Good morning!
Here’s a quick summary of important, ignored and interesting stories from Saturday to kickstart your Sunday.
Important
Nepali Congress crisis deepens
The internal dispute in the main opposition, Nepali Congress party, has deepened further as the party president Sher Bahadur Deuba endorsed his proposal on the next general convention schedule from the central working committee meeting that was boycotted by the leaders close to Ram Chandra Paudel and Krishna Prasad Sitaula. The Paudel faction has commented that Deuba’s move could jeopardise the party. Paudel told journalists on Saturday that the decision was against sentiments of the party statute and traditions.
PM defends Gokarna lease extension
Following criticisms from the media and the public on the government decision to extend the lease of a land piece owned by Nepal Trust to Yeti Holdings for the operation of Gokarna Forest Resort, some ministers and bureaucrats had been defending the move claiming it was lawful. After the criticisms did not subside, Prime Minister Oli himself defended the decision, arguing this government, while extending the lease, corrected an error made by the previous government.
For him, the comments on the deal were parts of national and international efforts made at vilifying the government.
Chitwan win PPL title
The Paras Khadka-led Chitwan Rhinos won the title of the second edition of the Namaste Pokhara Premier League concluded in Pokhara on Saturday. During the final of the event, the team defeated Biratnagar Titans by 32 runs. The Titans, while chasing a 203-run target, could score just 170 runs at the loss of seven wickets in the allocated 20 overs.
The defending champions of the event, Pokhara Paltan, have already crashed out of the match at the group stage.
Ignored
NTB headless as Visit Nepal Year 2020 begins
Nepal is beginning its hyped and ambitious Visit Nepal Year 2020 mega-campaign on Wednesday, but the country’s powerful executive body to develop the sector is currently headless. Nepal Tourism Board’s chief executive officer Deepak Raj Joshi recently retired.
The government has already called applications to fill the vacancy but it will take a few more time to complete the process.
Youth go missing in Phulchoki, get rescued later
Five youth who had gone on a hiking to Phulchoki Hill, on the southeastern outskirts of Kathmandu Valley went missing for a few hours on Saturday. A seven-member team deployed by the District Police Office and local police posts launched the search mission and found them in the late evening.
Though there are clear signboards about the proper route, many visitors get lost almost every year as they try to ignore them for adventure.
Interesting
Kathmandu electricity demand records highest
Nepal Electricity Authority has claimed that it received the biggest amount of electricity demand this winter season. Currently, Kathmandu needs around 400-megawatt energy and it exceeds the amount of power demanded on the day of Laxmi Puja during the Tihar festival.
Meanwhile, the authority has clarified that frequent interruptions in the power supply in Kathmandu these days is not because the authority lacks sufficient power to distribute, rather its infrastructures are not big enough to handle the load. The authority’s managing director Kul Man Ghiring reiterates that Nepalis do not need to worry about the insufficiency as the county’s production level is going up gradually.
