All daily newspapers published from Kathmandu on Monday carry news reports of multiple blast in Kathmandu Valley which killed at least four persons and leaving seven others injured, three of them critically. News of Home Minister asking Nepal Police to investigate on the matter has also been given importance in today’s papers.
Here is a summary of important, ignored and interesting stories from the front pages of national broadsheets:
Important
Home Minister calls emergency meeting
Kantipur, The Himalayan Times and Gorkhapatra report Minister of Home Affairs Ram Bahadur Thapa on Sunday called an emergency meeting of all three security agencies — Nepal Police, Armed Police Force and National Investigation Department — under the Home Ministry and directed their chiefs to put necessary measures in place to ensure protection of life and property across the country.
A source at the Ministry says that Thapa was briefed on security situation and the way forward against destructive activities of the Chand-led group.
Thapa has instructed Nepal Police to conduct fact-finding investigation into the blasts and bring to book perpetrators, whoever they are. He further told the police that security agencies were told to come up with new tactics to curb violence.
Bombers were confused between am and pm
Naya Patrika reports that the bombers responsible for the bomb attack were planning an attack on at 4:15 am on Monday, but they instead set their bomb times to 4:15 pm on Sunday. The bombings were the deadliest since the government imposed a ban on activities of Netra Birkram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal on March 12 following a blast outside Ncell office in Nakkhu that killed one person. Though no one has claimed responsibility for the blasts, Nepal Police suspects the hand of CPN.
Nine Biplav cadres arrested
The Himalayan Times reports that following the explosions, police have arrested at least nine cadres of Netra Bikram Chand-led Nepal Communist Party.
Police apprehended seven persons in possession of four pressure cooker bombs, pamphlets of Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal and other explosive materials from Koteshwor.
Likewise, two persons were injured when a bomb they were carrying accidentally went off at Ittabhatta Chowk in Chandragiri Municipality, on the western outskirt of Kathmandu, police shared.
The injured are currently undergoing treatment at the local health facility.
Similarly, various suspicious objects have been found in Sanepa, Gwarko among other places in the valley. Nepal Army bomb disposal units reached the sites to dispose these suspicious objects.
Meanwhile, security has been beefed up in the valley to thwart any untoward activity in the capital.
NC asks govt to hold talks
Annapurna Post reports that opposition party Nepali Congress has urged the government to hold talks with Netra Bikram Chand after the series of bomb blasts in Kathmandu valley. Congress also asked Chand to stop his violent ways and hold peace talks with the ruling party.
Ignored
Experts argue govt should increase tax base
The Kathmandu Post reports that experts say that the government should widen the tax base if it wants steady development.
Just as Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada prepares to present the budget for the fiscal year 2019/20, the analysts say the government should focus on putting in place sustainable and broad-based systems—expanding tax bases and strengthening the tax administration—to ensure they could deliver predictable revenues.
According to them, tax overburden, if imposed on the private sectors and salary earners, can reduce the aggregate demand, taking down economic activities, which will directly hit the annual economic growth.
Men in Kathmandu refrain from using contraceptives
The Kathmandu Post reports men are refusing to use means of contraception and forcing their wives to undergo abortions.
About 50 such cases of complications resulting from the frequent use of medical abortion pills are seen every month at the Maternity Hospital’s post-abortion unit. In the Nepali month of Baishakh, the hospital recorded 48 such cases. In most of these cases, the husband refused to use condoms, relying on the easily available pills to abort pregnancies.
The frequent use of such medical abortion pills–and the emergency contraceptive, or ‘morning after’ pill–can have serious health consequences, said Dr Punya Poudel, focal person for the Safe Motherhood Programme at the Family Welfare Division of the Department of Health Services. Emergency pills are used after having unsafe sex to prevent pregnancies while medical abortion kits are used after getting pregnant.
Conflict victims want their concerns addressed before names of TJ bodies’ chiefs are announced
Republica reports that the recommendation committee formed to suggest new names for the chairs and commissioners of the two crucial transitional justice (TJ) bodies is in a fix following stern warning from the conflict victims that they would not accept the new commissioners if their concerns were not addressed.
The conflict victims have stated that the decision of the recommendation committee will be unacceptable to them if it decides on the matter unilaterally.
Under pressure from the conflict victims, the recommendation committee has been prolonging its scheduled date to suggest new names for the two TJ bodies—Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the Commission for Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP).
The committee headed by former Chief Justice Om Prakash Mishra was scheduled to announce nominees for chairs on Thursday; but postponed it for Tuesday after Mishra left the country for a few days.
Interesting
British Council hasn’t paid tax for the past 60 years
Naya Patrika reports that the British Council, which has been operating in Nepal for the past 60 years on, registered itself at the Company Registrar two months ago. This means that the British Council which has been conducting IELTS tests in Nepal hasn’t paid tax to the Nepali government ever since its establishment in 1959. According to the report, British Council at an average earns around Rs 820 million a year.
Lack of chemical fertilisers creating problem for farmers
Rajdhani reports that as rice plantation season is incoming, farmers are facing difficulties due to the unavailability of chemical fertilisers. The farmers need chemical fertilisers before rice planting season begins. However the entire country is facing a scarcity. The farmer are facing problems after importers of chemical fertilisers didn’t order enough in time. This is the second time farmers have faced problems due to importers.
NEA will recover Rs 3 billion
Karobar reports that Managing Director of Nepal Electricity Authority Kul Man Ghising has said that the NEA will recover Rs 3 billion from the industrial area in Bara and Parsa. He said that the industrialists by law had to pay the NEA. NEA and the industrialists have been in dispute for a long time regarding the payment. NEA has been providing 24 hour electricity to the industries based in Bara and Parsa.
