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CRUCIAL TALKS BETWEEN HLPM AND 33 PARTY OPPOSITION
Kathmandu, 9 Aug.: Crucial talks are being held Friday between HLPM
 Behind the government and 33 party opposition led by CPN Maoist on
18 demands foe assembly elections.
Opposition has rejected the 19 November
Elections announced by government with the status quo.
Talks are being held with the opposition front after separate talks were held this week by
HLPM with MJFN  led by Upendra Yadav and Federal Socialist party led by Ashok Rai.
Talks were inconclusive.
RSS Adds: The meeting held between the High Level Political Committee (HLPC), and the Federal Socialist Party (FSP), concluded by agreeing to consult and sit for next round of talks.
During the meeting held at New Baneshwor, today, the HLPC is learnt to have taken stance on holding the election on November 19 at any cost whereas the FSP called for addressing its demands to join the election process.
Chairman of the FSP, Ashok Rai, said, "We put forth our demands in the Committee, analyzed and explained the issues in point. The Committee leaders heard our demands seriously. The parties would soon reach to conclusion over our demands."
The party had demanded that the 11-point and 25-point agreements should be scraped, a new Committee be formed by dissolving the HLPC, not to decrease the number of seats for Constituent Assembly (CA) from 601 as fixed in the first CA, the election process be started again through a new process, and provide voting rights to citizens living out of the country, among others.
The FSP had already submitted a memorandum to President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav demanding to address these demands.
Talking to Journalists, leader of the Unified CPN (Maoist), Narayan Kaji Shrestha, said the Committee and the FSP would hold decisive talks holding inter-party discussions on the demands put forth by the FSP.
"Our party was not against the election but it is necessary to address our demands for ensuring the environment for the election," said FSP Chairman Rai.
The HLPC held talks with poll -opposing 33 parties and heard their demands and that the next round of talks would be decisive, said Acting President of NC, Ram Chandra Paudel.
Similarly, leader of the CPN (UML), Raghuji Panta, said demands of the FSP were heard by the HLPC leaders and that canceling the 11-point agreement and 25-point ordinance were not acceptable to the UML, but the Committee could be flexible in other issues.
The HLPC held senior level talks with the poll-opposing parties including CPN-Maoist, Madhesi Janadhikar Forum -Nepal on Tuesday with a view to ensuring all party participation in the CA election, Panta added.
Chairman of UCPN-Maoist, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, former Prime Minister and leader of the UCPN (Maoist), Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, Acting President of the NC, Paudel, NC leader Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat, and UML Vice-chairman, Bamdev Gautam among others, had attended today's meeting.
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FIVE MORE PEAKS ON 8000 METER LIST
Kathmandu, 9 Aug.: Nepal, which currently boasts if eight internationally recognised mountains above 8,000 metres in height, will soon have 13 of such peaks once an international body extends approval, The Himalayan Times reports..

The International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA) will this year recognise five more peaks of Nepal as mountains above 8,000 metres.

UIAA is an International Olympic Committee recognised federation for mountaineering, which has initiated the ‘Agura’ project to identify and recognise minor peaks above the altitude of 8,000 metres.

The Agura project has recognised five additional peaks in Nepal and one at the China-Pakistan border as new peaks above 8,000 metres, which the UIAA will recommend for official recognition during the UIAA general assembly scheduled for October 2013, in Switzerland.

According to Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA), the peaks are Yarlung Khang - 8,505m (also known as Kanchenjunga West), Kanchenjunga Central - 8,473m (Nepal-India border), Kanchenjunga South - 8,476m (Nepal- India border), Lhotse Middle - 8,413m (Nepal-China border), Lhotse Shar - 8,400m (Nepal-China border) and Broad Peak Central - 8,047m(Pakistan-China border).

The peaks were recommended by representatives of UIAA during a three-day long meeting of the UIAA Management Committee, from May 2 to 4, in Italy.

There are altogether 23 8,000 meters plus peaks in the world and eight of them lie in Nepal.

Currently, eight peaks of Nepal are internationally recognised as standing above 8,000 metres. However, experts here claim that the country has as many as 16 peaks, that tower above 8,000 metres.

Till date, Mount Everest, Kanchenjunga Main, Makalu, Lhotse Main, Choyu, Dhaulagiri, Manaslu, and Annapurna are the eight peaks that are identified at the international level as mountains above 8,000 metres. A mountain normally is considered a separate peak if the col distance of the two peaks is 500 metres and if the peak has an individual route not shared with any other peak, states NMA.

“UIAA has initiated the Agura project with the primary mandate of identifying and recognising minor peaks above the altitude of 8,000 metres,” said member of UIAA and immediate past president of NMA Ang Tshering Sherpa.

According to Sherpa, the Agura project is not trying to identify new mountains, but to recognise that there are other prominent peaks above 8,000 metres that deserve to have a unique identity internationally.

