June 25: Employees of banks and financial institutions (BFIs) have demanded voluntary participation in the government’s Social Security Fund (SSF) instead of mandatory…
June 25: Employees of banks and financial institutions (BFIs) have demanded voluntary participation in the government’s Social Security Fund (SSF) instead of mandatory…
June 24: Two state-owned companies, Food Management and Trading Company Limited and Salt Trading Corporation, have sold food items worth more than Rs 75 million at a discount of 20…
June 24: The project office of Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP) has yet to ascertain the extent of damage caused by the floods last week as the technical team that went to inspect the damage at the project site could not reach the headworks area at…
June 24: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has filed a corruption case against the then Chairman of Tax Clearance Commission, Lumbadhwoj Mahat, and members Umesh Prasad Dhakal and Chudamani Sharma.…
June 24: The government has decided to resume domestic flights from July 1.…
June 24: The World Health Organization (WHO) Nepal has refuted the claims that a ‘mix and match’ regimen for Vero Cell and AstraZeneca CoviShield Vaccine would yield more effective results.…
June 23: Minister for Finance Bishnu Prasad Poudel has urged hoteliers and tourism entrepreneurs to benefit from the subsidy given by the government.…
June 23: The Investment Board Nepal has approved foreign investment of Rs 97…
June 22: The Supreme Court has stayed the decision of President Bidya Devi Bhandari to appoint 20 new ministers in the cabinet after the dissolution of the House of…
June 23: The government has decided to resume domestic and international flights by adopting safety measures and protocols.…
June 22: It has been found that the transport entrepreneurs have been charging three times more than the normal fare for passengers entering and leaving the Kathmandu Valley for urgent work during the current crisis of…
June 22: Farmers in different districts are busy planting paddy amid the dire situation of the coronavirus pandemic.…
June 22: The number of Nepali migrant workers leaving for foreign employment has witnessed a sharp decline due to the second wave of COVID-19…
June 22: The district administration offices in the Kathmandu Valley have eased the lockdown enforced to contain the second wave of coronavirus.…
June 22: The government has formed a probe committee to investigate extra fare charged by travel agencies to passengers of international flights.…
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They have expressed objection toward mandatory participation after the central bank directed BFIs to join the SSF mandatorily.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Various associations of BFI employees have accused the government of compelling BFIs to participate by submitting false details of their participation. Varun Khadka, treasurer of Nepal Financial Institution Employees Union, has expressed dissatisfaction over the mandatory participation in SSF. According to him, most of the employees of banks and financial institutions are not interested in joining SSF. He said that lack of uniformity in SSF's rules and procedure has created reservations among the employees.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">He said that the unwanted pressure to include SSF in the social security scheme would not be acceptable as joining SSF would also deprive them of existing perks and facilities.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">He fears that the government is intending to transfer billions of rupees of employees accumulated since the last 10 to 20 years in the Employee Provident Fund to the SSF. This mandatory provision has compelled many employees of BFIs to tender their resignations.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Roshan Koirala, head of Nabil Bank’s human resources department, said that around six employees have already resigned due to this very reason. According to him, there are many issues of the SSF work procedure and the related Act that do not match. Amendment of only the work procedure does not make sense. SSF work procedure states that all funds of Employee Provident Fund should be kept in the SSF but the same thing is not mentioned in the SSF Act, so employees are resigning due to lack of security.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">It would be more beneficial to deposit their money in banks' fixed deposit rather than joining SSF, he said. Nabil Bank is currently holding discussions over the issue of participation in SSF.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Bank and financial sector employees say that the SSF discriminates against the government and private sector employees in terms of social security facilities.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to Saroj Kaji Tuladhar, president of the Nepal Financial Institutions Association, the monthly pension is the amount earned by dividing the amount deposited by the workers during the service period by 160. But, this amount is much less for the private sector employees than that provisioned for the government employees.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Employees are required to contribute 31 percent of their monthly salary to the social security fund, but government employees are required to contribute 6 percent to the pension fund while the government contributes 100 percent. Tuladhar said that private sector employees don’t receive pension equivalent to their contribution. So it is not appropriate to compel private sector employees to join SSF. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Kapil Mani Gyawali, Executive Director of the SSF, said that the work procedure has been amended to accommodate everyone and will be amended in the future as well when needed. According to him, the ministry has formulated the work procedure on the recommendation of the SSF board using the authority provided by Article 70 of the Act. He claims that the second amendment to the work procedure has addressed the grievances of the contributors. However it is not possible to make any decision yet regarding the voluntary participation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Nepal Bankers' Association had also submitted an application to the Ministry of Labor and the SSF two weeks ago objecting to some provisions. Anil Sharma, Executive Director of the Association, said that they have urged the concerned bodies to make the provisions reasonable and participation voluntary. He said that it is not justifiable to ask to choose SSF pension fund by mid-July.