Three persons were killed and at least dozen others injured when a passenger bus met with an accident in Palpa district Monday morning.

The bus on its way to Butwal from Tansen skided off the road and fell into a gorge at Jhumsa, reports said.

Those killed in the accident have been identified as Nar Bahadur Gharti Magar, Keshav Basyal and Putali Bishwokarma.

The injured passengers have been admitted to Lumbini Zonal hospital in Butwal for treatment. nepalnews.com mk Feb 11 08

The meeting the seven-party steering committee held on Monday decided to reconstitute the government’s talks team under the leadership of Peace and Reconstruction Minister Ram Chandra Poudel.

Members of the team are yet to be appointed. The team will initiate talks with groups agitating in Terai and eastern districts.

In today’s meeting seven-party leaders also stressed the need to improve cooperation and unity in the alliance.

The parties also agreed to form a probe committee to investigate into the Darchula incident and the police raid in the offices of the Young Communist League (YCL). In Darchula, the cadres of the Maoist party had physically attacked Nepali Congress leader Dilendra Prasad Badu last week.

After Nepali Congress leaders raised objection against YCL attack, Maoist leaders expressed their commitment that such incidents would not repeat in future.

The parties would submit the name of their respective representative in the investigation team by Tuesday morning. nepalnews.com ia Feb 11 08

An elderly woman from Dhankuta district has got her blanket and umbrella 14 years after she lost it, reports Kantipur daily.

On Sunday, 70-year-old Bishnumaya Tamang of Dhankuta municipality-1 finally received the two items that had found its way to the court after the police recovered it from her neighbor’s house following a complaint filed by her late husband 14 years ago.

Ramesh Pokharel, an official at the Dhankuta district court, said they had written a letter to the rightful owner to come and claim the items after the police submitted it to the court. But no one came and it gathered dust at the store of the court. What happened was that soon after filing a complaint, Bishnumaya’s husband Mandal Singh had died and she all but forgot about the lost items. Only after a neighbor told her that her blanket and umbrella are still in the court she finally remembered about it.

When she was given her belongings upon reaching the court with her granddaughter on Sunday, she was taken aback. Although rats had made holes all over the blanket and umbrella, she had memories attached with the blanket which explained the tears running down her cheeks when she finally ran her hand over it.

“My husband and I had bought this woolen blanket with the money we earned by selling our harvest,” a visibly shaken Bishumaya told journalists, adding, “even though late, I found it, but my husband has already died.” Although she could no longer use the blanket to drive away the cold as it is completely ruined through dampness, she said she would take it home and keep it safely as she had memories attached with it.

Court officials said that they haven’t kept an exact record of lost and found items at the court store house, but there are television sets, radio, clocks and various bits and pieces which the police had recovered and submitted to the court. They eventually auction off such items if the rightful owner does not come to claim it. nepalnews.com ag Feb 11 08

The nine-year-old girl who was about to be married off to the son of a man to whom her father lost Rs 30,000 in gambling is to be kept at the District Child Welfare Committee in Doti, reports said.

A meeting between the district administration, police including various organizations working for the rights and welfare of women and children had reached the decision after discussing the unusual case.

The meeting also decided to give the custody of the girl to the Women Development Office and necessary arrangements are also being made so that she could get a decent education. nepalnews.com ag Feb 11 08

The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is preparing to float power bonds worth Rs 1.5 billion to raise domestic capital for investment in hydropower projects.

The bonds will be offered from Thursday and the money raised will be used in funding Chameliya (30 MW), Kulekhani III (14 MW) and under-construction Middle Marsyangdi projects (70 MW). The former two projects are being constructed with NEA’s internal resources alone.

According to NEA, 1.5 million bonds worth Rs 1000 each will be offered for the public. In second phase, the NEA plans to issue additional bonds worth Rs 1.5 billion.

Of the total bonds, 150,000 will be sold to general public and the remaining 13,50,000 will be sold to institutions and individuals.

