Tourism entrepreneurs have staged a peace rally in Pokhara to draw the attention of the government and other concerned parties of their plight.
The rally organized by an organization called Tourism Entrepreneurs for Peace started from Baidam and ended at Prithivi Chowk after passing through the tourist town’s major thoroughfares.
Participants of the rally demanded that the tourism sector be declared a zone of peace and urged the concerned parties not to impose blockades and strikes.
They also carried placards and banners calling for a resolution of the conflict through peace talks.
They organised the rally at a time when the tourism industry of the country is facing a very hard time due to the repeated blockades and strikes.
According to organizers, the number of tourists visiting Pokhara declined substantially in the recent days.
Nine policemen were killed as a group of armed Maoists attacked the Birtamod-based Area Police Office and Traffic Police Office Tuesday morning.
A group of 300 Maoists in three trucks attacked the Area Police office and Traffic police office of Birtamod at around seven in the morning.
The dead police personnel have been identified as Sub-Inspectors Khem Bahadur Basynet, Bir Bahadur Tamang and Shyam Karki and constables Ramesh Pokhrel, Yuvaraj Gurung, Manoj Rajbansi, Hari Katwal, Shrawan Shrestha and Bindeswar Mandal.
In the attacks, 20 policemen, including an assistant sub-inspector and two civilians, were injured. The civilians Bishal Gurung and Basudev Gurung were under detention at the Area Police Office.
Among the injured security personnel, 13 have been airlifted to Kathmandu for treatment.
One Maoist was also killed in the retaliation.
Maoists also reportedly looted some weapons following the attack.
The Maoists had blocked the East-West Highway and the Bhadrapur-Birtamod road section leading to Birtamod before launching the attack.
Meanwhile, a truck carrying the Maoists retreating from the offensive overturned killing a civilian and two of their cadres.
A report from Dharan said a police constable was killed when the Maoists attacked the Ward Police Office (WPO) at Bhanu Chowk, ward number 6 of Dharan Tuesday morning. Four security personnel and three civilians were also injured in the incident.
Reports quoted Sub Inspector (SI) Min Ranabhat, in-charge of Ward Police Office, as saying that 27-year-old police constable Hem Shrestha was killed in the attack.
Two workers, Neeraj Tamang and Deepak Poudel, and a pedestrian Bal Bahadur Khadka were injured after being caught in crossfire.
A group of around 35 Maoists had told residents over loudspeakers to close down the bazaar before launching an attack at the WPO from the eastern direction.
The Maoists also damaged a vehicle of Area Police Office, Dharan that was parked at Bhanu Chowk. The passengers at the Bus Park, right next to the WPO, were terrorised during the sudden attack, reports said. Two buses parked at the Bus Park were also damaged in the Maoist firing, the WPO said.
Members of the international advocacy mission for press freedom in Nepal held separate meetings with the visiting British parliamentary delegation led by Sir John Stanley and charge d’ affairs at the embassy of Finland, Pauli Mustonen, on Tuesday, according to the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ).
Twelve international organisations, including UN agencies, global media associations, freedom of expression advocates and media development organisations, are undertaking a joint mission to Nepal from March 20 to 25.
Likewise, two teams of the mission also visited Pokhara of the western development region and Surkhet of the mid-western region on Tuesday to receive information about the media there.
According to reports, the mission held discussion with journalists, human rights activists and representatives of civil society about the situation of freedom of expression in these regions.
The mission also met with government officials there.
Another team of the mission was scheduled to visit Birtamod of eastern development region on Tuesday.
The members of the mission will also participate in a national conference on press freedom in Nepal to be held in Kathmandu on March 24.
The latest visit is the continuation of the international advocacy mission that visited Nepal in July last year.
The Office of the Controller of Examinations (OCE), Sanothimi, has asked all concerned including the political parties and their student wings not to organize any protest programmes during the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examinations.
The exam is to begin on March 27 and end on April 5.
