October 22: Commercial banks have lowered the interest rate on fixed deposits to single digit following the intervention of Nepal Rastra…
October 22: Commercial banks have lowered the interest rate on fixed deposits to single digit following the intervention of Nepal Rastra…
October 22: The government’s program to distribute Rs 5 billion to 500,000 households before Dashain has been affected as the work procedure has not been approved by the Council of Ministers…
October 22: The 132 kV substation situated in Duhabi of Sunsari district has finally come into operation after 38 hours of blackout.…
October 22: Most of the industries in the Sunsari-Morang Industrial Corridor have reportedly sustained damages worth millions of rupees due to the post-monsoon floods, according to a preliminary…
October 22: Seven tourists including four foreigners who were stranded at Tumling of Namkha rural municipality in north Humla have been rescued by a…
October: At least 101 people have been killed in floods and landslides triggered by heavy rainfall in different parts of the…
October 21: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) will provide electricity to two large cement industries with foreign investment.…
October 21: The weather has improved throughout the country with the withdrawal of the rain-causing system from the eastern part of the…
October 21: Most of the areas of Morang district that fall in the Terai region have been flooded.…
October 21: New Business Age is all set to organise the ‘Kumari Bank NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards’ on November…
October 21: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has asked banks and financial institutions (BFIs) to lower the interest rate on fixed deposit to single…
October 21: The government has decided to provide Rs 200,000 to the families that have lost members in the recent landslides and floods.…
October 21: At least 88 people have lost their lives in floods, landslides and inundation triggered by unprecedented rainfall in the past few…
October 20: Pokhara, a major tourist hub in western Nepal, has seen an increase in arrival of domestic…
October 20: Tourists have been stranded on the way when the road leading to Annapurna rural municipality-11, Ghandruk – a prime destination for tourists in the district – remained obstructed due to…
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Similarly, development banks and finance companies have set a maximum interest rate of 9.5% and 9.6% respectively.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Seven commercial banks had maintained interest rates in double digits to resolve the problem of liquidity crisis. Sunrise Bank had raised the interest rate on deposits to 11.10%. Likewise, some other commercial banks, development banks and finance companies had also raised interest rates to double digits. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In fact banks had started raising interest rates since September due to the liquidity crunch. In September, Sunrise Bank had raised the interest rate to 10.07%. Though Sunrise Bank had lowered the interest rate in October, majority of banks had raised it to double digits. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Following the reckless increase of interest rates, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had BFIs to revise the interest rate fixed for October. The central bank also made telephone calls to the chief executive oficers of banks and financial institutions on Wednesday and asked them to revise the interest rate limit.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Bhuwan Dahal, President of the Nepal Bankers' Association said that the interest rate on deposits has been lowered to single digit as per the policy of the central bank. “As banks started to raise interest rates, discussion over interest rate stability ensued. And banks were also pressurized to make changes to interest rates after NRB issued the directive,” said Dahal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He added that with the reduction in interest rates, it will be easier for entrepreneurs to conduct business. "As interest rate on deposits falls, so does the interest rate on loans." In this case, it will be more convenient for those who do business on loans,” he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Dahal further said that drop in interest rates would challenge some banks to maintain the CD ratio at 90 percent. "Banks with a CD ratio of above 90% may face problems after interest rates fall. In such a situation, NRB needs to provide support to those banks and other banks and financial institutions may also have to help by buying loans," Dahal said. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-22', 'modified' => '2021-10-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13916', 'image' => '20211022121629_Banks.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-22 12:15:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14169', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Relief Distribution Ineffective due to Lack of Work Procedure', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 22: The government’s program to distribute Rs 5 billion to 500,000 households before Dashain has been affected as the work procedure has not been approved by the Council of Ministers yet.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">October 22: The government’s program to distribute Rs 5 billion to 500,000 households before Dashain has been affected as the work procedure has not been approved by the Council of Ministers yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The replacement budget brought by the present government led by Sher Bahadur Deuba had provision to distribute Rs 5 billion to poor families.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Finance Minister Janardan Sharma had prepared a work procedure for the distribution of the relief and submitted it to the Council of Ministers. The Council of Ministers could not pass the proposal of the Finance Minister as the work procedure could not clarify the definition of poor households and the exact figures.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Spokesperson of the Ministry of Finance Ritesh Shakya said that the program could not be implemented even after Dashain as the work procedure could not be approved by the Council of Ministers. According to him, the program will be implemented as soon as the procedure is approved. “We are waiting for the decision of the cabinet,” he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to sources at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, the government had tried to distribution the relief amount on the basis of data of the National Planning Commission. However, the National Planning Commission has only the data of pre-Covid-19 period. Although the commission has been saying that it will study the impact of Covid-19, it has not been able to come out with a concrete report yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Amid the pandemic, the NPC had released a data on the basis of a study conducted last year. According to the study, 5 million people in Nepal are below the multidimensional poverty line.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The government had planned to distribute money to the poor based on the assumption that there would be at least five members in a family. The government relief aimed to help 2.5 million people from 500,000 households.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">However, the Council of Ministers has not approved the work procedure proposed by Minister Sharma, saying that the money should be distributed only on the basis of the latest data, that means, it should also address the poverty created by Covid-19.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Economist Keshav Acharya says that the program could not be implemented because it was made public without proper study. According to him, if the government had first identified the poor and announced the program, there would have been no problem.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-22', 'modified' => '2021-10-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13915', 'image' => '20211022120614_20211003031124_new_logo.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-22 12:05:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14171', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Duhabi Substation Resumes Operation', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 22: The 132 kV substation situated in Duhabi of Sunsari district has finally come into operation after 38 hours of blackout. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 22: The 132 kV substation situated in Duhabi of Sunsari district has finally come into operation after 38 hours of blackout. The power that got cut off on Tuesday night was restored on Thursday.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Duhabi substation had been inundated after following a heavy rainfall in the area. The substation had been out of operation since Tuesday. The work of removal of water from the substation had been going on continuously after the power got cut off.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Our team's day-to-day work, help from local level, administration, security and support from the local residents helped us in removing water from the substation,” said Executive Director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), Kulman Ghising. “We are now supplying electricity to the area by gradually charging the lines extended from the Duhabi substation.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Duhabi station is the main substation that supplies electricity to the districts of Province 1. The electricity supply of the districts; Morang, Sunsari, Jhapa, Ilam, Panchthar, Taplejung, Dhankuta, Terhathum, Sakhuwasabha and Bhojpur etc. had been cut off after the Duhabi station went out of operation.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">With the operation of the substation, power supply to most of the places has already resumed.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA Duhabi Grid Branch Chief, Rajesh Regmi informed that they have succeeded in charging the substation by adopting necessary safety measures as there was no major damage to the equipment. The capacity of four power transformers in the substation is 219 MVA.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the Attaria (Kailali) -Chamelia (Darchula) 132 KV transmission line, which was closed due to falling of trees in various places due to rains, has also come into operation. The transmission line has come into operation from Thursday after removal of the obstruction.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Power supply resumed in most parts of the hill districts of the far west as soon as the transmission line came into operation.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-22', 'modified' => '2021-10-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13914', 'image' => '20211022122122_NEA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-22 12:20:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14168', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Industries in Sunsari-Morang Corridor Inundated', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 22: Most of the industries in the Sunsari-Morang Industrial Corridor have reportedly sustained damages worth millions of rupees due to the post-monsoon floods, according to a preliminary estimate.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 22: Most of the industries in the Sunsari-Morang Industrial Corridor have reportedly sustained damages worth millions of rupees due to the post-monsoon floods, according to a preliminary estimate.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chamber of Industries Morang has started collecting data on the damage caused by floods.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chairman of the Chamber of Industries Morang, Suyash Raj Pyakurel, said that most of the industries in the Sunsari Morang Industrial Corridor were damaged by the floods but he was not sure about the extent of damage. "We are collecting data from the industrialists. We will make public the details of the damage in two to three days," said Pyakurel.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Pyakurel said that the data could not be released immediately as the industrialists are currently preoccupied with removing water out of the industry, protecting the raw materials and finished goods that have been submerged in the water. According to him, about 80 percent of the industries in the Sunsari-Morang Industrial Corridor have been flooded. Many industrialists are now busy pumping water outside the factory.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chief Executive Officer of the Morang Trade Association Krishna Regmi said that most of the industries in Budhi Ganga, Duhabi, Sonapur, Itahari and Katahari areas of Morang were damaged by the floodwaters. He informed that most of the industries have stopped production due to inundation. According to Regmi, machinery, motors, tools, raw materials, packaging materials, warehouse, finished goods, and means of transportation have all sustained damages.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nabal Kishor Kabra, provincial vice-president of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries and operator of Quality Biscuits, estimated that his industry might have suffered loss of more than Rs 50 million. Stating that water is being pumped out by installing six pumps in the industrial area on Thursday, he said that it would take one week to collect the details of the damage.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Director-General of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries, Vijay Hari Sharma, said that the industrial sector has lost tens of millions of rupees due to the recent flooding. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The industrialists have drawn the attention of the Chairman of the Insurance Board not to delay the payment of the insurance amount as the industries have had to bear massive losses due to the floods.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-22', 'modified' => '2021-10-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13913', 'image' => '20211022113512_Chamber of industries morang new.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-22 11:34:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14167', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Four Foreigners Stranded in Humla Rescued ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 22: Seven tourists including four foreigners who were stranded at Tumling of Namkha rural municipality in north Humla have been rescued by a helicopter. ', 'content' => '<p><em><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Stranded tourists arrive at Simikot Airport in Humla after being rescued from Tumling on Thursday. Photo: RSS</span></span></em></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 22: Seven tourists including four foreigners who were stranded at Tumling of Namkha rural municipality in north Humla have been rescued by a helicopter. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They were airlifted to Simkot from Tumling on Thursday. They had been stuck there due to heavy snowfall for three days. Four Slovenians and their three Nepali trekking guides were stranded there as they could not trek through the Nyalu pass. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The rescued Slovenians include three males Bernik Stojen, Grosoj Viktor, Kotinok Lvam and one female Lapanja Castellic Danijela. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They have been rescued by Air Dynasty chopper and brought to Simkot, the headquarters of Humla district. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They had reportedly been trekking towards Limi area from Simkot since the last 13 days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, six other Nepalis who were stranded at Tumling with them will travel on foot and on mules towards Simkot with the improvement in weather, said Asim Tamang, one of the Nepali trekking guides. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-22', 'modified' => '2021-10-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13912', 'image' => '20211022081229_DB_Simkot-1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-22 08:11:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14166', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Post-Monsoon Death Toll Rises to 101', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October: At least 101 people have been killed in floods and landslides triggered by heavy rainfall in different parts of the country.', 'content' => '<p><em>A passenger bus met with an accident at Janata Chowk of Sunsari district along the East West Highway due to flooding. Photo: RSS</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 22: At least 101 people have been killed in floods and landslides triggered by heavy rainfall in different parts of the country. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Nepal Police, 60 people were killed in the landslide in province-1, one in Bagmati, seven in Karnali, 31 in the Sudurpaschim and two in Lumbini</span><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">. </span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A total of 41 people have gone missing in the floods, including 13 in Province-1, one in Province-2, three in Lumbini, one in Karnali and 23 in Far-Western Province. A search for the missing is underway, said Senior Superintendent of Police Basant Bahadur Kunwar. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, 19 people have been injured in province-1, four in Karnali and 17 in the Sudurpaschim. The injured are being treated at local medical facilities. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Altogether 2,232 houses have been inundated due to the floods. The floods and landslides have reportedly damaged 49 houses, eight cowsheds, six bridges and three government offices. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">So far, 139 livestock have perished in the recent disaster. During this period, 1,177 families have been displaced by the floods and landslides. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, police personnel are working to evacuate the people at risk of floods and landslides in different districts. Security forces are working in coordination with various agencies and locals. Work is also underway to remove roadblocks at various places, Nepal Police said. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-22', 'modified' => '2021-10-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13911', 'image' => '20211022080344_AKJ-Inaruwa-Bus (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-22 08:00:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14165', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Two Mega Cement Industries to get Electricity from NEA', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 21: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) will provide electricity to two large cement industries with foreign investment. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 21: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) will provide electricity to two large cement industries with foreign investment. Hongsi Shivam Cement, which started commercial production using diesel, is getting electricity after three years, while Huasin Cement which is currently under construction will also get electricity.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The switching station at Siddhalek in Dhading under the Marsyangdi-Suchatar 132 kV transmission line has been charged to provide electricity to Huasin Cement, which is preparing to start trial production by the end of October. NEA spokesperson Suresh Bahadur Bhattarai said that the industry will be supplied electricity as soon as it completes the construction of the substation.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Suraj Vaidya, the Nepali investment partner of Huasin Cement which is under construction in Dhading, said that the industry has prepared the necessary substations for electricity.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that the industry has already built the substation itself, Vaidiya said that preparations have been made for testing the electricity. Stating that the target is to produce 3,000 metric tonnes of cement daily, Vaidya informed that the necessary machines have been installed in the industry.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said that the industry will use maximum manpower from within the country. The industry has demanded 20 MW of electricity.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The two cement industries – Hongsi and Huasin – will consume 52 MW of electricity. Hongsi Shivam Cement, which operates in Nawalparasi, has already demanded 32 MW of electricity from NEA. It is said that Hongsi, which has been producing cement commercially since June 2075, will get electricity before or after the upcoming festival of Tihar.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Bardaghat-Sardi (132 kV) transmission line project under Nepal Electricity Authority will provide electricity to the cement industry with an investment of Rs 36 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although the project had set a target of supplying electricity to the industry in April 2076 BS, the transmission line was disrupted due to felling of trees, tower management, and the coronavirus.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Project Chief Hari Pandey said that the industry would get electricity immediately before or after the upcoming festival.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Even if the electricity supply is delayed for a few days due to the recent rainfall, the industry will get electricity within this month." </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hongsi Cement Industry officials said they are preparing to double the production as soon as they get electricity. The official also informed that investment will be added to double the production.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the first phase, the industry, which is currently producing 6,000 metric tonnes of cement per day, will double its investment depending on the quality of electricity and produce 1,200 metric tonnes of cement per day.