Good morning!
Here’s a quick summary of important, ignored and interesting reports from Tuesday to kick-start your day:
Important
NCP leaders ask party to take action against minister Mahaseth, Province 2 chief Sah
Nineteen central members of the ruling CPN from Province 2 have demanded action against Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Raghubir Mahaseth, Province 2 chief Prabhu Sah and two other leaders.
They have demanded that Sah, province in-charge Satya Narayan Mandal, deputy in-charge Bishwo Nath Sah and secretary Suman Pyakurel be dismissed and stringent action be taken against them for holding oath-taking ceremony of the NCP’s provincial body by violating a circular from party’s central committee. They have also demanded Minister Mahaseth be removed from the standing committee for violating article 34(b) of the party’s interim statute. They have demanded the removal of some of the leaders nominated in the provincial committee.
Chitwan Medical College students demand Education Minister’s resignation
Protesting students of Chitwan Medical College have demanded the resignation of Education Minister Giriraj Mani Pokharel for failing to enforce a decision taken by the government with regard to medical college fees.
The Cabinet meeting on October 14, 2018, had set a ceiling of Rs 3.85 million for MBBS students inside the Kathmandu Valley, and Rs 4.245 million outside the Valley but the college has been charging each student up to Rs 5.50 million.
The Education Ministry had written to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) under the Tribhuvan University (TU) to force the medical colleges to refund the amount exceeding the ceiling. Students at the Chitwan Medical College launched protests after the college, instead of returning the extra money, asked for extra fees. In a statement, Prakash Chand, son of CPN Netra Bikram Chand, who has been leading the student movement in Chitwan, has demanded the resignation of Education Minister Pokharel.
Ignored
Nepal and Australia likely to sign air service agreement
The government is preparing to hold talks with Australia regarding the signing of an air service agreement. Both countries will hold talks on the sidelines of the 40th Triennial Assembly of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) due to take place in Canada from September 24.
According to a source at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, if things go well the agreement will be signed in Canada itself. A five-member team led by Tourism Minister Yogesh Bhattarai will leave for Canada on September 22. If things go as planned, Australia will be the 40th country with whom Nepal has signed an air service agreement.
Passport Bill passed by National Assembly
The Passport Bill, which was returned to the parliament for reconsideration by the president, has been approved by the National Assembly. The meeting of the NA on Tuesday approved the amendments put forward by the parliamentary committee concerned and unanimously approved the bill.
President Bidya Devi Bhandari had returned the bill to the parliament after the NA didn’t go through the amendments properly.
Interesting
Safe landing, not an emergency landing says AOAN
The Airlines Operators Association of Nepal has said that the helicopters coming from Lukla to Kathmandu made ‘safe landing’ an not ’emergency landing’ as was reported in the media. AOAN said that as the weather was getting worse, the pilots did the right thing by landing the helicopters in safe areas.
Around 10 helicopters, sent to Lukla to rescue stranded tourists, were landed in Kavre on Tuesday due to adverse weather conditions.
National Assembly endorses Land Bill
The meeting of the National Assembly unanimously passed the Land Bill, 2076 on Tuesday. The bill was tabled by Minister for Land Reforms, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation Padma Kumari Aryal. Minister Aryal said the bill intends to resolve the problems facing the landless and address the issue of unorganised settlement.
However, the bill also has a provision which has made it easy to sell above celling land legally.