Issuing a statement, examination controller Gajendra Lal Pradhan said they hoped to get cooperation from the civil society, political parties, business houses, security personnel, employees and parents to run the SLC examinations in a peaceful environment.
He further said that any disturbances during the examinations would waste ten-years of efforts of the students.
A total of 332,181 students will be sitting for the examinations including 26,0047 regular students and other 72,134 from the exempted group at 944 centers. A total of 40,304 officers including 994 superintendents, 1,988 assistant superintendents, 16,609 supervisors, 14,910 security personnel and 5,803 helpers have been deployed for conducting the examinations.
Former Prime Minister (PM) Krishna Prasad Bhattrai has unveiled a life sized statue of Osho at Osho tapoban amidst a function Tuesday on the occasion of 17th anniversary of the Osho Tapoban.
Former Premier Bhattrai also publicised a book entitled “Santa Darsan” written by Swami Anand Arun.
Speaking on the occasion, Swami Anand Arun informed that Osho Tapoban was established with the aim of providing meditation facility to all.
At a time when the economy of the country is passing through a difficult situation, Minister of State for Finance Dr Roop Jyoti said that the government was mulling over a change in focus of economic policy.
Speaking at the 53rd annual general meeting of Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC), Dr Jyoti said that the government is giving more priority to foreign employment, shopping trade and offshore banking services, reports said.
Highlighting the contribution made by foreign employment to the national economy, Dr Jyoti said, “The government feels that due priority must be given to growing sectors such as foreign employment.”
As the economy is facing a difficult time, the business sector should present their transactions in a transparent way, but some businesspersons are not operating their businesses legally, he alleged.
Talking about the effective steps taken by the government, Dr Jyoti said that the government has adopted strong monitoring mechanism for taxpayers in the business sector, checking tax plate of shops and effective billing system.
He also agreed that economic growth is currently on the downward trend. He also said that the government is thinking to introduce special provisions to boost foreign investment in the country.
He said that the government has beefed up market inspection just to make sure that business firms are registered with the government, displaying tax plates and issuing bills to consumers.
Speaking on the occasion, acting president of NCC, Jagdish Prasad Khetan, said that the government and the private sector should pay serious heed to make economic diplomacy more effective in the export sector’s promotion concentrating especially on diversification.
President of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and industry (FNCCI) Chandi Raj Dhakal, commented that India has imposed additional customs duty on Nepali goods against the ‘protocol’ between the two nations.
Dr Tulsi Giri, vice-chairman of the Council of Ministers, said that trade diversification is a key to Nepal’s sustainable economic development. However, quality products are needed when it comes to competing in the global markets, he added.
On the occasion VC Dr Giri awarded former president of NCC Mahesh K Agrawal for his 25 years of contribution to the chamber.
Dr. Giri also awarded other members of the NCC for their contributions in the NCC.
The state-owned Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has refuted reports that embankment of the Kulekhani reservoir is in danger of collapsing in near future.
Talking to Nepalnews on Wednesday, deputy general manager of the NEA, Bindu Prakash Joshi, said there was no such danger at the reservoir right now. “Works of repair and maintenance have been carried out frequently,” he said.
Nepal Samacharpatra daily reported on Wednesday that the reservoir has been facing two major critical problems – danger of collapse of the embankment and drying up of the water.
“Small cracks have appeared at several places in the embankment of the reservoir and stones fell off recently, but it has not put the plant in danger,” Joshi said.
Reports say stones have fallen off from the southern walls recently. A number of cracks have also appeared in the road leading to the reservoir. Officials at the NEA and the Japanese embassy said they had not received any report of cracks in the embankment that can pose danger to the dam.
The reservoir and Kulekhani hydropower plant had been constructed 23 years ago with the Japanese assistance.
Project manager of the Kulekhani hydropower plant, Jujikaji Ranjit, admitted that the level of water in the reservoir had decreased sharply. “The present level of water is at 1497.48 m. Electricity can be generated while the water level remains above 1480 m,” he said. The total capacity of the reservoir is 1530.50 m.
