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King Gyanendra Thursday issued a Local Administration First Amendment Ordinance that empowers the administration to run local bodies for another one year by appointing officials under exceptional circumstances when elections cannot be held, the Prime Minister's Office said. Officials were administering village, district and municipal bodies for one year after then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba dissolved elected bodies following the end of their five-year tenure. Local elections were not held because of the communist insurgency. The Ordinance lapsed Thursday and therefore, had to be amended. Government will again appoint officials to run local bodies. nepalnews.com br July 17 King promulgates four more ordinances The King Thursday promulgated the Finance Ordinance, Appropriation Ordinance, National Loan Recovery Ordinance and Credit and Mortgage Ordinance, an announcement said. The ordinances empowers the government to spend money with the beginning of the fiscal year 2003/04. nepalnews.com br July 17 There will be no hike in the price of petrol and diesel, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said Thursday. The announcement came after the government slapped a Rs1.00 and a 50 paise charge of one liter of petrol and diesel respectively to maintain roads in the annual budget 2003/04 announced by Finance Minister Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohini. nepalnews.com br July 17 Maoists arrested with explosives The Army Wednesday arrested 14 Maoists in combat uniform, including four females, with explosives and accessories at Chandeshwor in Dolakha district and accused them for violating a code of conduct between the government and insurgents, a security source told Nepalnews. Others in platoon strength fled after a brief skirmish. The rebels have been handed over to the police, the source said. nepalnews.com br July 17 Dr. Lohani announces Rs.102.4b budget Finance Minister Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohani Thursday announced a deficit budget of Rs.102.4 billion for the fiscal year 2003/04.Rs.60.55 billion has been set aside for regular and Rs.41.84 billion for development expenditure.
The deficit of Rs.16.8 billion will be met through internal borrowings, foreign loans and grants. The budget aims reconstruction of damaged infrastructure and good governance. "This is the big challenge which is attainable. The present period of uncertainty has to be ended to restore permanent peace," Dr. Lohani said while presenting the budget by ordinance in front of an audience of officials, diplomats and cabinet members. Dr. Lohani decried an increase in the regular budget by reducing development expenditure; people living below the poverty line has increased to 38 percent from 30 percent despite completion of nine five-year-plans. nepalnews.com br July 17 A company will be established to finance wool production inside the country. The Dairy Development Corporation will be privatized. A law will be enacted to attract and protect investments by non-resident Nepalis. Export processing zones will be established in Birgung, Panchkhal and Nuwakot. Nepal Telephone Corporation (NTC), a profitable state enterprise, will be converted into a company and 50 percent of shares will be sold to the public. Nine public enterprises will be sold or privatized. Chinese tourists will not need visas. Tourists visiting Nepal for three days will not need visas. Visitors from six SAARC countries will also not require visas to travel to Nepal. For the first time, limited foreign and private participation will be permitted in import of POL products. Nepal Employment Bank will be established to help underprivileged to get foreign jobs. Six hundred more schools to be handed over to communities this year. Rs.20 for every vote of national parties two months before national elections to finance their election campaign. Income tax slab increased to Rs.100,000. Government will build 1,100 homes for officials in the Valley. Profitable enterprises can contribute Rs.5 million to political parties two months before elections and such contributions will be tax exempt. Seventy percent of the budget will be met through foreign loan and grant. nepalnews.com br July 17 A school bus ran over a motorcyclist in front of Siddhartha Banashtali School and instantly killed him Thursday morning, police said. The identity of the motorcyclist was not known. The driver has been arrested. nepalnews.com br July 17 A Nepali trafficker was arrested at Bangkok International Airport Tuesday after disembarking a flight from Kathmandu, agencies reported from the Thai capital. Tika Bahadur Lama was arrested with 5.3 kgs of refined hashish concealed in plastic in his luggage. Lama faces a 15-year jail term, if convicted. The consignment was worth $13,000 in the market. nepalnews.com br July 17 Four
