The monthly loss of the ailing monopolist of the petroleum products, Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC), has crossed Rs 400 million thanks to its inability to adjust the price of petroleum products in accordance with the prices at the international market, reports said.

The total loss of the NOC has presently climbed to a whopping Rs 8.5 billion, the state run Rising Nepal daily reported.

As a regular installment, the NOC has to pay the Indian Oil Corporation Rs 2.8 billion within January 15 and also clear the old dues worth Rs 1.4 billion, according to the NOC.

According to the NOC, the price of petrol in Nepal is cheaper by Rs 7.57 per litre, diesel by Rs 7.79 per litre, aviation fuel by Rs 9 per litre and LPG gas by Rs 333 per cylinder, as compared to the Indian market.

As per the information given on the 36th anniversary of the NOC on Tuesday, the NOC has taken loans worth Rs 4.3 billion from the government, Rastriya Banijya Bank, Employees Provident Fund, Citizens’ Investment Fund, Agriculture Development Bank and other financial institutions.

In the fiscal year 2003/04, Nepal consumed 85,827 kilolitres of petrol, 336,826 kilolitres of diesel, 232,565 kilolitres of kerosene and 77,575 metric tons of LPG, the NOC said.

Assistant Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Rajesh Kaji Shrestha presented medals to the employees completing 25 years of service to the corporation on the occasion.

Secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies Bharat Bahadur Pradhan presented the Subarna Memorial Prize to the best employee of the year, Dharma Ratna Bajracharya. The prize was founded in the memory of the founding chairperson of the NOC Subarna Bikram Thapa.

Acting Director of NOC, Umesh Prasad Dahal said the corporation has suffered big financial damage for not being able to adjust the price as per the hike in the price at the international market.

Nepal Telecom (NT) is set to distribute 30,000 more pre-paid mobile telephone lines in Kathmandu Valley from January 14.

Reports quoted Chief of the New Service Directorate of the NT, Madan Kaji Shakya, as saying that new mobile phone lines would be distributed within a period of one week between January 14 to January 20 to customers who had submitted application forms between October 10 and October 24 2005, according to reports.

After completion of the proposed distribution, the NT is planning to start distributing pre-paid mobile lines on a regular basis, which means mobile lines would be made available on demand, he said.

Around 120,000 clients have already applied for pre-paid sim cards, and hundreds of others are waiting for NT to start its distribution.

NT, which had started distributing pre-paid lines from August/September 2003, has already issued more than 200,000 pre-paid sim cards till date.

Although NT has replaced the old 2G GSM network with General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) – which has the capacity of distributing one million lines, it has not been able to issue lines based on demand as the new system has not yet come into full operation.

He, however, said that NT would complete installing the rest of the components within the next three weeks. And once the process is complete, people wishing to issue NT’s pre-paid cell phone lines can apply for the service at any time of the year and get connection instantly.

CPN (UML) general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal (File photo)

CPN (UML) general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal (File photo)
CPN (UML) general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal has urged party leaders and cadres to become ready to court arrests –in view of the possibility of the royal government banning the political parties.

“We have to be ready to face false charges, ban on the parties. We should even be ready to give mass arrests,” Nepal said addressing a gathering of senior cadres of the party’s youth wing, Democratic National Youth Association, at the UML central office in Balkhu on Tuesday. ”Waging a decisive democratic movement is not an easy job,” he asserted.

Upset by the growing popular support to the pro-democracy movement of the seven parties, Nepal said, the government is “hatching conspiracy against the agitators” and that the party cadres should be ready for a strong resistance.

Claiming that the monarchy had been facing the most critical time in its history, the UML boss blamed the royal palace of resorting to worst form of clampdown on the ongoing political movement. “We have learnt that the army was trying to create tension during the UML program in Baglung district,” he said, questioning, “Could there be any condemnable act than this when an army that is expected to remain within a limit of discipline enters into a political program in the guise of Maoists?”

Nepal also ruled out the possibility of dialogue with the King. “As the parties have a declared policy to fight against autocratic monarchy there is no possibility of the parties opting for dialogue [with the King].”

He added, “We were involved in talks in the past as we had a policy to lead our movement and the dialogue process together. Now our only policy is struggle.”

Claiming that failure of the municipal polls will give a strong blow to the autocratic regime, Nepal called on the party workers to go the doors of the people and take them into confidence.

The gathering was organised to orientate the youth leaders about the future programs of the party.

People of Rolpa district have started fleeing from their villages due the fear of violence with the end of the four-month long unilateral ceasefire of the Maoists, a newspaper report on Wednesday said.

Most of the youths and school children of various villages of Rolpa have been moving out due to fear of the war with the end of ceasefire.

The Rajdhani daily quoted Harka Bahadur Pun of Jhenam village in Rolpa, who returned to the village from India three months back during the period of unilateral ceasefire as saying, “With the end of unilateral ceasefire, people are moving away from the villages as they fear that violence would return.”

