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| NEWS FLASH 2000- LAST UPDATED : Tuesday, December 12, 2000 08:51 AM + 5:45 GMT | |
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Hotels Reopen After 24 Hour Closure Kathmandu, Dec. 12: Defiant hoteliers reopened their establishments Tuesday 24 hours after a challenging an agreement between the government and unions to slap a 10 percent compulsory service charge on all services in the next two months. Hotels reopened following assurances of security and suspension of strikes by Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala to entrepreneurs; hoteliers were kept out of the deal. " The Prime Minister has assured us that there will no longer be strikes at hotels and the high level committee will consider the demands of both hoteliers and employees on the 10 percent service charge issue. " The Prime Minister has assured us the government will create an environment for the smooth functioning of the travel industry even after two months. " If the assurances are not fulfilled, we will again restort to struggle unitedly," a statement of the Industry Friendly Relations Committee-- an alliance of 15 travel organizations and businesses said. Unions close to the government and the opposition refused to negotiate with the government appointed committee headed by Vice Chairman of the National Planning Commission Prithvi Raj Ligal. Unions for the second time suspended their strike call after brokering a deal with Deputy Prime Minister Ram Chandra Paudel Sunday; the first strike call was in November. The off and on strike threats by hotels and unions have already impacted the tourist industry that may take months to recover. Hotels were empty Monday as visitors returned home in outbound flights during Nepal's peak tourist season. Hoteliers have asked the government to declare strikes illegal after declaring the industry an essential service. Hoteliers say the 10 additional percent tax will hamper the industry while workers argue that most of them are poorly paid and the new tax will increase government revenue through transparent dealings. The latest development will give the industry and the national economy a new lease of life. The tourism industry is a major source of convertible currency and employs thousands of people. nepalnews.com br Kathmandu, Dec.12: Princess Himani Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah gave birth to a daughter at a maternity home in the capital Monday, an announcement said. The infant is the first child of Prince Paras Shah and the Princess. The mother and child are doing well. nepalnews.com br Two Killed, Five Injured in Collision Kathmandu,Dec.12: Two persons were killed and five others were injured when a bus and a truck collided at Malekhu in neighbouring Dhading district Monday morning, police said. They died en route to hospital in the capital where the injured are being treated. The bus was traveling to Kathmandu from Butwal. nepalnews.com br Nepal’s biggest journalism award instituted Kathmandu, Dec 12: Nepal Press Union (NPU), an organization of working journalists, has instituted Nepal’s biggest journalism award named BP Koirala Journalism Award. The Award, which carries the purse of 1,00,000 rupees, is to be given annually to working journalists or publishing houses that make significant contribution in educating, informing and entertaining the people through mass media, said NPU in a press statement Monday. NPU plans to create a revolving fund of Rs. One million and the award would be given annually out of the interest of that fund. NPU has already opened an accounts in the name of BP Koirala Journalim Award in Nepal Bank Limited and has appealed to all to make their generous contribution to the revolving fund.nepalnews.com yl Hoteliers withdraw closure; resume services Kathmandu, Dec 12: Hoteliers have withdrawn their earlier decision to close their hotels for indefinite period and have resumed their services from today. A meeting of the Hotel Association of Nepal and other 15 travel and tourism related organizations that were held until late evening Monday decided to resume operation as Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala personally assured them to look into their problems and solve them in two months. Hoteliers had decided to close the hotels as hotels workers threatened to go on strike if their demand relating to ten per cent service charge was not met. However, workers called off their strike for two months following the intervention of the government. But hoteliers went on with their decision of closing hotels unless workers unconditionally withdraw their strike and government amends some provision of Labour Act. All hotels remained closed on Monday. However, Prime Minister Koirala took initiative to end the problem and invited hoteliers to his residence to discuss the issue. Hoteliers took the decision following the meeting with Prime Minister Koirala. As Prime Minister assured to solve all the problems within two months, we have decided to open hotels from today ,said an official of HAN. nepalnews.com yl Koirala-Bhattarai discuss current problems Kathmandu, Dec 11: Prime Minister and president of the ruling Nepali Congress party Girija Prasad Koirala and another senior leader of the party Krishna Prasad Bhattarai met briefly today and discussed the current crisis within the ruling party and some burning national problems. Prime Minister Koirala went to Bhaisepati residence of Bhattarai Monday morning and asked him to advise for the solution of several problems