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SPOTLIGHT Family wishes to extend best wishes to Queen Komal on the auspicious occasion of her 56th birthday |
PROTESTING THE INDEFINITE SUSPENSION of prepaid mobile services by the government, the staffs of Nepal Telecom (NT) have decided to launch agitation. Two different employees union of NT have agreed to launch the agitation. In the first phase of their agitation, the staffs would work with black bands in their arms. The government has suspended prepaid since January 19. The NT has distributed 250,000 prepaid lines. The suspension of the services are said to have causes losses to the tune of Rs 1.5 billion to NT.
THE MAOISTS HAVE MADE PUBLIC THREE managers of Surya Nepal company they had abducted over a week ago. Managers Sarvajeet Rana, Prabhakar Bikram Shah and Dambar Limbu had been abducted from Nitanpur, Bara. They were shown to human rights activists, journalists and civil society representatives at Chhatiwan VDC of Chitawan. Shalikram Jamarkattel, president of pro-Maoist trade union, has said the three will not be freed till their 5-point demands are met. During the meeting, the abducted employees urged rights activists and all others to take initiatives to free them soon.
ON THE LAST DAY OF DECLARING STOCK of businesspersons as per the government announcement through Finance Ordinance, only 150 businesspersons have declared their stock. As per the recently released ordinance, nine percent Value Added Tax (VAT) is being imposed on the stocks thus declared by February 12. Government has strictly ordered the businesspersons to declare the stock honestly and in time or face ‘strong action.’ Rana Bahadur Shrestha, acting director general of Inland Revenue Department (IRD) informed that about 150 businesspersons so far have declared their stocks worth Rs 35 million. “More are in the pipeline,” he told The Himalayan Times daily. Despite government’s target to collect Rs 8 billion from stock declaration, the total collection is yet to be confirmed. However, the businesspersons do not agree on the government’s move. Surendra Bir Malakar, vice president of Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) said that the government has failed to take the private sector into confidence to recover billions of rupees from stock declaration that has created clumsy environment in the revenue front. He demanded for the ‘time extension’ to declare stock and maintain the same three percent VAT rate instead of present nine percent.
AS IT SUFFERS FROM ACUTE LOAD SHEDDING thanks to lack of adequate power generation, the state-owned Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is preparing to invest on its own to build 30 MW strong Chameliyagad hydro power project. After it could not obtain foreign investors in the project, the NEA is going ahead on its own. The NEA had earlier requested South Korea and OPEC organization for the financial investment in the project. However, the recent board meeting of NEA decided to proceed with the project on it own. The estimated total cost of the project is $ 75 million - including the construction of 31 km long Kailali-Attariya 132 kv transmission line. Excepting the transmission line cost, the per kilowatt cost of the project is $ 2000. An official said that the project will also help in ridding the regional imbalance in power generation as it falls in under-developed far western region of the country.
A NETWORK OF HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS have blamed the security personnel of firing bullet without warning killing a worker of Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) in Dang on February 8. The Human Rights Treaty Monitoring Coordination Committee has stated that Umesh Thapa was killed by the bullet he received without any warning. Presenting the finding, Subodh Raj Pyakurel, president of INSEC, said that the incident was the result of the public order given by Home Minister Kamal Thapa a day earlier to use ‘the extreme force’ to prevent ‘disruption of polls.’ In the same incident, Krishna Giri, a worker of Nepali Congress (NC), too, sustained bullet injuries.
IN ORDER TO ENCOURAGE THE PRACTICE of obtaining bills from the sellers, the government has decided to purchase such bills and refund one percent of the Value Added Tax (VAT) to consumers. The consumers who submit the bills as prescribed by the government will be entitled to such refund. Officials of the Finance Ministry say the new decision was made to make VAT and income tax effective. Thursday’s cabinet meeting has approved the decision, which will come into force from February 13. Currently, 13 percent VAT is imposed; that is Rs 13,000 per every Rs 100,000. With the new decision, a consumer who presents the bill that he purchased goods worth Rs 100,000 by paying the VAT of Rs 13000, will be refunded Rs 1000 by the government. The decision aims to encourage the practice of exchange of bills and invoices.
BHUTANESE REFUGEES LED BY their human rights leaders Tek Nath Rijal are preparing to stage ‘Satyagraha’ (civil disobedience) in New Delhi in order to draw the attention of international organizations including the United Nations to resolve the refugee crisis. Y.P. Dhungel, member of the Bhutanese Refugee Repatriation Committee, said that various representatives of Bhutanese political parties, organizations and human rights workers will participate in Satyagraha.
