KING GYANENDRA VISITED TANSEN, the district headquarters of Palpa, on Sunday (April 1). He inspected the ravaged buildings, historic durbar and government offices. The Maoists had destroyed the buildings in an attack on January 31 this year. The historic Palpa durbar had been housing a number of government offices. The King is said to have instructed the speedy renovation of the durbar. The King also visited Bhairabnath temple. He met with local people also.
A HIGH-LEVEL MISSION OF THE Asian Development Bank (ADB) is arriving on Monday (April 3) on a week-long visit to Nepal , according to The Himalayan Times daily. The mission will look into the agenda of Syaphrubesi-Galchhi road which the government and the ADB have thought of building. The visit by the mission is considered a step forward in building the over 70 km north-south road, which will connect Galchhi along the Prithvi highway with Syaphrubesi, which is the southernmost part of Tibet . The mission will study the data cranked out by the authorities concerned. However, an agreement for possible funding may be reached in about six months. The project is expected to cost about $ 80 million according to initial estimates and could take five to six years to be completed.
THE NUMBER OF TOURISTS WHO VISITED Nepal in the month of March this year has increased by 27 percent compared to the same month a year ago. Compared to 20,137 tourists who came to Nepal by air in March, 2005, the number increased to 25,553 in March this year. The number is compiled by the Immigration Department at the Tribhuwan International Airport . Significantly, the number of Indian tourists increased by 77 percent during this period while the number of third-country tourists increased by 14 percent. Around 7161 Indian tourists visited the country in March this year. In the first three months of this year, the number of tourists visiting the country has increased by 18 percent compared to the same period previous year.
A GANG OF ARMED DACOITS took an entire village under their control for five hours and looted 100 houses in Chetnagar basti of Jamuniya VDC of Rautahat district. They shot to death two villagers who tried to resist. They virtually emptied the houses during their overnight robbing on Tuesday. Terrified villagers spent the whole night in nearby fields and jungles. The village lies 6 km southeast of Chandranigahapur in East West highway.
THE FINANCIAL SITUATION OF THE state-owned power utility Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has worsened thanks to managerial inefficiency and lack of professional decision-making, a study states. The report prepared by CSC & Co. – an affiliate of international auditing agency PriceWaterHouseCooper – has pointed out that the total loss of NEA has reached Rs 5.06 billion, which is one-fourth of its total capital. The report adds that its situation could further deteriorate if timely reforms are not undertaken. The report states that last year it incurred Rs 1.56 billion of loss whereas the year before it had incurred the loss of Rs 1.76 billion. The report points out that leakage stands at whopping 24.83 percent. It states that last year, the NEA could not utilize the excess power of 498.1 million kwh of energy – which is worth Rs 2.6 billion. It also points out various other discrepancies in financial management of NEA.
DAYARAM PARIYAR, A STAFFER OF NATIONAL Human Rights Commission (NHRC), who had been injured in a police firing in Janakpur four days ago has died on Monday (March 27) night. He had been undergoing treatment at the Tribhuwan University Teaching Hospital. According to a preliminary report of NHRC, Pariyar has been killed by bullet fired by police. “We are investigating the incident in detail,” said Sudip Pathak, a member of NHRC. In the incident in Janakpur, a worker of Rastriya Prajatantra Pary (RPP) had been killed on the spot while Pariyar had been injured when a policeman opened indiscriminate firing. Expressing condolences at the death of Pariyar, NHRC chairman Nayan Bahadur Khatri has accused the state forces of increasingly violating human rights.
DEPARTMENTAL ACTION HAS BEEN taken against 996 police personnel for behaving against the ethics of the police department, police headquarters said in a press release. While action was taken against 109 police personnel for violating human rights during the year 2062, 72 police personnel were sacked, 57 suspended and 717 were given warning. “We stopped the promotion of 91 police personnel and decreased the grade of 59 police personnel during the year,” said Ramesh Chand, spokesperson of Nepal Police. A total of 9244 crimes took place in the country during the current fiscal year, the report said. Compared to the last fiscal year, the number of crimes has gone up by 622 this year.
THE CHIEF OF COMMISSION for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) Surya Nath Upadhyaya has criticized the donor agencies saying they are not making their expenditures transparent. Speaking at a program organized by the Research and Media Center Against Corruption, Upadhyaya said that the doors put their interests uppermost and impose different kinds of conditions while providing grants. He said that due to their vested interests they are not making their expenses transparent. While stating that the country must implement the UN Convention Against Corruption, he also came down hard against other anti-corruption agencies of the government for not enforcing laws to control corruption.