facing the party and the nation, said a source close to Bhattarai. Koirala briefed Bhattarai about the internal problems of the Nepali Congress, Maoist insurgency, recent strike in the hotels and educational institutes. Koirala also requested Bhattarai to help him solve these problems. According to the source, Bhattarai told Koirala to relinquish one of the two posts he is holding ( Prime Minister or party president) to solve the problems. However, Koirala is learnt not to have given no specific answer. Koirala returned saying he would think over it. A source close to Prime Minister said that Koirala would not relinquish any post. Bhattarai returned to Kathmandu Sunday from his weeklong visit to India. Soon after Koirala-Bhattarai meeting, some Nepali Congress leaders and lawmakers belonging to anti-Koirala faction in the party, gathered in Bhattarai’s residence to chalk out a strategy against Koirala, source said. However, their decision was not known. nepalnews.com yl Kathmandu, Dec.11: Engineer Jyan Bahadur Pradhan died of a stroke Saturday. He was 83. Pradhan was also the first President of the Nepal Engineers' Association, a member of the King Tribhuvan Memorial Committee, a former President of the Nepal Bridge Association and founder member of St. Xavier's School. He is survived by a wife, two sons and six daughters. nepalnews.com br Four Dead, 56 Injured in Three Vehicular Accidents Kathmandu, Dec.11: Three persons died and 56 persons were injured in three vehicular accidents, police said. Two persons died and six others were injured when a jeep in which they were travelling to the capital from Birgunj met with an accident near Manhari in Makwanpur Sunday. One person died and 50 others were injured when a bus going to Melumchi from Kathmandu overturned Sunday near Dhulikhel. One person died Friday when a vehicle went out of control after a tyre of a vehicle burst in Chitwan, police said. nepalnews.com br Police Arrest Restaurant Owner for Murder Investigation Kathmandu, Dec.11: Police Sunday arrested Bijaya Joshi , proprietor of Safe Kitchen of Jamal, for investigation into the murder Friday of Rajesh Shrestha, chairman of ward 11 of Kathmandu metropolis, police said. Shrestha was hacked to death with a khukri while coming out of the restaurant Friday night. Two students earlier arrested for investigation have been released. Shrestha was an activist of the Nepal Communist Party ( Marxist Leninist). nepalnews.com br Loyalists of Ruling Party Abducted Kathmandu, Dec.11: Suspected Maoists abducted three loyalists of the ruling Nepali Congress from Devipur village in Siraha district Thursday night, party activists said. About five armed masked men entered the home of Kausal Mandal abducting him and other members of the family. Maoists have targeted police and loyalists of the Nepali Congress party in their attacks. nepalnews.com br Hoteliers Close Shop, Other Details Kathmandu, Dec.11: Hoteliers defied the government and unions and closed down their establishments indefinitely Monday refusing to slap a compulsory 10 percent service charge on all services as demanded by workers. The government intervened on behalf of the workers and sided with the employees Sunday evening to slap the tax in two months to stave off a strike by labourers from Monday. " It is not possible to operate the hotel industry unless the trade unions withdraw the strike unconditionally, security is provided to hotel guests, property and workers, and amendments are made to the clauses of the labour act which are detrimental to industrial development, " the Hotel Association of Nepal said after an emergency meeting. Hoteliers charged the government of failure to give the tourism industry protection under constant threats of unions controlled by the ruling Nepali Congress party and the main opposition communist party. Government and the unions Sunday agreed to impose the tax. Hoteliers say the additional 10 percent will be counterproductive while workers, especially from non star hotels say the tax will increase government revenue and discourage tax evasion. At the peak of the tourist season, the industry and the economy will suffer as tourism is the mainstay of the national economy. Other businesses have supported the hoteliers but the closure was criticized by workers who said that an atmosphere for negotiations between hotel owners and employees had been created. Meanwhile, a strike by Maoist students demanding free primary education entered its fourth day Monday as one person died in violonce related to the nation-wide closure of schools affecting several million students. nepalnews.com br Bhattarai returns; says he talked to Indian PM on Kalapani Kathmandu, Dec 11: Former Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai returned to Kathmandu Sunday evening from his one-week visit to India. Upon arrival, Bhattarai said that he met and talked to Indian President K.R. Narayanan, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Ministers, and senior Indian leaders, intellectuals and academicians during his visit to India. He said that he raised several issues concerning Nepal-India relations and cooperation including the issue of Kalapani with Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee. Bhattarai, however, did not elaborate. Bhattarai’s visit to India has been viewed with interest in Nepal as it was scheduled at a time when the internal power struggle in the ruling Nepali Congress party has heightened and Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has been facing a stiff challenge from