Day: July 2, 2024

A team of Public Account Committee under the House of Representatives (HoR) visited Lumbini on Monday. The team arrived here in course of a study on Gautam Buddha International Airport. The subcommittee headed by the former minister for culture, tourism and civil aviation and lawmaker Yogesh Bhattarai inspected the Shantideep, Mayadevi Temple and monasteries. Earlier, a discussion was also held on status of Lumbini Development Trust, its programmes and the Lumbini perspective. During the discussion, lawmaker Bhattarai said the Trust needs restructuring. The Trust's Act does not recognize province and local governments, so it could be revised and made an autonomous body. The Lumbini Development Trust can be developed as an autonomous tourism development authority, he suggested. He also assured that he would draw federal government's attention to provide sufficient budget to the Trust. Budget for the Trust is insufficient, limiting its activities, Bhattarai observed. The parliamentary team showed interest in the activities of Lumbini perspective, operation of electric buses, and developments activities in the Lumbini area. Trust's Member Secretary Sanuraja Shakya complained that they could not forward activities as per plan owning to budget crunch. Senior Director at the Trust, Gyanin Rai, made a presentation on status of the Trust including employee management. Source: National News Agency Nepal

A bill titled 'Payment and Settlement System Bill-2024' aimed at bringing all kinds of payments generated in banks and non-bank financial institutions under the supervision of Bangladesh Bank (BB) was passed in the Jatiya Sangsad (JS) today. Finance Minister Abul Hasan Mahmud Ali moved the bill which was passed by voice votes in the House with Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair. While placing the bill, the Finance Minister said that many kinds of payments and transactions using digital platforms were taking place along with traditional payments. The enactment of the law will help to ensure the rights of the subscribers. The increasing transactions through the electronic payment system, the electronic fund transfer and mobile banking will come under the purview of the proposed law. It would provide users with a safeguard from electronic frauds, according to the bill. The draft has provisions of imposing penalties for violating the law. A fine of Taka 50 lakh has been proposed as the maximum financial penalty. The BB will exercise a provision of the proposed law to cancel licenses of the errant companies. It will also be entitled to appeal to the High Court division of the Supreme Court for liquidation of companies if they are engaged in anti-people activities. In 2015, the BB first formulated the draft under a World Bank programme for strengthening the country's financial system. According to the finance division officials, the passage of the law will help releasing loans committed by the WB under the programme. Opposition and Independent lawmakers including Pankaj Devnath of Barishal-4, Hamidul Huq Khondoker of Kurigram-2 and Jatiya Party lawmaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed of Thakurgaon-3 urged the House to send the bill for seeking public review. Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha

Kathmandu: Four new national records have been set in weightlifting under both para and special sports category and different weight groups. All four records were set under the men's competition. In the competition held under the male 72 weight group in the International Sports Complex at Satdobato of Lalitpur on Tuesday, Ashish Manandhar of Bagmati Province lifted 145 kg and broke his own record of lifting 130 kg in the past. Karnali Province's Kishore Sapkota came second and Koshi Province's Super Rai finished third in the competition. Similarly, Sudurpaschim Province's Suresh Bista lifted 86 kg under male 59 kg group and set a new record. He broke Dipak Timalsina's record, who previously had lifted 85 kg. In the competition under this category, Koshi Province's Somnath Rai stood second and Bagmati Province's Man Bahadur Magar came third. Likewise, Bagmati Province's Deepak Khadka set the new record by lifting 101 kg under the male 65 kg category. He broke Thakur Shrestha's record of lifting 90 kg. Ba gmati Province's Biru Dhungana became second and Lumbini Province's Laxman Nepali came out third in the competition. Likewise, Thakur Shrestha of Bagmati Province lifted 100 kg weight under the male 54 kg category and set the new record. Gandaki Province's Pawan Gharti Magar came second and Bagmati Province's Deepak Timilsina finished third in the competition. Shrestha beat his own previous record where he had lifted 90 kg weight under this category. Likewise, Manish Pun Magar stood first by lifting 50 kg weight under male 49 kg category. Karnali Province's Ruplal Basnet became second and Koshi Province's Ajit Khati came third. Bagmati Province's Rajaram Silwal became first under the male 72 kg category. He lifted 80 kg. Lumbini Province's Narayan Timilsina came second and Bagmati Province's Ramkaji Magar finished third. The competition was organized by the National Sports Council and National Para Weightlifting Association. Altogether 42 athletes from 6 provinces had vied in the competition. There was , however, no athlete competing from Madhesh Province. There were 6 weight categories for male and three weight categories for female athletes in the match held for two days. Source: National News Agency Nepal

Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Muhammad Faruk Khan today said the tourism sector contributed four percent in the gross domestic product (GDP) and 1.78 percent in employment generation. 'With the directive of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation was established in November 1972,' he told the House, while replying to a question from treasury bench member AFM Bahauddin Nasim with Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair. The minister said that Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation started its journey from January 1973 as an autonomous body. It has been providing services to local and foreign tourists through publicity and publication on renowned tourist places of the country, he added. Faruk Khan informed that Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation established a total of 53 tourism related structures including hotels, motels, resorts, restaurants amusement parks bars, picnic spots and duty free shops in different areas of the country to attract tourists. 'A ll of these tourist structures were being operated by Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation with professionalism and they (tourist structures) contributed a lot in the tourism sector,' the minister added. Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha

Kathmandu: The Supreme Court (SC) has fixed the date for Wednesday to continue hearing a writ petition filed against Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Rabi Lamichhane. The SC has given the time for Wednesday as the hearing was not completed on Tuesday, SC's Assistant Spokesperson Govinda Ghimire said. On Tuesday, the hearing of the case was held in the division bench of Justices Sapana Pradhan Malla and Saranga Subedi. Earlier, the division bench of Justices Dr Manoj Kumar Sharma and Til Prasad Shrestha had ordered to furnish files relating to fraud in cooperatives from the Kaski and Nawalpur districts. Legal practitioner Anupam Bhattarai had lodged the writ petition at the SC seeking a verdict for Lamichhane's dismissal from the post of the minister claiming that DPM Lamichhane was involved in the misappropriation of the cooperative organizations' fund. Meanwhile, the Kathmandu District Court on Tuesday ordered to send Pratik Thapa to judicial custody in the case of fake Bhutanese refug ee scam. District Judge Sakuntala Karki ordered to send Thapa into judicial custody stating that his involvement in the case was testified. Source: National News Agency Nepal

Azimpur Dayera Sharif today observed the first death anniversary of its immediate past pir Sufi Saint Syed Ahmadullah Zubayer with special prayers. The event was celebrated with a discussion on the life of Alhaj Maulana Shah Sufi Syed Ahmadullah Zubayer and recitations of durud, zikir, and doa, said a press release. Present custodian of the Dayera Sharif and spiritual leader Shah Sufi Sayed Alhaj Hazrat Maulana Enamullah Zuhaer, also the son of Syed Ahmadullah, conducted the discussion and doa mahfil. He also led the supplication at the congregation attended by hundreds of devotees where they prayed and sought divine blessings for the wellbeing of Bangladesh and also for the Muslim ummah around the world, especially for the Muslims oppressed in different parts of the world. Syed Ahmadullah, a lineal descendant of Shah Sufi Syed Muhammed Dayem (R) who came to Dhaka in the mid-eighteenth century to preach Islam and established Azimpur Dayera Sharif, died in Dhaka on July 14 last year at the age of 77. Sou rce: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha

Kathmandu: The Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) has welcomed the recent consensus between the Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN (UML) as a positive development. A meeting of the office-bearers held at the party's central office Dhumbarahi today reviewed the recent political developments and noted that the new agreement reached between the NC and CPN (UML) to form the government as a positive move. "Now there is talk of forming the government with a new consensus between NC and UML which is welcoming", RPP Chair Rajendra Lingden said after the meeting. The issue of forming a government with the leading and second parties for the amendment to the constitution is positive. Lingden said the RPP has been raising the issue of constitution amendment for a long time and the party is of the view that a new understanding should be reached to that end. The meeting reviewed the evolving political developments and concluded that the party would not come to a conclusion with a concrete decision at the moment. RPP believes that a new understanding should be built among all political parties for this. Lingden said discussions would be held with the political parties on the latest developments in politics. Source: National News Agency Nepal

