Day: May 13, 2024

A Dhaka court today extended till June 30 the deadline for submitting the probe report of a case filed over some 55 kilograms of gold theft from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport's Customs House's godown. Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Sheikh Sadi set the date afresh as the investigation officer DB Uttara Zonal team inspector Rashedul Islam failed to submit the report in time. The gold worth about Taka 45 crore were reported stolen from the volt of the customs transit go-down at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) in the capital around 11:45pm on September 2 last year. An FIR was lodged with the Airport Thana by Mohammad Sohrab Hossain, Assistant Customs Officer of the Preventive team of the Dhaka Customs, in the early hours of September 3. In this regard, eight people were taken to police custody for interrogation and later placed on remand on September 13. Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha

Kathmandu: Twenty-six deaths were reported from across the country due to incidents of fire in the month of Baisakh (mid April-mid May). According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, various parts of the country reported 861 cases of inferno and 573 of forest fires in the past one month. The increased temperature and the lack of sufficient winter rainfall led to the rise in such disasters, it is said. Twenty people died while 73 were injured in the incidents of fire, Similarly, there were six fatalities and 13 injuries due to the forest fires, Authority Spokesperson and information office Dijan Bhattarai said. A total of 1,364 families were affected by inferno and 404 by the wildfires. In this period, eight were killed by lightning strikes, two died of an altitude sickness, and one each killed by a flooding and an animal assault. This is probably the first time that the highest incidents of forest fires took place in the month of Baisakh, the Department of Forests and Soil Co nservation said. Cases of fires in Nepal are generally frequent in a period from mid January to mid June. Terai region and districts in the inner Madhesh are more vulnerable to fire, said Department's forest officer Govinda Kumar Shrestha. It is said most of forest fires were deliberate as locals set it for good growth of vegetation. Similarly, lack of public awareness and throwing of cigar butt is also one of the reasons for frequent forest fires in Nepal. Source: National News Agency RSS

The High Court (HC) today barred keeping people convicted and sentenced to death in condemned cells until their death sentences are finalised through disposal of all their appeals. A High Court division bench of Justice Sheikh Hassan Arif and Justice Md Bazlur Rahman pronounced the judgment, disposing of a rule issued earlier in 2022. Advocate Mohammad Shishir Manir moved a writ petition filed in this regard, while Attorney General AM Amin Uddin and Deputy Attorney General Amit Talukder stood for the state. "The writ was filed in 2021 on behalf of three death row convicts, who have been kept in condemned cells in Chattogram, Sylhet and Cumilla jails. The High Court later passed order, asking authorities concerned to submit a report in writing on the facilities provided to 1,987 death row convicts in different jails across the country. It subsequently issued the rule," Advocate Manir said. Quoting the court judgment, the Supreme Court lawyer further said the convicts cannot be termed as death-row-convicts and cannot be kept in condemned cells until their death sentences are finalised. "The death-row-convict only be kept in solitary confinement when all their appeals including the mercy petitions are disposed of, all the official formalities are completed," he added. Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha

Kathmandu: The House of Representatives (HoR), the Industry and Commerce, and Labour and Consumer Interest Committee has directed the government to make arrangements for the smooth supply of iodised salt to all the local units throughout the country. The Committee issued this directive with the general public complaining that although salt is easily available in the urban areas the people in the remote areas are facing difficulty getting the daily essential. The committee today held a discussion with the Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Damodar Bhandari, Secretary of the Ministry, Dinesh Ghimire, and senior officials of Salt Trading Corporation Ltd, regarding the activities of the Corporation so far and the future action plans. The committee has directed the Ministry to ensure the quality of essential materials including salt, sugar, chemical fertilizers and make them readily available across the country, ensuring their quality. The meeting has also instructed the Ministry of Finance to facil itate the payments to be received by Salt Trading under various headings. The lawmakers who participated in the meeting drew the attention of the government to make arrangements so that salt is easily available throughout the country. They presented the previous example of lack of chemical fertilizers mainly during the monsoon and insisted on ensuring supply so that there is no shortage of fertilizers. The lawmakers speaking in the meeting were Mahendra Bahadur Shahi, Kantika Sejuwal, Hemraj Rai, Suryaman Dong, Ganesh Parajuli, Sita Mijar, Shanti Chaudhary and Amrita Devi Agrahari. Responding to the questions raised by lawmakers in the meeting, Minister Bhandari said the government is committed to making the supply of daily essentials as salt and sugar smooth. He added that a concrete plan has been made for importing chemical fertilizers on time and the Ministry was making additional diplomatic initiatives for the easy supply of fertilizers. He also made it clear that the bodies under the Ministry have be en mobilized in a systematic way to control artificial shortage, sale and distribution of sub-standard goods in the market and black marketeering. Chief executive officer of Salt Trading Corporation, Urmila Shrestha, said that the company is active in the production and marketing of various food and non-food items as per the instructions of the Government of Nepal. She requested the Ministry to adjust the price of iodized salt and ensure the budget for transportation. Source: National News Agency RSS