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the SSF, only a small number of commercial banks, development banks, finance and microfinance institutions have participated in the fund. So far, 2246 employees of 10 out of 27 commercial banks have been registered. Banks including Laxmi Bank, Prime Commercial Bank, Mega Bank, Nepal Credit and Commerce (NCC) Bank and Global IME Bank are listed. Three out of 18 development banks, 11 out of 20 finance companies and 40 out of 72 microfinance institutions have been registered. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-25', 'modified' => '2021-06-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13331', 'image' => '20210625125128_20210215042205_20200401094426_1585693701.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-25 12:50:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13584', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Foodstuff worth more than 70 Million sold by 2 Government Entities during Prohibitory Period ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 24: Two state-owned companies, Food Management and Trading Company Limited and Salt Trading Corporation, have sold food items worth more than Rs 75 million at a discount of 20 percent.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">June 24: Two state-owned companies, Food Management and Trading Company Limited and Salt Trading Corporation, have sold food items worth more than Rs 75 million at a discount of 20 percent. The government in the budget for FY 2021/22 had announced a 20 percent discount on food sold by these two companies.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">As announced by the government in the budget, the companies provided a 20 percent discount on the prices of food items including rice, nuts, and sugar from June 7. Both the companies have sold food items worth Rs 78.3 million as of June 19.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The Food Management and Trading Company has sold 12,488 quintals of food worth Rs 69.1 million. Sharmila Subedi, information officer of the company, informed that they gave a discount of Rs 13.8 million. A total of 41,174 households have been estimated to have benefitted from the discounts.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">In the meantime, Salt Trading Corporation has sold food items worth Rs 9.1 million and provided a discount of Rs 1.8 million. A total of 1.52 million households have benefitted from the exemption given by Salt Trading Corporation, said Kumar Raj Bhandari, spokesperson of the corporation.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The Food Management and Trading Company gave discounts on Karnali beans, sugar, and rice except for Marcy and Basmati rice, while the Salt Trading Corporation offered discounts on items like salt, sugar, flour, cooking oil, and cooking gas. Both the companies have discontinued the 20 percent discount offer after the prohibitory order was eased on Tuesday, June 22.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">"We have stopped giving the discount after the government instructed us to postpone the waiver program for the time being," said Bhandari.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-24', 'modified' => '2021-06-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13330', 'image' => '20210624020623_20201123043159_92926.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-24 14:05:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13585', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Technical Team Finds it Difficult to Ascertain the Damage of Melamchi Water Supply Project.', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 24: The project office of Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP) has yet to ascertain the extent of damage caused by the floods last week as the technical team that went to inspect the damage at the project site could not reach the headworks area at Ambathan', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">June 24: The project office of Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP) has yet to ascertain the extent of damage caused by the floods last week as the technical team that went to inspect the damage at the project site could not reach the headworks area at Ambathan in Helambu Rural Municipality-1. A six-member team led by Madhav Nepal, senior divisional engineer of the project, had visited Ambathan. However, Rajendra Prasad Pant, the spokesperson of the Melamchi Water Supply Development Board, informed that the team could not assess the headworks and returned from Kiul.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">"A technical team is at the site to ascertain the extent of damage, but they could not reach the headworks. It would have been easier to plan if the team could ascertain the damage,” informed Pant. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The headworks of MWSP at Ambathan is about 5 km away from Kiul. The team could not reach the headworks due to continuous floods and rainfall.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">All the temporary structures of the headworks have been washed away due to the flood. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">"The headworks appears to be submerged," Pant said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to Pant, the retaining wall on the left is not visible, and the team was unable to calculate the damage done to the headworks to analyze the time and resources needed for its reconstruction.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The team had to cross four bridges to reach the structure, which is 21 km away from Melamchi Bazaar. He said that only a preliminary estimate of the damage was made, as the team could not reach the site. According to him, the damage is estimated to be around Rs 1 billion. The inspection of tunnel of the MWSP was scheduled to be completed in two months.