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VOL. 27, NO. 26, March 07, 2008 (Falgun 24 2064 B.S.)
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THE NEPAL ELECTRICITY AUTHORITY (NEA) has cut down the load shedding by one hour a day. The NEA's acting chief Shyam Bahadur Shrestha informed that from Friday (Feb 29), the daily load shedding hours will be decreased from eight to seven hours. "Because the repair of one of the damaged units of Kulekhani II power plant has completed, we are reducing the load shedding hour from Friday," Shrestha said. However, the prospects of importing 40 MW of power from India to considerably bring down the crippling hours of load shedding are still dim. "There appears some technical glitches due to which it has not happened," said Minister for Water Resources Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, Shrestha elaborated, "They have to construct around eight to ten towers on Bihar side of India, which they have not done so far. They said it will be completed within a week. But already one and a half month has passed." There is a demand for over 700 MW of power while NEA is able to supply only 500 MW. During dry season when snow-fed rivers dry up, most of the power projects in Nepal generate under capacity.
THE STATE-OWNED NEPAL OIL CORPORATION (NOC) has informed that it will now considerably increase the supply of fuel to address the acute shortage. After the end of Terai unrest, the NOC has said, it will be able to supply more fuel easily. Currently, it was forced to supply fuel by clamping curfew in bordering regions. "The Indian Oil Corporation can provide us with 3 million liters of fuel every day. So we will bring in enough supplies to end the crisis in a few days," said Mukunda Prasad Dhungel, chief of distribution at NOC.
THE SUPREME COURT (SC) HAS SCHEDULED a hearing on the corruption case against suspended governor of the Nepal Rastra Bank Bijaya Nath Bhattarai and executive director Surendra Man Pradhan on March 11.The apex court scheduled the hearing after receiving the full-text judgment from the Special Court on Wednesday (Feb 27), SC spokesperson Til Prasad Shrestha said. The Special Court had transferred the case to the apex court on February 17 after the Special Court judges could not decide the case. Bhattarai and Pradhan were present at the apex court to face the trial. According to Shrestha, a single bench of SC Justice will look into the case and take decision. On June 29, 2007, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority had filed the case against Bhattaai and Pradhan claiming that they had caused a loss of Rs 30 million by terminating a contract signed with a joint venture of Lloyd Hill Oakton, USA, in association with KPMG, Sri Lanka. The agreement was signed on February 6, 2006; it was terminated nine months later. The anti-graft constitutional body had sought a two-year jail term and recovery of Rs 24.5 million from Bhattarai and Pradhan as per Clause 8(3) of Corruption Prevention Act, 2002.
SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL POLICE ORGANISATION (Interpol) Ronald K Noble on Friday recognized eight Nepali police officers for their "professionalism demonstrated in carrying out their law enforcement duties" and expressed commitment to undertake a Nepal Police officer as an attaché at its headquarters in Lyon, France, as requested by the Nepal Police. Speaking at an interaction with reporters, Noble said the Interpol would hire Nepal Police officers at the Interpol's headquarters in view of the credibility demonstrated by Nepal Police of late. "Interpol highly appreciates the work of the Nepal Police for arresting Dr Amit Kumar within a couple of days of issuance of a Red Corner notice against him."By arresting him within a few days, Nepal Police has proved that it is 'equally capable' in crime investigation," Noble added. According to him, Nepal showed an exemplary cooperation by quickly deporting Dr Amit to India. He said the Indian kidney racket allegedly run by Amit Kumar is one of the much-publicized crimes in the world. Earlier at a function organized at Police Headquarters, Noble gave away letters of appreciation to IGP Om Bikram Rana, AIGP Keshav Baral, SSP Upendra Kant Aryal, SP Devendra Subedi; DSP Sher Bahadur Basnet, sub-inspector Raju Sharma, assistant sub-inspector Chim Bahadur Tamang and constable Lila Gurung. Baral heads the Crime Investigation Department at the police headquarters whereas Aryal and Subedi are chief and deputy-chief respectively of the Metropolitan Police Crime Division (MPCD). The MPCD arrested Dr Amit Kumar. Basnet headed the investigation team and Sharma, Tamang and Gurung were involved in the team that arrested Dr Amit from Chitwan. Police officials said this is the first time that any Nepal Police officer received award from Interpol for crime investigation.
