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KING
BIREDNRA AND LEADERS SEND MESSAGES The
fourth City Council meeting of Kathmandu Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) has been
postponed by 15 days amidst infighting between UML and splinter ML members of the Council.
The conflict started during the inauguration of the Council meeting on Friday when pro-UML
Council members started raising slogans demanding resignation of Mayor Keshav Sthapit for
his alleged involvement in corruption at the KMC. Sthapit, in his turn, alleged the
UML leadership as being corrupt and asked his supporters to take on the UML members.
Police later intervened to end the row. Workers of the two parties are at
loggerheads after a senior UML leader last week announced the name of Sthapit as one of
the corrupt politicians. Suspected
Maoist rebels have killed two Nepali Congress activists in remote far-western
district of Achham on last Thursday. According to Police, an armed group of nearly 20
rebels attacked Uday Bahadur Shahi at Kale Dada village development committee, nearly 54
km away from the district headquarters, around mid-night on Thursday and killed him. The
same group also attacked Congress activist Uday Ram Jaisi and a local school teacher,
Nayaram Bhat, the same night. Jaisi died while undergoing treatment at the Tribhuvan
University Teaching hospital in Kathmandu. Four months back, the rebels had killed Tek
Bahadur Shahi, brother of Uday Bahadur Shahi, in the same VDC. The 60
MW Khimti hydro-power project is to supply electricity from June 11 on a
commercial basis, the project said. Major parts of the project including headworks,
headrace, tunnel and powerhouse have already been constructed with an ultra-modern
de-silting basin to mitigate the effect of sand and other construction material. Of the
total project cost of an estimated Rs 10.22 billion, 75 percent is being borne by a
consortium of international financiers including the Asian Development Bank. Rest of the
cost is being met through equity shares. Under the project, which uses the water of the
Khimti River at the boundary of Dolakha and Ramechhap districts, an approximately 8 km
long tunnel has been constructed. A
report released at the UNDP headquarters on Friday has said that an organized
policy environment at the national level had been the missing element in putting in place
anti-poverty strategies. "Overcoming Human Poverty: UNDP Poverty Report 2000"
said putting in place the right policy environment and institutions to ensure governance
for human development was key to poverty reduction. The remarkable success of countries in
East and South East Asia in reducing poverty was based on very strong growth rates
combined with increasing equity, said M. Malloch Brown, administrator of the UNDP. The
Minimum Wage Fixing Committee has, upon consultation with concerned parties,
raised the minimum wage for the industrial workers in the country. According to Deep
Basnet, director general at the Labor Department the Committee has fixed new minimum wage
for adults at Rs 1,450 and for children at Rs 1144 per month. This results into increase
of minimum wage for adults by Rs 250 per month and that for children under 18 by Rs 119.
The meeting also decided to increase the monthly allowance of the industrial workers from
Rs 500 for adults to Rs 666 and from Rs 375 for Children to Rs 500. Similarly, the daily
wage for adult workers has been increased to Rs 74 and for children Rs 60 per Diem. Nepali
Congress President and Prime Minister G. P. Koirala has dissolved his party's
district units in Bhaktapur, Kathmandu and Syangja. He has appointed Congress MP Lekha
Nath Neupane, MP Shanker Prasad Pandey and Shyam Lal Shrestha as presidents of NC's
Bhaktapur, Syangja and Kathmadu district ad hoc committees respectively. Former Minister
and sacked President of NC Kathmandu unit, Prakash Man Singh, has regretted at the NC high
command's decision terming it as "undemocratic." Mahendranagar
municipality in far-western development region has imposed a ban on the use of
polythene bags with effect from Nepali New Year (April 13). The decision was taken in
pursuance to Local Autonomy Act and as per the decision of an all-party meeting to make
the town polythene-free. More
than 200,000 regular and nearly 34,000 exempted students are appearing in the
School Leaving Certificate examinations from nearly 4,000 private and public schools from
all over the country. The Office of the Controller of Examinations, Sanothimi, is
conducting the exams. More than 8,000 security personnel and 18,000 other staff are being
mobilized to conduct the exams. The
government has announced that Juvenile Benches will be set up in all District
Courts of the country beginning from Nepali New Year, April 13. The government had decided
in January this year to set up separate Juvenile Benches in all 75 districts courts within
one month in accordance with the Children Act, 2048 B. S. The Act empowers sitting judges
of the juvenile benches to seek assistance from child specialists as juvenile cases have
different psychological overtones. Chief
of general staff of the People's Liberation Army of China, General Fu Quan,
returned home on Tuesday after completing a six-day visit to Nepal. Chief of the Army
Staff GENERAL PRAJWALLA SHUMSHER JB Rana saw off General Fu at the Tribhuvan International
Airport. The Chinese top brass was visiting Nepal at the invitation of his Nepali
counterpart. The net
profit of the Nepal-Bangladesh Bank Ltd. went up by 35 percent to Rs 169.9
million this year as compared to that in the last year. According to the Bank, the annual
general meeting of the Bank has decided to offer a dividend of 15 percent in paid up
capital to its shareholders. According to the outgoing chairman of the Bank, Jit Bahadur
Shrestha, the deposit collection of the Bank increased by 75 percent to Rs 4.15 billion
and lending rose by 61 percent to Rs 3.16 billion. The AGM has elected Ram Lal Shrestha as
its new chairman. |
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