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">"The inspection work has been affected due to the floods. The Ambathan tunnel is reported to be filled with sand," Pant said. He informed that the project office is coordinating with the rural municipality and the Nepal Army.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">“The most important thing right now is to get to the headworks area. For that, it is necessary to build entrances and bridges,” he said, adding, “We are coordinating with the municipality, Nepal Army, and the Department of Roads for that. He said that all the structures and construction equipment have been flooded.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Even though the main structure was not damaged, the headwork diversion tunnel has been affected by the flood. He said that it was necessary to wait for the monsoon to end to bring water through alternative diversion. He informed that alternative water diversion will be started after clean water reaches Melamchi as it is not possible to irrigate in the rainy season.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Likewise, Pant said that the contract of the construction company should be extended as they could not finish the work within the stipulated period due to the disaster. However, the project office hasn't made any decision on extending the contract yet.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Eight Sino Hydro workers involved in the construction of the project's headworks went missing due to a landslide above the construction site. Of them, three bodies have been found so far.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-24', 'modified' => '2021-06-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13329', 'image' => '20210624021648_20210611103908_1623336277.melamchi.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-24 14:15:29', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13583', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => ' Corruption Case of Rs 1 Billion Filed against Mahat, Dhakal and Sharma ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 24: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has filed a corruption case against the then Chairman of Tax Clearance Commission, Lumbadhwoj Mahat, and members Umesh Prasad Dhakal and Chudamani Sharma. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">June 24: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has filed a corruption case against the then Chairman of Tax Clearance Commission, Lumbadhwoj Mahat, and members Umesh Prasad Dhakal and Chudamani Sharma. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The CIAA filed the case of Rs 1 billion for compromising with the taxpayers breaching the jurisdiction given by Tax Clearance Commission Act and the notice published in Nepal gazette. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The CIAA has sought recovery of Rs 1.3 billion from the accused, said CIAA Spokesperson Narayan Prasad Risal, along with imprisonment. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-24', 'modified' => '2021-06-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13328', 'image' => '20210624124455_20190205023717_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-24 12:44:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13582', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Domestic Flights to Resume from July 1 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 24: The government has decided to resume domestic flights from July 1. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">June 24: The government has decided to resume domestic flights from July 1. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to the state-owned national news agency (RSS), the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has directed the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to resume domestic flights not exceeding 50 percent of the total flights from July 1.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Such arrangement has been made until further notice. The ministry has also instructed the aviation governing body to ensure that the airline companies follow health protocol after resuming flights.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS""> The ministry issued the directive following a cabinet decision on Monday to allow flight resumption under certain conditions. Domestic flights were halted following the second wave of COVID-19. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">In case of international flights, the ministry issued a notice on Wednesday (June 23) and directed CAAN to resume flights to certain destinations from coming Thursday (June 24). The Ministry has published a flight schedule until June 30 in relation to international flights, RSS further reported. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to the flight schedule, Turkish Airlines will operate a flight from Istanbul to Kathmandu on June 24. Likewise, on June 25, NAC will operate a flight to Japan and Air India from New Delhi to Kathmandu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">On June 26, Qatar Airways will run a flight from Doha to Kathmandu. On the same day, Air Arabia will operate a flight from Abu Dhabi to Kathmandu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">On June 27, NAC will operate a flight from Kathmandu to Doha. On the same day, Himalaya Airlines will run a flight each to Kuala Lumpur and Dubai. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">On June 28, NAC will operate a flight to Dubai and Himalaya Airlines to Dammam and Qatar Airways from Doha to Kathmandu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">On June 29, NAC will operate a flight from Kathmandu to Doha and Turkish Airlines to Kathmandu. Similarly, Fly Dubai will operate a flight to Kathmandu and Salam Airlines to Kathmandu. On June 30, NAC will run a flight from Kathmandu to Dubai, Himalaya Airlines from Kathmandu to Dammam, Qatar Airways from Doha to Kathmandu and Jazeera Airways from Kuwait to Kathmandu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The government had halted domestic flights from May 3 and international flights from May 6 following the second wave of COVID-19. </span><br /> <img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/20190402115618_A320%281%29.jpg" style="height:330px; width:800px" /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-24', 'modified' => '2021-06-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13327', 'image' => '20210624115748_20210221121806_Summit Air Landing.