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-21', 'modified' => '2021-10-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13910', 'image' => '20211021015438_20150820120744_cn.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-21 13:53:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14164', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Weather Expected to Improve with the Exit of Rain-Causing System ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 21: The weather has improved throughout the country with the withdrawal of the rain-causing system from the eastern part of the country.', 'content' => '<p><em>Mt Dhaulagiri seen in this recent picture. Photo Courtesy: RSS</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 21: The weather has improved throughout the country with the withdrawal of the rain-causing system from the eastern part of the country. Most of the areas across the country including Kathmandu Valley have witnessed sunny weather since the morning today (October 21). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Senior meteorologist Barun Poudel said another weather system will not likely develop in four or five days from now. The combined influence of the low pressure system over Bihar of India and the westerly system had caused heavy rainfall from October 17 to 20. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although this rain-causing system has exited at present, its general influence is witnessed in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"Such system leaves behind water vapour and moisture. That's why clouds are seen in some places and fog in some places. There are also chances of intermittent rain at some places," he said, adding that this will however not make big impact. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Department of Hydrology and Meteorology under the Meteorological Forecasting Division said the weather is partly to generally cloudy throughout the country with light rainfall taking place at one or two places of Province 1 and Bagmati Province. There is possibility of light rain at a few places of Province 1, Bagmati and Gandaki provinces, and at one or two places of the rest of the provinces. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It will be partly to generally cloudy throughout the country tonight. There is possibility of light rain at few places of Province 1 and Gandaki Province, and at one or two places of the rest of the provinces. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The unseasonal rainfall which occurred after the monsoon had withdrawn caused heavy loss of life and property in more than 20 different districts. It destroyed the physical infrastructures and also caused heavy damage to the paddy crop that was ready for harvest. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-21', 'modified' => '2021-10-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13909', 'image' => '20211021013649_ds-galeshower-kudulebatadekhiyakodhaulagirihimal.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-21 13:35:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14163', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Flood Inundates Biratnagar Airport, Making Flights Uncertain', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 21: Most of the areas of Morang district that fall in the Terai region have been flooded. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">October 21: Most of the areas of Morang district that fall in the Terai region have been flooded. Continuous rainfall since the last few days has caused inundation of many places including Biratnagar, where a 323 mm rainfall has been recorded.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">As a consequence of heavy rainfall, the Basta River near Biratnagar Airport has been flooded; causing the water to seep into the airport’s runway. Now, the runway of Biratnagar airport is inundated with two feet of water. A total of 21 scheduled flights have been suspended from Wednesday for an indefinite period of time.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">An engineer of Buddha Air informed New Business Age that the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has issued a notice to airmen (NOTAM) about the closure of airport. He further said that Buddha Air plans to bring back the airport later on Thursday if the situation improves but the company will not bring back any passengers. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The aircraft of Buddha Air and Shree Air had to be taken to a higher part of the airport towards the east after their wheels got submerged into the water. Dozens of houses in wards 4, 5, 12 and 16 of the metropolitan city, including the airport, have been submerged due to the flooding of Basta and Kesaliya rivers situated near the airport.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to airport chief Utsav Raj Kharel, all flights scheduled for Wednesday have been suspended as one kilometer of the runway has been submerged into the flood water. Up to three feet high water has flooded all areas including the terminal building, immigration and VIP lounge of the airport.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Kharel informed that the last flights of Buddha and Shree Air could not take off on Tuesday evening due to the inundation. Kharel also stated that it is not certain when the flight will resume due to the prevalence of water on the runway.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Province 1 has been into darkness due to absence of electricity since Tuesday night. The electricity had been cut off after water got into a section of the NEA’s Duhabi grid. The NEA's Provincial Office No. 1 has informed that the work of removing water from the section of the grid is going on. The office has also informed that the power would be restored only after studying the extent of damage caused by the water and making all the necessary repairs.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The floods have compelled 1,000 families to be displaced in Biratnagar metropolitan city, said the metropolitan chief Bhim Parajuli. He said all of the families were kept in schools and public places.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to Police Chief SP Jarnadan GC, 1,500 people from 565 families have been displaced by the floods in the district. The floods have affected Katahari, Jahada, Thanpalathan, Rangeli, Ratuwamai and Sunvarshi municipalities, including Biratnagar metropolitan city.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-21', 'modified' => '2021-10-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13908', 'image' => '20211021125556_hqdefault.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-21 12:55:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14162', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NewBiz to organise ‘Startup Summit and Awards’ in November', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 21: New Business Age is all set to organise the ‘Kumari Bank NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards’ on November 26.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 21: New Business Age is all set to organise the ‘Kumari Bank NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards’ on November 26. The slogan of this year’s award is ‘Search for Nepali Unicorn’. There is an international practice of referring to a startup with business of more than Rs 1 billion as unicorn.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Entrepreneurs with new ideas will be selected and awarded with cash prizes of Rs 400,000 in order to encourage them.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to New Business Age Pvt. Ltd, details of more than 1,500 startup businesses from all seven provinces have been collected. Startups who want to participate in the award can also register their names by visiting the link available on the website of Aarthik Abhiyan and New Business Age not later than November 1. In particular, entrepreneurs who have been doing a new venture for the past three years by registering a company and those who have not completed seven years of registration have been selected for the awards ceremony.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">New Business Age is organizing an interactive training programme through virtual medium on October 29 in the run-up to the main event, where existing and aspiring startups and young entrepreneurs can participate. Among them, the best ones will be selected by November 16. As per the organisers, a jury of independent experts has been formed for the selection and the process has already started.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Madan Lamsal, chairman of New Business Age Pvt Ltd, said that the main purpose of organizing this programme is to help the entrepreneurs with new ideas to rise up. According to him, at a time while the government, the central bank and others are encouraging such entrepreneurs, the private sector is also looking to extend a helping hand. New Business Age believes such awards will help the startups to grow.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The main sponsor of NewBiz Startup Summit and Award is Kumari Bank Limited and the co-sponsor is Garima Bikas Bank Limited. Likewise, the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry is the 'associate partner'. Similarly, the award programme has been supported by IME and NLG Insurance Company Limited. The technical partner of the program is Mango Tech.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">New Business Age has been organising various award programs. Since last year, it has started a program to honor women entrepreneurs while it has been selecting and awarding the best companies since 2013. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-21', 'modified' => '2021-10-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13907', 'image' => '20211021115401_Logo.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-21 11:53:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14161', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Rastra Bank asks BFIs to Lower Interest on Deposits to Single Digit', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 21: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has asked banks and financial institutions (BFIs) to lower the interest rate on fixed deposit to single digit.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">October 21: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has asked banks and financial institutions (BFIs) to lower the interest rate on fixed deposit to single digit. NRB issued a circular on Wednesday, October 21 suggesting the BFIs to revise the interest rate fixed for November. The central bank also made telephone calls to the CEOs of the BFIs and urged them to lower the interest rate. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Dev Kumar Dhakal, spokesperson of the central bank, informed that he had suggested the CEOs of banks and financial institutions to bring the interest rate to single digit. He said that such suggestions were given to banks and financial institutions not as instructions but as suggestions. "Banks and financial institutions however will not be obliged to follow this suggestion. They can fix the interest rate as per the October 19 directive issued earlier. NRB has issued the circular on Wednesday to control the irregularities in interest rate," he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Banks had started raising interest rates since September due to liquidity crunch. At that time, Sunrise Bank had raised the interest rate on deposits to double digits. Even though Sunrise Bank reduced the interest rates in October, interest rates of other banks have reached double digits. Seven different commercial banks have fixed the interest rate on deposits in double digits.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Following reckless increase in interest rates, NRB on Wednesday asked the banks to revise the interest rate fixed for October.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">NRB has advised commercial banks to set interest rates at 9.3%, development banks at 9.5% and finance companies at 9.6%. Commercial banks with a CD ratio of more than 90 percent have been advised to fix the interest rate up to 9.36%. Banks can also increase interest rates on deposits received through remittance by additional 0.1%.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Accordingly, banks have also started fixing interest rates. Laxmi Bank has revised the maximum interest rate from 11.5% percent to 9.35%. Kumari Bank has reduced the maximum interest rate from 9.81% to 9.36%. And Nepal Bangladesh Bank has reduced the interest rate from 10.28% to 9.36%.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-21', 'modified' => '2021-10-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13906', 'image' => '20211021111345_Banks.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-21 11:12:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14160', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Announces Monetary Relief for Families of Disaster Victims', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 21: The government has decided to provide Rs 200,000 to the families that have lost members in the recent landslides and floods. ', 'content' => '<p><em>Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. Photo: Rss</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 21: The government has decided to provide Rs 200,000 to the families that have lost members in the recent landslides and floods. A meeting of the Council of Ministers on Wednesday also decided provide Rs 300,000 to the families that have lost more than one member to the disaster, informed Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, households with five members who have lost their house in the flood or landslide would be provided Rs 15,000 immediately. In case of more than five family members, the family would get Rs 20,000. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, those injured in the disasters would be provided treatment free of cost. The concerned ministries have been directed to collect details of the loss and damages occurred in various parts of the country due to the unprecedented rainfall that has occurred since the last few days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">All government bodies at federal, province and local levels have been asked to step up rescue and relief works. Similarly, the government thanked those involved voluntarily in the rescue works. -- RSS </span><br /> </span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-21', 'modified' => '2021-10-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13905', 'image' => '20211021082148_ROS-KTM-3554.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-21 08:20:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14159', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Death Toll from Post-Monsoon Disaster Climbs to 88', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 21: At least 88 people have lost their lives in floods, landslides and inundation triggered by unprecedented rainfall in the past few days.', 'content' => '<p><em>Photo Courtesy; RSS</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 21: At least 88 people have lost their lives in floods, landslides and inundation triggered by unprecedented rainfall in the past few days. More than 50 people were reported dead on Wednesday alone. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, 30 people are still missing in the floods and landslides across the country. A total of 22 people have been injured and 27 houses have been completely damaged by the disaster. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government on Wednesday confirmed that 24 people died in landslides in Panchthar, 13 in Ilam and 12 in Doti. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Ministry's Disaster Management Division, one person died in Kalikot, four in Baitadi, one in Dadeldhura, two in Bajhang, six in Humla, one each in Solukhumbu and Pyuthan, seven in Dhankuta, one in Morang, two in Sunsari and two in Udayapur. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, 21 people have gone missing in Bajhang due to floods and landslides. Similarly, one person is missing in Jumla, two in Pyuthan and three in Ilam. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Heavy rains had lashed various parts of Nepal since October 17 following the activation of the rain system. This trend continued till Wednesday. Meteorologists have forecast improvement in weather condition from October 21. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-21', 'modified' => '2021-10-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13904', 'image' => '20211021081239_AKJ-Inaruwa-Duban.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-21 08:11:27', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14156', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Pokhara Packed with 85 Percent of Domestic Tourists', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 20: Pokhara, a major tourist hub in western Nepal, has seen an increase in arrival of domestic tourists.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 20: Pokhara, a major tourist hub in western Nepal, has seen an increase in arrival of domestic tourists.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The lake city, which had been devoid of tourists for the past two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, has seen an increase in arrival of tourists. The growing number of domestic tourists has raised hopes of revival of the tourism industry.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Tourists are flocking to Sarangkot, Kahunkot, Vishwashanti Stupa, Pumdikot, Hudikot, and other places. Besides observing sunrise from these places, tourists are attracted to these places due to the beautiful scenery of the mountain range visible from there.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">President of the Western Region Hotel Association Laxman Subedi said that the arrival of Dashain has brought great relief to the tourism industry of Pokhara.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the past, tourists from different parts of the country used to travel during this period due to the holidays and the closure of educational institutions from Ghatsthapana to Kojagrat Purnima. According to tourism entrepreneurs, the number of tourists has increased due to a fall in Covid-19 cases.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Dharmaraj Panthi, manager of Lakeside-based Hotel Asia, said that about 35 percent of the capacity of the hotel in Pokhara, is now full of domestic tourists. There are about 1000 hotels in Pokhara. Of these, 16 are star hotels.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the wake of the Covid-19 crisis, the big hotels here have announced packages for tourists, which has attracted more tourists than the small and medium hotels. The number of tourists in these hotels has also increased due to various financial institutions and offices organizing seminars and conferences.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Among the tourists entering Pokhara at this time, big hotels are witnessing 50 percent occupancy while small hotels have 25 percent occupancy, said Subedi. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to him, about Rs 400 billion has been invested in hotels in Pokhara so far. According to the current statistics of tourists entering Pokhara, 10 percent are Indian tourists, while other foreign tourists account for 5 percent of the total tourists. Eighty-five percent of the total tourists are domestic tourists. Foreign tourists visit Nepal for trekking and mountaineering from September to December.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sushil Raj Poudel, president of the Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal (TAAN) Western Regional Association, Pokhara, said that 80 percent of the foreign tourists visiting Pokhara go on a trek.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to him, there are sporadic bookings for hiking this season. He informed that domestic tourists go to Ghandruk, Ghorepani, Mardi, Annapurna base camp, Kafuche, Kori, and other places on foot.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Since both government and private offices and companies give advances and bonuses on the occasion of Dashain, most of them use it for traveling. As Pokhara is the first choice of domestic tourists, most of them come to Pokhara to spend 2 to 3 days of their holiday. Tourists visiting Pokhara visit Talabarahi by boat in the shadow of Mt Machhapuchhre and reach places like Sarangkot, Vishwashanti Stupa, and Pumdikot watching the beautiful mountainous landscape.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-20', 'modified' => '2021-10-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13903', 'image' => '20211020114526_20191017121120_1571271950.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-20 11:44:37', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14158', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tourists Stranded as Landslide Disrupts Nayapul-Ghandruk Road', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 20: Tourists have been stranded on the way when the road leading to Annapurna rural municipality-11, Ghandruk – a prime destination for tourists in the district – remained obstructed due to landslides. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 20: Tourists have been stranded on the way when the road leading to Annapurna rural municipality-11, Ghandruk – a prime destination for tourists in the district – remained obstructed due to landslides. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Spokesperson of District Police Office Kaski DSP Subash Hamal informed that the vehicular movement has come to a halt with the disruption of Nayapul-Ghandruk road. He further shared that the road traffic has been disrupted after landslides took place at Sadi Rivulet of Annapurna-10 at 10.00 pm last night. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Following the obstruction of the road, tourists heading to base camp from Pokhara via Ghandruk have been stranded on the way. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, vehicles moving to Ghandruk from Pokhara are being parked at Birethanti after traffic disruption. