Day: March 17, 2024

The funds allocated for running the 'One District One Industry' program in Sudur Paschim Province is found to be insufficient. The Industry, Commerce and Consumer Interest Protection Directorate under the Ministry of Industry, Tourism, Forestry and Environment has stated that the implementation of the program has been difficult as the Sudurpaschim Province government has not allocated sufficient funds for it. According to the directorate, the government of Sudurpaschim province has allocated a budget of only five hundred thousand rupees for the program in all the nine districts of the province for the current financial year 2080-81. Information Officer of the Directorate, Yashoda Bohra, said that due to the low funds allocated by the provincial government it is difficult to implement the one district one industry programme. Under the program, proposals are being sought and applications are being collected and subsidies will be given for the purchase of necessary materials for the selected industries. The office said that the industrialists who have not received technology and other subsidies in the past three financial years will be given subsidies for the purchase of technology. As Rs 500,000 has to be divided into nine parts, it is mentioned in the procedure that the amount should be distributed to the selected industrialists on a shared basis. Source: National News Agency Nepal

Kathmandu: Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane has said no one has to wait for order to do works specified by the laws, and report could be submitted after execution of the work. At an inspection visit and senior officers' conference at the Armed Police Force Headquarters on Sunday, Home Minister Lamichhane directed the officials not to delay in implementation of laws. Issuing a five-point directive to the APF, he said any unprofessional behaviour would not be tolerated under any pretext. Actions would be taken against commander if attempt were made to save such persons carrying out unprofessional conducts, Home Minister Lamichhane warned. He further said promotion and responsibility would be determined based on performance evaluation. The Home Minister expressed his commitment to formulate policy, plan and programme as per the capacity of the government to keep the morale of human resources high along with physical and technical upgrading of the organisation. Source: National News A gency Nepal

Kathmandu: The Nepal Aushadhi Limited has started manufacturing additional three genres of drugs beginning today. Limited general manager, Kailash Kumar Paneru, said the production of Centrimine, Amzit and Amzit-DF tablets has commenced from today. According to the Company, 150,000 tablets of each medicine will be produced each day. Prior to this, its productions include Jeevan Jal, Cetamol, Distilled water, Glycerin, folic acid and Hemodialysis fluid and powder. As Paneru said, the Company is in the position of manufacturing more drugs provided that the government supports for the same. The Limited that was established in 2029 BS as a government entity once used to manufacture 120 types of medicines. But over the course of time, it was closed in 2062 BS and revived in 2074 BS with the production of Cetamol. With the newly launched products, the numbers of products by the Limited has reached 11. Source: National News Agency Nepal

Kathmandu: The CPN (Unified Socialist) has formed 13 different committees for holding the party's national convention. The party has assigned the responsibility of coordinator of National Convention Main Management Committee to party chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal while Jhalanath Khanal is given the responsibility of coordinator of the Reception Committee. Party secretary Jibanram Shrestha said that Beduram Bhusal will lead the representative management committee, Pramesh Hamal for finance mobilization committee and Ramchandra Jha for art, culture and literature committee while Bijay Paudel will lead the people's mobilization and transport management committee. Likewise, Jagannath Khatiwada is given the responsibility of publicity committee, Keshav Bahadur Bista of volunteer mobilization committee and Ghan Shyam Bhusal as the coordinator of secretariat committee. All the central committee members and commissions' office-bearers will be the members in the committee led by party chairman Nepal. The party is s cheduled to organize its national convention from May 16 to 20 in Kathmandu. Source: National News Agency Nepal

Kathmandu: Chir was installed following established rituals today at Basantapur, as a mark of the commencement of Fagu or Holi festival. The festival formally begins in the Kathmandu Valley and nationwide with the people from the Manandhar community installing the Chir, a bamboo pole decorated with a tuft of colorful pieces of cloth in three tiers at the top end. According to a local Tirthalal Tandukar, the placing of the Chir marks the commencement of the festival of color and the people of Kathmandu pay homage to the Chir. Following the completion of the Holi festival, people would collect the pieces of clothes from the Chir and keep it in their homes with a belief that it will bring good luck for them. The Chir will be dispersed in local Tundikhel. This year, the festival falls on March 24 in hilly districts including the districts in the Kathmandu Valley and it is being observed on March 25 in the Terai/Madhesh. Source: National News Agency Nepal

Kathmandu: Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security Dol Prasad Aryal has instructed the officials to bring about reforms in the Foreign Employment Information Management System (FEIMS) to give foreign labour permit within an hour. During an interaction programme with the FEIMS system supplier, Information Technology Section of the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security and consultants on Sunday, Ministry Aryal asked the stakeholders to work for giving foreign work permit within an hour from coming Friday, Minister Aryal's Secretariat said. The FEIMS was brought in use from the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) to make the jobs of DoFE more technology-friendly but the glitches in the system has caused a huge problem and more economic burdens to the migrant workers. Considering such issues, Minister Aryal has directed to reform the system so that the applicants could obtain the foreign labour permit within an hour after the submission of their documents from any part of the world . Likewise, Minister Aryal has hinted at looking for alternatives if the existing team failed to resolve the issues within a month. A team of the IT consultants at the Ministry is keeping an eye at the FEIMS system since last week. Source: National News Agency Nepal