“During the general assembly of UIAA, it is necessary for the Nepali delegation to organise a strong campaign and persuade the UIAA federation delegates to approve the recognition of these peaks,” he said. Sherpa added that recognising new peaks means more expeditions will head to our mountains. He said, recognition of new peaks will be great for the next generation of mountaineers and host countries — China, Pakistan, India and Nepal.
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DETAILS OF COMMISSION REPORT
Kathmandu, 9 Aug.: A five-member Constituency Delineation Commission (CDC) led by former justice Tahir Ali Ansari Thursday submitted its report to Chairman of the Interim Election Council (IEC) Khil Raj Remgi, The Rising Nepal reports..
Talking to journalists after handing over the report, chairman of CDC Ansari said that the government would make public the report after going through it in detail.
“We are ethically not obliged to say anything about the changes and some major highlight mentioned in the report,” said Ansari.
The CDC’s term is expiring on August 10.
Spokesperson of CDC, Tek Prasad Dhungana after handing over the report said that the government has not given authority to say anything about the report immediately citing that the government would public the report as reading it thoroughly.
Members of the commission include geographer Netra Dhital, Dambar Chemjong and Prof. Dr. Chuda Raj Upreti and Raju Man Singh Malla, legal secretary at the PM Office were the member secretary of the commission. Upreti was appointed as member of CDC on July 29 following resignation by Dr. Madhu Nidhi Tiwari.
The CDC which was formed on June 13 and had given one month tenure to submit the report but its term got extended two times after it failed to work and recommend proper recommendations to the government due to constitutional difficulties.
The commission was entrusted with reviewing the existing 240 electoral constituencies in line with the latest census report. For the first time, CDC’s tenure was extended for 10 days and five days in the second time.
The Commission had begun its work formally from June 25 due to busy schedule of former justice Ansari who was also the coordinator to investigate into the murder of former lawmaker Sadrul Miya Haq.
The CDC was formed as per Interim Constitution-2063 provisioned by Article 154 ‘A’.
Although the constitution has stated that the number of electoral constituencies shall be increased on the basis of latest population census, the number of constituencies has already been fixed in the constitution and that has stood as a contradiction.

A recent amendment to the interim constitution has fixed the total number of seats for the upcoming CA at 491. While 240 will be elected directly from the constituencies, 240 others will be nominated as per seats allocations under proportional representation system. Likewise, 11 CA members will be nominated.

As per the existing constitutional provision, number of constituencies needs to be increased as the latest census showed that the population has increased in all the districts across the country except for Kavrepalanchowk.

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FIRST CHICKEN CONSIGNMENT ENTERS VALLEY

Kathmandu, 9 Aug.: The government today set up quarantine posts at four different locations of Kathmandu Valley to conduct rapid influenza A test on chicken entering and going out of the capital, The Himalayan Times reports..

Although the check posts were set up to contain the spread of bird flu, the government is not sure the measure will prevent transmission of the disease, which has rapidly spread in poultry farms of the Valley.

“We have set up quarantine posts at Sanga, Nagdhunga, Pharping and Nagarjun to test chickens being imported and exported,” Deputy Director General of the Department of Livestock Services Dr Ram Krishna Khatiwada said. “This is a contingent measure. We don’t know how effective it will be, but this is the most we can do at the moment.”

After check posts were set up, one consignment containing 200 live chicken entered the Valley through Nagdhunga.

The government agreed to allow movement of chicken inside the Valley from today on condition that poulterers inside in the capital get their chicken tested for influenza A virus prior to dispatching them to the market.

The government has also said even if one chicken infected with influenza A virus is found, the whole consignment will be destroyed.

“This provision will be effective till August 14 and we will see whether to continue this practice or introduce other stringent measures,” said registrar of Nepal Veterinary Council Dr Narayan Prasad Ghimire.

The government, since July 17, has detected the H5N1 strain of the the bird flu virus in 51 different locations of the Valley.

“Since this is quite a big number we have said we will kill any chicken with influenza A virus without conducting further tests for the H5N1 strain. The traders have agreed to this,” Dr Ghimire said.

The government has so far culled 194,810 units of chickens since July 17 and destroyed 310,457 eggs, 37 kg chicken meat and 25,955 kg of feed.

Meanwhile, the government has set up a committee under Nepal Veterinary Council chairman Dhan Raj Ratala which has been asked to submit a draft of a long-term policy on control of bird flu within the next two weeks.

Bhaktapur fights bird flu

  Bird flu was confirmed in eight poultry farms in Bhaktapur. District livestock Office said 4,365 fowls, 21,730 eggs and 1,450 kg chicken feed were destroyed on Thursday at Puskar Khatri’s farm in Tathali. Around 1,817 fowls, 1,402 eggs and two kg feed at Siriyal Acharya’s poultry in Jhaukhel, and 7,680 fowls, 150 eggs and 100 kg feed in another farm in Jhaukhel were destroyed. Fowls in Ramhari Suwal’s farm in Jhaukhel-8 and Dayaram Dhukuchhu’s farm in Jhaukhel-9, and two farms in Chittapol VDC and one farm in Sipadol were also infected. A team has been deployed to examine fowls and related products. They must be tested before they are supplied to the market.

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