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Police sources said that it would take some time to clear off the debris. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to tourism entrepreneurs, inflow of domestic tourists heading to different destinations including Ghandruk had immoderately gone up with the onset of Dashain. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Tourism entrepreneur Kisam Gurung said Ghandruk that remained almost void for long time due to corionavirus has now been filled with domestic tourists. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Ghandruk is the main tourism destination within the Annapurna Conservation Area and is also the gateway to Annapurna Base Camp. --RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-20', 'modified' => '2021-10-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13902', 'image' => '20211020011050_1634599881.4.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-20 13:10:02', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/indexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14170', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Interest Rates on Deposits Come Down to Single Digit', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 22: Commercial banks have lowered the interest rate on fixed deposits to single digit following the intervention of Nepal Rastra Bank.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 22: Commercial banks have lowered the interest rate on fixed deposits to single digit following the intervention of Nepal Rastra Bank.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Not only commercial banks but also development banks and finance companies have reduced the interest rates on fixed deposits to single digit, effective from October 21.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As per the revised interest rate, commercial banks will now provide a maximum of 9.36% interest on deposits. Similarly, development banks and finance companies have set a maximum interest rate of 9.5% and 9.6% respectively.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Seven commercial banks had maintained interest rates in double digits to resolve the problem of liquidity crisis. Sunrise Bank had raised the interest rate on deposits to 11.10%. Likewise, some other commercial banks, development banks and finance companies had also raised interest rates to double digits. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In fact banks had started raising interest rates since September due to the liquidity crunch. In September, Sunrise Bank had raised the interest rate to 10.07%. Though Sunrise Bank had lowered the interest rate in October, majority of banks had raised it to double digits. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Following the reckless increase of interest rates, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had BFIs to revise the interest rate fixed for October. The central bank also made telephone calls to the chief executive oficers of banks and financial institutions on Wednesday and asked them to revise the interest rate limit.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Bhuwan Dahal, President of the Nepal Bankers' Association said that the interest rate on deposits has been lowered to single digit as per the policy of the central bank. “As banks started to raise interest rates, discussion over interest rate stability ensued. And banks were also pressurized to make changes to interest rates after NRB issued the directive,” said Dahal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He added that with the reduction in interest rates, it will be easier for entrepreneurs to conduct business. "As interest rate on deposits falls, so does the interest rate on loans." In this case, it will be more convenient for those who do business on loans,” he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Dahal further said that drop in interest rates would challenge some banks to maintain the CD ratio at 90 percent. "Banks with a CD ratio of above 90% may face problems after interest rates fall. In such a situation, NRB needs to provide support to those banks and other banks and financial institutions may also have to help by buying loans," Dahal said. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-22', 'modified' => '2021-10-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13916', 'image' => '20211022121629_Banks.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-22 12:15:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14169', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Relief Distribution Ineffective due to Lack of Work Procedure', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 22: The government’s program to distribute Rs 5 billion to 500,000 households before Dashain has been affected as the work procedure has not been approved by the Council of Ministers yet.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">October 22: The government’s program to distribute Rs 5 billion to 500,000 households before Dashain has been affected as the work procedure has not been approved by the Council of Ministers yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The replacement budget brought by the present government led by Sher Bahadur Deuba had provision to distribute Rs 5 billion to poor families.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Finance Minister Janardan Sharma had prepared a work procedure for the distribution of the relief and submitted it to the Council of Ministers. The Council of Ministers could not pass the proposal of the Finance Minister as the work procedure could not clarify the definition of poor households and the exact figures.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Spokesperson of the Ministry of Finance Ritesh Shakya said that the program could not be implemented even after Dashain as the work procedure could not be approved by the Council of Ministers. According to him, the program will be implemented as soon as the procedure is approved. “We are waiting for the decision of the cabinet,” he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to sources at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, the government had tried to distribution the relief amount on the basis of data of the National Planning Commission. However, the National Planning Commission has only the data of pre-Covid-19 period. Although the commission has been saying that it will study the impact of Covid-19, it has not been able to come out with a concrete report yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Amid the pandemic, the NPC had released a data on the basis of a study conducted last year. According to the study, 5 million people in Nepal are below the multidimensional poverty line.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The government had planned to distribute money to the poor based on the assumption that there would be at least five members in a family. The government relief aimed to help 2.5 million people from 500,000 households.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">However, the Council of Ministers has not approved the work procedure proposed by Minister Sharma, saying that the money should be distributed only on the basis of the latest data, that means, it should also address the poverty created by Covid-19.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Economist Keshav Acharya says that the program could not be implemented because it was made public without proper study. According to him, if the government had first identified the poor and announced the program, there would have been no problem.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-22', 'modified' => '2021-10-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13915', 'image' => '20211022120614_20211003031124_new_logo.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-22 12:05:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14171', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Duhabi Substation Resumes Operation', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 22: The 132 kV substation situated in Duhabi of Sunsari district has finally come into operation after 38 hours of blackout. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 22: The 132 kV substation situated in Duhabi of Sunsari district has finally come into operation after 38 hours of blackout. The power that got cut off on Tuesday night was restored on Thursday.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Duhabi substation had been inundated after following a heavy rainfall in the area. The substation had been out of operation since Tuesday. The work of removal of water from the substation had been going on continuously after the power got cut off.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Our team's day-to-day work, help from local level, administration, security and support from the local residents helped us in removing water from the substation,” said Executive Director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), Kulman Ghising. “We are now supplying electricity to the area by gradually charging the lines extended from the Duhabi substation.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Duhabi station is the main substation that supplies electricity to the districts of Province 1. The electricity supply of the districts; Morang, Sunsari, Jhapa, Ilam, Panchthar, Taplejung, Dhankuta, Terhathum, Sakhuwasabha and Bhojpur etc. had been cut off after the Duhabi station went out of operation.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">With the operation of the substation, power supply to most of the places has already resumed.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA Duhabi Grid Branch Chief, Rajesh Regmi informed that they have succeeded in charging the substation by adopting necessary safety measures as there was no major damage to the equipment. The capacity of four power transformers in the substation is 219 MVA.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the Attaria (Kailali) -Chamelia (Darchula) 132 KV transmission line, which was closed due to falling of trees in various places due to rains, has also come into operation. The transmission line has come into operation from Thursday after removal of the obstruction.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Power supply resumed in most parts of the hill districts of the far west as soon as the transmission line came into operation.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-22', 'modified' => '2021-10-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13914', 'image' => '20211022122122_NEA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-22 12:20:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14168', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Industries in Sunsari-Morang Corridor Inundated', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 22: Most of the industries in the Sunsari-Morang Industrial Corridor have reportedly sustained damages worth millions of rupees due to the post-monsoon floods, according to a preliminary estimate.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 22: Most of the industries in the Sunsari-Morang Industrial Corridor have reportedly sustained damages worth millions of rupees due to the post-monsoon floods, according to a preliminary estimate.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chamber of Industries Morang has started collecting data on the damage caused by floods.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chairman of the Chamber of Industries Morang, Suyash Raj Pyakurel, said that most of the industries in the Sunsari Morang Industrial Corridor were damaged by the floods but he was not sure about the extent of damage. "We are collecting data from the industrialists. We will make public the details of the damage in two to three days," said Pyakurel.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Pyakurel said that the data could not be released immediately as the industrialists are currently preoccupied with removing water out of the industry, protecting the raw materials and finished goods that have been submerged in the water. According to him, about 80 percent of the industries in the Sunsari-Morang Industrial Corridor have been flooded. Many industrialists are now busy pumping water outside the factory.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chief Executive Officer of the Morang Trade Association Krishna Regmi said that most of the industries in Budhi Ganga, Duhabi, Sonapur, Itahari and Katahari areas of Morang were damaged by the floodwaters. He informed that most of the industries have stopped production due to inundation. According to Regmi, machinery, motors, tools, raw materials, packaging materials, warehouse, finished goods, and means of transportation have all sustained damages.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nabal Kishor Kabra, provincial vice-president of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries and operator of Quality Biscuits, estimated that his industry might have suffered loss of more than Rs 50 million. Stating that water is being pumped out by installing six pumps in the industrial area on Thursday, he said that it would take one week to collect the details of the damage.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Director-General of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries, Vijay Hari Sharma, said that the industrial sector has lost tens of millions of rupees due to the recent flooding. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The industrialists have drawn the attention of the Chairman of the Insurance Board not to delay the payment of the insurance amount as the industries have had to bear massive losses due to the floods.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-22', 'modified' => '2021-10-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13913', 'image' => '20211022113512_Chamber of industries morang new.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-22 11:34:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14167', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Four Foreigners Stranded in Humla Rescued ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 22: Seven tourists including four foreigners who were stranded at Tumling of Namkha rural municipality in north Humla have been rescued by a helicopter. ', 'content' => '<p><em><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Stranded tourists arrive at Simikot Airport in Humla after being rescued from Tumling on Thursday. Photo: RSS</span></span></em></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 22: Seven tourists including four foreigners who were stranded at Tumling of Namkha rural municipality in north Humla have been rescued by a helicopter. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They were airlifted to Simkot from Tumling on Thursday. They had been stuck there due to heavy snowfall for three days. Four Slovenians and their three Nepali trekking guides were stranded there as they could not trek through the Nyalu pass. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The rescued Slovenians include three males Bernik Stojen, Grosoj Viktor, Kotinok Lvam and one female Lapanja Castellic Danijela. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They have been rescued by Air Dynasty chopper and brought to Simkot, the headquarters of Humla district. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They had reportedly been trekking towards Limi area from Simkot since the last 13 days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, six other Nepalis who were stranded at Tumling with them will travel on foot and on mules towards Simkot with the improvement in weather, said Asim Tamang, one of the Nepali trekking guides. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-22', 'modified' => '2021-10-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13912', 'image' => '20211022081229_DB_Simkot-1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-22 08:11:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14166', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Post-Monsoon Death Toll Rises to 101', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October: At least 101 people have been killed in floods and landslides triggered by heavy rainfall in different parts of the country.', 'content' => '<p><em>A passenger bus met with an accident at Janata Chowk of Sunsari district along the East West Highway due to flooding. Photo: RSS</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 22: At least 101 people have been killed in floods and landslides triggered by heavy rainfall in different parts of the country. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Nepal Police, 60 people were killed in the landslide in province-1, one in Bagmati, seven in Karnali, 31 in the Sudurpaschim and two in Lumbini</span><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">. </span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A total of 41 people have gone missing in the floods, including 13 in Province-1, one in Province-2, three in Lumbini, one in Karnali and 23 in Far-Western Province. A search for the missing is underway, said Senior Superintendent of Police Basant Bahadur Kunwar. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, 19 people have been injured in province-1, four in Karnali and 17 in the Sudurpaschim. The injured are being treated at local medical facilities. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Altogether 2,232 houses have been inundated due to the floods. The floods and landslides have reportedly damaged 49 houses, eight cowsheds, six bridges and three government offices. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">So far, 139 livestock have perished in the recent disaster. During this period, 1,177 families have been displaced by the floods and landslides. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, police personnel are working to evacuate the people at risk of floods and landslides in different districts. Security forces are working in coordination with various agencies and locals. Work is also underway to remove roadblocks at various places, Nepal Police said. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-22', 'modified' => '2021-10-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13911', 'image' => '20211022080344_AKJ-Inaruwa-Bus (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-22 08:00:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14165', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Two Mega Cement Industries to get Electricity from NEA', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 21: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) will provide electricity to two large cement industries with foreign investment. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 21: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) will provide electricity to two large cement industries with foreign investment. Hongsi Shivam Cement, which started commercial production using diesel, is getting electricity after three years, while Huasin Cement which is currently under construction will also get electricity.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The switching station at Siddhalek in Dhading under the Marsyangdi-Suchatar 132 kV transmission line has been charged to provide electricity to Huasin Cement, which is preparing to start trial production by the end of October. NEA spokesperson Suresh Bahadur Bhattarai said that the industry will be supplied electricity as soon as it completes the construction of the substation.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Suraj Vaidya, the Nepali investment partner of Huasin Cement which is under construction in Dhading, said that the industry has prepared the necessary substations for electricity.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that the industry has already built the substation itself, Vaidiya said that preparations have been made for testing the electricity. Stating that the target is to produce 3,000 metric tonnes of cement daily, Vaidya informed that the necessary machines have been installed in the industry.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said that the industry will use maximum manpower from within the country. The industry has demanded 20 MW of electricity.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The two cement industries – Hongsi and Huasin – will consume 52 MW of electricity. Hongsi Shivam Cement, which operates in Nawalparasi, has already demanded 32 MW of electricity from NEA. It is said that Hongsi, which has been producing cement commercially since June 2075, will get electricity before or after the upcoming festival of Tihar.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Bardaghat-Sardi (132 kV) transmission line project under Nepal Electricity Authority will provide electricity to the cement industry with an investment of Rs 36 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although the project had set a target of supplying electricity to the industry in April 2076 BS, the transmission line was disrupted due to felling of trees, tower management, and the coronavirus.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Project Chief Hari Pandey said that the industry would get electricity immediately before or after the upcoming festival.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Even if the electricity supply is delayed for a few days due to the recent rainfall, the industry will get electricity within this month." </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hongsi Cement Industry officials said they are preparing to double the production as soon as they get electricity. The official also informed that investment will be added to double the production.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the first phase, the industry, which is currently producing 6,000 metric tonnes of cement per day, will double its investment depending on the quality of electricity and produce 1,200 metric tonnes of cement per day.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-21', 'modified' => '2021-10-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13910', 'image' => '20211021015438_20150820120744_cn.