BRIEFS (Spotlight Weekly)

CROWN PRINCE DIPENDRA opened the Cheranga Khola Micro Hydro Demonstration Scheme in Baidi of Tanahu district Wednesday. The 35-kilowatt project was constructed at a cost of Rs. 3.75 million with support from the UNDP's Rural Energy Development Program and investments from Tanahu District Development Committee and the local people.

THE 60 MW KHIMTI I hydropower project resumed operations last week after repairs of a damaged pen stock pipe, officials said. A leakage was detected in the pipe only a week after the plant was inaugurated by King Birendra early this month, embarrassing the Norwegian promoters. The Nepal Electricity Authority had announced a load-shedding schedule because of the closure of the Khimti plant.

THE CHITWAN 'BANDH' (shutdown strike) called by six leftist groups to protest against the death of a woman in police firing Saturday at Chitwan passed off peacefully Tuesday. The 'bandh' hit normal life across the district, disrupting transportation to different parts of the country. Hundreds of passengers on the East-West highway were stranded at Gaidakot because they were not able to pass through the district. A woman was killed and four others were injured when police intervened at a mass meeting organized by the pro-Maoist women's organization.

NATIONAL TRADING LIMITED (NTL) released 3,600 quintals of sugar Monday, reports said. Sukha Shrestha, chief manager at NTL, told reporters that the government enterprise had decided to release the sugar to remove the 'artificial shortage' in the market. He alleged that businessmen were creating shortage of daily essential commodities through hoarding. Salt Trading Corporation (STC), another semi-state- owned enterprise, however, said the shortage of sugar was the result of short supply of sugar from mills. "STC is unable to sell sugar as per demand as we are short of supply," said Parmeshwor Mahaseth, general manager of STC.

THE MINISTRY OF POPULATION AND Environment (MOPE) is working toward banning two-stroke motorbikes from Kathmandu Valley. A decision to this effect will be taken before mid-November next year, officials said Monday. Talking to reporters, MOPE Secretary Dr Govinda Raj Bhatta said the government was going to take the decision with a view to controlling growing pollution in the valley. Officials say up to 35,000 two-stroke motorbikes are running in the capital. The government had banned over 600 Vikram tempos last year

ACE FINANCE COMPANY Limited ( AFCL), a private company, has announced it will distribute 20 percent dividend at the rate of Rs. 20 per share this year. The company made a profit of Rs.110 million in fiscal year 1999/2000 as investment up to mid-July reached Rs.421 million. The company will issue rights shares to double capitalization from Rs. 445 million as directed by the Nepal Rastra Bank, company officials said.

NEPAL AND AUSTRIA HAVE SIGNED an agreement to avoid double taxation to facilitate investment, officials said. According to the Finance Ministry, Finance Secretary Dr. Bimal Koirala and Austrian Ambassador Johann Demel signed the agreement at the Finance Ministry Friday. Bilateral business relations are nominal at present.

POLICE TOOK INTO CUSTODY 22 Tibetans, including four infants and six women, at Charikot in the northern district of Dolakha last week for illegally entering Nepal, reports said. According to police, the group was sent to the Immigration Department in the capital Saturday for further investigation. The department, in cooperation with the UNHCR office in Kathmandu, sends these people to India if they are established as refugees. Most of these people head to Dharmashala, in northern India, where their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, lives in self-exile. More than 200 Tibetans have entered Nepal on their way to India over the last two months.

A SENIOR OFFICIAL HAS said the government is giving priority to developing the information technology (IT) sector. Addressing a half-day program on IT and the media organized by the Computer Association of Nepal (CAN) in Kathmandu Saturday, National Planning Commission member Dr. Rameswarananda Vaidya said the government is working simultaneously to develop telecommunications infrastructure, IT education, training and its application. CAN president Lochan Lal Amatya said unlike traditional economic sectors like carpet and garments, IT has the potential of providing employment to educated and highly skilled workers. Experts related to the field said the IT sector could become the single biggest source of revenue for Nepal if harnessed properly. The government recently unveiled an IT policy for the development of the sector.

NEPAL-BANGLADESH (NB) Bank has opened a branch office at Liping, Tatopani in Sindhupalchowk district, a major trade route between Nepal and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Inaugurating the bank branch, Nepal Rastra Bank deputy governor Ram Babu Pant said correspondence was under way between the central banks of Nepal and China for conducting transactions through banks. The NB Bank has collected deposits of Rs 6,450 million and invested Rs 4,850 million so far through different branches in the country, said general manager Narendra Bhattarai.

THOUSANDS OF SCHOOLS across the country opened Friday after a week-long closure at the call of a little known pro-Maoist student organization. The ANNFSU (Revolutionary) had called the shutdown of schools in support of its 15-point demand, including free school education, nationalization of private schools, making Sanskrit education optional and stopping the practice of singing the national anthem in schools. In a statement issued Thursday, the organization claimed the shutdown was an 'outstanding success'. Nearly 300 student activists took out a torch procession at Kalimati in the capital Thursday afternoon which passed off peacefully. Police did not interfere in the protest march though the government has banned torch-lit processions.

PRIME MINISTER GIRIJA PRASAD Koirala inaugurated Luna Chemical Fertilizer Company, Nepal's first chemical fertilizer factory, in the eastern district of Jhapa Thursday. Addressing a function, Prime Minister Koirala said with the establishment of the fertilizer company in Nepal, farmers would now get chemical fertilizer more easily and in time. He called for the establishment of such factories in all five development regions of the country. An Indo-Nepal joint venture, the factory was constructed at the cost of Rs. 260 million.

BANK OF KATHMANDU LTD opened its sixth outlet in the industrial town of Hetauda last week. The bank has three branches in the capital and two others in Nepalgunj and Butwal. The bank opened its Hetauda branch to deliver and expand services outside the capital.