Prachanda Against Foreign Investment In Media
Claiming that his party was the worst victim of reporting by big media houses running with foreign investment, Prachanda has warned that once Maoists join interim government, they will change the media policy to prevent such investment. Stating that foreign investment in media is dangerous for national independence and identity, Prachanda said his party will hold the Ministry of Information and bring about necessary changes in the government policy. He said so while addressing the journalists at a press meet in Butwal on Sunday (Feb 25). Meanwhile, the Maoist chairman accused that people who were ‘spreading rumors’ about Maoists concealing weapons were trying to derail constituent assembly elections. He said that since a large number of their weapons were grenades and home-made bombs, which the UN did not register, the total number of their arms was felt to be fewer compared with number of combatants. Prachanda added that many of their weapons were destroyed in fire and were swept away by river, too, during the course of conflict when the state army attacked houses in villages and when they were transporting weapons across rivers. Compiled from reports
MJF Stays Away From Talks
Reiterating their stance that they will not hold talks with the government till the Home Minister resigns, the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) refused to sit for talks with the government on Sunday. The government talks team had invited MJF for the talks on Sunday (Feb 25) at the Peace Secretariat in Singh Durbar. The MJF has already said that it will impose chakkajam (traffic blockade) and customs blockade from February 26 to March 5 in Terai region. From March 6, the MJF has threatened to impose indefinite Terai bandh. Meanwhile, the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NFIN) has decided to sit for talks with the government. They have been invited for the talks on Monday. Leading dailies report
MPs Demand Action Against King
The parliamentarians took the government to task on Sunday (Feb 25) over the apparent non-action against King Gyanendra on his Democracy Day message. The MPs asked the government to implement its earlier directive to take action against the King. Speaking at the parliament, MPs Bamdev Gautam, Pradeep Nepal , Khadga Bahadur BK, among others, demanded that the government implement the parliament instructions and notify them immediately. Meanwhile, the president of Nepal Workers and Peasants Party (NWPP) Narayan Man Bijukchhe has accused that the King’s message was drafted with the knowledge of the government. “I am sure the draft was prepared by the government. So I don’t believe any answer by any minister to the parliament,” he said, speaking at the parliament. He added that the King message was prepared by the same people who had drafted the April 24, 2006 royal proclamation that revived the House of Representatives. He said the proclamation was prepared with the consent of top leaders of major parties. Leading dailies report
Norwegian Proposal To Develop Tamakosi
A renowned Norwegian company called Statkraft Norfund (SN) has submitted proposal to the government showing interest to invest in Tamakosi II and III hydropower projects totaling around 500 MW. The power generated could be used by Nepal as much as it needs, and the remaining sold to Indian Power Trading Company. Dr. Sandip Shah, project director of the company, said adequate opportunity will be availed to the government, Nepal Electricity Authority and local investors who are interested to invest in these projects. According to Tika Dutta Niraula, Water Resources Secretary, the government is about to complete its homework to permit investment in Tamakosi II (275 MW) and III (207 MW). “The (SN) will soon be given the license,” Niraula said. Studies have shown that projects totaling 1100 MW can be constructed in Tamakosi basin. The same company had earlier proposed to work together in 309 MW strong Upper Tamakosi project with the NEA. The NEA, however, has not replied to this offer yet. Kantipur daily reports
Law Minister Does Not See Enough Basis To Take Action Against King
Narendra Bikram Nemwang, Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, has said that there is not enough legal basis to take action against the King based on the message. His reactions have come in the wake of parliament’s directive to the government to take action against the King for his Democracy Day message in which he had defended the move of February 1, 2005. Compiled from reports
Prachanda Wants Republic Declared
Maoist chairman Prachanda has started saying that the issue of constituent assembly is of secondary importance compared to the need to declare republic in the country. Addressing a mass gathering in the western Terai town of Butwal on Saturday (Feb 24), Prachanda said the republic should be declared both by the parliament as well as from the streets. He said declaration of republic by parliament alone may not suffice and that it should be supported by street agitation. “The monarchy will not be able to save itself even if foreign forces support it,” he said at the mass meeting. Stating that the Maoists had been the original party who demanded federal republic, Prachanda said the interim government including them must be formed immediately if the election for the Constituent Assembly is to take place on stipulated time. He claimed central leaders of his party would not keep personal properties for next 20 years to concentrate in the development of the country. Leading dailies report