A court here today sentenced Tithi Sarkar, a suspended student of Jagannath University, to five years jail in a Digital Security Act (DSA) case filed for making derogatory comments about religion in 2020. Dhaka Cyber Tribunal Judge Zulfikar Hayat handed down the verdict this morning. The case under the Digital Security Act was registered against her along with unknown others on November 2 of the same year with Paltan Police Station. On May 19, 2021, the investigating officer of the case, CID Police Sub-Inspector Mehedi Hasan pressed charge sheets. On November 4 of the same year, Dhaka Cyber Tribunal Judge As-Shams Jaglul Hossain framed charges against them. Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha

Kathmandu: A meeting of the Women and Social Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives held here today has suggested for forging further coordination between the Muslim Commission and the Nepal Haj Committee. Chairman of the commission, Samim Miya Ansari, demanded that the irregularity surfaced while sending Muslims in Saudi Arabia for Haj should be investigated. He said that there was a problem in coordination as the commission was not given any responsibility while sending the Muslims on Haj pilgrimage. The chairman of the committee, Kiran Kumar Sah, informed that since various complaints and problems have been observed regarding the Haj programme, it should be investigated properly. Committee member Roshan Karki said that the Muslim Commission should conduct training programmes from time to time for inter-religious tolerance and enhance coordination with the Haj Committee. Committee member Sushila Sripali requested the government to direct the commission to monitor the Haj Committee properly. H aj is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims Source: National News Agency RSS

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today called upon the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to extend the time of visa approval for hajj pilgrims so all of them could perform the holy hajj as its Ambassador Essa Yousef Essa Alduhailan called on her here. "Saudi Arabia should extend visa approval time for hajj pilgrims as they can perform the holy hajj," PM's Speech Writer Md Nazrul Islam quoted her as saying in a media briefing after the meeting at the premier's official residence Ganabhaban here. Islam said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has raised the issue of visa approval time extension for hajj pilgrims. The ambassador said he is taking initiative to provide visas for the hajj pilgrims who are yet to get their visa for performing hajj. Over 10,000 hajj pilgrims are yet to get visa from Saudi Arabia due to various complexities. The Saudi envoy also expressed his country's investors' and companies' interest to implement some projects in Bangladesh and handed over a list of those projects to the prime minister. S heikh Hasina, in reply, said that after scrutiny and examination, Bangladesh will take next move. In this connection, she assured him that the concerned ministries and divisions to look into the matter. Talking about the Palestine issue, the prime minister said Bangladesh is preparing another consignment of assistance for Palestinian people as her country has already sent aid to them for two times. "The whole world is behind the Palestine except the USA and its few allies," she said. The Saudi ambassador mentioned that there are some 32 lakhs of Bangladeshis in his country who are contributing to both the Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia's economy. The premier urged the envoy to take steps for encouraging Bangladeshis living in Saudi Arabia to send their remittances to Dhaka through legal channels. PM's Private Industry and Investment Adviser Salman Fazlur Rahman, Ambassador-at-large Mohammad Ziauddin and Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Secretary Mohammad Salahuddin were present. Source: Bangladesh Sangbad S angstha

Kathmandu: Speaker Devraj Ghimire today held discussions with major opposition Nepali Congress (NC) President Sher Bahadur Deuba and Home Minister and President of Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) on the eve of the schedule to unveil the government's policies and programmes for the upcoming fiscal year. During the meeting, the Speaker urged the major opposition party and the Home Minister to forge a consensus to end the ongoing parliament impasse before a joint sitting of both houses of the Federal Parliament to be addressed by President Ramchandra Paudel on May 14. He urged the both parties for cooperation to operate the House bearing in mind the gravity of the joint sitting scheduled to take place on Tuesday. According to the Speaker, the Head of the State will be presenting the government's policies ad programmes for the next fiscal year in the meeting and diplomats have been invited to it for an observation. In response, Deuba said the NC has not demanded the resignation of the Home Minister over his all eged involvement in the misappropriation of cooperage funds. "Again it will not budge from its demand for forming a parliamentary committee to probe the matter." "Upcoming meetings of the parliament will run automatically if the situation arrives for forming the parliamentary committee," he said. He said the government is not expected to overlook the voices of the opposition. RSP President Lamichhane urged the Speaker to grant time to him to put his views in the House of Representatives meeting summoned to thank the President. In response, the Speaker pledged to address his demand if situation permits. Earlier today, the Speaker held meetings with Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' and National Assembly (NA) Chairperson Narayan Prasad Dahal on this matter. He is scheduled to have conversations on a telephone with CPN (UML) Chairperson KP Sharma Oli over the matter. Source: National News Agency RSS