A major repair of the reservoir was carried out in 1994.
Ranjit said that hydropower plants usually do not require any major repair for the first 50 years, adding, “We are sure this plant would last more than that.”
Kulekhani is the country’s only plant that generates power based on reservoir. All other projects are run-off-the-river type. Officials say the plant is operated only when the demand of electricity in the country cannot be met by other plants.
This year the Kulekhani reservoir was brought into use from as early as September when water in other rivers began to dry up. The recent brief showers increased the water level by about 10 cm only, according to the NEA.
Preparations are complete for the annual IT fete, the 12th CAN Info-Tech that will kick off at the Birendra International Convention Centre in Kathmandu on Thursday.
The Computer Association of Nepal (CAN), the organiser of the mega IT event, informed that 110 different companies including four Indian companies working in the different fields of information and communication technology are participating in the exhibition that will be held from March 23 to 28.
Talking to Nepalnews, Ganesh Dhungana, Office Manager of the CAN, said that the latest information and communication technology, hardware and newly developed software will be the main features of the exhibition.
He further said that the Info-Tech is aimed at promoting information and communication technology and disseminating information about the latest developments in the IT sector.
“The Nepalese Microsoft office system and Nepali computer software Nepalinux along with exhibition of teli-centres of rural areas and Nepali Pavilion will be some of the attractions of the exhibition,” Dhungana added.
The exhibition of new models of mobile phones and e-mail and Internet facilities from it will be some extra features of the annual IT fete, he said.
“Participants will be able to learn about new developments in the IT sector and the fair will be a milestone for the development and promotion of IT sector of the country,” he added.
According to the information given by the CAN, SchoolNet-Japan is organising a two-day winter camp for schoolteachers to give information about the use of IT in the education sector. 100 teachers teaching at 10+2 will participate in the camp.
According to CAN, around 300 thousand visitors are expected to observe the Info-Tech. The ratio of participants is very encouraging every year, Dhungana said. He informed that over 230 thousand people had visited last year’s exhibition.
Altogether 38 experts including 17 foreigners of 10 countries will present working papers on the conference.
Discussions will be held in the topics including infrastructures for IT, development of software, e-commerce, bio-informatics and e-governance, CAN informed.
The annual IT fair scheduled for January 25-30 in Kathmandu was postponed due to the political situation of the country.
The association has been organising the IT event annually since last the 12 years.
The Embassy of Japan in Nepal is to extend a grant of USD 4,226, equivalent to nearly NPR 301,103 to Kathmandu Metropolis, for the implementation of waste management project.
A press release issued by the Japanese Embassy in Kathmandu on Wednesday said, Japanese Ambassador to Nepal Tsutomu Hiraoka and Padma Raj Regmi, Chief Executive Officer, Kathmandu Metropolis signed an agreement to this effect.
“The grant will be utilized for the transportation of the solid waste compactor vehicle provided by Matsumoto City, Japan, which is the Sister City of Kathmandu, to Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC). KMC will bear the terminal handling charges at Tokyo and Kolkota ports, and clearing charges at Birgunj,” the statement adds.
Speaking at a prgramme organized to sign the MOU, Japanese Ambassador Hiraoka expressed the hope that the project will contribute towards addressing the solid waste management issue in Kathmandu.
He also expressed his firm belief that the project will symbolize the very friendly relations that exist between the people of the two nations and will serve as a milestone in further strengthening friendly relations for the coming 50 years, the statement adds.
Reports from eastern district of Morang say two Armed Police Force (APF) personnel and three Maoist rebels were killed in clashes at Urlabari of Morang district Wednesday afternoon.
According to police, clashes took place as Maoist rebels attacked a group of security forces escorting a vehicle that was carrying cash from the Urlabari branch of Rastriya Banijya Bank at around 4:30 p. m. The vehicle, however, passed safely.
A civilian was also killed reportedly while trying to flee from the site of clashes. Details are still awaited.
Local banks deposit their money at the local security base during the night for security reasons.