Drop Charges Against JTMM: Thakur Committee
The government talks committee headed by Minister Mahantha Thakur has recommended the government to drop charges and warrants against the workers and leaders of both factions of Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha (JTMM) to create atmosphere for talks with them. Likewise, the Thakur committee has again formally invited the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) and Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) for talks. The meeting of the Thakur committee held Thursday (Feb 22) afternoon decided to invite MJF for talks on February 25 and NEFIN on February 26. Leading dailies report
Two Ballot Papers; No To Temporary Voters
The eight parties’ taskforce formed to decide about the details of the electoral system has agreed to use two ballot papers and two boxes during the forthcoming Constituent Assembly (CA) elections. Likewise, they have decided not to allow temporary voters to cast their votes in the polls due to technical and managerial constraints. One each ballot paper and box will be used for the first-past-the-post and proportional representation-based elections. “The elections will be held in parallel (or mixed) system,” said Dinanath Sharma, leader of Maoist and a member of the task force. “People will vote their chosen candidates on the basis of first-past-the-post system and they will also vote parties based on proportional system. The parties will elect their candidates based on the percent of votes they accumulate through proportional system,” explained Ram Chandra Poudel, general secretary of Nepali Congress. The Maoist combatants in the camps, the army and police personnel and election officials will be able to cast their votes on proportional representation system only. Meanwhile, the task force agreed to ask the Election Commission to collect names of those voters who could not be included in its earlier voters’ registration campaign within next one month. But they have dropped the idea to include temporary voters. nepalnews.com reports
EVs Petition Against Load Shedding
The Electric Vehicles (EVs) entrepreneurs have petitioned to the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to withdraw crippling hours of load shedding. A delegation of the entrepreneurs reached the NEA office on Sunday (Feb 25) and handed over a memorandum appealing for withdrawal of power cuts, which they claimed have severely disrupted the normal operation of EVs like Safa Tempos. “At present, 600 such tempos are serving 125,000 people everyday in the capital. Effect on EVs will, therefore, affect passengers also,” said Ramesh Regmi, general secretary of Nepal Clean Transport Entrepreneurs’ Association. The hours of load shedding has affected in the process of charging batteries of EVs. After their meeting with NEA officials, Umesh Shrestha, president of the association, claimed that an understanding has been reached to reduce load shedding hours in charging stations. Nepal Samacharpatra daily reports
Tourism Earns Rs 4 Billion
In the first five months of the current fiscal year 2006/07, tourism sector has earned Rs 3.85 billion. According to a report on the monetary situation by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the figure is the total of earnings made from the tourists who came to Nepal by air during the period. However, compared to the same period previous year, the earning is less by 3.6 percent. Last year, tourism earning during that period stood at Rs 3.99 billion. Nepal Samacharpatra daily reports
Int’l Meet On Local Development Starts
An international conference on “Public Policy and Local Development Opportunities and Challenges” began in Kathmandu from Saturday (Feb 24). The conference jointly organized by the International Geographic Union Commission on Geography and Public Policy, IGU-CGPP and the Tribhuwan University Central Department of Geography, is being participated by some 40 scholars from Nepal, the US, India, Bangladesh, Japan, Portugal and Switzerland. They will be presenting 36 academic working papers on different issues related to local development, natural resource management, demography, livelihood and transformation etc. The outcome is expected to held enrich knowledge on local development. Leading dailies report
Govt Prepares 10-year Road Master plan
The government has prepared a 10-year road development master plan. Termed as Priority Investment Plan (PIP), the governments plans to increase the length of black-topped roads by three-fold in the next 10 years. “After the National Planning Commission approves it, the plan will immediately come into effect,” said Komal Karki, an engineer at the foreign aid section at the Department of Roads. Strategic roads will be upgraded as per this plan. “The annual budge to implement this plan will be Rs 10 billion – double what is being spent at present,” said Karki. At present, there are 32,000 kilometers of road in the country. But only 3500 km of them have been black-topped. Kantipur daily reports