his rival camp led by Bhattarai.nepalnews.com yl Workers call off strike, hoteliers decide to close Kathmandu, Dec 10: Even as hotel workers called off their earlier announced strike from Monday, hoteliers decided to close the hotels as per their earlier decision. The emergency meeting of the Hotel Association of Nepal and other 15 associations of travel and tour operating organisations decided to go with its previous decision of closing all the hotels from 1200 on Monday as they cannot operate under the constant threat. In a statement issued after the meeting, HAN has stated that despite the formation of a Commission under the chairmanship of Vice chairman of National Planning Commission Prithivi Raj Ligal, which has already started its work process, the Trade Unions had given unilateral ultimatum to go on for strike from December 11 without participating in the meeting called by the Commission. Due to the ultimatum, the process of brining in tourists has been stopped by all tourism entrepreneurs, and tourists have been requested to vacate the hotels by December 11, which has ultimately brought down the hotels into zero occupancy. " Since all hotels have already informed all associations regarding closure of services in the light of the confusion arising in the tourism industry for the last week, tourists have already returned to their destinations, the statement states.. In a meeting held here today, all industrialists, businessmen and tourism entrepreneurs have informed that it is not possible to operate the hotel industry unless the Trade Unions withdraw the strike unconditionally, security is provided to hotel guests, property and workers, and amendments are made to the clauses of the Labour Act, which are detrimental to the industrial development. All tourism entrepreneurs have agreed to the point that it is not possible to operate the hotels in the condition where His Majesty's Government cannot give the protection, and the industry is under the constant threat of service disruption whereby international tour operators and travel agents will not be sending their clients", says the statement. Keeping in mind that Tourism industry is a very sensitive industry having very high liabilities, for themselves and for the tour operators overseas ( because of the consumer protection laws), the entrepreneurs are determined to take this stern step of being unable to operate hotels under the constant threats and ultimatum" it says. As per the decision of the HAN, all hotels in Nepal would be closed right from 1200 Monday. HAN officials did not take part in today’s meeting in the residence of Deputy Prime Minister Ram Chandra Poudel in which an agreement had been reached between the government representatives and workers’ unions to call off the earlier announced strike of hotel workers for the period of two months. Government representatives and workers’ representatives had taken part in the meeting. Hotel Association of Nepal did not take part. The meeting in principle agreed the ten per cent service charge in hotels. But the hoteliers refused to accept this. “ As we have already decided to close the hotel unless the service charge demand was not withdrawn because we cannot charge that tax on already over taxed clients”, said a HAN official. According to HAN official, as their hotels are empty and the service charge issue would come up again after two months, it is of no use of opening the hotels for two months. Hotel workers had announced the strike beginning Monday demanding ten per cent service charge. Following this, hoteliers also decided to close hotels and all other travel enterprises from Monday. All hotels are almost empty as they decided to close the hotels and asked their clients to make alternative arrangements. They have also cancelled all the booking from Monday. The organisations that decided to close the hotels and all travel and tourism related enterprises include Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce of Industries, Nepal Chamber of Commerce, Hotel Association of Nepal, Nepal Association of Travel Agents, Trekking Agents Association of Nepal, Nepal Mountaineering Association, Restaurant and Bar Association of Nepal, PATA Nepal Chapter, Nepal Association of Tour Operators, Nepal Association of Rafting Agents, Nepal Freight Forwarder Association, Nepal Incentive and Convention Association, Himalayan Rescue Association, Nepal Bankers Association and Handicraft Association.nepalnews.com yl Kathmandu, Dec 10: Hotel workers, who had decided to go on strike from tomorrow (December 11) demanding ten per cent service charge, have postponed their protest programmes for two months following an agreement reached between the representatives of workers and the government. However, hoteliers did not take part in the meeting and have not reacted to the decision of the government and workers’ meeting. The representatives of the workers, who had participated in the meeting with the government, announced the decision of calling off the strike for two months. “ We postponed the strike because, the government, in principle, has agreed to the 10 per cent service charge and demanded two months’ period for the same”, said Bishnu Rimal, general secretary of Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions ( GEFONT), who participated in the meeting with the government. Today's meeting was held in the residence of Deputy Prime Minister Ram Chandra Poudel. In a statement issued by Deputy Prime Minister Poudel Sunday evening, it has been stated that ten per cent service charge has been