Major English and Nepali broadsheet dailies published from Kathmandu on Monday have prioritised political issues over others. Parliament’s preparation to put the constitution amendment bill to vote today has been covered in the front page of most newspapers today. Likewise, a recent Tribhuvan University decision to grant affiliation to the disputed Kathmandu National Medical College has also received prominence.
Follow-up stories on recent floods have not received much attention in the front page today.
Important
Vote on constitution amendment bill today; endorsement unlikely
The constitution amendment bill currently stuck in Parliament is likely to be put to vote for a decision today, though it is very unlikely that the bill will be passed, most of the newspapers have written in their front page today.
The Himalayan Times lead story quotes Parliament Secretariat Co-spokesperson Dilli Ram Rijal who says the bill will be put to vote today even if the business has to be prolonged till late in the evening today.
The bill can be passed only if two-third of the 592 existing lawmakers support the bill, but the ruling parties do not have sufficient support from as many lawmakers as required, reports say. It have been almost certain that the bill would fail as the Rastriya Prajatantra Party has decided to vote against the bill yesterday, reports The Kathmandu Post.
Kathmandu National Medical College gets TU affiliation; Dr KC irked again
Tribhuvan University recently decided to grant affiliation to the controversial Kathmandu National Medical College based in Ghattelkulo of Kathmanud and some newspapers have given prominence to the issue as the decision has angered TU Teaching Hospital’s senior orthopaedic surgeon Dr Govinda KC once again.
According to Nagarik lead story, the TU Executive Council’s decision to grant affiliation has not followed due procedures. Though it has cited an order by the Supreme Court as a basis of the decision, the affiliation is against sentiments of the court order.
The report says the court had ordered the University to take an appropriate decision on the basis of law, but the recent decision violates legal provisions, the report has analysed, adding the Dean of Institute of Medicine himself has been kept in dark in the decision process.
The Kathmandu Post anchor story says Dr KC has warned to launch stern protests if the decision to grant affiliation is not scrapped. KC’s statement issued yesterday reads, “We are shocked by the news that t he TU Executive Council office bearers affiliated a new medical college against the past agreements and commitments at a time when we were on a hunger strike with a number of demands.”
Ignored
Nepal Police adopts federal structure
Nepal’s national police organisation has adopted a federal structure around two years after the promulgation of constitution that established the country as a federal democratic republic.
Naya Patrika says Nepal Police dissolved its regional offices in five development regions and established seven provincial offices. The organisation on Sunday appointed seven additional inspectors general (AIGs) as chiefs of provincial offices.
Earlier, Nepal Police had deployed one DIG as the chief of Regional Police Office in each development region.
Among recently promoted 11 AIGs, seven have been appointed as provincial chiefs. Remaining four have been deployed at the Metropolitan Police Commissioner’s Office, Nepal Police Headquarters, Nepal Police Academy and Administration Department.
Meanwhile, Nepal Police has also decided to transform existing zonal police offices as units under the provincial offices.
Licence of non-operational hydro projects to be scrapped
The Ministry of Energy has ordered 43 hydroelectricity development projects to submit their progress reports within next 35 days to the government, a Karobar front page story says.
After new Energy Minister Mahendra Bahadur Shahi ordered officials to scrap licence issued for hydro development if the projects are not in operation, the Electricity Development Department issued a notice yesterday fixing the deadline. That means the Ministry now will study the details they submit and will scrap the licences if they are found non-operational, the report adds.
Director General of the Department, Nabin Raj Singh, says in the report that all projects failing to furnish the Department with the report will also be scrapped.
Those 43 projects, which acquired licence in past six years, were supposed to produce as much as 5,481 megawatt electricity.
Interesting
Bhutan chasing away more Nepali-speaking citizens?
Nepal Samacharpatra‘s anchor story for the day reports that the Bhutanese government is once again mistreating Nepali-speaking community and indirectly forcing them to leave the country.
Earlier, in 1990s, Bhutan had introduced a new policy to force Nepali community to speak Dzongkha language and practice native Bhutanese culture and it ultimately forced thousands of them to go on exile. Most of them came to Nepal and resided in eastern Terai as refugees.
Whereas the problem is turning less critical of late as many of the refuses migrated to European and American countries thanks to the third-country resettlement plan they introduced, Bhutan is trying to send more Nepali-speaking people into exile, the report has said.
The report quotes Bhutanese refugee leader Teknath Rijal as saying that there are around 80,000 Nepali-speaking people and they have reported mistreatment from the state. The officials tell them that they could go to Europe or America if they leave the country and indirectly force them to leave, according to the report.
Meanwhile, the report has said the refugees’ right movement has become weak as Bhutanese leaders are divided among major agendas.
East-West Highway to become eight-lane wide
The government is beginning a project to expand the East-West Highway from this fiscal year, Abhiyan lead story for the day says.
The longest highway of the country from Jhapa of far-east to Kanchanpur of far-west will be made eight-lane wide, according to the plan.
The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport says the widening task will begin from Narayangadh-Butwal section from upcoming January. The 112-km road section currently has four lanes.
The Ministry’s spokesperson Rajendra Raj Sharma says the Narayangadh-Butwal section will be widened by investing Rs 15 billion loan extended from the Asian Development Bank.
