NEA Unbundling Process Set To Begin Soon
The government is going to introduce a legislation in the parliament ‘in a fortnight’ kick-starting reforms in energy sector. The legislation is coming as part of the institutional and political commitment to power sector reforms, which, among others, involves unbundling of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and having a regulatory body, too. “Power sector reforms hold. The draft bills are being scrutinized by the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs. They will come up with their views in ten days before we push forth,” said Tika Dutta Niraula, Secretary at the Water Resource Ministry. “Our agenda now is to have all the laws on power sector reforms ready by June 15,” Niraula said. Once enacted, the Electricity Bill 2007 will split the NEA into two separate entities with separate functions, as part of the reforms process “to boost the performance and image of NEA.” While one entity will be entrusted with the sole task of looking into power generation, the other will look into tasks like power transmission. Similarly, once passed, the Nepal Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) Bill 2007 will culminate in the formation of a regulatory body, which will revitalize the now defunct Electricity Tariff Fixation Commission (ETFC). Niraula said the task was being speeded up following a circular from the Prime Minister’s Office, which had explicitly said that “the task of enacting necessary legislation for energy sector reforms be finished by the end of the current fiscal year by July 15.” The bid to supersede the governing laws by new Acts goes back to the second half of 2005. The efforts received setback in January 2006 when the erstwhile regressive government failed to push the ordinance lacking ‘political commitment.’ However, the enforcement of the new law could cause employees unrest, with NEA employees’ union flaying unbundling as a ploy to benefit none else than the existing ‘cronies’ in the power sector. The Himalayan Times daily reports
Gas Companies Stop Its Import
Putting forth their three demands, gas companies have stopped importing cooking gas from Sunday (March 25) – adding to the problems of consumers who are already facing fuel shortage. The LP Gas dealers’ association has said that the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC0 was not allowing them to import gas as per demands. They have also demanded increasing transport fare by 21 percent and setting separate purchase prices for separate processing plants. The NOC, on the other hand, says that owing to financial crunch, it cannot allow increase of quota of import. Kantipur daily reports
Deuba Breaks His Silence; Appeals For Putting Off CA Polls
Nepali Congress (Democratic) president Sher Bahadur Deuba has suggested postponing the Constituent Assembly (CA) on consensus. Two days after the grisly Gaur killings, Deuba told reporters in the capital on Friday (March 23) that the polls have to be postponed on consensus among eight parties including the Maoists. “Already Ian Martin (UNMIN chief) has said it will be difficult. We should amend the constitution to postpone the elections,” Deuba said. “There is no reason to feel ashamed. We also cannot blame each other,” he said. Leading dailies report
Overseas Workers Decline Slightly
After the number of workers leaving for two largest destinations – Malaysia and Qatar – declined, the total number of workers leaving for overseas has come down by 6 percent in the first eight months of the current fiscal year. According to the Department for Labor and Employment Promotion, the number of workers leaving for Malaysia and Qatar has declined by 20 and 30 percent respectively. As a result, the total number of overseas job seekers has come down by 6 percent to 115,879. The department’s data shows that during the period 48,171 workers left for Malaysia – compared to 60,541 in the same period previous year. Likewise, 27,540 workers went to Qatar during the period – compared with 39,397. Experts have assumed that Terai unrest might have affected the number of youths going overseas from Terai. “In this period, there have been difficulties for youths from Terai to go overseas,” said Keshar Bahadur Baniya, director general of the department. In Malaysia , the cumbersome process might have pulled down the number of prospective workers whereas in Qatar , the demand for workers has come down after the completion of Doha Asian Games. However, the numbers of workers going for United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have increased substantially in this period. Those going to Saudi increased by 99 percent to reach 21,632 and those going to UAE increased by 26 percent to reach 13,691. Kantipur daily reports
Rights Activists Give Gory Details Of Gaur Killings
