The corruption case involving CIAA Commissioner Raj Narayan Pathak is still creating some buzz on the front pages of popular broadsheets. Five officials from the Social Welfare Council receiving the sack has also been covered on the front pages of most national dailies, along with news of Italian firm CMC demanding the release of its bonds before resuming Melamchi work.
Here is a summary of important, ignored and interesting stories from the cover pages of national broadsheets:
Important
Nembang submits Pathak’s bribe video
Annapurna Post and Kantipur report that NCP leader Subas Chandra Nembang has submitted the video which shows former CIAA commissioner Raj Narayan Pathak taking a bribe, to an anti-graft body. Nembang submitted the video upon request from CIAA chief Navin Ghimire. Pathak resigned after the video emerged.
Two Aussie nursing colleges without accreditation
The Kathmandu Post and The Himalayan Times report that two technical institutes in Sydney are found to have enrolled students in nursing courses without accreditation from the nursing and midwifery council. The Sydney-based Australian Health and Management Institute and Nurse Training Australia are found to have enrolled dozens of students in the nursing programme. Around 80 Nepali students are pursuing nursing course there.
Nepali embassy has advised students at the AIBT to remain enrolled and continue to attend classes to ensure that the conditions of their visa are met and their recourse to the Tuition Protection Service is assured, should the provider cease to deliver its courses.
Similarly, Nepal Samacharpatra reports that the reason Nepali students are in limbo due to the consultancies which have taken money from students without monitoring colleges. The Education Ministry has formed an investigation committee to look into the matter in detail. The operators of the consultancies have refused to answer questions of the media.
Ignored
Italian firm forwards demands for resuming Melamchi work
The Kathmandu Post reports that Italian contractor CMC has forwarded a list of demands the government has to fulfill if it wants them to resume the work.
According to government officials, CMC had sent a list of demands via the Nepali team that had gone to Singapore earlier this month to negotiate with the group’s officials.
The CMC officials say the demands include returning of bonds, the release of payments as recommended by the Dispute Adjudication Board (DAB), ensuring the security of CMC staffers, timely payment, variation resolutions, and other technical issues on the project that need resolving.
Executive Director at the Melamchi Drinking Water Supply Board has said that the board hasn’t received any official demands. He also added that if the demands were indeed made by CMC, the board wouldn’t be fulfilling them as it was beyond the board’s authority.
National ID Card project may go down the drain
The Himalayan Times reports that lawmakers are worried that around Rs 7.5 billion being spent on the National Identity Card Project may go down the drain, as they said the biometric cards will only serve the government’s purpose of maintaining a central database of citizens but will not aid the public in any way because they will not be linked to services provided by the state.
The National Identity Card was supposed to be akin to India’s Aadhaar card, which contains 12-digit unique identity numbers. Although Aadhaar is not a proof of citizenship in India, it is a proof of residence and allows cardholders to obtain mobile sim cards, open bank accounts and become eligible for welfare and pension schemes. Currently, Aadhaar is also being used to support Digital India Programme, which aims to promote e-governance and e-commerce.
NCP taskforce seeks week’s time to conclude NCP merger
Republica reports that a Secretariat meeting of the Nepal Communist Party held to discuss the stalled unification process ended inconclusively on Thursday after a task force formed to hammer out outstanding issues related to unification sought one more week to submit its final report.
In the meeting convened at Baluwatar on Thursday, task force coordinator Ram Bahadur Thapa apprised the meeting progress made so far by his team and sought one more week to submit the final report. Other members of the task force also requested the Secretariat to give some more time to complete the remaining work.
Interesting
Secretary transferred after disagreeing to lie
Kantipur reports that a Secretary at Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Krishna Prasad Devkota has said that he has been transferred after disagreeing to lie about the procurement of electric busses. Devkota was asked to lie that the electric buses which were brought from India were brought from China. He has been transferred to the Ministry of Youth and Sports. However, he didn’t mention who pressurised him to lie.
Government wants to regulate social media
Nepal Samacharpatra reports that the government, after getting a lot of complaints about crimes through social media, wants to make sure it is regulated. To ensure a safe society, the government has decided that all social media sites should be registered at the Department of Information and Technology. If the social media site doesn’t register, the government can stop its service anytime.
Complaint filed to probe properties of tainted anti-graft official and ‘his associates’
Annapurna Post reports that a complaint against at least eight sitting and former government employees has been filed at the anti-graft agency for working with the former CIAA commissioner Raj Narayan Pathak. The new complaint, filed on Thursday, has claimed that they worked in cahoots with Pathak to raise money and amass properties illegally.
