The Gulmi landslide death toll rising to 10 has been featured in most newspapers along with the Home Minister mentioning that cases like Nirmala Panta will happen in the future as well. An Australian man being arrested in Pokhara for allegedly sexually abusing children has also made it to the front pages of today’s newspapers.
Here is a summary of important, ignored and interesting stories published on front pages of Kathmandu broadsheet dailies, on Wednesday.
Important
Finance Ministry and Foreign Affairs Ministry in disagreement over embassies abroad
The Kathmandu Post reports that both the Finance Ministry and the Foreign Affairs Ministry are in disagreement over cutting down embassies abroad. In a bid to cut down on expenses and streamline work, Finance Minister Yubraj Khatiwada announced a review of all of Nepal’s embassies abroad. Subsequently, in November, Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali announced the formation of a task force to evaluate all embassies and their scope of work and gave the team three months to submit its report. But nine months since, the task force, led by former ambassador Rudra Nepal, has held just three meetings, with no clear timeline on when the report will be formulated, according to a member of the task force. The primary reason for the delay appears to be differences between the Finance and Foreign ministries.
Australian man accused of pedophilia
Republica reports that a 63-year-old Australian man has been arrested in Pokhara for allegedly sexually abusing children, officials say. Thomas Alfred was arrested by tourist police from his apartment in Pokhara. Police say they found two boys aged 12 and 14 from Alfred’s apartment. The Australian had been living in Nepal for the past three years.
Chand’s party a threat to the country, says home minister
The Kathmandu Post reports that Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa on Tuesday said that the Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal is a major threat to political achievements gained by the country. At a press conference organised at the Home Ministry, Thapa listed what he called his achievements but did not elaborate on how he plans to bring the Chand outfit to the table for talks.
Though the government has said it is open to talks with the Chand party, it has not taken any concrete initiative so far. Instead, Thapa said Chand has not shown any interest for talks. The Chand party, however, has put forth three preconditions for talks: an official invitation, lifting of the ban on its activities, and release of its leaders.
Ignored
Govt says it will not take part in ICSID mediation in Ncell case
Kantipur reports that the government has said it will not participate in the mediation process in the Ncell case at the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Dispute (ICSID). Ncell and its parent company Axiata Group (UK) in May had submitted a request for arbitration with the ICSID against the government of Nepal, regarding the capital gains tax (CGT) levied by the Nepali authority on Ncell buyout deal. .
Economists say govt data on expenditure fudged
The Kathmandu Post reports that new figures of the government’s capital and revenue expenditure began to emerge after the website mysteriously went down on July 15, two days before the end of the fiscal year on July 17. Until July 9, the government’s capital expenditure stood at just 57 per cent of Rs 314 billion allocated for the last fiscal year 2018-19. But on July 22, five days after the end of the fiscal year, new figures emerged, showing a capital expenditure of 76.14 per cent. Again, on Tuesday, the figure jumped to 87 per cent.
While the Office said in a statement that problems arose on the website due to an attempt to assimilate data from the Office and the Finance Ministry’s information system, a senior official at the Office say that the ministry took control of all data, providing them with no access. These figures have led economists to believe that the government has manipulated the data to show how successful it’s been, by significantly revising its expenditure and revenue collection targets.
Thai govt investigating Nepali scammers in Bangkok
The Himalayan Times reports that the Thai government has launched an investigation into the scam designed by Nepalis residing in Bangkok to deceive Nepali students on the pretext of providing hotel management training in the Thai capital. The Office of the Private Education Commission of Thailand, a wing of the Thai Ministry of Education, on Tuesday dispatched a team to the International Hotel and Airline Business School at Ramintra Road in Bangkok following media reports that the school has so far duped 14 Nepali students. At least 14 Nepali students, who could not live and work in those subpar conditions, returned to Nepal within three months of leaving for Bangkok. They still have not been able to recover their money.
Interesting
South Korea makes skill evaluation test mandatory
Karobar reports that South Korea has made it mandatory for all applicant who have passed the language test to undergo a skill evaluation test. Those who have passed the language test but fail the skill evaluation test will not be able to work in South Korea. Around 12,000 applicants have passed the language test. Officials at the Ministry of Labour state that South Korea has asked for only 6,500 workers.
Melamchi contract given to former Maoist without competition
Annapurna Post reports that the contact to carry out the remaining work of the Melamchi Drinking Water Supply Project has been given to former Maoist cadres. The project chief Surya Raj Kadel gave the contract to Shrestha Construction which has further delegated the work to three former Maoist Cadres. The owner of Shrestha Construction Safal Shrestha is believed to have used his connections to land the contract without competition.
Speaker asks opposition not to obstruct parliament proceedings
Annapurna Post reports that Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara has urged opposition parties Nepali Congress and Rastriya Janata Party to not obstruct parliament proceedings. Mahara held talks with NC Chief Whip Balkrishna Khand, Whip Puspa Bhusal and lawmakers Minendra Rijal and Dilendra Badu asking them to urge NC lawmakers not to halt parliament proceedings. He also held talks with RJPN Presidium chair Raj Kishor Yadav asking him and his party to cooperate. Both NC and RJPN have been obstruction the parliament criticising the manner at which the government is working.