“The conditions is different now, the army has entered the village and even the Maoists are preparing for war and the environment to live in the village no longer exists,” he added.

Shobha Ram Budha, a grade nine student of Mahendra Secondary School in Jhenam village has dropped out of his school after the ceasefire was called off and is preparing to leave the village, the paper adds.

He said that he is leaving the village due to the fear that Maoists will compel him to participate in their programs and the security forces will also treat him as a suspect.

To escape from all this, he had to leave his village and move to Ghorahi, the district headquarters of Dang district. He also said that some of his friends who had come with him have already left for India.

Likewise, people from Rangkot VDC-1 have also started moving out of their villages after the ceasefire ended.

They say that they have been leaving their villages fearing that the Maoists would abduct them.

They also informed that most of the men and youths from their village have already left the village. They said that they would be leaving for the capital to find a secure environment and for better work.

Senior journalist P Kharel and editor of Nepal Samacharpatra daily, Pushkar Lal Shrestha, have resigned from the posts of general secretary and executive committee member of the Nepal Press Institute (NPI), a pioneer media training institute in the country.

Senior Journalist P Kharel (File photo)

Senior Journalist P Kharel (File photo)
Kharel was recently appointed as executive chairman of the state-owned Rastriya Samachar Samiti (National News Agency).

Kharel also heads Rastriya Patrakar Mahasangh (National Federation of Journalists)—that supports the royal takeover of February 1 last year. Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ)– that has been launching nationwide campaign demanding press freedom and freedom of expression in the country– has recently sought clarification from 14 of its members including Kharel for their role in supporting the new media ordinance, among others.

Kharel tendered his resignation at an emergency meeting of the NPI executive committee early this week.

Founded in 1984, NPI works towards professional development of free press , ethical standards of journalism and mass communication in the country. It runs basic and advance level training courses for journalists in the country. It has also set up Regional Media Resource Centers in Biratnagar, Butwal and Nepalgunj in order to promote indigenous and community media in the districts by facilitating access to modern technologies and skills with support from the Danish government.

A day after the conclusion of the party’s general convention, Nepali Congress (Democratic) president Sher Bahadur Deuba on Wednesday appointed Gopal Man Shrestha, Prakash Man Singh and Bimalendra Nidhi as the vice-president and general secretaries respectively.

(From left) Gopal Man Shrestha, Prakash Man Singh and Bimalendra Nidhi (File photo)

(From left) Gopal Man Shrestha, Prakash Man Singh and Bimalendra Nidhi (File photo)
The jailed former prime minister, who was re-elected unopposed as the NC (D) president by the general convention, also appointed Shrestha as the acting party president.

Similarly, he appointed Jeevan Prem Shrestha as the secretary of the Central Office.

Shrestha, Singh and Nidhi won elections for the central working committee (CWC) seats. Singh, who is facing jail along with Deuba on corruption charges, secured the highest number of votes for the CWC seat.

Shrestha had been working as the acting president since the detention of the party president.

NC (D) sources said Deuba would make few other appointments in the party along with the nomination of 18 CWC members.

The first general convention of the NC (D) – though the party claims it to be its 11th convention – which began on 5th January concluded yesterday electing 27 CWC members including the president.

Reports from far-western town of Dhangadhi say there have been clashes between Maoist rebels and security personnel in Dhangadhi Wednesday evening.

A journalist based in Dhangadhi told Nepalnews over phone that he could hear sounds of firing at number of places including the Regional Police Office, District Police Office, Rastriya Banijya Bank local branch and regional office of Nepal Rastra Bank, among others.

He said firings started at around 6:40 p.m. People here are terrified and many others have been stranded while on their way back home, he said.

There have been reports of explosions also. There were no immediate reports of casualty on either side.

Meanwhile, sources at the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) headquarters in Kathmandu denied the reports of Maoist offensive in Dhangadhi. “The Maoists are known to have opened fire from nearby hills. But no such clash took place. Situation is quite normal there,” a senior RNA official told Nepalnews.

Details are being awaited.

Nabil Three Star Club (NTSC) thrashed minnows Mahabir Club (MC) 7-0, Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) thumped Brigade Boys Club (BBC) 4-0 and Armed Police Force (APF) defeated Friends Club (FC) 3-1 in the ongoing ANFA Martyrs Memorial “A” Division League football tournament matches played today.

In the NTSC versus MC match played at Dashrath stadium, ‘dumped star’ Shahukhala poured all his woes of being put on reserve for many matches and scored four goals to ensure an emphatic win for NTSC. Shahukhala was aggressive from the start and he fired home an early lead in the 3rd minute through an excellent header. Shahukhala found his second in the 6th minute taking advantage of the sleeping defense line of Mahabir Club and completed his hat trick in the 9th minute capitalizing on Surendra Tamang’s pass. Shahukhala continued his rampage and was rewarded in the 41st minute through his long range shot.

