Their Majesties to grace civic honour today
Biratnagar prepared to receive Royal couple

By Ritu Raj Subedi /Sharad Raj Subedi

BIRATNAGAR, Jan 2: Their Majesties King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev and Queen Komal Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah will grace the civic felicitation organised by the people of the Eastern Region at the Sahid Rangasala Friday afternoon amidst a colourful and grand ceremony.

Royal address

His Majesty the King is scheduled to address the expected huge gathering of the people. Biratnagar is all set to honour Their Majesties, as the preparations for the event has been completed.
"We have completed preparations and are eagerly waiting for the civic reception," said Jeevan Nepal, spokesman of the Civic Reception Main Committee. Tens of thousands of people from across the Eastern Region are expected to participate in the programme. Millions of people in other parts of the country are expected to watch the historic event on their television sets, he said.

Live broadcast

Nepal Television and Radio Nepal will broadcast the event live throughout the country.
Megharaj Sharma, convenor of the committee, will present a Letter of Felicitation to Their Majesties on behalf of the people of eastern region.

Letters of felicitations

More than 70 Letters of Felicitations will be presented to Their Majesties by various organisations across the region. Various ethnic communities will present 30 cultural shows on the occasion. Likewise, different organisations will put up an industrial exhibition at the programme. People of different communities will organise procession around the city.

Upon their arrival at the Biratnagar airport, Their Majesties will be welcomed by the convenor and the members of the main reception committee. Panchakanyas will offer garlands and flowers to the Royal couple.

TVs installed

Nineteen televisions have been installed at the main thoroughfares of the city to transmit the programme live so that people will be able to watch the event, Nepal said.

Illumination

He informed that the whole city would be illuminated on January 2 and 3 to mark the event.
There will be no transportation problem because the transport entrepreneurs have committed to ply their vehicles across the region tomorrow, he said.

Since the Sahid Rangasala has a capacity of only 40,000, we have requested common people to see Their Majesties by standing on both sides of the roads, he said.

Several arrangements

Nepal also informed that the committee has also made arrangements for drinking water, doctors, nurses and eight ambulances for the event.

"We will distribute 1,50,000 caps to the people during the event. The caps bears the images of Their Majesties and the slogan - Long Live Their Majesties the King and Queen.

Royal tradition

It has been tradition of Nepalese Monarchs to make their first visit to Biratnagar after their accession to the throne. His late Majesty King Tribhuvan visited Biratnagar on Mangsir 25, 2008 B.S. His late Majesty King Mahendra and His Late Majesty King Birendra had visited and graced the civic reception in Biratnagar in 2018 B.S. and 2044 B.S.

Their Majesties in Itahari

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KATHMANDU, Jan. 2: His Majesty King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev and Her Majeesty Queen Komal Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah arrived in Itahari today in connection with a few days' unofficial visit to the Eastern Development Region.

PM oversees preparation, says Royal Address inline with constitution

By A Staff Reporter

BIRATNAGAR, Jan 2: Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand said that the Royal Address, to be delivered at the civic reception of Their Majesties the King and Queen tomorrow, is in line with the norms and spirit of the Constitution.

"The Royal Address will be as per the norm and the spirit of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal" Premier Minister Chand told The Rising Nepal today. Premier Chand came here today to monitor the preparation of the civic reception. Chand also expressed satisfaction over the preparation of the civic reception.

He said that His Majesty the King had repeatedly expressed commitment to constitutional monarchy and the multiparty democracy.

"It is a global tradition for the head of the state to go to the people," he said, adding that there has always been a close relation between the people and the monarch in Nepal."

Premier Chand remarked that the civic felicitation was going to take place as wished by the people of the Eastern Region. "Therefore, I don't understand why some people are making uninvited comments on the civic honour," he said.

Megh Raj Sharma, conveor of the programme, said that they would make the event a grand success.
"It will bring awareness on the relations between the people and the monarch among the people," he added.

Royal couple's visit to Biratnagar historic: Khapangi

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ITAHARI, Jan. 2: Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare Gore Bahadur Khapangi, upon arrival at Inaruwa in connection with the preparations for the civic reception, said that the visit of The Royal couple to Biratnagar would be historic.

Minister Khapangi said that those creating impediments to the visit of historic importance by the Royal Family, the symbol of faith of the Nepalese, and spreading rumours about the visit, will have to repent in future.

Chairman of Nepal Magar Association Inaruwa Municipal Committee Alok Thapa, chairman of Sunsari District Committee of the Association Hansa Bahadur Magar, leader of Nepal Sadbhavana Party Shyam Lal Mishra and a host of other speakers also expressed their views on the occasion.

Monitoring unit formed to tone up aviation agencies

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KATHMANDU, Jan. 2: Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has decided to form a high level and a permanent monitoring unit in the ministry to effectively monitor the work performance, leakage and irregularities of the Civil Aviation Authority and the Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation in connection to the reform process of those organisations.

The unit is formed under the convenorship of the joint secretary of the ministry Medini Prasad Sharma, will have representatives from the Department of Auditor General, Nepal Civil Aviation Authority and Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation.

The unit will regularly monitor all the activities of the Civil Aviation Authority and the Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation and recommend the ministry to adopt necessary measures to improve the management of the organisations and prevent any irregularities in the future.

The ministry has expressed the hope that this will help to improve the management and work performance of both the organisations and the services to the people will be delivered in an effective manner.

Likewise, the ministry has also formed a six-member study team with the representation of the employees of the Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation to make the services of the corporation more effective and transparent.

The study team formed under the convenorship of acting deputy director of the corporation Gobardan Khadka will present the recommendations about the reforms to be done immediately to consolidate the management and prevent the leakage and irregularities of the corporation to the ministry within 45 days.

