Major Nepali and English broadsheet dailies published from Kathmandu on Friday have published reports about Nepal Communist Party leader Bamdev Gautam’s decision to withdraw his plan of contesting a byelection in Kathmandu-7 in his bid to secure a seat in the House of Representatives. Other major issues that have been featured on the front pages of major newspapers today are the Public Accounts Committee’s directive to the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority on the market price of sugar, statements of Nepal Army Chief Purna Chandra Thapa, and a directive of the National Human Rights Commission to Nepal Police on the investigation into rape and murder of Nirmala Pant.
Few other political, sociocultural and political issues have also been featured on the front pages of Kathmandu newspapers today.
Important
Govt cartel responsible for sugar price hike
The Public Accounts Committee in the House of Representatives has claimed that the government imposed its cartel on the sugar market, which consequently hiked the price of daily consumable, according to The Kathmandu Post.
Meanwhile, the Committee directed the country’s constitutional corruption watchdog to investigate into the issue as suggested by a subcommittee led by its member Lekharaj Bhatta, reports Gorkhapatra.
The Committee Chairman Bharat Kumar Sah said he would ensure the implementation of the subcommittee’s suggestions, according to a brief story in Annapurna Post.
NHRC tells police to save forensic evidence of Pant murder
Rajdhani, Kantipur, The Himalayan Times and The Kathmandu Post report on their front pages that the National Human Rights Commission has told Nepal Police to keep samples collected from the victim and suspects of Nirmala Pant rape and murder case safe so that they can be investigated into again.
The Commission’s directive follows the Nepal Police failure to find perpetrators of the case.
Rajdhani interprets that the constitutional rights watchdog has doubted if the forensic lab of Nepal Police properly tests the samples. The Commission is also consulting experts in this regard, according to the report.
Army Chief says corruption exists in his organisation too
In his first press meet after assuming the top position, Chief of Army Staff Purna Chandra Thapa among other things also said that corruption existed in his organisation as well, reports Kantipur in a snippet.
He said the Nepal Army could not control corrupt activities on its own, requesting for cooperation from various sectors.
Thapa added that he was aware about public complaints about financial irregularities during the recruitment of army personnel.
Ignored
Forest Ministry says it won’t obstruct Nijgadh airport
The Ministry of Forest and Environment has clarified that it will not obstruct the government plan to construct a regional airport in Nijgadh of Bara district, according to the lead story of Karobar.
The Ministry’s Secretary Bishwa Nath Oli clarified the Ministry’s position during a meeting of the International Relations Committee in the House of Representatives yesterday, the report adds.
Provincial staff deprived of salary
Kantipur reports in its front page that most staff working for seven provincial governments of the country have complained that they could not get salary from mid-July. Whereas staff of the federal government have already received additional one-month pay to celebrate Dashain, the provincial staff have been deprived of salary for past three months, the report informs.
The problem exists as all offices are not set up at the provincial level, according to the report.
Manang lawmaker’s impressive apple farm
Whereas most members of the Federal Parliament want to spend most times of their tenure in the capital so that they can get various opportunities. But, Polden Chhopang Gurung, a lawmaker elected from Manang district, wants to spend most of his time in the home district because he has established one of the biggest apple farms of the country, according to Annapurna Post.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli visited the farm on Thursday.
Interesting
Pashupatinath Temple earns Rs 682 million in seven years
Devotees spent Rs 682 million as their offerings to the Lord Pashupatinath in past seven years, Gorkhapatra reports in a two column box story. The Pashupati Area Development Trust, the government authority assigned for the management of the holy shrine made the income of past seven years public, according to which Rs 682 million was collected as ‘bheti’, according to the report.
#MeToo movement gets momentum in Nepal also
Owing to the success of #MeToo internet campaign to book perpetrators of sexual violence in various parts of the world, Nepali activists and women have also started sharing the stories of violence they survived or witnessed on social media with the hashtag, reports The Kathmandu Post in its lead story for the day.
The report reads, “#MeToo stories in Nepal have largely refrained from naming and shaming the perpetrators and instead, centred around making public the incidents they went through and expressing solidarity with other women.”