Members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested a fugitive convict, who was sentenced to life-term jail in a murder case, from Tongi in Gazipur on Monday. The arrestee was Joynal Sarder, 39, son of Md. Mohabbat Ali, a resident of Kamalapur under Gournadi upazila in Barisal, assistant police super and assistant director (media) of RAB-10 M J Sohel confirmed it to BSS today. He said, acting on a tip-off, a team of RAB-10 conducted a drive in Tongi station road area and arrested him. Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha

Kathmandu: A meeting was held between CPN (US) Chair Madhav Kumar Nepal and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba at the latter's residence in Budanilakantha. Matters related to the latest political developments were discussed during the meeting between the two leaders, according to CPN-US leader Alok Rayamajhi. Deuba informed Nepal about the agreement reached between the Nepali Congress and the CPN (UML) regarding the formation of a government of national consensus and offered him to join it as well. In response, Leader Nepal said he will inform after discussing the proposal presented by Deuba with his party. Source: National News Agency Nepal

The Anti-Terrorism Unit (ATU) of Police recovered three ID devices (explosives) from a three-storey building suspected as a militant hideout in Borpa Baganbari area under Rupganj upazila of the district this afternoon. Superintendent of Police (SP) Sanwar Hossain of Anti-Terrorism Unit, who led the operation, said that three ID devices ((explosives) were recovered from the house owned by Zakir Mia and those were deactivated. One of those was detonated inside the house while remaining two were detonated outside the house. ATU Police Super Mahfuz-ul Alam Rasel told BSS that on Monday, a female militant was arrested from Cox's Bazar. On the basis of her statement, the ATU team first surrounded the house in the morning after identifying it in the northern Rupganj and later started a search operation. The operation was completed at 5pm today, SP Sanwar Hossain said. The suspected militants who were staying in that house had moved out two days ago, he added. Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha

Kathmandu: The CPN (UML) has invited political parties represented in the Parliament to join the next government of 'national consensus'. The secretariat meeting held today at the party office, Chyasal, decided to call upon parties to join the government of national consensus that will be formed under the leadership of UML Chair KP Sharma Oli in accordance with the agreement reached with the Nepali Congress. Meanwhile, the meeting also requested Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' to pave the way for the formation of consensus government according to Article 76 (2) of the Constitution. The agreement reached between Nepali Congress and CPN (UML) to form a government of national consensus has been welcomed by the meeting, which also decided to request Prime Minister Dahal to pave the way for the formation of a new government by Wednesday, said UML secretary Yogesh Bhattarai. Source: National News Agency Nepal

Kathmandu: Women rights activists have demanded utilization of the Single Women Security Fund that was established to protect and promote the welfare of single women in the country. At a discussion organized by the National Women Commission (NWC) on the concerns of single women, the women rights defenders voiced for immediate implementing of the Fund. NWC Chairperson Kamala Kumari Parajuli reaffirmed the commitment of the Commission to address the agendas and concerns of single women. According to her, the Commission organized single women-oriented programmes in all seven provinces in the current fiscal year and vigilantly monitored the situation of single women in those provinces as well. Similarly, Lily Thapa, member of the National Human Rights Commission, lamented that single women, whose population account for seven percent of the total population in the country, were facing difficulties since the money in the Fund was far from utilization for around five years. She rued that four Ministers for Wome n, Children and Senior Citizens were appointed in the last five years yet the Fund remained nearly frozen. She further frowned that the fund worth Rs 60 million has been frozen while single women continue to suffer due to lack of social security coverage. Thapa asserted that the Ministry of Women, Children, Senior Citizens should immediately pay attention towards utilizing the fund. During the discussion, Kabita Pandey presented a working paper shedding light on the situation of single women in the country. According to her presentation, there are very good legislations in favor of single women but all of them were far from implementations. "It is imperative to pile pressure on the government to implement such policies programmes as well as legislations," she underlined. Source: National News Agency Nepal