INCREASE

AIRLINES INCREASE FARES

Kathmandu, 12 Aug,: Private airlines hiked passenger fares 8.5 percent.

The move comes after NOC hiked prices of POL producs, including

aviation fuel.

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200 YCL OF UCPN MAOIST TO BE DEPLOYED  AT EVERY BOOTH DURING ELECTIONS

Kathmandu, 12 Aug.” Young Communist League (YCL), the controversial youth wing of Unified CPN-Maoist, today claimed that it would deploy 200 youths in each polling booth in the upcoming Constituent Assembly election, The Himalayan Times reports..

“The 200 youths to be deployed in each booth will also work as production team of the party as directed by the party chairman,” said Ganeshman Pun, chairman of YCL Nepal, at a press conference here today.

UCPN-M Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has directed YCL to form a force that can shoulder the twin responsibilities of carrying out campaigning as well as production activities. Pun said, apart from election campaign, the team members will also work as volunteers, as rescue team and as production team.

Since the party has been delaying implementation of the Hetauda convention’s decision, Chairman Dahal has been pressing YCL to begin production work as well.

YCL leaders said that many YCL members have been involved in production related activities, including agriculture, cultivation of mushroom, and pig farming, among others.

Journalists at the function suggested that they correct the wrongs committed by their cadres in the past.

Pun vowed to correct past mistakes of YCL members through the upcoming first national conference. He said the conference would come up with many innovative plans and programmes for development of youth in the country. The conference will be held in Kathmandu from August 31 to September 3.

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SC VACATES STAY ON UPPER KARNALI

Kathmandu, 12 Aug.: Vacating its 20-day old stay order, the Supreme Court today gave a go-ahead to the construction of 900 MW Upper Karnali Hydropower Project.

A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Damodar Prasad Sharma and Justice Prakash Osti vacated the stay order following today’s hearing.

“The disputes raised by the writ petitioners shall be decided after the final hearing, hence there was no need to continue the temporary stay order issued on July 23,” the bench observed.

Citing the seriousness of the issue, the bench issued a priority order for the final hearing on the writ to be conducted within 15 days of the registration of written explanations by the defendant government authorities.

The apex court has sought explanations from the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers, Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, Department of Electricity Development, GMR Upper Karnali Hydropower Ltd and GMR Consortium on why went ahead with the hydropower project ignoring questions raised by the locals over the construction of the project.

The bench scheduled the hearing of the case, along with another writ petition filed by Gorakh Bahadur BC, challenging the construction of the largest hydropower project in the country.

The apex court had stayed the implementation of the Detailed Engineering Report and the Project Development Agreement signed for development of the Upper Karnali Hydropower Project.

A public interest litigation was filed by Chakra Bahadur Roka and other locals from Dailekh, Bajura, Dang, Baitadi, Jumla and Salyan. They argued that the project infringed upon the rights of the locals to take a decision on development of the region and serves the interests the multinational company, GMR Ltd, at the expense of locals’ interests.

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MEDIA GOOGLE

“Chief Commissioner at the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) Lokman Singh Karki today said that local bodies were the most corrupt in the country as they were without elected representatives.

”Directing all the chiefs of government bodies in the Lake City, Karki said most of the corruption cases the CIAA has received was against local bodies and their investigation too had proved the same. “If Rs 100 is allocated for development, 90 paisa goes into the pocket of government employees and parties and 10 paisa to the target

group,”

(Report in the Himalayan Times, 12 Aug.)

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