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' has declared Pokhara as the Tourism Capital of Nepal. He made this announcement amidst a function organised at Barahighat, near the Phewa Lake in Kaski today. Prior to this, the Prime Minister unveiled a logo and memorial pillar relating to the touristic capital. Source: National News Agency Nepal

Kathmandu: President Ramchandra Paudel has honoured Rajendra Luintel, who set a Guinness Book of World Record by shooting a music video at the highest altitude above the sea level. At a programme organised at the Office of the President, Sheetal Niwas, President Paudel congratulated Luintel and his team and honoured them offering garlands and shawls. The song, written by Dr DR Upadhyay, was shot at Tilicho lake of Manang at an altitude of 5,015 meters. The music video was directed by Michael Chand while Santosh Shrestha is the music composer. On the occasion, President Paudel praised them, saying they made publicity of Nepal in the world in a different way. The team had received the certificate of the Guinness Book of World Record from the then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba in 2021. Luintel has already received various awards including Mahatma Gandhi International Award, Global International Award, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Sewa Samman-2022. Source: National News Agency Nepal

The Pokhara Tourism Council (PTC) has submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda', calling for, among others, starting international flights from Pokhara International Airport. A delegation led by PTC Chairperson Pom Narayan Shrestha met with the Prime Minister in Pokhara today and handed over the memorandum to him. PTC has called attention of the government, citing that the major roadways connecting Pokhara were in dire condition and the international flights from Pokhara International Airport were not regular so far. The Council has called for starting international flights to and from Pokhara at the earliest. The memorandum states that the tourism entrepreneurs had to face crisis one after the other since some years. Stating that the investment is at risk due to the sluggishness in the economy and employment is also declining, PTC, through the memorandum, called for providing motivation and time to the tourism entrepreneurs to pay back the loan. The Council also demanded to restructuring of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) and ensuring the representation of Pokhara on the NTB Executive Board Member that is currently lying vacant. The Council has urged the government to start the international flights from Pokhara International Airport initially from the Nepal Airlines itself and then encouraging other airlines as well providing them incentive packages. The PTC also mentioned in the memo that the prohibition on individual paragliding has demoralized the paragliding adventure sports players as they cannot conduct practice paragliding flights. It may be recalled here that the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) had banned individual paragliding after a paragliding accident in course of the Ninth National Paragliding Competition last year. Source: National News Agency Nepal

Stakeholders have laid emphasis on the need of constructing emergency safe house in Mugu district. Participants of an interaction 'Gender Equality and Social Inclusion' organised by Social Development Office, Mugu, here on Sunday, pointed out the need of constructing safe house at Gamgadhi. On the occasion, Chief District Officer Topendra KC said safety of victims would be ensured and it would be easier for legal treatment if a safe house could be built in the district. Similarly, Deputy Superintendent of Police at the District Police Office, Birendra Thapa, shared that problem has surfaced in lack of safe house in the district to provide shelter to victims of VAW, domestic violence and rape cases. Likewise, Deputy-Mayor of Chhayanath Rara municipality Aishwarya Malla asked the province and federal governments to provide budget for the construction of the safe house. She mentioned that the municipality would provide necessary support for operation and management after the construction of the safe house. Chief of Social Development Office, Top Bahadur Budha, urged the three-tier governments to make arrangement for the construction and operation of the safe house in the coming budget and programmes. Source: National News Agency Nepal

Kathmandu: A meeting of the House of Representatives (HoR) today endorsed a condolence motion over the demise of its member Manju Sharma Ansari. In the meeting, Speaker Devraj Ghimire declared that the motion was endorsed by the lower house session anonymously. The meeting also observed one minute-silence over the passing away of Ansari. The 60-year-old Ansari, the lawmaker from the Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal under the proportional representation system died amidst the treatment earlier today. The meeting paid tributes to the departed soul and also extended heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family. The lower house of the Federal Parliament shall meet again at 11:00 am on Monday. Source: National News Agency Nepal

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' has pledged to lend necessary support and cooperation for the development of Pokhara, the Tourism Capital of Nepal. In his address to a function organised to announce Pokhara as the Tourism Capital of Nepal here today, the Prime Minister said the government will accord top priority to develop Pokhara as further green, safe, systematized, beautiful and prosperous city. He also assured of seeking support and cooperation from the international development partners for the enrichment of infrastructure development needed for the tourism capital. The Prime Minister said the Investment Summit that Nepal is hosting next month will be helpful in such efforts. The Prime Minister on the occasion announced that the government will take initiations to operate commercial international flights from the Pokhara International Airport. According to the Prime Minister, the government will take further measures to effectively operate the Korala-Tribeni transit serving as the gate way to Muktinath, the famous religious shrine. As he said, the scale of cooperation and monitoring will be intensified to conclude the Mid-Hill Highway and the Muglin-Pokhara section along the Prithvi Highway. He called for the cooperation among the private, government and civic level to promote the internal tourism. On the occasion, Gandaki Province Chief Minister, Surendra Raj Pandey, said the announcement of Pokhara as the Tourism Capital will help in its branding. Pokhara metropolis mayor Dhanraj Acharya was of the opinion that the announcement would contribute to improving living standard of the citizens of Pokhara, creating employment opportunities and eliminating poverty. He pledged to intensify the infrastructure development in Pokhara through combined efforts among the three-tier government. Source: National News Agency Nepal