Kathmandu: Minister for Communications and Information Technology Rekha Sharma has instructed the Ministry's subordinate bodies to work by making a schedule. At the third quarterly progress review of the fiscal year 2023/24 and meeting of the ministerial development action committee on Monday, Minister Sharma also directed to expedite works by increasing the capacity of spending capital expenditure. The Minister claimed that her Ministry witnessed a growth in revenue collection this fiscal year compared to the last one since, she reasoned, it was the result of her firmly standing in favor of good-governance. Expressing her displeasure over lagging behind in work culture among the staffers, she urged the employees in the Ministry and its subordinate bodies to proceed with works by making a schedule and considering self-evaluation. Stating that it was still challenging to increase capital expenditure, Minister Sharma asked the staffers in her Ministry to achieve the targets by working round-the-clock in the remaining days of the current fiscal year. She asserted that the bureaucracy's working style should be improved in order to achieve a rise in the capital expenditure. Sharma shared that the Digital Nepal Acceleration (DNA) project, which is to be implemented in support of the World Bank, had occupied 38 per cent of the Ministry's capital budget and the percentage of the Ministry's capital expenditure had decreased due to the lack of environment to receive the fund from the World Bank. Similarly, Ram Krishna Subedi, Secretary at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, argued that although the revenue collection has gone up, it was a dismay that the capital expenditure had not increased. He spoke of the need to move ahead by reviewing this scenario and called for increasing capital expenditure by working relentlessly as the new fiscal year is due in less than 50 days. Of the total budget allocated to the Ministry, only 36.27 per cent has been spent so far. The current expenditure was rec orded at 47.26 per cent while capital expenditure dismally stood at 5.7 per cent. Likewise, out of Rs 8.7 billion budget allocated to altogether 18 subordinate agencies, only over Rs 3 billion was spent as of mid-April this year. Source: National News Agency RSS

Kathmandu: Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) lawmaker at the House of Representatives, Sobita Gautam, has opined that Nepal should get unconditional compensation on climate change and its adverse effect issues. While participating in the two-day feminist forum organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific at the UN Regional Office (UN Conference Centre) in Bangkok, Gautam argued that developed nations should also take care of countries like Nepal as it has no role in the climate change through pollution, but are compelled to bear burden caused by developed nations. "Nepalis have to pay the price for the luxury they have never enjoyed. We do not have the same level of development as the developed nations have. However, we are constantly under the threat of floods, avalanches and snow melting in the mountains," she said. On the occasion, MP Gautam emphasized that the Climate Fund should be made women-friendly, gender and sexual minority communities friendly and disabili ty-friendly as well. Lawmaker Gautam expressed her views on the impact of climate change on Nepali women and access to financial subsidies. Gautam argued the 'Loss and Damage Fund' (which is created by developed countries to compensate countries affected by climate change) was established in COP 28 in Dubai should be rationally used to needy ones. She informed that the discussions took place from the perspective of how the fund could be practically implemented, how to address women's issues among others. It is shared that here was a discussion on how to bring the women of the underdeveloped or developing countries to the access of the United Nations aid. Representatives of the Nepal Rastra Bank, officials of non-governmental organizations and employees of the National Planning Commission had attended the event. Source: National News Agency RSS

Kathmandu: The newly appointed Minister for Health and Population Pradeep Yadav today took oath of office and secrecy before President Ramchandra Paudel. The Janata Samajwadi Party MP Yadav took oath of office and secrecy at a function held at Rastrapati Bhawan as per Article 80 of the Constitution. Likewise, in the presence of President Paudel, the newly appointed Minister of State for Health, Hasina Khan, also took oath of office and secrecy. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, Vice President Ramsahay Prasad Yadav, Speaker Devraj Ghimire and National Assembly Chairperson Narayan Prasad Dahal were present at the swearing-in ceremony. It may be noted that erstwhile Minister for Health and Population Upendra Yadav resigned from his post earlier today. Source: National News Agency RSS

Chief Minister of the Koshi provincial government, Hikmat Kumar Karki, has secured a vote of confidence from the Koshi Province Assembly today. He got 57 votes in his favour and none against. The Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) which has five seats in the Province Assembly however remained neutral. The opposition party, Nepali Congress, boycotted today's Province Assembly meeting. Sixty-two lawmakers were present in the 93-member Province Assembly today. Source: National News Agency RSS