Nepali and English broadsheet dailies published from Kathmandu on Thursday have prioritised a host of issues from political, sociocultural and economic spheres. As always, political stories are on the top; however, owing to lack to significant political events throughout the day, newspapers have also used stories from other beats and sectors for their front page.
Kantipur and The Kathmandu Post have published reports about the latest annual report of Office of the Auditor General whereas Nagarik and Republica concentrate on the delayed unification negotiations between the CPN-UML and the CPN-Maoist Centre.
Important
Auditor General’s report shows huge irregularities
Kantipur lead story for the day informs that the total amount of arrears accumulated over past few years has reached Rs 505 billion. In this amount, the arrears from last fiscal year (2016/170 is Rs 396 billion, the newspaper informs quoting the reports of Office of Auditor General.
The Kathmandu Post, likewise, reports that expenditure irregularities in government offices stood at Rs 100 billion followed by over Rs 11 billion in various committees and District Development Committees, and over Rs 14 billion in the local governments.
The total amount of improper spending surged in the last fiscal due to the addition of such amounts from local units—rural municipalities and municipalities. The OAG audited accounts of local units for the first time as per the constitutional mandate. “The cumulative expenditure done without following due procedure will cross Rs500 billion,” a senior official at the OAG office told the Post.
Naya Patrika had covered the report yesterday as well whereas it also published a follow-up story today, informing that the government agencies spent Rs 7 billion for tea and snacks in one year.
Meanwhile, the report is being submitted to President Bidya Devi Bhandari today, according to Abhiyan.
PM blamed for delay in UML-Maoist merger
Republica in its lead story claims that busy schedule of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who is also the CPN-UML Chairman, is seriously affecting negotiations between his party and the CPN-Maoist Centre, which have been planning for a historic merger for last six months. Though the two parties have decided to announce the merger formally on April 22, they still hold differences on some key issues and the top leaders have failed to sit together to sort them out. Likewise, the two parties have not managed to do homework for the unification seriously, according to the report.
The newspaper made the conclusion after the meeting of Party Unification Coordination Committee scheduled for Wednesday evening got postponed.
Meanwhile, Nagarik lead story says the Maoist Centre has adopted the policy for wait and watch about the merger as the UML did not show flexibility in settling contentious issues. On the other hand, the Maoist leaders are not satisfied with the Prime Minister’s ‘unilateral’ working style, according to the report.
Ignored
Transitional justice law being amended
The government is planning to amend the act related to transitional justice in line with the Supreme Court’s verdicts provisioning sentencing in at least four types of crimes — extra judicial killing, enforced disappearance, torture and rape and other cases of sexual violence, reports The Himalayan Times in its lead story.
Quoting Attorney General Agni Kharel, the report says that the government would focus on conducting investigation and prosecution of most serious human rights violations in emblematic cases and taking the suspects to the special court.
All govt bodies involved in reconstruction are now under NRA
Various bodies which were involved in post-earthquake reconstruction works in the aftermath of the 2015 earthquake now work under the National Reconstruction Authority, according to Gorkhapatra. Earlier, various agencies under various ministries were working on their own and lack of coordination was blamed for relayed reconstruction.
A meeting of the Authority’s Steering Committee headed by the Prime Minister recently made the decision to let the Authority coordinate among various thematic agencies, the report informs.
Interesting
Nepal will be developing country in three years
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has said Nepal will get promoted as a developing country within next three years, reports Abhiyan in its three-column boxed story. The Prime Minister made the statement speaking at a function organised on the occasion of 52nd annual general meeting of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister also informed that the government was working seriously to achieve Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
Traders from eight countries in Ilam to buy Nepali tea
Traders from eight countries have gathered in hills of Ilam of eastern Nepal in search of quality tea, according to the anchor story in Karobar daily. Recently, a tea festival was also organised in Suryodaya Municipality of the district in order to attract foreign traders towards quality organic tea produced here, the report says, adding the festival featured tea produced by 21 small farmers and entrepreneurs.