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-24 11:56:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13581', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'WHO Refutes Efficacy of ‘Mix and Match’ of Different Vaccines', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 24: The World Health Organization (WHO) Nepal has refuted the claims that a ‘mix and match’ regimen for Vero Cell and AstraZeneca CoviShield Vaccine would yield more effective results. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">June 24: The World Health Organization (WHO) Nepal has refuted the claims that a ‘mix and match’ regimen for Vero Cell and AstraZeneca CoviShield Vaccine would yield more effective results. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Issuing a press statement on Wednesday (June 23), WHO clarified that it has not issued any such statements and the attribution is false. “Such misinformation can lead to grave consequences for the public”, reads the press release. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">WHO stated that data on the efficacy of ‘mix and match’ of vaccines remains limited. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">While studies are ongoing regarding the interchangeability between vaccines and more evidence is needed regarding interchangeability of the second dose of AstraZeneca with Vero Cell vaccines before conclusions can be made,” the statement further said.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-24', 'modified' => '2021-06-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13326', 'image' => '20210624114748_Kundan.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-24 11:46:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13580', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Finance Minister Urges Hoteliers to Benefit from Subsidy ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 23: Minister for Finance Bishnu Prasad Poudel has urged hoteliers and tourism entrepreneurs to benefit from the subsidy given by the government. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">June 23: Minister for Finance Bishnu Prasad Poudel has urged hoteliers and tourism entrepreneurs to benefit from the subsidy given by the government. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Receiving the recommendations submitted by the Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) on Tuesday, Minister Poudel urged the hoteliers and business people to receive the benefits announced by the government for the upcoming fiscal year adding that the government has addressed most of the demands related to tourism sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Stating that the hotel and tourism sector has been given equal status to that of production sector, Poudel argued that it was unlikely to bring better budget than this due to COVID-19. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">In the budget for the fiscal year 2021/22, the government has announced to exempt electricity demand tariff to the hotels during the prohibitory period. The budget has also provision to automatically renew the registration of tourism industries including hotels and trekking agencies without any fee for the fiscal year 2021/22. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">President of HAN Srijana Rana stated that it was a big step to include hotels in the service sector and thanked the minister for incorporating the recommendations given by the HAN in budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Likewise, HAN recommended the government to increase the existing amount of refinancing and extend the time period for a year. It has also urged the central bank to monitor whether or not the decision of refinancing was implemented through the banks and financial institutions. --RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-23', 'modified' => '2021-06-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13325', 'image' => '20210623034921_20210531043451_20201015115013_1602717511.Clipboard02.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-23 15:48:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13578', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Investment Board Approves Foreign Investment worth Rs 97 Billion ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 23: The Investment Board Nepal has approved foreign investment of Rs 97 billion.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">June 23: The Investment Board Nepal has approved foreign investment of Rs 97 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The 47th board meeting of the Investment Board chaired by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on June 22 approved foreign investment of around Rs 97 billion for various projects.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The meeting discussed the Upper Tamor Hydropower Project (285 MW) with an estimated cost of USD 540 million and the Lower Manang-Marsyangdi Hydropower Project (139.2 MW) with an estimated cost of Rs 33.41 billion. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Similarly, the Investment Board has been instructed to make necessary preparations for the project development agreement with the developer by approving the detailed project report of China-Nepal Friendship Industrial Park, the largest industrial park in the country proposed to be constructed in Damak, Jhapa under public-private partnership model.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The meeting also approved the draft of the memorandum of understanding to be signed with project developer SJVN Limited India to issue a survey license for the detailed feasibility study of the Lower Arun Hydropower Project (679 MW) to be constructed in Sankhuwasabha district.