The maturity period of these bonds will be five years and the interest rate has been fixed at seven. Interest will be paid every six months.

Meanwhile, Minister for Water Resources Gyanendra Bahadur Karki has formed a panel to study and recommend ways to overcome load-shedding. The panel is headed by Deep Kumar Upadhyaya, general manager of Customers Services Department at NEA. It includes representatives from private sector, as well. nepalnews.com sd Feb 11 08

The cabinet, on Sunday, has formed the Constitutional Court to hear disputes and complaints regarding the election.

The cabinet formed the court as per the recommendation by the Judicial Council.

Anup Raj Sharma, a Supreme Court judge will head the court. The court will include two members – Tapa Bahadur Magar and Ram Kumar Prasad Shah – both of whom are judges at the apex court.

Nahakul Subedi, co-registrar at the Council, has been appointed as registrar at the Constitutional Court.

The Constitutional Court has been formed as per the special act passed by the parliament. nepalnews.com sd Feb 11 08

A key partner of ruling seven party alliance, the Unified Marxist Leninist (UML), has rejected demands for ‘One Madhes, One Province,’ made by a number of groups agitating in Terai.

“Our party has already decided that we will not accept One Madhes, One Province,” said UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal.

“It is neither politically, nor socially nor historically and nor geographically appropriate,” Nepal said.

“This demand is against the interest of people living in the region. We believe that the people there have not raised this demand,” Nepal added.

“Terai/Madhes is an integral part of Nepal. And that’s it,” he said.

The demand for single Madhes province has been raised by the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF), Terai Madhes Loktantrik Party and Nepal Sadbhavana Party, among others.

Meanwhile, general secretary Nepal revealed that he will contest the election from Rautahat as well as Kathmandu constituency. “We will win the absolute majority in the election,” he claimed. nepalnews.com sd Feb 11 08

A senior leader of a ruling party has warned of disintegration of the country if Madhes issues are not resolved at the earliest.

“Note it down, the country will head to disintegration if anyone tries to push the election through without resolving issues raised by Madhes first,” he said at a programme in Biratnagar, Sunday.

Gachhadar said it would be a folly to try to hold the election in Terai at this juncture without addressing various demands raised by Madhesis.

In another context, Gachhadar said that there should not be any problem in retaining monarchy in some form if the people so desire.

Gachhadar, a former minister, is said to be a member of a dissident faction within Nepali Congress, which has been criticising the party for coming closer with the Maoists. nepalnews.com sd Feb 10 08

The 17th central committee meeting of the CPN (UML) concluded on Sunday, deciding to intensify the party’s election campaigning.

The meeting that ran for six days at the party headquarters in Balkhu passed the party’s election manifesto and the political paper presented by general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal.

Reiterating its commitment to institutionalise federal democratic republic through constituent assembly polls, the UML urged all the sections of the society to work together in creating a favourable environment for the polls.

The UML central committee also called upon the government to improve security, especially in Terai region, to ensure polls in a fearless environment.

The party made it clear that it was not in favour of “one Madhesh one state” demand being raised by some Madhesi groups.

Even as the meeting decided to go for electoral alliance only at the local level, leaders said the party was ready, in principal, for electoral alliance with pro-republic parties at the central level, too.

The meeting, however, left it to the Standing Committee to decide whether the party should go for prime ministerial or presidential system.

Speaking at a press conference after the conclusion of the meeting, general secretary Nepal informed that the party would now intensify its election campaign in all 75 districts. He claimed that the UML was confident of winning majority in the CA election. nepalnews.com mk Feb 10 08

Rastriya Janashakti Party (RJP) lawmaker Renu Kumari Yadav quit the interim parliament on Sunday, pledging her support to the ongoing agitation in Terai.

She also resigned from her position in the RJP.

In the past weeks, a number of MPs from different parties including the Nepali Congress and CPN (UML) had resigned from the parliament as well as their respective parties and have been waging a protest movement in Terai. nepalnews.com mk Feb 10 08