Human rights activists have revealed shocking and gory details of how people were murdered in cold blood in course of Gaur attack on Wednesday (March 21). The group of rights activists who made on-field inspection on Thursday has informed that over one dozen persons were murdered in cold blood in a grisly manner. The rights activists have informed that murderers raped five women and cut off their breasts before killing them. Over one dozen persons were chased five to eight kilometers before they were killed. In total, 28 persons have died in the incident. The rights activists have also suspected that organized criminal gang must have been involved in the attack. “Looking at the grisly manner of killing, one cannot imagine that any political organization can engage in such act,” said Padma Ratna Tuladhar, a member of the group. The activists have also informed that those who were killed have been found to have sustained grave wounds in their heads. Bamboo sticks and spears have been used repeatedly to smash their heads, they informed. The group of rights activists who went to Gaur on Thursday include Dr. Mathura Prasad Shrestha, Dr. Arjun Karki, Dr. Gauri Shankar Lal Das, Padma Ratna Tuladhar, Daman Nath Dhungana, Subodh Pyakurel, Gauri Pradhan, Bishnu Pukar Shrestha and Bimal Chandra Sharma. nepalnews.com reports
Maoists Obstruct Rana From Entering Sindhupalchowk
The Maoist cadres obstructed Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) president Pashupati SJB Rana from entering his home district of Sindhupalchowk on Wednesday (March 21). He was stopped when he reached the border between Kavre and Sindhupalchowk district in Dhadkhola at 9 am in the morning. Rana was planning to address a public meeting in Lagarche VDC in Melamchi area. Later, however, Rana went to the district after he talked with the Prime Minister over security and a team of Armed Police Force was deployed for his security. Leading dailies report
Changes Proposed In CA-Related Bills To Ensure Women Representation
Activists of women’s rights have proposed some changes in the Constituent Assembly Member Election Bill and Political Parties Bill to ensure that women will get at least one-third of representation as promised by the interim constitution. Activists led by Shanti Mallika – a campaign aimed at ensuring women’s proportional representation - and the UNIFEM office in Nepal , met with Speaker and MPs on Wednesday (March 21). They handed over their amendment proposal (in the two bills) to the general secretary of the Parliament Secretariat and members of State Affairs Committee – which has initiated discussions on those bills. According to lawyer Bhimarjun Acharya, the women activists have proposed mainly two changes – one is to ensure there will be one-third women candidacy also in the constituencies that will be added as per the amendment of the interim constitution, and second is to ensure that one-third of candidates who will be named in the closed-list the parties will provide to Election Commission for proportional representation-based election should be women. “And they should list these women in the priority also,” he said. On the bill related with political parties, the women activists have demanded changes to ensure one-third women representation in all their organizations. Saru Joshi Shrestha of UNIFEM said that women activists have been demanding 50 percent share in all levels of the state. “But due to given reality, we now want to ensure that the one-third reservation by the interim constitution is lived up to by the leaders who have only given us lip-service in the past,” she said. Babita Basnet, president of Sancharika Samuha, said the women will continue their movement to realize their due share in the state affairs. Compiled from reports
NEA Cuts Power Outage Hours
The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has decided to reduce power cuts by 16 hours weekly from Wednesday (March 21), owing to “decreasing power demands in the country.” The new schedule has provided a relief for the people of Kathmandu valley from power cuts at night. The NEA had been slapping a total of 40 hours of load-shedding weekly, which would now be 24 hours weekly. “we have reduced the hours of power cuts by 16 hours a week, thanks to decreasing demand for power. Also, there have been some positive changes in the power generation plants at Kulekhani,” said Sher Singh Bhat, the chief at System Operation Department of NEA. According to the new schedule, the NEA has dropped its shift of 9.30 pm to 1.30 am and from 1.30 am to 5.30 am in the Kathmandu valley. The Himalayan Times daily reports
Prachanda Accuses Royalists Of Stoking Fire
Talking to reporters in Dhangadi on Tuesday, Maoist chairman Prachanda has accused that royalist elements were stoking fire to flare up the strike called by the business community. He claimed that the hotelier Shrestha who was beaten by Maoist cadres was anti-employees and had committed gross crimes against workers. He also went on to apologize for beating him saying it was against party’s policy. Prachanda accused that royalist elements were trying to use the incident to attack the Maoists. Meanwhile, Prachanda also said that seven parties were working under pressure from domestic and foreign reactionaries to delay the formation of interim government. Leading dailies report
MJF Dismisses Prachanda’s Demands To Ban It
The Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) has dismissed demands made by Maoist chairman Prachanda to ban their organization. “The Maoists should actually be banned,” Kishore Kumar Bishwas told Kantipur FM. He also denied that MJF activists had used weapons first in Gaur. “It was the Maoists who used weapons first. Then the public retaliated,” he said, adding that MJF regretted the whole incident. Meanwhile, another MJF leader has termed Prachanda’s remarks as undemocratic and autocratic. “That is an undemocratic remark. There is no reason to ban the MJF,” Sita Nandan Raya, central leader and MJF’s talks team coordinator, told Kantipur TV. Compiled from reports