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The meeting has also decided to direct the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation to make necessary legal reforms by addressing the ambiguities in granting survey permission for the Tamor Reservoir Hydropower Project (756 MW).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The meeting has formed a committee under the coordination of the Vice-Chairman of the National Planning Commission to study and prepare a blueprint for the development and investment of the West Seti and SR-6 joint hydropower projects.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The meeting also approved the 'Procedure on Recommendation of Foreign Exchange and Transfer Facility, 2078' for the institutional reform and management of the working system of the Investment Board.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Prime Minister Oli during the meeting instructed concerned authorities to take a decision on the hydropower project only after considering the transmission line, consumption of electricity generated from it, and export potential. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">"The mistakes of the past should not be repeated. If we generate electricity but are not able to build transmission lines, we will have to pay for the unused electricity in accordance to the PPA," he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">During the meeting, Finance Minister and Vice-Chairman of the Board, Bishnu Poudel, said that the proposals submitted to the Investment Board would help in the economic development of the country.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-23', 'modified' => '2021-06-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13324', 'image' => '20210623122152_20210115025352_20160222122813_ep3.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-23 12:20:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13577', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '20 Ministers Lose their Posts as Supreme Court stays Cabinet Expansion ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 22: The Supreme Court has stayed the decision of President Bidya Devi Bhandari to appoint 20 new ministers in the cabinet after the dissolution of the House of Representatives.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">June 22: The Supreme Court has stayed the decision of President Bidya Devi Bhandari to appoint 20 new ministers in the cabinet after the dissolution of the House of Representatives.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">In response to writ petitions filed by half a dozen advocates, a division bench of Supreme Court justices headed by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana today (June 22) issued an interim order against the recent appointments of deputy prime ministers, ministers and state ministers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Earlier on June 4 and June 27, President Bhandari, upon the recommendation of Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli, had inducted new deputy prime ministers, ministers and state ministers in the cabinet.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The cabinet expansions came after the dissolution of the House of Representatives and announcement of mid-term elections in November. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Upon the recommendation of the cabinet, President Bhandari had dissolved the House on May 22. </span></span>The decision to dissolve the lower house and announcement of the mid-term polls are currently subjudice in the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">With the Supreme Court’s interim order, 20 ministers including two deputy prime ministers in the Oli-led cabinet will lose their posts.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">In its interim order, the Supreme Court has barred all of them to serve in the capacity of deputy prime ministers, ministers and state ministers until the case is settled. The order states that the additional appointments for cabinet expansions were against the spirit of the constitution.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">However, Deputy Prime Minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel along with three other ministers who were the members of the lower house before its dissolution will continue to serve as members of the Oli-led cabinet. The other three who will continue to serve as ministers are Krishna Gopal Shrestha, Basant Kumar Nembwang and Lilanath Shrestha.</span></span></span></p> <p><strong><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"> <span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The ministers who lost their posts are as follows:</span></span></span></strong></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">1- Raghubir Mahaseth, Deputy Prime and Minister for Foreign Affairs</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">2- Rajendra Mahato, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Urban Development</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">3- Khaga Raj Adhikari, Minister for Home Affairs</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">4- Sharat Singh Bhandari, Minister for Energy, Water Resource and Irrigation</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">5- Anil Kumar Jha, Minister for Water Supply</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">6- Sher Bahadur Tamang, Minister for Health and Population</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">7- Rajkishor Yadav, Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">8- Laxman Lal Karna, Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">9- Nainkala Thapa, Minister for Communication and Information Technology</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">10- Jwala Kumari Shah, Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">11- Bimal Prasad Shrivastav, Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">12- Uma Shankar Aragriya, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">13- Chanda Chaudhary, Minister for Women, Children and Senior Citizen</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">14- Ekbal