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From the Kathmandu Press: Tuesday, May 12, 2019

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Nepal and Cambodia signing a bilateral trade and investment agreements has been featured in some national dailies along with locals staging a protest in Lalitpur asking for roads to be blacktopped.

Here is a summary of important, ignored and interesting stories from the cover pages of national broadsheets:

Important

Nepal and Cambodia sign bilateral trade agreement

Gorkhapatra reports that Nepal and Cambodia on Monday signed two pacts to boost bilateral trade and investment.

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen signed the deal in Phnom Penh.

The two sides agreed to work together to enhance bilateral cooperation in all fields, especially in economics, trade, investment, tourism and culture.

Trade and investment volumes between Cambodia and Nepal are currently relatively small. On the tourism side, some 3,100 Nepali visitors came to Cambodia in 2018, a 10-percent rise year-on-year, according to Cambodian tourism data.

Locals protest poor road in Lalitpur

The Himalayan Times reports that irritated by bumpy and dust-filled gravelled road, locals residing in Dholahiti, Sunakothi and Chapagaun areas of Lalitpur have completely halted vehicular movement on a six-kilometre road stretch to pressure authorities to expedite construction work, which was stalled over two years ago.

Locals said the blockade that came into effect on Monday would only be lifted once the government started black-topping the stretch located around three kilometres from Satdobato. Locals of wards 10, 11 and 12 of Godavari Municipality have created barriers at around 30 places to prevent movement of vehicles. The blockade is clamped at 7:00 am every day and continues till 5:00 pm.

Ignored

The disputed Baluwatar land has become a dumping site.

DSP looking into Baluwatar land case transferred

Kantipur reports that DSP Kavid Katuwal who was investigating the Baluwatar land case has been transferred. Katuwal who is part of the CIB team probing the case has been transferred to Area Police Office in Chandranigapur, Rautahat.

DIG Niraj Sahi had requested the CIB not to transfer Katuwal as he was one of the main officers looking into the case. The leadership, however, did not heed.

Cabinet to form commission to look into land grab case

The Himalayan Times reports that Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation has forwarded a proposal to the Cabinet for the formation of a high-level commission to investigate cases of grab/misuse of public land, including the much-hyped Baluwatar land grab case, and land owned by Guthis.

As per the Cabinet’s direction to the Ministry to form such a commission, the Ministry forwarded the proposal to the Cabinet some four days ago, according to a high-level official of the Ministry. The Cabinet has said it will take the decision after PM KP Sharma Oli returns from his state visits on Wednesday.

Pilgrims face difficulties as Tibet govt tightens permit

Republica reports that the famous Kailash pilgrimage has fallen into uncertainty this season as the government of the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR)  has introduced a slew of measures including a mandatory provision on payment for tour packages through banking channels.

Although Nepal Rastra Bank on Friday relaxed some rules for transactions in US dollars to facilitate pilgrimage to the holy site in Tibet, tour operators say the Kailash Yatra remains uncertain this season. The problem arose as the TAR government has made it mandatory to transact the entire cost of the tour package through banking channels this year.

Interesting

File: Nepal’s Parliament building

Govt unaware that MPs took part in Tibet convention in Latvia

The Kathmandu Post reports that Nepal’s official One China policy has come under serious scrutiny after two Members of Parliament, Pradip Yadav and Iquabal Miya, recently participated in an event organised by the Latvian Parliamentary Support Group for Tibet and the International Network of Parliamentarians on Tibet while on a personal trip to the European country. This comes just as three government journalists are under investigation by the state news agency for disseminating a report about the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, in what the communication minister described as a violation of the official One China policy.

Senior NCP leaders accused of ‘bullying’ juniors

L-R: KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal

The Kathmandu Post reports that many junior leaders at Nepal Communist Party have said that the leadership is using fear and coercion to control them. They argue that the senior leadership doesn’t let them voice their opinions and say that internal democracy is on the wane while individual freedom is being curtailed. Many leaders even refuse to speak over the phone these days, saying they would prefer to meet in person “somewhere”. This could imply that they were afraid their phones might be tapped.

Lalita Niwas case in limbo due to Land Revenue Office

Nagarik reports that the reason the government hasn’t been able to reclaim the Lalita Niwas land is due to Land Revenue Office, Dillibazar. The office hasn’t provided the previous and current land maps of the area to the investigating team which has affected reclaiming the land. The Ministry of Land Management, Cooperative and Poverty Alleviation has said that as soon as it gets the maps, it will make a decision.

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