Nepal is marking the fourth anniversary of the devastating 2015 earthquake and reports related to this have been featured on most national dailies. Some carry news of how reconstruction has changed some village whereas some carry stories about how the government has failed to reconstruct houses, schools, hospitals and heritage monuments.
Here is a summary of important, ignored and interesting stories from the front pages of national broadsheets:
Important
Nepal Airlines on the brink of collapse
The Kathmandu Post reports that Nepal Airlines Corporation says its cash flow has been depleting fast, prompting concerns about the future of the already struggling carrier.
About three weeks ago, the national flag carrier informed its line ministry—the Tourism Ministry—that it has less than Rs 200 million cash reserves. The corporation’s cash flow, however, is hardly enough to pay salary to its staff for two months.
The cash flow problem in the state-owned airlines, however, started nine months ago when it inducted two brand new Airbus A330 jets into its fleet last year, as they largely remained under-utilised for months after failing to get enough routes to fly.
The cash-strapped corporation has now started defaulting on loans. This is the first time the airlines has defaulted on a debt payment even though it has a long history of poor financial performance in the past several years.
45,000 aftershocks in 4 years
Kantipur and Gorkhapatra report that there have been over 45,000 aftershocks since the devastating earthquake of 2015 which killed nearly 10,000 people. Earthquake experts believe that the recent earthquakes being felt in the country were also aftershocks. They argue that due to the continuous aftershocks, the chance of a mega earthquake occurring in the country is quite low. However, some earthquake experts argue that a mega earthquake in western Nepal is imminent.
Nepali women rescued from Mizoram
The Himalayan Times reports that Indian police rescued at least 69 Nepali women, who had fallen prey to human traffickers, from the Indian state of Mizoram this week. The human trafficking victims, who were heading for Gulf countries seeking employment opportunities, were trying to cross the Indian border in Mizoram to enter Myanmar.
This is the second time in less than two months trafficked Nepali women have been rescued from the north-eastern part of India. In the first week of February, Indian authorities had rescued 179 trafficked women and men from the Indian state of Manipur. They were also planning to migrate to Gulf countries via Myanmar.
Ignored
12 billion needed to restore heritage monuments
Nepal Samacharpatra reports that the Department of Archaeology has said that it will take over Rs 12 billion to restore all 895 heritage monuments throughout the country and has asked the Finance Ministry for the amount. DoA states that it has spent around Rs 1.8 billion in the restoration of monuments throughout the country. The DoA shares that it plans to restore all heritage monuments in the country by 2031.
Visa sticker records shrouded in mystery
Annapurna Post reports that government agencies have confirmed that Nepali Embassies and Consulate abroad have not been depositing visa fees in the national treasury. This has raised concern as government official believe that there might have been financial irregularities regarding the same. The Department of Immigration has been regularly asking them to deposit the fees, however, the embassies and consulates abroad have failed to do so.
Centre to ask local govt to report on expenditure
Rajdhani reports that the Ministry of General Administration and Federal Affairs has asked all local governments to give details regarding their spending and progress after the spending. The office of the auditor general and the CIAA have said that they found a lot of financial irregularities in local levels hence the ministry is asking for details.
Interesting
Right to prosecute criminals to taken away from Provinces
The Himalayan Times reports that the bill related to the management of ties among centre, provinces and local levels, registered at the Parliament Secretariat recently, proposes to deny provinces rights to prosecute criminals.
Section 8 of the bill stipulates that for any criminal act that could carry jail term, the process of investigating cases where the government is a plaintiff and criminal cases are filed against individuals by the state should be governed by federal laws.
Chief Attorney of Province 2 Dipendra Jha said while the bill contained some good provisions, including the provision that lets provinces and local levels frame their own laws on concurrent powers in case the federal government failed to provide umbrella laws, the bill unfairly deprived provinces’ of prosecutorial rights.
Province 2 minister promotes child marriage
Rajdhani reports that Province 2 Minister for Industry, Tourism and Environment Suresh Mandal has paid for the wedding of a 14-year-old girl. Mandal paid for the wedding of the teenager Radha Malik whose father couldn’t afford the cost of the ceremony. Mandal played the role of Radha’s guarding during the wedding. Mandal said that he paid for the wedding because he wants to end the practice of untouchability.