model courts start functioning Maybe
called a step towards specialization, four model courts Thursday started
their work hearing civil and criminal cases separately, court sources said. The
four district level courts developed as the model courts or pilot courts
included district courts of Kaski, Siraha, Chitwan and Kapilvastu. The
Supreme Court has already deputed 11 judges to implement the project. Judges
Shambhu Bahadur Khadka, Bhola Prasad Kharel, Dipak Kumar Karki and Sharada
Prasad Ghimire have been deputed to hear criminal cases in Kaski, Chitwan,
Siraha and Kapilvastu district courts respectively. Whereas,
judges Balendra Rupakheti (Kaski), Ishwor Prasad Khatiwada (Chitwan),
Giriraj Poudel and Balchandra Sharma (Siraha), and Dr. Ananda Mohan
Bhattarai, Binod Mohan Acharya and Ram Prasad Adhikari (Kapilvastu) will be
hearing civil cases only. United Nations Development Project has funded the project, which aims at specializing district courts. nepalnews.com mr July 17 Sher Prasad died Wednesday, a published report said. Sher Prasad was gored June 18 by Romeo, a wild elephant in the Royal Chitwan National Park, a wildlife official said. The tusker critically injured Sher Prasad as it was tethered in its shed inside the Park; Government owned the elephant. The rogue elephant has been spreading terror inside the protected forest wantonly impregnating domesticated females for the last seven years. Sher Prasad was 50. Sher Prasad carried visitors to the park. nepalnews.com br July 17 Pakistan Wednesday agreed to hold talks with India on the resumption of air links between the rival South Asian neighbors, AFP said quoting the Foreign Ministry. "Pakistan
has agreed to host expert-level talks between the civil aviation authorities
of Pakistan and India to consider all aspects for resumption of air links
between the two countries," it said. "The dates The proposal has been communicated to the Government of India, it said. The Indian Government last week said it was ready for the resumption of air links and over flight facilities with Pakistan. Pakistani officials have said they are keen to resume suspended flights between Karachi and Nepal. nepalnews.com br July 17 Fake certificate cases at court The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) Wednesday filed fake certificate cases against five civil servants at the Special Court, officials said. CIAA filed the five corruption cases against civil servants Rajendra Kumar Kaliraj, Krishna Kumar KC, Rama Sharma, Durga Prasad Luitel and Atmaram Phuyal. Kaliraj was assistant administrator at TU Medical College, Pokhara. KC and Sharma were assistants at Agriculture Tools Company and Nepal Telecommunications Corporation respectively. Luitel was assistant accountant at Nepal Television and Phuyal was an employee at Nepal Rastra Bank. CIAA said they presented fake certificates for appointment and promotion. All of the certificates were acquired from Universities of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, India. The five have automatically been suspended from their posts while the case is in court. "If they are proved guilty, the court may slap six month to one year's imprisonment and Rs.10,000 So far, the CIAA has filed fake corruption cases against 106 government employees. nepalnews.com mr July 16 The Royal Palace has launched an official website - www.nepalmonarchy.gov.np marking King Gyanendra's 57th birthday. The website has included Royal history, expenses, Royal members, services being provided by the Four die of mushroom poisoning Four family members died of mushroom poisoning in Manakamana-1 of Gorkha, published-reports Wife of Jhak Bahadur Pariyar and three sons died after they ate curry made of wild mushroom. The dead were wife Nirmaya, 26 and sons Arbin, 3, Arun, 6 and Arjun, 9. nepalnews.com mr July 17 Two army personnel sustained injuries in a mine explosion Wednesday. The mine was planted at Kopche Tower of Nepal Telecommunication Corporation, Lahan, Siraha, police said. Officials at Royal Nepali Army office at Sorhawa, Siraha said the mine was kept for security reasons and might have exploded due to wild animals. They are undergoing treatment at the BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan. Name and health condition of the two have not been released yet. nepalnews.com mr July 17 |
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