokers to sell promoter shares of banks and financial institutions would sharply increase supply of shares on the stock market, causing stock prices to take a dip. However, Sebon has said such a situation would not arise as the stock market does not have appetite for consumption of huge amounts of shares even if they are floated on the bourse. Sebon Chairman Babu Ram Shrestha told Republica last week: “The daily trading volume at the stock market hovers at Rs 70 million to Rs 80 million and shares of about 40 to 50 companies are traded every day. This means average trading volume of every listed company hovers at around one million rupees. So even if promoters decide to float huge amount of shares, these sellers wouldn"t find buyers and would be forced to sell shares using offer documents as in the past.” Nnnn