Miya, Minister for Youth and Sports</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">15- Narad Muni Rana, Minister for Forest and Environment</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">16- Ganesh Kumar Pahadi, Minister for Federal Affairs and General Administration</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">17- Mohan Baniya, Minister for the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">18- Chandra Kanta Chaudhary, State Minister for Energy, Water Resource and Irrigation</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">19- Renuka Gurung, State Minister for Women, Children and Senior Citizen</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">20- Asha Kumari B K, State Minister for Forest and Environment</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-22', 'modified' => '2021-06-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13323', 'image' => '20210622060018_20201127115547_20200417094838_CKC_ktm.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-22 17:59:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13579', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Domestic and International Flights to Resume with Conditions', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 23: The government has decided to resume domestic and international flights by adopting safety measures and protocols. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">June 23: The government has decided to resume domestic and international flights by adopting safety measures and protocols. The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation informed that the cabinet meeting on Monday decided to resume the air service by fixing destination and airlines companies. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Domestic flights would be operated with 50 per cent of the total number of usual flights until further notice. Similarly, number of the international flights would be increased gradually. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">There would be four flights in a week by two airline companies to and from Kathmandu to Doha. Similarly, there would be two flights to and from Kathmandu to Istanbul and four flights between Kathmandu and Dubai. Similarly there would be two flights a week between Kathmandu and Damam as well as Kathmandu and Kuwait. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Likewise, there would be one flight between Kathmandu and Muscat and four flights between Kathmandu and Malaysia. The ministry further said that there would be a single flight to South Korea, Japan and Chengdu and Guangzhou of China. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-23', 'modified' => '2021-06-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13321', 'image' => '20210623123715_EHdVeZuVAAArjYS.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-23 12:36:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13575', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Vehicles Charging Three Times More to Passengers Traveling for Urgent Purpose ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 22: It has been found that the transport entrepreneurs have been charging three times more than the normal fare for passengers entering and leaving the Kathmandu Valley for urgent work during the current crisis of Covid-19.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">June 22: It has been found that the transport entrepreneurs have been charging three times more than the normal fare for passengers entering and leaving the Kathmandu Valley for urgent work during the current crisis of Covid-19.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Passengers who are compelled to travel due to various problems have been further affected by the arbitrary hike in fares.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Saroj Rawal, who is from Tikapur in Kailali and is currently living in Lanchaur, Kathmandu, had to go home after his father passed away due to coronavirus. A microbus traveling for Kailali from Gongbu bus park charged him Rs 5,000 more than the normal charge. However, as he was required to travel, he was compelled to pay the exorbitant fare.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">"I didn't even receive a ticket. When the police asked me about the fare, I was forced to tell them that I had paid Rs 1,500. Because I did not have any other option, I did as the driver told me to do," he said. The fare from Kathmandu to Tikapur is Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Naresh Shahi, who arrived in Kathmandu from Surkhet due to similar circumstances, also said that he paid Rs 3,000 more to the bus driver. Earlier, the fare from Surkhet to Kathmandu was Rs 2,000 under normal circumstances.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the victims, the vehicles carrying passengers are running smoothly with the pass provided by the district administration offices and looting the passengers who are in trouble. However, the Association of Transport Entrepreneurs claim that private vehicles are not involved in such activities.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">FNCCI General Secretary Saroj Sitaula said that the vehicles with red number plates were more active in such activities and were charging exorbitant fares. He is of the view that such a problem has arisen with the district administration office making arrangements for allowing the movement of vehicles unnecessarily.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">On the one hand, the transport entrepreneurs say such work may have been done in collusion with the local levels and district administration, but the police say that they are taking necessary action against such wrongdoings. Superintendent of Police Shyam Krishna Adhikari, Information Officer of the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division, Kathmandu, said that action would be taken against the vehicle owners if the passengers complained about the issue with the police.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-22', 'modified' => '2021-06-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13320', 'image' => '20210622013410_20200913023207_1595264681.yatayat.