BAITADI: The provision of monetary allowance for a woman delivering a child at the health facility has been in force for years in the country. Such woman is expected to get the allowance immediately after the child birth. Presently, the scheme aims to promote safe motherhood programme, and under which such woman gets Rs 2,000 and extra Rs 800 for meeting the criteria for visiting the health institute for pregnancy check-ups for four times.
The District Pubic Heath Office Baitadi says it is unable to distribute the allowance at all 10 levels in the current fiscal. Though the policy demands the distribution of the allowance on the spot, it could not take place to date in the current fiscal due to budgetary constraint. Chhaukham health post in-charge Hemant Singh Saud said the new mothers expressed their concerns for not getting allowance on time.
Melauli municipality health coordinator Narayan Chand admitted that the local government in the current fiscal received a minimum budget for the maternity allowance programme. Until last year, women giving birth to children would draw Rs 1,000 and the amount was doubled in the current fiscal.Similarly, the Purchaudi municipality has been unable to release the maternity allowance since mid April, health coordinator Binod Kumar Kunwar said.
CHITWAN: A 14-year-old boy has admitted to killing his female employer Rupa Thapa of Mudabhari of Rapti municipality-6 in east Chitwan. The District Police Office Chitwan has confirmed that Santosh Alemagar of Taltikhol, Dhading, working as a domestic helper for Thapa confessed to killing the woman in the night of January 29.
According to Magar, the house owner in the beginning tried to prevent him from joining a marriage party of the neighbor. The woman however allowed him to attend the party as he was stubborn in his stance.
He returned home late night at around 9:45 pm from the party; found woman, whom the boy called ‘mother’, sleeping up-stair of the house. He sneaked into her room and attacked her with a khukuri.
Keeping the weapon behind his room, he washed his blood stained hands and legs before going to his bed, Deputy Superintendent of Police Durga Raj Regmi and office Spokesperson said quoting the boy who reported that his mother used to scold him time and again and he murdered her in revenge.
The boy had been working as an assistant for the Thapa family since the past 10 months. Rupa’s son-in-law had found the boy to help his mother-in-law. Rupa’s eldest son was not at home due to personal works on the day when the incident happened.
However further investigations are underway and police have arrested other five persons for interrogations into the case.
DHADING: Two persons missing in a cave since January 27 following a landslide at Hindung of Ruby Valley Rural Municipality-4 in Dhading district were found dead on Thursday evening. Locals Norbu Tamang, 45, and Dhan Bahadur Tamang, 18, were found trapped in the debris, police confirmed.
The two had reportedly taken shelter under the cave after the heavy snowfall while herding their cattle, but witnessed such a tragic moment as the huge stones fell down the hill, Deputy Superintendent of Armed Police Force, Nepal Darshan Giri said.
Inspector of the Armed Police Force, Nepal Laxman Bahadur Basnet-led team recovered the dead bodies five days after the incident. A large number of police personnel were deployed for the rescue operations. Likewise, all cattle except four out of 260 cattle were also killed after being buried in the same landslide, the rescue team shared.
KALAIYA: Authorities have seized and destroyed around 5,000 chicken in Kalaiya that were imported without getting clearance certificate from the customs point. A team of the Armed Police Force, Nepal seized the chicken from Gadhimai Chowk in Jitpur, Bara. The chicken imported from India by evading tax were buried at the premise of the Armed Police Force, Nepal base camp. Inspector of Armed Police Force, Nepal Ram Bahadur Basnet shared that the broiler chicken were seized based on a tip off. According to Basnet, the chicken-loaded mini truck (Na 5 Kha 6509) and a motorcycle (Na 63 Pa 5900) were also impounded in connection to the illegal import business.
KATHMANDU: A staggering 40 thousand Nepali youth, mostly educated, have migrated to more than 60 countries that are not approved by the Government of Nepal for migrant workers, a government record has revealed. Government officials fear this will put them at a higher risk of exploitation from unscrupulous agents.
Even as the youths are educated, and are aware that travelling on fake documents is risky, they take a chance to newer destinations with new hopes. According to the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security, a substantial number of Nepali youths are working in 171 countries as migrant workers.
Officials say chances of exploitation is higher in countries sans the government’s approval. “There have been cases of gullible youths being exploited by their agents. The government is committed to prevent this,” says Mahesh Prasad Dahal, Secretary at the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security.
While a total 6,12,000 workers migrated to government-authorized countries in 2017/18, a staggering 40 thousand youths flew to new destinations sans government approval such as Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Angola, Tanzania, Cuba, Chile, Hungary, Burundi, Tunisia, Estonia, Albania, Greece, Rwanda, West Indies, Zambia, Laos, Vietnam, Nigeria, East Timor, among others in the same year, reveals a record at the ministry. People traveling to such countries face trouble in lack of valid documents, Dahal said.
This came to the fore last November when nine girls stranded in Tajikistan were rescued and brought to Nepal. According to Dahal, several youths working in government-approved countries prefer to ‘move out’ to new destinations with the hope of making ‘handsome salary and perks’.
