Major Nepali and English broadsheet dailies published from Kathmandu on Friday have given the top priority to the government decision to remove two Nepal Police officials from the service for their alleged negligence in the investigation into the rape and murder of Nirmala Pant in Kanchandpur district three months ago. The newspapers have covered the issue from different angles.
Other issues highlighted on the covers are scheduled resumption of registration of two wheelers in Kathmandu Valley and the government’s preparations to issue an ordinance to facilitate staff adjustment process at provincial and local levels.
Meanwhile, preparations of the ruling Nepal Communist Party to wrap up the unification process between then CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist Centre has also been featured on the front pages of major newspapers.
Important
Two police officials sacked for Pant murder probe negligence
The Ministry of Home Affairs issued a statement yesterday to inform that it has sacked SP Dilli Raj Bista and Inspector Jagdish Prasad Bhatta after they were found destroying vital evidence of the case and failing to conclude the investigation, according to newspaper reports.
Earlier, the Ministry had sought clarifications from them as a preparation to remove them from the service.
Though they were removed from the job now, the two can rejoin the government service as they have not been make ineligible, according to The Kathmandu Post.
Meanwhile, Nagarik and Naya Patrika highlight in their lead stories that no concrete conclusion has been drawn so far over the case despite the formation of a number of investigation committees.
Govt prepares ordinance for staff adjustment
Rajdhani and Nagarik report that the government is preparing to issue an ordinance in the absence of Parliament session on the adjustment of civil servants at local, provincial and federal levels. The new law will offer promotion opportunities to the staff willing to go to the local level, according to Rajdhani.
Meanwhile, such provisions will cost the state Rs 15 billion, Annapurna Post writes in its anchor story.
Ignored
Probe finds no irregularities in NAC wide body purchase
An investigation launched by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has concluded that no irregularities occurred in the purchase of two wide body aircraft for Nepal Airlines Corporation as claimed by some media reports earlier.
Karobar reports in its lead story that the team led by Joint Secretary Buddhi Sagar Lamichhane submitted its report to the government recently.
Special campaign to control violence against women
Nepal Police Headquarters has announced the launch of a special campaign to control violence against women, Gorkhapatra reports. The campaign will promote a partnership between police and public, mobilising citizens aged 16-35, as this is the biggest age group of VAW victims and perpetrators.
Local students, teachers and guardians and people affiliated to civil society organisations will also be made part of the campaign.
OPMCM to decide NRB reconstruction contract
Following criticisms from various walks of life over its decision to hand over the Nepal Rastra Bank central office reconstruction contract to controversial Pappu Construction, the National Reconstruction Authority has withdrawn itself from the process and requested the Office of the Prime Minister to take an appropriate decision, Kantipur reports in a snippet.
Men found involved in trafficking wives
Some Nepali women, who were rescued by police from the clutches of traffickers, have been found trafficked by their own husbands, according to a brief story in Nagarik.
The Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police has concluded that some men readily hand over their wives to the traffickers after being assured of more than Rs 30,000 income every month. They give company to women upto Delhi of India so that immigration officials cannot block them, the report adds.
Lawyers demand early Inter-Provincial Council meeting
Following growing incidents of conflict between provincial and federal governments, lawyers have suggested that a meeting of Inter-Provincial Council can be the only way to avert such situations in the future, according to The Himalayan Times.
The Prime Minister, who chairs the Council, had cancelled a scheduled meeting of the body in September, and he is yet to call the next meeting, the report informs.
Interesting
Nepal’s first science and technology university in the offing
The Kathmandu Post reports in a three column story that the government has begun preparations to establish Madan Bhandari University, which would be the first university to cater purely to science and technology education even as a majority of the existing universities have programmes in the category.
The Cabinet has recently told the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology to draft a bill necessary to set up the university, according to the report.