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-21 13:53:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14164', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Weather Expected to Improve with the Exit of Rain-Causing System ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 21: The weather has improved throughout the country with the withdrawal of the rain-causing system from the eastern part of the country.', 'content' => '<p><em>Mt Dhaulagiri seen in this recent picture. Photo Courtesy: RSS</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 21: The weather has improved throughout the country with the withdrawal of the rain-causing system from the eastern part of the country. Most of the areas across the country including Kathmandu Valley have witnessed sunny weather since the morning today (October 21). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Senior meteorologist Barun Poudel said another weather system will not likely develop in four or five days from now. The combined influence of the low pressure system over Bihar of India and the westerly system had caused heavy rainfall from October 17 to 20. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although this rain-causing system has exited at present, its general influence is witnessed in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"Such system leaves behind water vapour and moisture. That's why clouds are seen in some places and fog in some places. There are also chances of intermittent rain at some places," he said, adding that this will however not make big impact. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Department of Hydrology and Meteorology under the Meteorological Forecasting Division said the weather is partly to generally cloudy throughout the country with light rainfall taking place at one or two places of Province 1 and Bagmati Province. There is possibility of light rain at a few places of Province 1, Bagmati and Gandaki provinces, and at one or two places of the rest of the provinces. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It will be partly to generally cloudy throughout the country tonight. There is possibility of light rain at few places of Province 1 and Gandaki Province, and at one or two places of the rest of the provinces. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The unseasonal rainfall which occurred after the monsoon had withdrawn caused heavy loss of life and property in more than 20 different districts. It destroyed the physical infrastructures and also caused heavy damage to the paddy crop that was ready for harvest. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-21', 'modified' => '2021-10-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13909', 'image' => '20211021013649_ds-galeshower-kudulebatadekhiyakodhaulagirihimal.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-21 13:35:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14163', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Flood Inundates Biratnagar Airport, Making Flights Uncertain', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 21: Most of the areas of Morang district that fall in the Terai region have been flooded. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">October 21: Most of the areas of Morang district that fall in the Terai region have been flooded. Continuous rainfall since the last few days has caused inundation of many places including Biratnagar, where a 323 mm rainfall has been recorded.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">As a consequence of heavy rainfall, the Basta River near Biratnagar Airport has been flooded; causing the water to seep into the airport’s runway. Now, the runway of Biratnagar airport is inundated with two feet of water. A total of 21 scheduled flights have been suspended from Wednesday for an indefinite period of time.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">An engineer of Buddha Air informed New Business Age that the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has issued a notice to airmen (NOTAM) about the closure of airport. He further said that Buddha Air plans to bring back the airport later on Thursday if the situation improves but the company will not bring back any passengers. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The aircraft of Buddha Air and Shree Air had to be taken to a higher part of the airport towards the east after their wheels got submerged into the water. Dozens of houses in wards 4, 5, 12 and 16 of the metropolitan city, including the airport, have been submerged due to the flooding of Basta and Kesaliya rivers situated near the airport.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to airport chief Utsav Raj Kharel, all flights scheduled for Wednesday have been suspended as one kilometer of the runway has been submerged into the flood water. Up to three feet high water has flooded all areas including the terminal building, immigration and VIP lounge of the airport.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Kharel informed that the last flights of Buddha and Shree Air could not take off on Tuesday evening due to the inundation. Kharel also stated that it is not certain when the flight will resume due to the prevalence of water on the runway.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Province 1 has been into darkness due to absence of electricity since Tuesday night. The electricity had been cut off after water got into a section of the NEA’s Duhabi grid. The NEA's Provincial Office No. 1 has informed that the work of removing water from the section of the grid is going on. The office has also informed that the power would be restored only after studying the extent of damage caused by the water and making all the necessary repairs.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The floods have compelled 1,000 families to be displaced in Biratnagar metropolitan city, said the metropolitan chief Bhim Parajuli. He said all of the families were kept in schools and public places.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to Police Chief SP Jarnadan GC, 1,500 people from 565 families have been displaced by the floods in the district. The floods have affected Katahari, Jahada, Thanpalathan, Rangeli, Ratuwamai and Sunvarshi municipalities, including Biratnagar metropolitan city.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-21', 'modified' => '2021-10-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13908', 'image' => '20211021125556_hqdefault.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-21 12:55:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14162', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NewBiz to organise ‘Startup Summit and Awards’ in November', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 21: New Business Age is all set to organise the ‘Kumari Bank NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards’ on November 26.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 21: New Business Age is all set to organise the ‘Kumari Bank NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards’ on November 26. The slogan of this year’s award is ‘Search for Nepali Unicorn’. There is an international practice of referring to a startup with business of more than Rs 1 billion as unicorn.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Entrepreneurs with new ideas will be selected and awarded with cash prizes of Rs 400,000 in order to encourage them.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to New Business Age Pvt. Ltd, details of more than 1,500 startup businesses from all seven provinces have been collected. Startups who want to participate in the award can also register their names by visiting the link available on the website of Aarthik Abhiyan and New Business Age not later than November 1. In particular, entrepreneurs who have been doing a new venture for the past three years by registering a company and those who have not completed seven years of registration have been selected for the awards ceremony.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">New Business Age is organizing an interactive training programme through virtual medium on October 29 in the run-up to the main event, where existing and aspiring startups and young entrepreneurs can participate. Among them, the best ones will be selected by November 16. As per the organisers, a jury of independent experts has been formed for the selection and the process has already started.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Madan Lamsal, chairman of New Business Age Pvt Ltd, said that the main purpose of organizing this programme is to help the entrepreneurs with new ideas to rise up. According to him, at a time while the government, the central bank and others are encouraging such entrepreneurs, the private sector is also looking to extend a helping hand. New Business Age believes such awards will help the startups to grow.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The main sponsor of NewBiz Startup Summit and Award is Kumari Bank Limited and the co-sponsor is Garima Bikas Bank Limited. Likewise, the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry is the 'associate partner'. Similarly, the award programme has been supported by IME and NLG Insurance Company Limited. The technical partner of the program is Mango Tech.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">New Business Age has been organising various award programs. Since last year, it has started a program to honor women entrepreneurs while it has been selecting and awarding the best companies since 2013. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-21', 'modified' => '2021-10-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13907', 'image' => '20211021115401_Logo.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-21 11:53:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14161', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Rastra Bank asks BFIs to Lower Interest on Deposits to Single Digit', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 21: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has asked banks and financial institutions (BFIs) to lower the interest rate on fixed deposit to single digit.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">October 21: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has asked banks and financial institutions (BFIs) to lower the interest rate on fixed deposit to single digit. NRB issued a circular on Wednesday, October 21 suggesting the BFIs to revise the interest rate fixed for November. The central bank also made telephone calls to the CEOs of the BFIs and urged them to lower the interest rate. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Dev Kumar Dhakal, spokesperson of the central bank, informed that he had suggested the CEOs of banks and financial institutions to bring the interest rate to single digit. He said that such suggestions were given to banks and financial institutions not as instructions but as suggestions. "Banks and financial institutions however will not be obliged to follow this suggestion. They can fix the interest rate as per the October 19 directive issued earlier. NRB has issued the circular on Wednesday to control the irregularities in interest rate," he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Banks had started raising interest rates since September due to liquidity crunch. At that time, Sunrise Bank had raised the interest rate on deposits to double digits. Even though Sunrise Bank reduced the interest rates in October, interest rates of other banks have reached double digits. Seven different commercial banks have fixed the interest rate on deposits in double digits.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Following reckless increase in interest rates, NRB on Wednesday asked the banks to revise the interest rate fixed for October.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">NRB has advised commercial banks to set interest rates at 9.3%, development banks at 9.5% and finance companies at 9.6%. Commercial banks with a CD ratio of more than 90 percent have been advised to fix the interest rate up to 9.36%. Banks can also increase interest rates on deposits received through remittance by additional 0.1%.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Accordingly, banks have also started fixing interest rates. Laxmi Bank has revised the maximum interest rate from 11.5% percent to 9.35%. Kumari Bank has reduced the maximum interest rate from 9.81% to 9.36%. And Nepal Bangladesh Bank has reduced the interest rate from 10.28% to 9.36%.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-21', 'modified' => '2021-10-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13906', 'image' => '20211021111345_Banks.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-21 11:12:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14160', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Announces Monetary Relief for Families of Disaster Victims', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 21: The government has decided to provide Rs 200,000 to the families that have lost members in the recent landslides and floods. ', 'content' => '<p><em>Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. Photo: Rss</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 21: The government has decided to provide Rs 200,000 to the families that have lost members in the recent landslides and floods. A meeting of the Council of Ministers on Wednesday also decided provide Rs 300,000 to the families that have lost more than one member to the disaster, informed Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, households with five members who have lost their house in the flood or landslide would be provided Rs 15,000 immediately. In case of more than five family members, the family would get Rs 20,000. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, those injured in the disasters would be provided treatment free of cost. The concerned ministries have been directed to collect details of the loss and damages occurred in various parts of the country due to the unprecedented rainfall that has occurred since the last few days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">All government bodies at federal, province and local levels have been asked to step up rescue and relief works. Similarly, the government thanked those involved voluntarily in the rescue works. -- RSS </span><br /> </span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-21', 'modified' => '2021-10-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13905', 'image' => '20211021082148_ROS-KTM-3554.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-21 08:20:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14159', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Death Toll from Post-Monsoon Disaster Climbs to 88', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 21: At least 88 people have lost their lives in floods, landslides and inundation triggered by unprecedented rainfall in the past few days.', 'content' => '<p><em>Photo Courtesy; RSS</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 21: At least 88 people have lost their lives in floods, landslides and inundation triggered by unprecedented rainfall in the past few days. More than 50 people were reported dead on Wednesday alone. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, 30 people are still missing in the floods and landslides across the country. A total of 22 people have been injured and 27 houses have been completely damaged by the disaster. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government on Wednesday confirmed that 24 people died in landslides in Panchthar, 13 in Ilam and 12 in Doti. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Ministry's Disaster Management Division, one person died in Kalikot, four in Baitadi, one in Dadeldhura, two in Bajhang, six in Humla, one each in Solukhumbu and Pyuthan, seven in Dhankuta, one in Morang, two in Sunsari and two in Udayapur. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, 21 people have gone missing in Bajhang due to floods and landslides. Similarly, one person is missing in Jumla, two in Pyuthan and three in Ilam. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Heavy rains had lashed various parts of Nepal since October 17 following the activation of the rain system. This trend continued till Wednesday. Meteorologists have forecast improvement in weather condition from October 21. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-21', 'modified' => '2021-10-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13904', 'image' => '20211021081239_AKJ-Inaruwa-Duban.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-21 08:11:27', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14156', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Pokhara Packed with 85 Percent of Domestic Tourists', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 20: Pokhara, a major tourist hub in western Nepal, has seen an increase in arrival of domestic tourists.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 20: Pokhara, a major tourist hub in western Nepal, has seen an increase in arrival of domestic tourists.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The lake city, which had been devoid of tourists for the past two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, has seen an increase in arrival of tourists. The growing number of domestic tourists has raised hopes of revival of the tourism industry.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Tourists are flocking to Sarangkot, Kahunkot, Vishwashanti Stupa, Pumdikot, Hudikot, and other places. Besides observing sunrise from these places, tourists are attracted to these places due to the beautiful scenery of the mountain range visible from there.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">President of the Western Region Hotel Association Laxman Subedi said that the arrival of Dashain has brought great relief to the tourism industry of Pokhara.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the past, tourists from different parts of the country used to travel during this period due to the holidays and the closure of educational institutions from Ghatsthapana to Kojagrat Purnima. According to tourism entrepreneurs, the number of tourists has increased due to a fall in Covid-19 cases.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Dharmaraj Panthi, manager of Lakeside-based Hotel Asia, said that about 35 percent of the capacity of the hotel in Pokhara, is now full of domestic tourists. There are about 1000 hotels in Pokhara. Of these, 16 are star hotels.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the wake of the Covid-19 crisis, the big hotels here have announced packages for tourists, which has attracted more tourists than the small and medium hotels. The number of tourists in these hotels has also increased due to various financial institutions and offices organizing seminars and conferences.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Among the tourists entering Pokhara at this time, big hotels are witnessing 50 percent occupancy while small hotels have 25 percent occupancy, said Subedi. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to him, about Rs 400 billion has been invested in hotels in Pokhara so far. According to the current statistics of tourists entering Pokhara, 10 percent are Indian tourists, while other foreign tourists account for 5 percent of the total tourists. Eighty-five percent of the total tourists are domestic tourists. Foreign tourists visit Nepal for trekking and mountaineering from September to December.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sushil Raj Poudel, president of the Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal (TAAN) Western Regional Association, Pokhara, said that 80 percent of the foreign tourists visiting Pokhara go on a trek.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to him, there are sporadic bookings for hiking this season. He informed that domestic tourists go to Ghandruk, Ghorepani, Mardi, Annapurna base camp, Kafuche, Kori, and other places on foot.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Since both government and private offices and companies give advances and bonuses on the occasion of Dashain, most of them use it for traveling. As Pokhara is the first choice of domestic tourists, most of them come to Pokhara to spend 2 to 3 days of their holiday. Tourists visiting Pokhara visit Talabarahi by boat in the shadow of Mt Machhapuchhre and reach places like Sarangkot, Vishwashanti Stupa, and Pumdikot watching the beautiful mountainous landscape.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-20', 'modified' => '2021-10-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13903', 'image' => '20211020114526_20191017121120_1571271950.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-20 11:44:37', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14158', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tourists Stranded as Landslide Disrupts Nayapul-Ghandruk Road', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 20: Tourists have been stranded on the way when the road leading to Annapurna rural municipality-11, Ghandruk – a prime destination for tourists in the district – remained obstructed due to landslides. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 20: Tourists have been stranded on the way when the road leading to Annapurna rural municipality-11, Ghandruk – a prime destination for tourists in the district – remained obstructed due to landslides. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Spokesperson of District Police Office Kaski DSP Subash Hamal informed that the vehicular movement has come to a halt with the disruption of Nayapul-Ghandruk road. He further shared that the road traffic has been disrupted after landslides took place at Sadi Rivulet of Annapurna-10 at 10.00 pm last night. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Following the obstruction of the road, tourists heading to base camp from Pokhara via Ghandruk have been stranded on the way. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, vehicles moving to Ghandruk from Pokhara are being parked at Birethanti after traffic disruption. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Police sources said that it would take some time to clear off the debris. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to tourism entrepreneurs, inflow of domestic tourists heading to different destinations including Ghandruk had immoderately gone up with the onset of Dashain. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Tourism entrepreneur Kisam Gurung said Ghandruk that remained almost void for long time due to corionavirus has now been filled with domestic tourists. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Ghandruk is the main tourism destination within the Annapurna Conservation Area and is also the gateway to Annapurna Base Camp. --RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-20', 'modified' => '2021-10-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13902', 'image' => '20211020011050_1634599881.4.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-20 13:10:02', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Notice (8): Undefined variable: file [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14170', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Interest Rates on Deposits Come Down to Single Digit', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 22: Commercial banks have lowered the interest rate on fixed deposits to single digit following the intervention of Nepal Rastra Bank.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 22: Commercial banks have lowered the interest rate on fixed deposits to single digit following the intervention of Nepal Rastra Bank.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Not only commercial banks but also development banks and finance companies have reduced the interest rates on fixed deposits to single digit, effective from October 21.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As per the revised interest rate, commercial banks will now provide a maximum of 9.36% interest on deposits. Similarly, development banks and finance companies have set a maximum interest rate of 9.5% and 9.6% respectively.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Seven commercial banks had maintained interest rates in double digits to resolve the problem of liquidity crisis. Sunrise Bank had raised the interest rate on deposits to 11.10%. Likewise, some other commercial banks, development banks and finance companies had also raised interest rates to double digits. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In fact banks had started raising interest rates since September due to the liquidity crunch. In September, Sunrise Bank had raised the interest rate to 10.07%. Though Sunrise Bank had lowered the interest rate in October, majority of banks had raised it to double digits. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Following the reckless increase of interest rates, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had BFIs to revise the interest rate fixed for October. The central bank also made telephone calls to the chief executive oficers of banks and financial institutions on Wednesday and asked them to revise the interest rate limit.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Bhuwan Dahal, President of the Nepal Bankers' Association said that the interest rate on deposits has been lowered to single digit as per the policy of the central bank. “As banks started to raise interest rates, discussion over interest rate stability ensued. And banks were also pressurized to make changes to interest rates after NRB issued the directive,” said Dahal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He added that with the reduction in interest rates, it will be easier for entrepreneurs to conduct business. "As interest rate on deposits falls, so does the interest rate on loans." In this case, it will be more convenient for those who do business on loans,” he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Dahal further said that drop in interest rates would challenge some banks to maintain the CD ratio at 90 percent. "Banks with a CD ratio of above 90% may face problems after interest rates fall. In such a situation, NRB needs to provide support to those banks and other banks and financial institutions may also have to help by buying loans," Dahal said. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-22', 'modified' => '2021-10-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13916', 'image' => '20211022121629_Banks.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-22 12:15:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14169', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Relief Distribution Ineffective due to Lack of Work Procedure', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 22: The government’s program to distribute Rs 5 billion to 500,000 households before Dashain has been affected as the work procedure has not been approved by the Council of Ministers yet.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">October 22: The government’s program to distribute Rs 5 billion to 500,000 households before Dashain has been affected as the work procedure has not been approved by the Council of Ministers yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The replacement budget brought by the present government led by Sher Bahadur Deuba had provision to distribute Rs 5 billion to poor families.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Finance Minister Janardan Sharma had prepared a work procedure for the distribution of the relief and submitted it to the Council of Ministers. The Council of Ministers could not pass the proposal of the Finance Minister as the work procedure could not clarify the definition of poor households and the exact figures.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Spokesperson of the Ministry of Finance Ritesh Shakya said that the program could not be implemented even after Dashain as the work procedure could not be approved by the Council of Ministers. According to him, the program will be implemented as soon as the procedure is approved. “We are waiting for the decision of the cabinet,” he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to sources at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, the government had tried to distribution the relief amount on the basis of data of the National Planning Commission. However, the National Planning Commission has only the data of pre-Covid-19 period. Although the commission has been saying that it will study the impact of Covid-19, it has not been able to come out with a concrete report yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Amid the pandemic, the NPC had released a data on the basis of a study conducted last year. According to the study, 5 million people in Nepal are below the multidimensional poverty line.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The government had planned to distribute money to the poor based on the assumption that there would be at least five members in a family. The government relief aimed to help 2.5 million people from 500,000 households.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">However, the Council of Ministers has not approved the work procedure proposed by Minister Sharma, saying that the money should be distributed only on the basis of the latest data, that means, it should also address the poverty created by Covid-19.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Economist Keshav Acharya says that the program could not be implemented because it was made public without proper study. According to him, if the government had first identified the poor and announced the program, there would have been no problem.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-22', 'modified' => '2021-10-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13915', 'image' => '20211022120614_20211003031124_new_logo.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-22 12:05:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14171', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Duhabi Substation Resumes Operation', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 22: The 132 kV substation situated in Duhabi of Sunsari district has finally come into operation after 38 hours of blackout. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 22: The 132 kV substation situated in Duhabi of Sunsari district has finally come into operation after 38 hours of blackout. The power that got cut off on Tuesday night was restored on Thursday.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Duhabi substation had been inundated after following a heavy rainfall in the area. The substation had been out of operation since Tuesday. The work of removal of water from the substation had been going on continuously after the power got cut off.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Our team's day-to-day work, help from local level, administration, security and support from the local residents helped us in removing water from the substation,” said Executive Director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), Kulman Ghising. “We are now supplying electricity to the area by gradually charging the lines extended from the Duhabi substation.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Duhabi station is the main substation that supplies electricity to the districts of Province 1. The electricity supply of the districts; Morang, Sunsari, Jhapa, Ilam, Panchthar, Taplejung, Dhankuta, Terhathum, Sakhuwasabha and Bhojpur etc. had been cut off after the Duhabi station went out of operation.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">With the operation of the substation, power supply to most of the places has already resumed.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA Duhabi Grid Branch Chief, Rajesh Regmi informed that they have succeeded in charging the substation by adopting necessary safety measures as there was no major damage to the equipment. The capacity of four power transformers in the substation is 219 MVA.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the Attaria (Kailali) -Chamelia (Darchula) 132 KV transmission line, which was closed due to falling of trees in various places due to rains, has also come into operation. The transmission line has come into operation from Thursday after removal of the obstruction.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Power supply resumed in most parts of the hill districts of the far west as soon as the transmission line came into operation.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-22', 'modified' => '2021-10-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13914', 'image' => '20211022122122_NEA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-22 12:20:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14168', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Industries in Sunsari-Morang Corridor Inundated', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 22: Most of the industries in the Sunsari-Morang Industrial Corridor have reportedly sustained damages worth millions of rupees due to the post-monsoon floods, according to a preliminary estimate.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 22: Most of the industries in the Sunsari-Morang Industrial Corridor have reportedly sustained damages worth millions of rupees due to the post-monsoon floods, according to a preliminary estimate.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chamber of Industries Morang has started collecting data on the damage caused by floods.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chairman of the Chamber of Industries Morang, Suyash Raj Pyakurel, said that most of the industries in the Sunsari Morang Industrial Corridor were damaged by the floods but he was not sure about the extent of damage. "We are collecting data from the industrialists. We will make public the details of the damage in two to three days," said Pyakurel.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Pyakurel said that the data could not be released immediately as the industrialists are currently preoccupied with removing water out of the industry, protecting the raw materials and finished goods that have been submerged in the water. According to him, about 80 percent of the industries in the Sunsari-Morang Industrial Corridor have been flooded. Many industrialists are now busy pumping water outside the factory.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chief Executive Officer of the Morang Trade Association Krishna Regmi said that most of the industries in Budhi Ganga, Duhabi, Sonapur, Itahari and Katahari areas of Morang were damaged by the floodwaters. He informed that most of the industries have stopped production due to inundation. According to Regmi, machinery, motors, tools, raw materials, packaging materials, warehouse, finished goods, and means of transportation have all sustained damages.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nabal Kishor Kabra, provincial vice-president of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries and operator of Quality Biscuits, estimated that his industry might have suffered loss of more than Rs 50 million. Stating that water is being pumped out by installing six pumps in the industrial area on Thursday, he said that it would take one week to collect the details of the damage.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Director-General of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries, Vijay Hari Sharma, said that the industrial sector has lost tens of millions of rupees due to the recent flooding. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The industrialists have drawn the attention of the Chairman of the Insurance Board not to delay the payment of the insurance amount as the industries have had to bear massive losses due to the floods.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-22', 'modified' => '2021-10-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13913', 'image' => '20211022113512_Chamber of industries morang new.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-22 11:34:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14167', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Four Foreigners Stranded in Humla Rescued ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 22: Seven tourists including four foreigners who were stranded at Tumling of Namkha rural municipality in north Humla have been rescued by a helicopter. ', 'content' => '<p><em><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Stranded tourists arrive at Simikot Airport in Humla after being rescued from Tumling on Thursday. Photo: RSS</span></span></em></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 22: Seven tourists including four foreigners who were stranded at Tumling of Namkha rural municipality in north Humla have been rescued by a helicopter. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They were airlifted to Simkot from Tumling on Thursday. They had been stuck there due to heavy snowfall for three days. Four Slovenians and their three Nepali trekking guides were stranded there as they could not trek through the Nyalu pass. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The rescued Slovenians include three males Bernik Stojen, Grosoj Viktor, Kotinok Lvam and one female Lapanja Castellic Danijela. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They have been rescued by Air Dynasty chopper and brought to Simkot, the headquarters of Humla district. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They had reportedly been trekking towards Limi area from Simkot since the last 13 days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, six other Nepalis who were stranded at Tumling with them will travel on foot and on mules towards Simkot with the improvement in weather, said Asim Tamang, one of the Nepali trekking guides. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-22', 'modified' => '2021-10-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13912', 'image' => '20211022081229_DB_Simkot-1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-22 08:11:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14166', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Post-Monsoon Death Toll Rises to 101', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October: At least 101 people have been killed in floods and landslides triggered by heavy rainfall in different parts of the country.', 'content' => '<p><em>A passenger bus met with an accident at Janata Chowk of Sunsari district along the East West Highway due to flooding. Photo: RSS</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 22: At least 101 people have been killed in floods and landslides triggered by heavy rainfall in different parts of the country. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Nepal Police, 60 people were killed in the landslide in province-1, one in Bagmati, seven in Karnali, 31 in the Sudurpaschim and two in Lumbini</span><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">. </span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A total of 41 people have gone missing in the floods, including 13 in Province-1, one in Province-2, three in Lumbini, one in Karnali and 23 in Far-Western Province. A search for the missing is underway, said Senior Superintendent of Police Basant Bahadur Kunwar. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, 19 people have been injured in province-1, four in Karnali and 17 in the Sudurpaschim. The injured are being treated at local medical facilities. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Altogether 2,232 houses have been inundated due to the floods. The floods and landslides have reportedly damaged 49 houses, eight cowsheds, six bridges and three government offices. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">So far, 139 livestock have perished in the recent disaster. During this period, 1,177 families have been displaced by the floods and landslides. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, police personnel are working to evacuate the people at risk of floods and landslides in different districts. Security forces are working in coordination with various agencies and locals. Work is also underway to remove roadblocks at various places, Nepal Police said. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-22', 'modified' => '2021-10-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13911', 'image' => '20211022080344_AKJ-Inaruwa-Bus (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-22 08:00:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14165', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Two Mega Cement Industries to get Electricity from NEA', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 21: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) will provide electricity to two large cement industries with foreign investment. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 21: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) will provide electricity to two large cement industries with foreign investment. Hongsi Shivam Cement, which started commercial production using diesel, is getting electricity after three years, while Huasin Cement which is currently under construction will also get electricity.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The switching station at Siddhalek in Dhading under the Marsyangdi-Suchatar 132 kV transmission line has been charged to provide electricity to Huasin Cement, which is preparing to start trial production by the end of October. NEA spokesperson Suresh Bahadur Bhattarai said that the industry will be supplied electricity as soon as it completes the construction of the substation.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Suraj Vaidya, the Nepali investment partner of Huasin Cement which is under construction in Dhading, said that the industry has prepared the necessary substations for electricity.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that the industry has already built the substation itself, Vaidiya said that preparations have been made for testing the electricity. Stating that the target is to produce 3,000 metric tonnes of cement daily, Vaidya informed that the necessary machines have been installed in the industry.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said that the industry will use maximum manpower from within the country. The industry has demanded 20 MW of electricity.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The two cement industries – Hongsi and Huasin – will consume 52 MW of electricity. Hongsi Shivam Cement, which operates in Nawalparasi, has already demanded 32 MW of electricity from NEA. It is said that Hongsi, which has been producing cement commercially since June 2075, will get electricity before or after the upcoming festival of Tihar.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Bardaghat-Sardi (132 kV) transmission line project under Nepal Electricity Authority will provide electricity to the cement industry with an investment of Rs 36 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although the project had set a target of supplying electricity to the industry in April 2076 BS, the transmission line was disrupted due to felling of trees, tower management, and the coronavirus.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Project Chief Hari Pandey said that the industry would get electricity immediately before or after the upcoming festival.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Even if the electricity supply is delayed for a few days due to the recent rainfall, the industry will get electricity within this month." </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hongsi Cement Industry officials said they are preparing to double the production as soon as they get electricity. The official also informed that investment will be added to double the production.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the first phase, the industry, which is currently producing 6,000 metric tonnes of cement per day, will double its investment depending on the quality of electricity and produce 1,200 metric tonnes of cement per day.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-21', 'modified' => '2021-10-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13910', 'image' => '20211021015438_20150820120744_cn.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-21 13:53:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14164', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Weather Expected to Improve with the Exit of Rain-Causing System ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 21: The weather has improved throughout the country with the withdrawal of the rain-causing system from the eastern part of the country.', 'content' => '<p><em>Mt Dhaulagiri seen in this recent picture. Photo Courtesy: RSS</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 21: The weather has improved throughout the country with the withdrawal of the rain-causing system from the eastern part of the country. Most of the areas across the country including Kathmandu Valley have witnessed sunny weather since the morning today (October 21). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Senior meteorologist Barun Poudel said another weather system will not likely develop in four or five days from now. The combined influence of the low pressure system over Bihar of India and the westerly system had caused heavy rainfall from October 17 to 20. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although this rain-causing system has exited at present, its general influence is witnessed in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"Such system leaves behind water vapour and moisture. That's why clouds are seen in some places and fog in some places. There are also chances of intermittent rain at some places," he said, adding that this will however not make big impact. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Department of Hydrology and Meteorology under the Meteorological Forecasting Division said the weather is partly to generally cloudy throughout the country with light rainfall taking place at one or two places of Province 1 and Bagmati Province. There is possibility of light rain at a few places of Province 1, Bagmati and Gandaki provinces, and at one or two places of the rest of the provinces. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It will be partly to generally cloudy throughout the country tonight. There is possibility of light rain at few places of Province 1 and Gandaki Province, and at one or two places of the rest of the provinces. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The unseasonal rainfall which occurred after the monsoon had withdrawn caused heavy loss of life and property in more than 20 different districts. It destroyed the physical infrastructures and also caused heavy damage to the paddy crop that was ready for harvest. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-21', 'modified' => '2021-10-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13909', 'image' => '20211021013649_ds-galeshower-kudulebatadekhiyakodhaulagirihimal.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-21 13:35:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14163', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Flood Inundates Biratnagar Airport, Making Flights Uncertain', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 21: Most of the areas of Morang district that fall in the Terai region have been flooded. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">October 21: Most of the areas of Morang district that fall in the Terai region have been flooded. Continuous rainfall since the last few days has caused inundation of many places including Biratnagar, where a 323 mm rainfall has been recorded.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">As a consequence of heavy rainfall, the Basta River near Biratnagar Airport has been flooded; causing the water to seep into the airport’s runway. Now, the runway of Biratnagar airport is inundated with two feet of water. A total of 21 scheduled flights have been suspended from Wednesday for an indefinite period of time.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">An engineer of Buddha Air informed New Business Age that the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has issued a notice to airmen (NOTAM) about the closure of airport. He further said that Buddha Air plans to bring back the airport later on Thursday if the situation improves but the company will not bring back any passengers. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The aircraft of Buddha Air and Shree Air had to be taken to a higher part of the airport towards the east after their wheels got submerged into the water. Dozens of houses in wards 4, 5, 12 and 16 of the metropolitan city, including the airport, have been submerged due to the flooding of Basta and Kesaliya rivers situated near the airport.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to airport chief Utsav Raj Kharel, all flights scheduled for Wednesday have been suspended as one kilometer of the runway has been submerged into the flood water. Up to three feet high water has flooded all areas including the terminal building, immigration and VIP lounge of the airport.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Kharel informed that the last flights of Buddha and Shree Air could not take off on Tuesday evening due to the inundation. Kharel also stated that it is not certain when the flight will resume due to the prevalence of water on the runway.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Province 1 has been into darkness due to absence of electricity since Tuesday night. The electricity had been cut off after water got into a section of the NEA’s Duhabi grid. The NEA's Provincial Office No. 1 has informed that the work of removing water from the section of the grid is going on. The office has also informed that the power would be restored only after studying the extent of damage caused by the water and making all the necessary repairs.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The floods have compelled 1,000 families to be displaced in Biratnagar metropolitan city, said the metropolitan chief Bhim Parajuli. He said all of the families were kept in schools and public places.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to Police Chief SP Jarnadan GC, 1,500 people from 565 families have been displaced by the floods in the district. The floods have affected Katahari, Jahada, Thanpalathan, Rangeli, Ratuwamai and Sunvarshi municipalities, including Biratnagar metropolitan city.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-21', 'modified' => '2021-10-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13908', 'image' => '20211021125556_hqdefault.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-21 12:55:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14162', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NewBiz to organise ‘Startup Summit and Awards’ in November', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 21: New Business Age is all set to organise the ‘Kumari Bank NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards’ on November 26.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 21: New Business Age is all set to organise the ‘Kumari Bank NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards’ on November 26. The slogan of this year’s award is ‘Search for Nepali Unicorn’. There is an international practice of referring to a startup with business of more than Rs 1 billion as unicorn.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Entrepreneurs with new ideas will be selected and awarded with cash prizes of Rs 400,000 in order to encourage them.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to New Business Age Pvt. Ltd, details of more than 1,500 startup businesses from all seven provinces have been collected. Startups who want to participate in the award can also register their names by visiting the link available on the website of Aarthik Abhiyan and New Business Age not later than November 1. In particular, entrepreneurs who have been doing a new venture for the past three years by registering a company and those who have not completed seven years of registration have been selected for the awards ceremony.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">New Business Age is organizing an interactive training programme through virtual medium on October 29 in the run-up to the main event, where existing and aspiring startups and young entrepreneurs can participate. Among them, the best ones will be selected by November 16. As per the organisers, a jury of independent experts has been formed for the selection and the process has already started.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Madan Lamsal, chairman of New Business Age Pvt Ltd, said that the main purpose of organizing this programme is to help the entrepreneurs with new ideas to rise up. According to him, at a time while the government, the central bank and others are encouraging such entrepreneurs, the private sector is also looking to extend a helping hand. New Business Age believes such awards will help the startups to grow.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The main sponsor of NewBiz Startup Summit and Award is Kumari Bank Limited and the co-sponsor is Garima Bikas Bank Limited. Likewise, the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry is the 'associate partner'. Similarly, the award programme has been supported by IME and NLG Insurance Company Limited. The technical partner of the program is Mango Tech.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">New Business Age has been organising various award programs. Since last year, it has started a program to honor women entrepreneurs while it has been selecting and awarding the best companies since 2013. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-21', 'modified' => '2021-10-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13907', 'image' => '20211021115401_Logo.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-21 11:53:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14161', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Rastra Bank asks BFIs to Lower Interest on Deposits to Single Digit', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 21: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has asked banks and financial institutions (BFIs) to lower the interest rate on fixed deposit to single digit.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">October 21: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has asked banks and financial institutions (BFIs) to lower the interest rate on fixed deposit to single digit. NRB issued a circular on Wednesday, October 21 suggesting the BFIs to revise the interest rate fixed for November. The central bank also made telephone calls to the CEOs of the BFIs and urged them to lower the interest rate. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Dev Kumar Dhakal, spokesperson of the central bank, informed that he had suggested the CEOs of banks and financial institutions to bring the interest rate to single digit. He said that such suggestions were given to banks and financial institutions not as instructions but as suggestions. "Banks and financial institutions however will not be obliged to follow this suggestion. They can fix the interest rate as per the October 19 directive issued earlier. NRB has issued the circular on Wednesday to control the irregularities in interest rate," he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Banks had started raising interest rates since September due to liquidity crunch. At that time, Sunrise Bank had raised the interest rate on deposits to double digits. Even though Sunrise Bank reduced the interest rates in October, interest rates of other banks have reached double digits. Seven different commercial banks have fixed the interest rate on deposits in double digits.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Following reckless increase in interest rates, NRB on Wednesday asked the banks to revise the interest rate fixed for October.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">NRB has advised commercial banks to set interest rates at 9.3%, development banks at 9.5% and finance companies at 9.6%. Commercial banks with a CD ratio of more than 90 percent have been advised to fix the interest rate up to 9.36%. Banks can also increase interest rates on deposits received through remittance by additional 0.1%.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Accordingly, banks have also started fixing interest rates. Laxmi Bank has revised the maximum interest rate from 11.5% percent to 9.35%. Kumari Bank has reduced the maximum interest rate from 9.81% to 9.36%. And Nepal Bangladesh Bank has reduced the interest rate from 10.28% to 9.36%.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-21', 'modified' => '2021-10-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13906', 'image' => '20211021111345_Banks.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-21 11:12:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14160', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Announces Monetary Relief for Families of Disaster Victims', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 21: The government has decided to provide Rs 200,000 to the families that have lost members in the recent landslides and floods. ', 'content' => '<p><em>Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. Photo: Rss</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 21: The government has decided to provide Rs 200,000 to the families that have lost members in the recent landslides and floods. A meeting of the Council of Ministers on Wednesday also decided provide Rs 300,000 to the families that have lost more than one member to the disaster, informed Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, households with five members who have lost their house in the flood or landslide would be provided Rs 15,000 immediately. In case of more than five family members, the family would get Rs 20,000. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, those injured in the disasters would be provided treatment free of cost. The concerned ministries have been directed to collect details of the loss and damages occurred in various parts of the country due to the unprecedented rainfall that has occurred since the last few days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">All government bodies at federal, province and local levels have been asked to step up rescue and relief works. Similarly, the government thanked those involved voluntarily in the rescue works. -- RSS </span><br /> </span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-21', 'modified' => '2021-10-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13905', 'image' => '20211021082148_ROS-KTM-3554.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-21 08:20:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14159', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Death Toll from Post-Monsoon Disaster Climbs to 88', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 21: At least 88 people have lost their lives in floods, landslides and inundation triggered by unprecedented rainfall in the past few days.', 'content' => '<p><em>Photo Courtesy; RSS</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 21: At least 88 people have lost their lives in floods, landslides and inundation triggered by unprecedented rainfall in the past few days. More than 50 people were reported dead on Wednesday alone. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, 30 people are still missing in the floods and landslides across the country. A total of 22 people have been injured and 27 houses have been completely damaged by the disaster. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government on Wednesday confirmed that 24 people died in landslides in Panchthar, 13 in Ilam and 12 in Doti. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Ministry's Disaster Management Division, one person died in Kalikot, four in Baitadi, one in Dadeldhura, two in Bajhang, six in Humla, one each in Solukhumbu and Pyuthan, seven in Dhankuta, one in Morang, two in Sunsari and two in Udayapur. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, 21 people have gone missing in Bajhang due to floods and landslides. Similarly, one person is missing in Jumla, two in Pyuthan and three in Ilam. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Heavy rains had lashed various parts of Nepal since October 17 following the activation of the rain system. This trend continued till Wednesday. Meteorologists have forecast improvement in weather condition from October 21. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-21', 'modified' => '2021-10-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13904', 'image' => '20211021081239_AKJ-Inaruwa-Duban.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-21 08:11:27', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14156', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Pokhara Packed with 85 Percent of Domestic Tourists', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 20: Pokhara, a major tourist hub in western Nepal, has seen an increase in arrival of domestic tourists.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 20: Pokhara, a major tourist hub in western Nepal, has seen an increase in arrival of domestic tourists.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The lake city, which had been devoid of tourists for the past two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, has seen an increase in arrival of tourists. The growing number of domestic tourists has raised hopes of revival of the tourism industry.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Tourists are flocking to Sarangkot, Kahunkot, Vishwashanti Stupa, Pumdikot, Hudikot, and other places. Besides observing sunrise from these places, tourists are attracted to these places due to the beautiful scenery of the mountain range visible from there.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">President of the Western Region Hotel Association Laxman Subedi said that the arrival of Dashain has brought great relief to the tourism industry of Pokhara.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the past, tourists from different parts of the country used to travel during this period due to the holidays and the closure of educational institutions from Ghatsthapana to Kojagrat Purnima. According to tourism entrepreneurs, the number of tourists has increased due to a fall in Covid-19 cases.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Dharmaraj Panthi, manager of Lakeside-based Hotel Asia, said that about 35 percent of the capacity of the hotel in Pokhara, is now full of domestic tourists. There are about 1000 hotels in Pokhara. Of these, 16 are star hotels.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the wake of the Covid-19 crisis, the big hotels here have announced packages for tourists, which has attracted more tourists than the small and medium hotels. The number of tourists in these hotels has also increased due to various financial institutions and offices organizing seminars and conferences.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Among the tourists entering Pokhara at this time, big hotels are witnessing 50 percent occupancy while small hotels have 25 percent occupancy, said Subedi. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to him, about Rs 400 billion has been invested in hotels in Pokhara so far. According to the current statistics of tourists entering Pokhara, 10 percent are Indian tourists, while other foreign tourists account for 5 percent of the total tourists. Eighty-five percent of the total tourists are domestic tourists. Foreign tourists visit Nepal for trekking and mountaineering from September to December.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sushil Raj Poudel, president of the Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal (TAAN) Western Regional Association, Pokhara, said that 80 percent of the foreign tourists visiting Pokhara go on a trek.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to him, there are sporadic bookings for hiking this season. He informed that domestic tourists go to Ghandruk, Ghorepani, Mardi, Annapurna base camp, Kafuche, Kori, and other places on foot.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Since both government and private offices and companies give advances and bonuses on the occasion of Dashain, most of them use it for traveling. As Pokhara is the first choice of domestic tourists, most of them come to Pokhara to spend 2 to 3 days of their holiday. Tourists visiting Pokhara visit Talabarahi by boat in the shadow of Mt Machhapuchhre and reach places like Sarangkot, Vishwashanti Stupa, and Pumdikot watching the beautiful mountainous landscape.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-20', 'modified' => '2021-10-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13903', 'image' => '20211020114526_20191017121120_1571271950.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-20 11:44:37', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14158', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tourists Stranded as Landslide Disrupts Nayapul-Ghandruk Road', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 20: Tourists have been stranded on the way when the road leading to Annapurna rural municipality-11, Ghandruk – a prime destination for tourists in the district – remained obstructed due to landslides. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 20: Tourists have been stranded on the way when the road leading to Annapurna rural municipality-11, Ghandruk – a prime destination for tourists in the district – remained obstructed due to landslides. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Spokesperson of District Police Office Kaski DSP Subash Hamal informed that the vehicular movement has come to a halt with the disruption of Nayapul-Ghandruk road. He further shared that the road traffic has been disrupted after landslides took place at Sadi Rivulet of Annapurna-10 at 10.00 pm last night. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Following the obstruction of the road, tourists heading to base camp from Pokhara via Ghandruk have been stranded on the way. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, vehicles moving to Ghandruk from Pokhara are being parked at Birethanti after traffic disruption. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Police sources said that it would take some time to clear off the debris. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to tourism entrepreneurs, inflow of domestic tourists heading to different destinations including Ghandruk had immoderately gone up with the onset of Dashain. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Tourism entrepreneur Kisam Gurung said Ghandruk that remained almost void for long time due to corionavirus has now been filled with domestic tourists. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Ghandruk is the main tourism destination within the Annapurna Conservation Area and is also the gateway to Annapurna Base Camp. --RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-20', 'modified' => '2021-10-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13902', 'image' => '20211020011050_1634599881.4.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-20 13:10:02', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
