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From the Kathmandu Press: Sunday, January 14, 2018

Major Nepali and English broadsheet dailies published from Kathmandu on Sunday have prioritised a range of issues. Newspapers have criticised the government’s delay in appointment of province chiefs and name provincial headquarters as the Cabinet meeting failed to make any decision on those issues. The end of Dr Govinda KC’s fast-unto-death, the establishment of National Assembly election office in each province and epidemic of viral influenza that claimed over one dozen lives are other issues that have received key attention.

Important

Commission establishes National Assembly poll offices

File: Election Commission

Nepal’s constitutional body to hold various levels of elections, Election Commission, has established seven offices in seven provinces of the country to hold National Assembly elections scheduled for February 7.

Nagarik says the offices have been established in cities which currently house provincial high courts as the government is yet to fix provincial capitals. Currently, there are high courts in Morang of Province 1, Dhanusha of Province 2, Lalitpur of Province 3, Kaski of Province 4, Dang of Province 5, Surkhet of Province 6 and Doti of Province 7.

The Commission has already appointed district judges as election officers.

Annapurna Post has carried a story to describe how 56 National Assembly members get elected. It has also predicted that the left alliance is most likely to win 40 seats whereas the Nepali Congress will be restricted to 12 seats.

 

Dr KC warns of another strike

Dr Govinda KC breaks his fast-unto-death, in Kathmandu, on Saturday, January 13, 2018.

Medical education reform activist Dr Govinda KC ended his 14th fast-unto-death on the sixth day on Saturday after inking a five-point deal with the government. However, he has warned that he will launch the strike again if the government fails to implement the agreement, according to a two-column story in Nagarik.

Naya Patrika says Dr KC has warned of launching the strike again if Chief Justice Gopal Parajuli, who he has accused of being corrupt, does not step down. “My struggle will not end till the end of corruption in the country,” he has been quoted in the report.

While the government and Dr KC have agreed to give continuity to Dr Jagadish Agrawal as the Dean of Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University Vice-Chancellor Tirtha Khaniya tells the paper that he is not obliged to abide by any directive by the government if it directs the university to appoint a particular person to the position of Dean.

Ignored

President hosts dinner for Dahal family

President Bidya Devi Bhandari holds a meeting with CPN-Maoist Centre Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal.

President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Friday evening hosted a dinner to the family of CPN-Maoist Centre Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, reports Republica, commenting the move has been interpreted as her bid to convince the left alliance’s key leader to elect herself for the second term of presidency.

Speculations are rife also because CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli also wants to continue Bhandari as the president for another term “because she has served in the position just for two years whereas the first president remained in the position for seven years.”

Meanwhile, officials of the President’s Office have refuted any political motive in the dinner, according to the report.

Nepal wants China to modify proposal for joint command mechanism

Whereas China has floated a proposal to establish a joint command mechanism to regular cross-border activities between Nepal and China, Nepal is not ready to accept the proposal as it is, according to The Himalayan Times lead story.

UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli and CPN-Maoist Centre Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal could accept the Chinese proposal only if the Chinese side agreed to modify it through diplomatic channel, the report quotes an anonymous source, as saying, “There are some sensitive issues involved in this proposal, so we want the Chinese side to modify it.”

According to sources, the Chinese side will open the Tatopani border only after Nepal accepts the proposal.

CIAA bars CAAN from distributing bonus

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority has directed the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal not to distribute bonus to its staff, reports Nepal Samacharpatra in its lead story. The anti-corruption body wrote to the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation and the Ministry forwarded the directive to the Authority, according to the report.

The Commission has argued that the Authority is a service-oriented government body, therefore distributing bonus to the staff will be illegal.

Interesting

85 per cent complaints filed at Nepal Police are related to finance

Karobar anchor story for the day says 85 per cent complaints received by Nepal Police are related to financial transactions.

The report says the amount claimed by persons and companies in financial crimes is around Rs 18 billion to Rs 20 billion every year. The crimes include banking offences, fraud, theft and property crimes, disputes related to inheritance division, abduction for ransom, foreign employment-related fraud, gold and currency smuggling among others.

Meanwhile, chief of Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police, Pushkar Karki, says finance is at the centre of almost every crime.

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