Three more goals were added for NTSC after the re-start through Surendra Tamang and Bijaya Gurung. Tamang struck twice in the 72nd and 75th minute respectively while Bijaya completed the rout in the 80th minute. “The boys played according to our game plan and they succeeded to improve the goal difference,” NTSC coach Mrigendra Mishra told reporters.

In the other match played at Dashrath stadium, Tribhuvan Army Club played to an impressive 4-0 win over Brigade Boys Club. TAC was unstoppable from the start as Bishow Bairag Samal fired home a quick goal in the 1st minute utilizing the cross off Shiva Chowdhary. Samal was lucky to find a free cross by Shiva Chowdhary, who netted the ball easily without hesitation.

National midfielder Raju Tamang doubled the tally in the 12th minute capitalizing on skipper Janamat Karki’s back pass. The Army team were again rewarded in the 19th minute through Chakra Tamang who utilized his speed to connect on the cross off Shiva Chowdhary. Tamang scored his second twelve minutes later on Raju Tamang’s pass.

The Army team seemed restive with a 4-0 lead after the re-start and the goal margin remained the same. “The boys played a splendid game and they were technically perfect today,” TAC coach Kishor KC told reporters. BBC coach Suman Yonzan was not happy with his boys’ performance. “Everything went down after conceding three goals within twenty minutes,” he said.

At the other game played at Halchowk Stadium, Armed Police Force (APF) defeated Friends Club 3-1 riding the crest on Jibesh Pandey and Mani Kumar Pundit. Pandey struck twice while Pundit added another to ensure a comprehensive win at their home ground. Dipen Limbu scored the lone consolation goal for Friends Club.

The ambitious East West Optical Fiber Project, formally came into operation from Monday.

Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Communications Kumar Prasad Poudel and Indian ambassador to Nepal, Shiv Shankar Mukherjee jointly inaugurated the project amidst a function at Nepal Telecom office, Jawalakhel, on Monday.

According to officials of NT, after the completion of the project, the capacity of carrying trunk calls would be tripled and people would benefit with much more effective telephone lines.

East West Optical Fibre Project is part of 7th telecom project to provide an optical fibre backbone to the telecom information superhighway along the East-West Highway from Bhadrapur in the east to Nepalgunj in the West covering 79 stations en-route.

The project serves all major towns like Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Birgunj, Bharatpur, Bhairahawa, Butwal and Nepalgunj.

It provides essential telecommunication services and backbone for other secondary services like internet services, manufacturing, distribution and insurance.

All the stations have been commissioned with state-of-art equipment. The smallest capacity of equipment, the synchronous transport module (STM), has a capacity of 1,890 voice-channels while the highest capacity synchronous transport module (STM 16) equipment has a capacity of 30,000 voice-data channels.

70 percent of Nepal’s population has been connected through this network.

According to NT officials, a proposal for Phase II has already been submitted to the government of India for consideration.

Phase II proposes to connect the remaining portion of East West Highway like Lamahi-Kohalpur-Attria-Mahendranagar; Birtamod-Kakarbhitta; Butwal-Kaligandaki-Pokhara-Damauli-Kathmandu as the main route and includes some important spur routes.

The dissident faction of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party comprising six cabinet ministers has been misusing state fund for the special convention called by the faction, a report on Tuesday said.

The faction is using a helicopter taken into lease by the Home Ministry for security purposes to carry representatives of the party from remote hilly districts like Mugu, Surkhet, Rukum, Dolpa, Jajarkot and Achham for the special convention.

The Kantipur daily quoted some representatives as saying that they came to Nepalgunj from various hilly districts in the helicopter.

Likewise, the paper adds that representatives of Chitwan are getting funds from district development committee (DDC) to attend the convention.

According to officials at the DDC, two representatives got five thousand rupees each on the recommendation of the nominated chiefs of the DDC. More than 12 cadres are applying for such expenses. The DDC also gave 110 liters of diesel to the party cadres to attend the general convention.

The dissident faction of RPP headed by ousted vice-chairman Padma Sundar Lawati comprising six ministers of the royal government is holding special convention on Tuesday and Wednesday after a row in party in the issue of whether to participate in the municipal polls slated for February 8 this year and support the royal takeover after six members of the party were inducted in the council of ministers.

The party had expelled ten central working committee members of the party for calling the special convention and asked party cadres not to attend the convention saying it is an attempt to bring split in the party.

Meanwhile, issuing a press statement on Monday the Home Ministry has made it clear that the helicopter it has leased was not used to carry political party supporters to Nepalgunj.

The Ministry said that the M-17 helicopter it leased from Shree Airlines is only used to transport security personnel and logistics and for rescue work and the helicopter is leased by another party or individual when not is use by the Ministry.

Meanwhile, issuing a press statement on Monday, the Home Ministry has made it clear that the helicopter it has leased was not used to carry political party supporters to Nepalgunj.

The Ministry said that the M-17 helicopter it leased from Shree Airlines is only used to transport security personnel and logistics and for rescue work and the helicopter is leased by another party or individual when not is use by the Ministry.