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Similarly, development banks and finance companies have set a maximum interest rate of 9.5% and 9.6% respectively.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Seven commercial banks had maintained interest rates in double digits to resolve the problem of liquidity crisis. Sunrise Bank had raised the interest rate on deposits to 11.10%. Likewise, some other commercial banks, development banks and finance companies had also raised interest rates to double digits. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In fact banks had started raising interest rates since September due to the liquidity crunch. In September, Sunrise Bank had raised the interest rate to 10.07%. Though Sunrise Bank had lowered the interest rate in October, majority of banks had raised it to double digits. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Following the reckless increase of interest rates, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had BFIs to revise the interest rate fixed for October. The central bank also made telephone calls to the chief executive oficers of banks and financial institutions on Wednesday and asked them to revise the interest rate limit.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Bhuwan Dahal, President of the Nepal Bankers' Association said that the interest rate on deposits has been lowered to single digit as per the policy of the central bank. “As banks started to raise interest rates, discussion over interest rate stability ensued. And banks were also pressurized to make changes to interest rates after NRB issued the directive,” said Dahal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He added that with the reduction in interest rates, it will be easier for entrepreneurs to conduct business. "As interest rate on deposits falls, so does the interest rate on loans." In this case, it will be more convenient for those who do business on loans,” he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Dahal further said that drop in interest rates would challenge some banks to maintain the CD ratio at 90 percent. "Banks with a CD ratio of above 90% may face problems after interest rates fall. In such a situation, NRB needs to provide support to those banks and other banks and financial institutions may also have to help by buying loans," Dahal said. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-22', 'modified' => '2021-10-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13916', 'image' => '20211022121629_Banks.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-22 12:15:47', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14169', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Relief Distribution Ineffective due to Lack of Work Procedure', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 22: The government’s program to distribute Rs 5 billion to 500,000 households before Dashain has been affected as the work procedure has not been approved by the Council of Ministers yet.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">October 22: The government’s program to distribute Rs 5 billion to 500,000 households before Dashain has been affected as the work procedure has not been approved by the Council of Ministers yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The replacement budget brought by the present government led by Sher Bahadur Deuba had provision to distribute Rs 5 billion to poor families.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Finance Minister Janardan Sharma had prepared a work procedure for the distribution of the relief and submitted it to the Council of Ministers. The Council of Ministers could not pass the proposal of the Finance Minister as the work procedure could not clarify the definition of poor households and the exact figures.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Spokesperson of the Ministry of Finance Ritesh Shakya said that the program could not be implemented even after Dashain as the work procedure could not be approved by the Council of Ministers. According to him, the program will be implemented as soon as the procedure is approved. “We are waiting for the decision of the cabinet,” he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to sources at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, the government had tried to distribution the relief amount on the basis of data of the National Planning Commission. However, the National Planning Commission has only the data of pre-Covid-19 period. Although the commission has been saying that it will study the impact of Covid-19, it has not been able to come out with a concrete report yet.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Amid the pandemic, the NPC had released a data on the basis of a study conducted last year. According to the study, 5 million people in Nepal are below the multidimensional poverty line.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The government had planned to distribute money to the poor based on the assumption that there would be at least five members in a family. The government relief aimed to help 2.5 million people from 500,000 households.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">However, the Council of Ministers has not approved the work procedure proposed by Minister Sharma, saying that the money should be distributed only on the basis of the latest data, that means, it should also address the poverty created by Covid-19.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Economist Keshav Acharya says that the program could not be implemented because it was made public without proper study. According to him, if the government had first identified the poor and announced the program, there would have been no problem.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-22', 'modified' => '2021-10-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13915', 'image' => '20211022120614_20211003031124_new_logo.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-22 12:05:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14171', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Duhabi Substation Resumes Operation', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 22: The 132 kV substation situated in Duhabi of Sunsari district has finally come into operation after 38 hours of blackout. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 22: The 132 kV substation situated in Duhabi of Sunsari district has finally come into operation after 38 hours of blackout. The power that got cut off on Tuesday night was restored on Thursday.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Duhabi substation had been inundated after following a heavy rainfall in the area. The substation had been out of operation since Tuesday. The work of removal of water from the substation had been going on continuously after the power got cut off.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Our team's day-to-day work, help from local level, administration, security and support from the local residents helped us in removing water from the substation,” said Executive Director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), Kulman Ghising. “We are now supplying electricity to the area by gradually charging the lines extended from the Duhabi substation.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Duhabi station is the main substation that supplies electricity to the districts of Province 1. The electricity supply of the districts; Morang, Sunsari, Jhapa, Ilam, Panchthar, Taplejung, Dhankuta, Terhathum, Sakhuwasabha and Bhojpur etc. had been cut off after the Duhabi station went out of operation.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">With the operation of the substation, power supply to most of the places has already resumed.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA Duhabi Grid Branch Chief, Rajesh Regmi informed that they have succeeded in charging the substation by adopting necessary safety measures as there was no major damage to the equipment. The capacity of four power transformers in the substation is 219 MVA.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the Attaria (Kailali) -Chamelia (Darchula) 132 KV transmission line, which was closed due to falling of trees in various places due to rains, has also come into operation. The transmission line has come into operation from Thursday after removal of the obstruction.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Power supply resumed in most parts of the hill districts of the far west as soon as the transmission line came into operation.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-22', 'modified' => '2021-10-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13914', 'image' => '20211022122122_NEA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-22 12:20:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14168', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Industries in Sunsari-Morang Corridor Inundated', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 22: Most of the industries in the Sunsari-Morang Industrial Corridor have reportedly sustained damages worth millions of rupees due to the post-monsoon floods, according to a preliminary estimate.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 22: Most of the industries in the Sunsari-Morang Industrial Corridor have reportedly sustained damages worth millions of rupees due to the post-monsoon floods, according to a preliminary estimate.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chamber of Industries Morang has started collecting data on the damage caused by floods.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chairman of the Chamber of Industries Morang, Suyash Raj Pyakurel, said that most of the industries in the Sunsari Morang Industrial Corridor were damaged by the floods but he was not sure about the extent of damage. "We are collecting data from the industrialists. We will make public the details of the damage in two to three days," said Pyakurel.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Pyakurel said that the data could not be released immediately as the industrialists are currently preoccupied with removing water out of the industry, protecting the raw materials and finished goods that have been submerged in the water. According to him, about 80 percent of the industries in the Sunsari-Morang Industrial Corridor have been flooded. Many industrialists are now busy pumping water outside the factory.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chief Executive Officer of the Morang Trade Association Krishna Regmi said that most of the industries in Budhi Ganga, Duhabi, Sonapur, Itahari and Katahari areas of Morang were damaged by the floodwaters. He informed that most of the industries have stopped production due to inundation. According to Regmi, machinery, motors, tools, raw materials, packaging materials, warehouse, finished goods, and means of transportation have all sustained damages.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nabal Kishor Kabra, provincial vice-president of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries and operator of Quality Biscuits, estimated that his industry might have suffered loss of more than Rs 50 million. Stating that water is being pumped out by installing six pumps in the industrial area on Thursday, he said that it would take one week to collect the details of the damage.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Director-General of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries, Vijay Hari Sharma, said that the industrial sector has lost tens of millions of rupees due to the recent flooding. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The industrialists have drawn the attention of the Chairman of the Insurance Board not to delay the payment of the insurance amount as the industries have had to bear massive losses due to the floods.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-22', 'modified' => '2021-10-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13913', 'image' => '20211022113512_Chamber of industries morang new.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-22 11:34:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14167', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Four Foreigners Stranded in Humla Rescued ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 22: Seven tourists including four foreigners who were stranded at Tumling of Namkha rural municipality in north Humla have been rescued by a helicopter. ', 'content' => '<p><em><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Stranded tourists arrive at Simikot Airport in Humla after being rescued from Tumling on Thursday. Photo: RSS</span></span></em></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 22: Seven tourists including four foreigners who were stranded at Tumling of Namkha rural municipality in north Humla have been rescued by a helicopter. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They were airlifted to Simkot from Tumling on Thursday. They had been stuck there due to heavy snowfall for three days. Four Slovenians and their three Nepali trekking guides were stranded there as they could not trek through the Nyalu pass. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The rescued Slovenians include three males Bernik Stojen, Grosoj Viktor, Kotinok Lvam and one female Lapanja Castellic Danijela. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They have been rescued by Air Dynasty chopper and brought to Simkot, the headquarters of Humla district. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">They had reportedly been trekking towards Limi area from Simkot since the last 13 days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, six other Nepalis who were stranded at Tumling with them will travel on foot and on mules towards Simkot with the improvement in weather, said Asim Tamang, one of the Nepali trekking guides. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-22', 'modified' => '2021-10-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13912', 'image' => '20211022081229_DB_Simkot-1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-22 08:11:22', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14166', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Post-Monsoon Death Toll Rises to 101', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October: At least 101 people have been killed in floods and landslides triggered by heavy rainfall in different parts of the country.', 'content' => '<p><em>A passenger bus met with an accident at Janata Chowk of Sunsari district along the East West Highway due to flooding. Photo: RSS</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 22: At least 101 people have been killed in floods and landslides triggered by heavy rainfall in different parts of the country. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Nepal Police, 60 people were killed in the landslide in province-1, one in Bagmati, seven in Karnali, 31 in the Sudurpaschim and two in Lumbini</span><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">. </span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A total of 41 people have gone missing in the floods, including 13 in Province-1, one in Province-2, three in Lumbini, one in Karnali and 23 in Far-Western Province. A search for the missing is underway, said Senior Superintendent of Police Basant Bahadur Kunwar. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, 19 people have been injured in province-1, four in Karnali and 17 in the Sudurpaschim. The injured are being treated at local medical facilities. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Altogether 2,232 houses have been inundated due to the floods. The floods and landslides have reportedly damaged 49 houses, eight cowsheds, six bridges and three government offices. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">So far, 139 livestock have perished in the recent disaster. During this period, 1,177 families have been displaced by the floods and landslides. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, police personnel are working to evacuate the people at risk of floods and landslides in different districts. Security forces are working in coordination with various agencies and locals. Work is also underway to remove roadblocks at various places, Nepal Police said. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-22', 'modified' => '2021-10-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13911', 'image' => '20211022080344_AKJ-Inaruwa-Bus (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-22 08:00:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14165', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Two Mega Cement Industries to get Electricity from NEA', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 21: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) will provide electricity to two large cement industries with foreign investment. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 21: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) will provide electricity to two large cement industries with foreign investment. Hongsi Shivam Cement, which started commercial production using diesel, is getting electricity after three years, while Huasin Cement which is currently under construction will also get electricity.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The switching station at Siddhalek in Dhading under the Marsyangdi-Suchatar 132 kV transmission line has been charged to provide electricity to Huasin Cement, which is preparing to start trial production by the end of October. NEA spokesperson Suresh Bahadur Bhattarai said that the industry will be supplied electricity as soon as it completes the construction of the substation.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Suraj Vaidya, the Nepali investment partner of Huasin Cement which is under construction in Dhading, said that the industry has prepared the necessary substations for electricity.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that the industry has already built the substation itself, Vaidiya said that preparations have been made for testing the electricity. Stating that the target is to produce 3,000 metric tonnes of cement daily, Vaidya informed that the necessary machines have been installed in the industry.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said that the industry will use maximum manpower from within the country. The industry has demanded 20 MW of electricity.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The two cement industries – Hongsi and Huasin – will consume 52 MW of electricity. Hongsi Shivam Cement, which operates in Nawalparasi, has already demanded 32 MW of electricity from NEA. It is said that Hongsi, which has been producing cement commercially since June 2075, will get electricity before or after the upcoming festival of Tihar.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Bardaghat-Sardi (132 kV) transmission line project under Nepal Electricity Authority will provide electricity to the cement industry with an investment of Rs 36 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although the project had set a target of supplying electricity to the industry in April 2076 BS, the transmission line was disrupted due to felling of trees, tower management, and the coronavirus.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Project Chief Hari Pandey said that the industry would get electricity immediately before or after the upcoming festival.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Even if the electricity supply is delayed for a few days due to the recent rainfall, the industry will get electricity within this month." </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hongsi Cement Industry officials said they are preparing to double the production as soon as they get electricity. The official also informed that investment will be added to double the production.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the first phase, the industry, which is currently producing 6,000 metric tonnes of cement per day, will double its investment depending on the quality of electricity and produce 1,200 metric tonnes of cement per day.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-21', 'modified' => '2021-10-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13910', 'image' => '20211021015438_20150820120744_cn.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-21 13:53:49', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14164', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Weather Expected to Improve with the Exit of Rain-Causing System ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 21: The weather has improved throughout the country with the withdrawal of the rain-causing system from the eastern part of the country.', 'content' => '<p><em>Mt Dhaulagiri seen in this recent picture. Photo Courtesy: RSS</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 21: The weather has improved throughout the country with the withdrawal of the rain-causing system from the eastern part of the country. Most of the areas across the country including Kathmandu Valley have witnessed sunny weather since the morning today (October 21). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Senior meteorologist Barun Poudel said another weather system will not likely develop in four or five days from now. The combined influence of the low pressure system over Bihar of India and the westerly system had caused heavy rainfall from October 17 to 20. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although this rain-causing system has exited at present, its general influence is witnessed in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"Such system leaves behind water vapour and moisture. That's why clouds are seen in some places and fog in some places. There are also chances of intermittent rain at some places," he said, adding that this will however not make big impact. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Department of Hydrology and Meteorology under the Meteorological Forecasting Division said the weather is partly to generally cloudy throughout the country with light rainfall taking place at one or two places of Province 1 and Bagmati Province. There is possibility of light rain at a few places of Province 1, Bagmati and Gandaki provinces, and at one or two places of the rest of the provinces. