BRIEFS (Spotlight Weekly)

BHAKTAPUR MUNICIPALITY HAS decided to increase the tourist entry fee from Rs 300 to Rs 375 or US$ 5 with effect from August 17. According to the Bhaktapur municipality, the tourist entry fee for visitors from the SAARC countries will, however, remain the same, that is Rs 30. The municipality said nearly 49,000 tourists from SAARC countries and more than 148,000 tourists from abroad visited the historical and cultural city during the fiscal year 1999/2000.

DIRECTOR GENERAL AT THE Department of Value Added Tax N. P. Silwal said only those professionals and firms whose annual income is more than Rs two million will have to pay VAT. This year's' budget has made provision that professionals including medical doctors, engineers, chartered accountants, lawyers etc. should collect VAT from their clients while offering their services. Lawyers said that it was very challenging to impose the tax on the service sector.

UN GENERAL SECRETARY Kofi A. Annan has expressed condolence over the death of a Nepali solider while serving in a UN peacekeeping operations in East Timor. In a statement, Annan asked Indonesia to stop militiamen infiltrating into East Timor. Annan's statement came after a Royal Nepalese Army soldier Devi Ram Jaisi died and two other soldiers were injured during a clash with a rebel group in Holbulu area on Thursday. Defense Ministry said the injured soldiers are undergoing treatment at a hospital at capital, Dili.

THE WORLDWILDLIFE FUND for Nature (WWF) Nepal Program has agreed to provide an assistance of US$ 25,000 to a local NGO in mid-western Nepal. As per the agreement, Women's Environment sub-committee at Thakurdwara, Bardia will establish an endowment fund for needy girls to attend schools of the Royal Bardia National Park buffer zone. The WWF Nepal Program has been providing stipends in Bardia to increase the enrolment of girls in schools since 1995.

THE GOVERNMENT OF DENMARK HAS agreed to provide assistance for the development of the private sector in Nepal. A memorandum of understanding to this effect concluded here on August 11. The Danish funded Private Sector Development (PSD)-program started on a pilot basis in 1992 with three countries, which has now been expanded to 11 countries including Nepal. The PSD-program aims at establishing long term collaboration between Nepali and Danish private enterprises where priority is given to transfer of technology. In Nepal, it appears that private enterprises within sectors like agro-industry, wood-based industry and the tourism industry till now have shown the greatest interest, said a press released issued by the Royal Danish embassy in Kathmandu.

THE NEPAL STOCK EXCHANGE (NEPSE) index has registered an impressive growth of 5.86 points last week, reports said. While the opening index for the week last Monday stood at 356.81, it closed at 363.67 at the end of the week's transaction on Friday. Share trading at the NEPSE floor was dominated by Himalayan Securities and Finance Company Ltd. last week which topped the number of shares transacted and value of transaction. Out of total 23 transactions, more than 71,000 shares of the company were traded for Rs 15.14 million. The growth rate of NEPSE index for the past few weeks had been minimal.

British Council organized a Children's Poetry Competition for 3 age groups, -- classes 1-4, classes 5-8 and classes 9-12 recently to celebrate the World Book Day 2000. The competition, on English poems, attracted 336 entries from 32 different schools from as far away as Bandipur, Tanahun. The judges CK Lal, Pallav Ranjan and Karen Harle-Cowan used a variey of critera, including originality, use of English and impact to make the final decision. The final results and prizes were presented on 29 July at the British Council by Dr. Abhi Subedi, head of English Department, Tribhuwan University.

The Home Ministry is preparing to announce electricity, communications and banking services as vital areas of public interest paving way to ban the strikes in public utility corporations. As the ongoing strikes in public corporations have paralyzed the country, the government is trying to open the corporations. The Home Ministry has sent the proposal of declaring electricity, communications and banking services as vital services to the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs. As per the Special Services Act 2014, the government can ban the employees of corporations of vital public interest from conducting strike. The law can be implemented as soon as the Law Ministry approves the proposal. The employees of public corporations have been on strikes protesting the withdrawal of facilities and perks. The government had significantly increased their salaries in the last budget. Leading dailies report

House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has asked Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC) to stop all financial and other related process regarding its decision to buy two ATR aircraft and dispatch USD 400,000 as refundable commitment fee. ìThis case appears to be like the Chase Air case where RNAC lost nearly USD 700,000 paid out as deposit,î said Hridayesth Tripathi, a PAC member. The committee has asked RNAC to suspend all financial aspects related to the deal until the officials clarify it. They have charged that RNAC has violated the ruling by Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) that had asked any purchase be made through tender bids and not direct negotiation. Leading dailies report