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KING GYANENDRA HAS summoned the
crucial winter session of parliament on February 10, the Parliament Secretariat
said. The upcoming 21st session of parliament will bring the legislators together for the
first time since the declaration of the state of emergency in November last year. The
government is to seek parliamentary approval of the emergency order. With the
legislature's approval, the government can extend the emergency for another three months.
After that, it can extend the order for another six months, not exceeding a total of
period of one year, with parliament's consent. MAOIST INSURGENTS HAVE killed three
people, including an ex-policeman, in Dhankuta, Kavre and Dadeldhura districts,
authorities said. Meanwhile, activists belonging to Khumbuwan Liberation Front, a sister
organization of the CPN (Maoist), destroyed a powerhouse of a 250 kilowatts micro-hydro
plant in the eastern hilly district of Bhojpur Saturday. CORRESPONDING WITH the decline in
arrival of tourists by air last year, the number of tourists entering Nepal by
land has fallen by over 20 percent, authorities said. According to the Department of
Immigration, 66,863 tourists visited Nepal through entry points at Bhairahawa, Kakarvitta,
Birgunj, Mahendranagar and Tatopani last year, compared to 86,732 visitors in 2000. Over
460,000 tourists visited Nepal last year, registering a decline of nearly 20 percent.
Tourism is one of the kingdom's major sources of foreign currency. FIVE POLICEMEN WERE KILLED and five
others were injured when hundreds of Maoist insurgents attacked a police post at
Gopetar in Panchthar district on Wednesday night. The Home Ministry said the bodies of two
insurgents in combat fatigues were recovered from the site of encounter. Other insurgents
may have been killed or injured in the five-hour-long gunbattle, the ministry said. A DOZEN PEOPLE died when a
passenger bus traveling from Arghakhanchi to Butwal in western Nepal fell some 50
feet off the road at Chyandanda in Tansen municipality Thursday afternoon. Some 50 injured
passengers are undergoing treatment at Tansen Mission hospital. According to police, the
driver of the ill-fated bus was killed in the accident. THE GOVERNMENT IS preparing to
raise domestic airfares by up to 40 per cent, a leading daily reported Thursday,
quoting unnamed officials. A high-level source at the ministry was quoted as saying that a
ministerial decision had been taken following the recommendation of a joint meeting of the
Airlines Operators Association of Nepal, Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal and the
ministry. The decision will come into effect after the cabinet's approval. The government
also proposes to offer subsidies in airfare to remote areas. The government is also likely
to issue strict directives to private airlines to run services to remote area at low
fares, the report said. A BROAD RANGE OF stakeholders
taking part in the pre-consultation meeting on the eve of the Nepal Development
Forum meet have criticized Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the country's central bank, for what
they called its failure to control anomalies in the financial sector. Commenting on the
policy paper on financial sector reform presented by NRB Governor Dr. Tilak Rawal here
Wednesday, the participants noted that country's financial health was deteriorating fast
due to the absence of clear fiscal policies. In his paper, Dr. Rawal admitted that the
state-owned Rastriya Banijya Bank and Nepal Bank Limited were in a precarious
financial position. He described large intermediary cost and inefficiencies in the
financial system as major drawbacks. INDIAN POLICE HAVE arrested
Kamalesh Kumar Jha, Sarlahi district chairman of the underground Maoist party, at
Sitamadhi across the border from Nepal, Kantipur daily reported. Security sources in Nepal
confirmed the arrest of Jha. He had been residing at Sitamadhi after the government
imposed a nation-wide emergency late last year to fight the six-year-old Maoist
insurgency. NEPAL HAS STARTED LOBBYING for the appointment of a Nepali national as the United Nations secretary-general's special envoy for the Least Developed and Land-locked Countries. According to Kantipur daily, Finance Minister Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat confirmed that he had given a note to US Secretary of State Colin Powell while bidding him farewell at Tribhuvan International Airport Saturday morning. Sources at the Foreign Ministry said Nepal has been lobbying for the appointment of Kul Chandra Gautam, a senior official with UNICEF, for the important post. Gautam is the first Nepalese national to reach the rank of assistant secretary-general in the United Nations system. Gautam's appointment could prove instrumental in raising the international profile of Nepal, an LDC and land-locked country, officials said. |
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