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It will be partly to generally cloudy throughout the country tonight. There is possibility of light rain at few places of Province 1 and Gandaki Province, and at one or two places of the rest of the provinces. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The unseasonal rainfall which occurred after the monsoon had withdrawn caused heavy loss of life and property in more than 20 different districts. It destroyed the physical infrastructures and also caused heavy damage to the paddy crop that was ready for harvest. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-21', 'modified' => '2021-10-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13909', 'image' => '20211021013649_ds-galeshower-kudulebatadekhiyakodhaulagirihimal.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-21 13:35:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14163', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Flood Inundates Biratnagar Airport, Making Flights Uncertain', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 21: Most of the areas of Morang district that fall in the Terai region have been flooded. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">October 21: Most of the areas of Morang district that fall in the Terai region have been flooded. Continuous rainfall since the last few days has caused inundation of many places including Biratnagar, where a 323 mm rainfall has been recorded.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">As a consequence of heavy rainfall, the Basta River near Biratnagar Airport has been flooded; causing the water to seep into the airport’s runway. Now, the runway of Biratnagar airport is inundated with two feet of water. A total of 21 scheduled flights have been suspended from Wednesday for an indefinite period of time.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">An engineer of Buddha Air informed New Business Age that the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has issued a notice to airmen (NOTAM) about the closure of airport. He further said that Buddha Air plans to bring back the airport later on Thursday if the situation improves but the company will not bring back any passengers. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The aircraft of Buddha Air and Shree Air had to be taken to a higher part of the airport towards the east after their wheels got submerged into the water. Dozens of houses in wards 4, 5, 12 and 16 of the metropolitan city, including the airport, have been submerged due to the flooding of Basta and Kesaliya rivers situated near the airport.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to airport chief Utsav Raj Kharel, all flights scheduled for Wednesday have been suspended as one kilometer of the runway has been submerged into the flood water. Up to three feet high water has flooded all areas including the terminal building, immigration and VIP lounge of the airport.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Kharel informed that the last flights of Buddha and Shree Air could not take off on Tuesday evening due to the inundation. Kharel also stated that it is not certain when the flight will resume due to the prevalence of water on the runway.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Province 1 has been into darkness due to absence of electricity since Tuesday night. The electricity had been cut off after water got into a section of the NEA’s Duhabi grid. The NEA's Provincial Office No. 1 has informed that the work of removing water from the section of the grid is going on. The office has also informed that the power would be restored only after studying the extent of damage caused by the water and making all the necessary repairs.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The floods have compelled 1,000 families to be displaced in Biratnagar metropolitan city, said the metropolitan chief Bhim Parajuli. He said all of the families were kept in schools and public places.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to Police Chief SP Jarnadan GC, 1,500 people from 565 families have been displaced by the floods in the district. The floods have affected Katahari, Jahada, Thanpalathan, Rangeli, Ratuwamai and Sunvarshi municipalities, including Biratnagar metropolitan city.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-21', 'modified' => '2021-10-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13908', 'image' => '20211021125556_hqdefault.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-21 12:55:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14162', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NewBiz to organise ‘Startup Summit and Awards’ in November', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 21: New Business Age is all set to organise the ‘Kumari Bank NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards’ on November 26.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 21: New Business Age is all set to organise the ‘Kumari Bank NewBiz Startup Summit and Awards’ on November 26. The slogan of this year’s award is ‘Search for Nepali Unicorn’. There is an international practice of referring to a startup with business of more than Rs 1 billion as unicorn.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Entrepreneurs with new ideas will be selected and awarded with cash prizes of Rs 400,000 in order to encourage them.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to New Business Age Pvt. Ltd, details of more than 1,500 startup businesses from all seven provinces have been collected. Startups who want to participate in the award can also register their names by visiting the link available on the website of Aarthik Abhiyan and New Business Age not later than November 1. In particular, entrepreneurs who have been doing a new venture for the past three years by registering a company and those who have not completed seven years of registration have been selected for the awards ceremony.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">New Business Age is organizing an interactive training programme through virtual medium on October 29 in the run-up to the main event, where existing and aspiring startups and young entrepreneurs can participate. Among them, the best ones will be selected by November 16. As per the organisers, a jury of independent experts has been formed for the selection and the process has already started.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Madan Lamsal, chairman of New Business Age Pvt Ltd, said that the main purpose of organizing this programme is to help the entrepreneurs with new ideas to rise up. According to him, at a time while the government, the central bank and others are encouraging such entrepreneurs, the private sector is also looking to extend a helping hand. New Business Age believes such awards will help the startups to grow.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The main sponsor of NewBiz Startup Summit and Award is Kumari Bank Limited and the co-sponsor is Garima Bikas Bank Limited. Likewise, the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry is the 'associate partner'. Similarly, the award programme has been supported by IME and NLG Insurance Company Limited. The technical partner of the program is Mango Tech.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">New Business Age has been organising various award programs. Since last year, it has started a program to honor women entrepreneurs while it has been selecting and awarding the best companies since 2013. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-21', 'modified' => '2021-10-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13907', 'image' => '20211021115401_Logo.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-21 11:53:19', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14161', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Rastra Bank asks BFIs to Lower Interest on Deposits to Single Digit', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 21: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has asked banks and financial institutions (BFIs) to lower the interest rate on fixed deposit to single digit.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">October 21: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has asked banks and financial institutions (BFIs) to lower the interest rate on fixed deposit to single digit. NRB issued a circular on Wednesday, October 21 suggesting the BFIs to revise the interest rate fixed for November. The central bank also made telephone calls to the CEOs of the BFIs and urged them to lower the interest rate. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Dev Kumar Dhakal, spokesperson of the central bank, informed that he had suggested the CEOs of banks and financial institutions to bring the interest rate to single digit. He said that such suggestions were given to banks and financial institutions not as instructions but as suggestions. "Banks and financial institutions however will not be obliged to follow this suggestion. They can fix the interest rate as per the October 19 directive issued earlier. NRB has issued the circular on Wednesday to control the irregularities in interest rate," he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Banks had started raising interest rates since September due to liquidity crunch. At that time, Sunrise Bank had raised the interest rate on deposits to double digits. Even though Sunrise Bank reduced the interest rates in October, interest rates of other banks have reached double digits. Seven different commercial banks have fixed the interest rate on deposits in double digits.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Following reckless increase in interest rates, NRB on Wednesday asked the banks to revise the interest rate fixed for October.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">NRB has advised commercial banks to set interest rates at 9.3%, development banks at 9.5% and finance companies at 9.6%. Commercial banks with a CD ratio of more than 90 percent have been advised to fix the interest rate up to 9.36%. Banks can also increase interest rates on deposits received through remittance by additional 0.1%.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Accordingly, banks have also started fixing interest rates. Laxmi Bank has revised the maximum interest rate from 11.5% percent to 9.35%. Kumari Bank has reduced the maximum interest rate from 9.81% to 9.36%. And Nepal Bangladesh Bank has reduced the interest rate from 10.28% to 9.36%.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-21', 'modified' => '2021-10-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13906', 'image' => '20211021111345_Banks.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-21 11:12:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14160', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Announces Monetary Relief for Families of Disaster Victims', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 21: The government has decided to provide Rs 200,000 to the families that have lost members in the recent landslides and floods. ', 'content' => '<p><em>Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. Photo: Rss</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 21: The government has decided to provide Rs 200,000 to the families that have lost members in the recent landslides and floods. A meeting of the Council of Ministers on Wednesday also decided provide Rs 300,000 to the families that have lost more than one member to the disaster, informed Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, households with five members who have lost their house in the flood or landslide would be provided Rs 15,000 immediately. In case of more than five family members, the family would get Rs 20,000. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, those injured in the disasters would be provided treatment free of cost. The concerned ministries have been directed to collect details of the loss and damages occurred in various parts of the country due to the unprecedented rainfall that has occurred since the last few days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">All government bodies at federal, province and local levels have been asked to step up rescue and relief works. Similarly, the government thanked those involved voluntarily in the rescue works. -- RSS </span><br /> </span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-21', 'modified' => '2021-10-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13905', 'image' => '20211021082148_ROS-KTM-3554.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-21 08:20:53', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14159', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Death Toll from Post-Monsoon Disaster Climbs to 88', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 21: At least 88 people have lost their lives in floods, landslides and inundation triggered by unprecedented rainfall in the past few days.', 'content' => '<p><em>Photo Courtesy; RSS</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 21: At least 88 people have lost their lives in floods, landslides and inundation triggered by unprecedented rainfall in the past few days. More than 50 people were reported dead on Wednesday alone. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, 30 people are still missing in the floods and landslides across the country. A total of 22 people have been injured and 27 houses have been completely damaged by the disaster. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government on Wednesday confirmed that 24 people died in landslides in Panchthar, 13 in Ilam and 12 in Doti. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Ministry's Disaster Management Division, one person died in Kalikot, four in Baitadi, one in Dadeldhura, two in Bajhang, six in Humla, one each in Solukhumbu and Pyuthan, seven in Dhankuta, one in Morang, two in Sunsari and two in Udayapur. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, 21 people have gone missing in Bajhang due to floods and landslides. Similarly, one person is missing in Jumla, two in Pyuthan and three in Ilam. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Heavy rains had lashed various parts of Nepal since October 17 following the activation of the rain system. This trend continued till Wednesday. Meteorologists have forecast improvement in weather condition from October 21. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-21', 'modified' => '2021-10-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13904', 'image' => '20211021081239_AKJ-Inaruwa-Duban.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-21 08:11:27', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14156', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Pokhara Packed with 85 Percent of Domestic Tourists', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 20: Pokhara, a major tourist hub in western Nepal, has seen an increase in arrival of domestic tourists.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 20: Pokhara, a major tourist hub in western Nepal, has seen an increase in arrival of domestic tourists.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The lake city, which had been devoid of tourists for the past two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, has seen an increase in arrival of tourists. The growing number of domestic tourists has raised hopes of revival of the tourism industry.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Tourists are flocking to Sarangkot, Kahunkot, Vishwashanti Stupa, Pumdikot, Hudikot, and other places. Besides observing sunrise from these places, tourists are attracted to these places due to the beautiful scenery of the mountain range visible from there.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">President of the Western Region Hotel Association Laxman Subedi said that the arrival of Dashain has brought great relief to the tourism industry of Pokhara.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the past, tourists from different parts of the country used to travel during this period due to the holidays and the closure of educational institutions from Ghatsthapana to Kojagrat Purnima. According to tourism entrepreneurs, the number of tourists has increased due to a fall in Covid-19 cases.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Dharmaraj Panthi, manager of Lakeside-based Hotel Asia, said that about 35 percent of the capacity of the hotel in Pokhara, is now full of domestic tourists. There are about 1000 hotels in Pokhara. Of these, 16 are star hotels.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the wake of the Covid-19 crisis, the big hotels here have announced packages for tourists, which has attracted more tourists than the small and medium hotels. The number of tourists in these hotels has also increased due to various financial institutions and offices organizing seminars and conferences.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Among the tourists entering Pokhara at this time, big hotels are witnessing 50 percent occupancy while small hotels have 25 percent occupancy, said Subedi. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to him, about Rs 400 billion has been invested in hotels in Pokhara so far. According to the current statistics of tourists entering Pokhara, 10 percent are Indian tourists, while other foreign tourists account for 5 percent of the total tourists. Eighty-five percent of the total tourists are domestic tourists. Foreign tourists visit Nepal for trekking and mountaineering from September to December.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sushil Raj Poudel, president of the Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal (TAAN) Western Regional Association, Pokhara, said that 80 percent of the foreign tourists visiting Pokhara go on a trek.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to him, there are sporadic bookings for hiking this season. He informed that domestic tourists go to Ghandruk, Ghorepani, Mardi, Annapurna base camp, Kafuche, Kori, and other places on foot.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Since both government and private offices and companies give advances and bonuses on the occasion of Dashain, most of them use it for traveling. As Pokhara is the first choice of domestic tourists, most of them come to Pokhara to spend 2 to 3 days of their holiday. Tourists visiting Pokhara visit Talabarahi by boat in the shadow of Mt Machhapuchhre and reach places like Sarangkot, Vishwashanti Stupa, and Pumdikot watching the beautiful mountainous landscape.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-20', 'modified' => '2021-10-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13903', 'image' => '20211020114526_20191017121120_1571271950.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-20 11:44:37', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14158', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tourists Stranded as Landslide Disrupts Nayapul-Ghandruk Road', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 20: Tourists have been stranded on the way when the road leading to Annapurna rural municipality-11, Ghandruk – a prime destination for tourists in the district – remained obstructed due to landslides. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 20: Tourists have been stranded on the way when the road leading to Annapurna rural municipality-11, Ghandruk – a prime destination for tourists in the district – remained obstructed due to landslides. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Spokesperson of District Police Office Kaski DSP Subash Hamal informed that the vehicular movement has come to a halt with the disruption of Nayapul-Ghandruk road. He further shared that the road traffic has been disrupted after landslides took place at Sadi Rivulet of Annapurna-10 at 10.00 pm last night. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Following the obstruction of the road, tourists heading to base camp from Pokhara via Ghandruk have been stranded on the way. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, vehicles moving to Ghandruk from Pokhara are being parked at Birethanti after traffic disruption. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Police sources said that it would take some time to clear off the debris. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to tourism entrepreneurs, inflow of domestic tourists heading to different destinations including Ghandruk had immoderately gone up with the onset of Dashain. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Tourism entrepreneur Kisam Gurung said Ghandruk that remained almost void for long time due to corionavirus has now been filled with domestic tourists. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Ghandruk is the main tourism destination within the Annapurna Conservation Area and is also the gateway to Annapurna Base Camp. --RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-20', 'modified' => '2021-10-20', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13902', 'image' => '20211020011050_1634599881.4.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-20 13:10:02', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
| Currency | Unit |
Buy | Sell |
| U.S. Dollar | 1 | 121.23 | 121.83 |
| European Euro | 1 | 131.65 | 132.31 |
| UK Pound Sterling | 1 | 142.47 | 143.18 |
| Swiss Franc | 1 | 124.29 | 124.90 |
| Australian Dollar | 1 | 71.69 | 72.05 |
| Canadian Dollar | 1 | 83.90 | 84.32 |
| Japanese Yen | 10 | 10.94 | 11.00 |
| Chinese Yuan | 1 | 17.17 | 17.26 |
| Saudi Arabian Riyal | 1 | 32.27 | 32.43 |
| UAE Dirham | 1 | 33.01 | 33.17 |
| Malaysian Ringgit | 1 | 27.36 | 27.50 |
| South Korean Won | 100 | 9.77 | 9.82 |
Update: 2020-03-25 | Source: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)
| Fine Gold | 1 tola | 77000.00 |
| Tejabi Gold | 1 tola | 76700.00 |
| Silver | 1 tola | 720.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
Source: Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association
| Petrol | 1 Liter | 106.00 |
| Diesel | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| Kerosene | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| LP Gas | 1 Cylinder | 1375.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