The ministry, however, appears to be ignorant and least bothered about how Nepali youths make it to these countries despite being informed about the issue. However, the girls rescued from Tajikistan told the Nepal Police that some ‘agents’ took them to Tajikistan via India. The girls were supposed to land in UAE.
The government has approved 110 countries for migrant workers. According to the ministry data, a total of 1,50,000 youths flew to Gulf countries in the last six months.
Meanwhile, illegal migration to Malaysia and the Gulf countries has been on a rise following the government’s ban on Nepalese women to work as house maids in these countries. Yet, women continue to migrate to banned countries via India and are subject to several forms of exploitation.
KATHMANDU: The Koteshwor-Kalanki road has been handed to the government. The widening of a 10.5 km road section under the Kathmandu Ring Road Improvement Project was carried out by the government of China. It had began five years ago and concluded last month.
Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Ms Hou Yanqi handed the key of the road to Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli amidst a programe today at the Khumaltar-based Office of National Trust for Nature Conservation. On the occasion, the two jointly declared the road opened.
Prime Minister Oli described the relations existing between Nepal and China incomparable and trouble-free. “The Chinese government has been assisting Nepal in multiple sectors such as road, agriculture, education and health.”
He pledged not let problems surfaced in the project’s first section recur in the second phase works. He directed all ministries and department concerned to well facilitate the project implementation and timely deal with obstructions in road projects caused by water pipelines, electric poles and so on.
The ambassador defined the project as a testimony to cordial relations between Nepal and China. “The road connects to other two roadways (Araniko Highway and Prithvi Highway) which were also sponsored by China. The bilateral friendly ties are further being consolidated.” Secretary at the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, Madhusudan Adhikari said the completion of the road was possible due to support from all sides. Rabindranath Shrestha, director general at Department of Roads, informed the programme that the works of second phase would begin soon.
KATHMANDU, Jan 28: Secretary of the National Assembly, Rajendra Phuyal, tabled the ‘National Medical Education Bill, 2075 BS’ forwarded by the House of Representatives with its message in the Assembly’s second meeting today.
At the outset of the meeting, the Nepali Congress lawmakers stood from their seats as a symbol of protest and obstructed the meeting. Amidst the obstruction, the National Assembly Chairman Ganesh Prasad Timilsina announced that there would not be the ‘zero hour’ and ‘special hour’ in today’s session, and that various points have been removed from the meeting agenda.
Following this announcement, the main opposition party, Nepali Congress, lawmakers stood up from their respective seats, trooped in front of the rostrum and continued chanting slogans.
The upper house secretary Phuyal tabled the ‘National Medical Education Bill, 2075 BS’ amidst the sloganeering by the opposition party lawmakers.
Thereafter, NA chair Timilsina adjourned the meeting for half an hour. The first meeting of the National Assembly was also postponed due to the obstruction by the Nepali Congress.
The main opposition party has obstructed the today’s meeting to protest the government’s no-decision regarding under which bodies the hospitals named after its two top leaders the late Girija Prasad Koirala and the late Sushil Koirala were to be operated.
The Nepali Congress had obstructed the National Assembly meetings on January 7 and 21 before this also over the same issue.
(RSS)
PARBAT: The Radio Didi Bahini 95.2 Megahertz based in Kushma Bazaar of Parbat is hosting 11th Gandaki province level women festival and ninth anniversary programme of radio on the occasion of 109th International Labourer Women Day.
Radio Didi Bahini Chair Kalpana Chapagain informed that the festival would take place from 8-17 February 2019.
She further shared the festival would be a crucial event to promote art, culture and domestic goods as well as to raise awareness for women’s capacity building and voice of equality through competition.
The radio, which was established on the occasion of International Labourer Women Day in 2010, has been hosting the festival since its formative years.
Humla : The national polio vaccination campaign has been affected in Humla due to incessant snowfall for two weeks. The vaccination drive was postponed owing to adverse weather.
The immunisation campaign for the district in Karnali Province was scheduled for January 22-23.
We could not conduct the campaign on the set date due to adverse weather conditions, said District Hospital Humla’s ANM Sarita Bohara. The hospital failed mobilize to health workers and vaccination maters to (27) vaccinations centers.
Similarly, vaccinations against measles and rubella have been affected by the snowfall. Over 5,000 children under five were expected to be administered the measles and rubella vaccines this time along with the polio drops.
KATHMANDU: Flights schedule at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), country’s sole international airport, which was affected this morning due to adverse weather, has come back to normalcy.
Flights to and from the airport were disrupted for around three hours due to low visibility triggered by thick fog in the Kathmandu Valley.
The situation has turned to be normal with the improvement in weather, said TIA General Manager Raj Kumar Chhetri.
The lowest level of visibility was measured just only 100-200 meter. It reached to 1,600 meter at around 8:00 am and it came to 1,000 meter at 9:00 am.
For the take-off of international flights, 800 meter visibility is good enough but for the arrival flights, 1,600-3,200 meter is imperative for all sorts of aircrafts ranging from narrow to wide-body.
Similarly, in case of domestic flights, 1,600 meter visibility is needed for narrow-body aircraft.
Presently, 20 air service providing companies including 10 helicopters operate their services while 29 companies including three domestic ones are available for international flights services at TIA. (RSS)