Good morning!
Here’s a quick summary of important, ignored and interesting reports from Thursday to kick-start your day:
Important
Dahal for appointing new faces at TRC
Ruling Nepal Communist Party’s executive chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said he will take a standing that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission should have an entirely new team.
While some of the previous office-bearers have also applied for the position, Dahal said the transitional justice body should be led by a new team as the old team could not prove its competence. Speaking at a function in Kathmandu on Thursday, he, however, said the old officials of the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons should be given another chance as they had said they could complete the assignment in the next six months and their trust level was quite higher than those at the other commission.
Mahara appeals to High Court for his release
Former speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara, who has been sent to judicial custody by Kathmandu District Court in connection to an attempt to rape case, has filed a petition at Patan High Court seeking his release.
After an order from the Kathmandu District Judge Sudarshan Raj Pandey on November 4, Mahara is doing his time at Dillibazaar Prison. However, he filed the application at the high court, requesting cancellation of the order, according to Mohan Subedi, the information officer of the court.
Oli for fixing all potholes of Kathmandu roads in next four months
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has urged newly appointed ministers of concerned ministries and officials under them to fix all potholes on roads of Kathmandu in the next four months. “How long will you want to hear the sad song of these holes,” he told the ministers and bureaucrats after the first meeting of the reshuffled Cabinet, “There should not be any pothole by the end of next four months.”
Ignored
Congress accuses govt of violating election code
The main opposition party, Nepali Congress, has accused the government of violating the code of conduct which is in effect for the by-elections scheduled for November 30. A monitoring committee led by Congress leader Ramesh Lekhak has also commented that the Election Commission could not effectively monitor the implementation of the code.
The party, hence, has urged the constitutional body to play a more active role to make sure that all the concerned are obliged by the code.
Govt spokesperson says Congress is crying
Two days after the main opposition party listed 21 failures of the incumbent government in the past 21 months, the government spokesperson Gokul Baskota has said it is the party’s ‘cry in lamentation over the loss of its youth’. For Baskota, the party is sad as it has lost the power that it enjoyed frequently in the past 30 years.
In his regular press briefing on Thursday, Baskota commented that Congress listed the failures in the run-up to the by-elections hoping it could gain some advantages in the polls.
The minister also claimed he could also produce a similar list of the Congress’ failures if needed.
Interesting
Pun appeals to Bangladesh for energy cooperation
Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Barsha Man Pun, has appealed to government and private stakeholders of Bangladesh to work with Nepal for energy development. Pun says Bangladesh has a high demand for energy as it is heading towards economic growth at a speedy rate and Nepal’s hydropower can meet the need.
Meeting Bangladeshi Minister of State for Electricity, Energy and Mine Nasrul Hamid, who is currently in Kathmandu to participate in the Power Summit 2019, Pun requested the leader to facilitate investments in Nepali energy sector in an appropriate format.
It has been learned that the ministry is seeking investors for some hydropower projects in Province 1.