People keen, jubilant to accord respect

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BIRATNAGAR, Jan. 2: His Majesty King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev and Her Majesty Queen Komal Rajyalaxmi Devi Shah will be arriving here tomorrow to grace the civic reception to be accorded to Their Majesties by the people of the Eastern Region.

His Majesty the King is scheduled to address the reception function. This is the first domestic visit of His Majesty after accession to the throne.All the preparations for the welcome and civic reception for Their Majesties have been completed here, chairman of His Majesty King Gyanendra - Her Majesty Queen Komal civic reception and welcome function committee, Eastern Region, Biratnagar, 2003, Jivan Nepal said here today in a chat with journalists.

The civic reception and welcome programme will be held at the historic Martyrs Stadium of Biratnagar.
A grand dais has been prepared for Their Majesties the King and Queen. Special provision has been made for the public to have Darshan of Their Majesties easily while elaborate security arrangement have also been made.

Provision of five gates have been made at the stadium so that it is easy to enter it.

Enormous enthusiasm is seen among the people of the eastern region to accord welcome and have darshan of Their Majesties the King and Queen. This enthusiasm has only confirmed the deep bond between the monarchy and the people.

About 150 welcome arches built at various places of the submetropolis have made it unparalleled.
The portraits of the Royal Couple and the national flag at most of the houses reflect the veneration of the Nepalese towards the monarchy and their nationalism and patriotism as well.

The arrival of people from various districts of the Eastern Region as well as other parts of the country to take part in the felicitation programme has intensified. Among them are the old and disabled from the rural and remote areas as well.

Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand is already in Biratnagar to welcome and receive Their Majesties.

Among those who have arrived here to welcome and receive Their Majesties are former Prime Minister and leader of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party Surya Bahadur Thapa, former ministers, former ministers of state, former assistant minister, ex-MPs, and leaders and activists of various political parties in large numbers.

At the function tomorrow, there will be a total of 30 floats depicting the folk culture and costumes of various ethnic groups and industrial firms of the Eastern Region.

Twenty highvision televisions have been placed at different locations of the submetropolis for those who cannot make it to the stadium to witness the programme, the publicity sub-committee has stated.

People belonging to different

Refugees to launch protests to press for repatriation

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Jan. 2: The Bhutanese refugees will be launching a series of protest programmes demanding for their early repatriation to their homeland.

"To start with the verified refugees of the Khudunabari camp in Jhapa will be sitting in for indefinite relay hunger strike from January 7," said a press statement of the Khudunabari camp. The hunger strike has the support of refugees in all the seven camps, it said.

The Khudunabari refugees are also demanding with both the Nepalese and the Bhutanese governments for the immediate disclosure of the results of verification of the Khudunabari camp; start the verification by the Joint Verification Team in other remaining camps; and to start repatriation and rehabilitation of the verified Bhutanese citizens back to their homesteads.

The JVT had completed the verification of about 12,000 refugees in the Khudunabari camp about a year ago. But neither the result of the verification has been declared nor started in other camps.
"It is to create pressure on both the governments for resolving the 12 year old Bhutanese refugee problem," Ranjit Gajmer, a Bhutanese human rights activist, told The Rising Nepal.

The refugees have also have warned of intensifying the protest programmes if they failed to get positive response from the concerned governments, reads a statement jointly signed by camp secretary Kamala Khadka and programme coordinator Dr. T.B. Gurung of the Khudunabari camp.
Gajmer criticized both the Nepalese and the Bhutanese governments of not showing interest to hold the 12th round of ministerial level meeting for resolving the refugee crisis.

The 12th round of meeting, which was supposed to take place last year, has been 16 months overdue. The 11th round of meeting was held in August 2001.

They have also made an appeal to the international community to listen to their voices and to put pressure on the Nepalese and the Bhutanese governments to work to resolve the more than a decade-year-long problem. Over 100,000 Bhutanese of Nepalese origin are languishing for more than 12 years in the seven UNHCR managed camps in eastern Nepal.

"We appeal UNHCR to take our voices to the United Nations General Assembly to put pressure on both the governments", the statement reads.

King, NC have no differences: Koirala

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JANAKPURDHAM, Jan. 2: President of the Nepali Congress Girija Prasad Koirala has said that there is no fissure between the Nepali Congress and the King and the Nepali Congress is not anti-monarchy party.

Meeting with the Nepali Congress workers of Sindhuli district here today he made it clear that the Nepali Congress wants to safeguard democracy and every citizen of the country also reflect the same feeling.

Stating that the problem of the country is becoming more complex day by day he said and stressed the need of unity among all the people including the political parties, the King and the Maoists to resolve the existing problem of the country. Similarly, Koirala has said both King and political parties should unitedly make effort for settling the Maoist problem and safeguarding democracy.

Mistrust does not serve national interest: Leaders

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KATHMANDU, Jan. 2: Leaders of various political parties have stated that as monarchy is the symbol of national unity and a respected institution, it should not be made a contentious issue.

Participants at a Face to Face programme organised by the Reporters Club of Nepal here today said that felicitation to Their Majesties the King and Queen by the people of the Eastern Region should not be politicised, and as it is a matter between the King and the people it should not be turned into a controversy.

Spokesman of the Nepali Congress Arjun Narsingh KC said that his party had been taking constitutional monarchy and multi-party democracy as its ideals and that the party would work against any step towards an active monarchy and the hurting the rights of the people.

As the only way of resolving the present problem was the reinstatement of Parliament, all the political parties should pay attention

Illumination in Biratnagar

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BIRATNAGAR, Jan. 2: A grand, festive illumination was held here today on the eve of the arrival of Their Majesties the King and Queen for the civic reception and welcome program me to be accorded Their Majesties on behalf of the people of the Eastern Region.