The disastrous storm in Bara and Parsa district of southern Nepal has been the most highlighted issue on the front pages of major Nepali and English broadsheet dailies published from Kathmandu on Wednesday. The newspapers have covered the incident and post-disaster crises from a variety of angles.
Few other issues from political, sociocultural and economic spheres have been featured on the front pages on Wednesday.
Here is a summary of important, ignored and interesting stories from the cover pages of national broadsheets:
Important
Political interference in justice nomination
Kantipur, Nagarik and Rajdhani have claimed that the Judicial Council’s nominations for five Supreme Court justices and 18 High Court judges were affected by the influence of major political parties. Kantipur says the names were picked on the basis of power sharing between major parties.
Meanwhile, Nagarik has claimed that senior advocates have protested the decision.
Rajdhani adds that judges dragged into controversies for their decisions and those related to political leaders have been given a chance to become judges with a greater responsibility.
Chief Justice Cholendra Shamsher Rana heads the Council.
Storm affects 6,000 people
Rajdhani informs in its lead story that around 6,000 people have been affected by the disastrous storm in Bara and Parsa districts of southern Nepal. Nearly three dozen people were killed in the incident.
Preliminary reports collected by the Ministry of Home Affairs inform that around 1,000 houses were completely damaged by the storm in Bara district whereas 900 survived partial damages. In Parsa, 59 houses were fully damaged.
PM’s fund did not give anything to Bara-Parsa storm survivors
Rupublica reports in a brief story that the federal government did not provide any aid for the rainstorm survivors of Bara and Parsa districts of southern Nepal from its fund meant for people facing natural disasters.
It is said that there is already more than Rs 2 billion in the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.
Meanwhile, the Province 2 Chief Minister Relief Fund established after the storm has collected only around Rs 500,000 till Tuesday, according to Naya Patrika.
Ignored
CIB launches investigation into Lalita Niwas encroachment
The Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police has launched an investigation into the encroachment of Lalita Niwas of Baluwatar, which was already nationalised around five decades ago, report Nagarik and Republica on their front pages.
The reports inform that the land’s area was 284 ropani in the beginning, but it has now been restricted to 114 ropani.
“Over the period, the land has been captured by various individuals, including Rukma Shumsher Rana,” reads the Republica report.
Police blamed for SEE question leakage
Kantipur reports in its four column anchor story that the CIB of Nepal Police has found out the police personnel were responsible for the repeated leakage of question papers of Secondary Eng Examination in Province 2.
Two constables posted at Kalyanpur Area Police Post of Saptari district leaked the confidential documents, according to preliminary investigations.
Meanwhile, The Himalayan Times reports that students of Bara and Parsa districts, hit by the disastrous storm on Sunday are in dilemma as the rescheduled examination will begin on Friday.
No preparations for local bypolls
Nepal Samacharpatra reports in a three column story that the Election Commission has not carried out any preparation for the local byelections though many positions are vacant. It means the polls are unlikely to happen anytime soon.
Election Commission Ishwari Prasad Paudel, however, has told the newspaper that the Commission is holding occasional discussions with the government. He demands that the government allow sufficient time for the preparation while announcing the date.
US decreases visa fee for Nepali students
The United States government has decreased the visa fee for Nepali students from USD 200 to USD 160, Naya Patrika reports in a brief story.
According to Nepal’s Immigration Department chief Ishwar Raj Paudel, the new provision will come into effect from the next month.
Earlier, Nepal had requested the US to decrease the charges as part of implementing a ‘visa reciprocity’ agreement.
CIAA quizzes 21 over wide body irregularities
Karobar reports in a three column story that the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority has interrogated 21 officials of various agencies over their alleged involvement in irregularities in the purchase of two wide body aircraft for the national flag carrier, Nepal Airlines Corporation.
CIAA chief Navin Kumar Ghimire informed lawmakers about the ongoing investigation during a meeting of a parliamentary committee on Tuesday.
Interesting
China puts Nepal in priority
China has put Nepal in its high priority list as it is preparing to welcome the head of the state of Nepal to China for the first time after the abolition of monarchy in 2008, Annapurna Post reports in a brief story filed from Beijing.
President Bhandari will go to China for a Belt and Road Initiative event in the last week of April.
The report also claims that her Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will also come to Nepal within this year.