agreed upon in principle but we need two months’ time to study its different aspects and views of other party (hotel owners). As workers announced strike from December 11, hoteliers and other travel entrepreneurs also announced closure of the hotels for indefinite period. Hoteliers also did not accept any booking in the hotel and asked their guests to make their alternative arrangement from December 11. As a result, all the hotels in Kathmandu are deserted. Hoteliers and other travel businessmen are holding meeting until late evening Sunday and their official reaction has not been received.nepalnews.com yl Hotel Workers to Strike from Monday Kathmandu, Dec.10: A strike by hotel workers demanding a compulsory 10 percent service charge on all bills from Monday threatens to cripple the tourism industry and the national economy. Adamant hoteliers, travel agents and other service providers have already notified clients of closure from Monday during the peak tourist season and said they will not buckle under pressure. Hoteliers say the tax will be counterproductive; workers argue the tax will increase government revenue through transparent dealings. Negotiations between the government and
unions to break the impasse failed Saturday. The government formed a resolution committee under the chairmanship of Vice Chairman of the National Planning Commission Prithvi Raj Ligal last month. Travel agents chastised workers for boycotting the Commission. Frantic last minute efforts were being made
Sunday to stave off the threatened strike. The impending strike is the most serious crisis facing the industry after Indian Airlines withdrew from Nepal for six month following the Christmas hijacking of the Airlines Airbus by suspected Kashmiri militants on a flight to New Delhi from Kathmandu. The normally 500,000 annual tourist
arrivals fell by nearly 11 percent following the withdrawal. Kidnapper Frees Kidnapped, Surrenders Kathmandu, Dec.10: A Maoist kidnapper freed a kidnapped activist of the ruling Nepali Congress party and surrendered to police Saturday at district headquarters in Dailekh, police said. The rebel succeeded in deceiving his colleagues at Charmunda village in Dailekh and fled to district headquarters and surrendered to police along with former district president Him Bahadur Shahi. Bini Bahadur Shahi, nephew of his captor, joined the insurgents as a student 14 months ago and was a local militia commander. Samim Alam was injured when a bomb he was making exploded accidentally at Jayanagar village in Rautahat district Friday, reports said. Alam was assembling the bomb to fight Maoists who repeatedly stormed and looted the house of a Nepali Congress activist. nepalnews.com br One Person Arrested with Illegal Currency Kathmandu, Dec.10: One person was arrested Saturday with $4000 in illegal convertible currency notes in the city, police said. Police arrested Manish Agrawal from Om Bahal and are on the look out for his father Purusottam who is absconding, police said. nepalnews.com br Kathmandu, Dec.10: Twenty-two Tibetans, including four infants and six women, were arrested by police at Charikot in Dolakha district in front of police headquarters Thursday for illegal entry into Nepal, police said. The group was sent Saturday to the
Immigration Department in the capital to processes their onward journey to
India where their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama lives in
self-exile. An American diplomat in meetings with Nepali officials this month expressed concern at clashes between fleeing Tibetans and police because of communication difficulties. nepalnews.com br Kathmandu, Dec.10: The 13th. branch of Nepal Bangladesh Bank Ltd. was inaugurated at Tatopani near the Nepal-Tibet border Sunday. The bank opening will facilitate trade between Nepal and Tibet. Newly appointed Deputy Governor of Nepal
Rashtra Bank Ram Babu Panta opened the Bank. NEPSE Index Falls for Second Consecutive Week Kathmandu, Dec.10: The NEPSE index fell for the second consecutive week at the end of five days of trading last week. Trading opened 508.98 points Monday and closed at 494.22 points Friday-- a fall of more than 14 points. Altogether 87,235 shares of 44 listed
companies valued at Rs.71 were traded during the week. Altogether 12,700 shares of Nepal Industrial and Commercial Bank exchanged hands at Rs.732 to Rs.710 per share during the week. nepalnews.com br Kathmandu, Dec.9: Unidentified masked men captured a group of 28 American, British and Irish tourists and decamped with Rs.80,000 Wednesday night at Gaighat in neighbiouring Dhading district, published reports said Saturday. Five armed men pounced on the tourists camping along the banks of the Trisuli river after a rafting trip. Police learnt of the incident after the visitors lodged a complaint the following day. nepalnews.com br Himal Power Limited to Begin Rapairs of Khimti Kathmandu, Dec.9: Himal Power Limited, the promoters of the 60 MW Khimti I hydropower plant, will fly in spares Saturday for the repair of the damaged pen stock to restore power generation and eliminate load shedding during the current winter season, an announcement said. The spares will arrive by Thai International from Bangkok and will be immediately flown to the project site. The owners of Nepal's first hydropower plant expect the repairs will take one day and power generationa will start after the tunnel is refilled with water. The plant was shut down this week for repairs following a detection of a leak. nepalnews.com br |
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