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-22 13:33:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13574', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers Start Paddy Plantation Amid Covid-19 Pandemic', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 22: Farmers in different districts are busy planting paddy amid the dire situation of the coronavirus pandemic. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">June 22: Farmers in different districts are busy planting paddy amid the dire situation of the coronavirus pandemic. With the onset of monsoon and rainfall, farmers have started planting paddy despite the risk of disease transmission.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, farmers in across the country are busy planting paddy at this time. Farmers of Kathmandu, Dhading, Makwanpur, Kaski, Baglung, Jhapa, Panchthar, Bara, Parsa, Rautahat, Dang, Pyuthan, Nawalparasi, Banke, Bardiya, Kailali, and Kanchanpur are busy planting paddy.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">So far this year, the ministry has not received data on how much land has been planted with paddy. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the ministry, most of the industries, trades, and businesses have been shut down this year due to the prohibitory order imposed by the government to prevent and control the surge of coronavirus. Therefore, the area of paddy cultivation is estimated to increase by about 20 percent this year as compared to last year, said Shri Ram Ghimire, spokesperson of the ministry.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the statistics of the Ministry, paddy was cultivated in 1.45 million hectares of land out of the total cultivable land in the Fiscal Year 2019/20. The area of paddy cultivation had increased by about 15,000 hectares in the fiscal year 2020/21 following lockdown to contain the first wave of coronavirus.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">About 3.1 million hectares of land in Nepal are considered suitable for agriculture.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Although the government does not have the exact data on how much of land is barren, it is said that the land remains barren due to migration of locals from villages to cities, the attraction of youths for foreign employment, lack of irrigation, and decline in production. Stakeholders say that the main contributor to the production is the monsoon trend as more than 60 percent of the land under paddy is dependent on rainwater.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Last year, farmers in most of the districts were facing shortage of fertilizer due to the scarcity of chemical fertilizer during paddy plantation season. However, the government claims that there will be no shortage of chemical fertilizers this year as there is sufficient stock of chemical fertilizers and there are no problems in import.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to Bishnu Prasad Pokhrel, spokesperson of the Agricultural Inputs Company Limited, the import of fertilizer is going smoothly and the stock is also sufficient. The Agricultural Inputs Company and Salt Trading Corporation currently have about 80,000 metric tons of chemical fertilizer in stock. Pokharel said that the problem has been resolved even though the farmers have complained that they have not received fertilizer due to the lockdown.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-22', 'modified' => '2021-06-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13319', 'image' => '20210622012350_1624318766.Clipboard07.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-22 13:22:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13573', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Number of Nepalis Leaving for Foreign Employment Declines', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 22: The number of Nepali migrant workers leaving for foreign employment has witnessed a sharp decline due to the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">June 22: The number of Nepali migrant workers leaving for foreign employment has witnessed a sharp decline due to the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic. The number of Nepalis going abroad for foreign employment declined significantly due to the border closure and prohibitory order imposed to contain the second wave of coronavirus.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">During the first wave of the pandemic as well, the number of Nepali workers going for foreign employment had witnessed a sharp decline. The government had even stopped issuing labor permits from March 13 to October 5, 2020. After the government resumed issuing labor permits, the number of workers going for foreign employment had increased gradually. Following the second wave of coronavirus, the number of migrant workers going for foreign employment has dropped again.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the Department of Foreign Employment, altogether 3,152 Nepalis went for foreign employment in August 2020. Since then, the number of workers going abroad for employment had been gradually increasing. But since May, the number of Nepali workers migrating for foreign jobs has gone down.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the department, a total of 24,363 Nepali workers went to the Gulf countries for foreign employment in April but only 4,086 workers went for foreign employment in May.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The government had imposed restrictions on April 29 to control the second wave of coronavirus. It had also suspended international flights from May 6, which resulted in a decline in the number of Nepali nationals leaving for foreign jobs.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Mahendra Nath Bhattarai, director of the department, said that the number of workers going for foreign employment decreased after the shutdown of international flights. "Currently, there are only two international flights a week. Some workers are leaving through those regular flights while some workers have also left through chartered flights,” he said, “Overall, the second wave of coronavirus has affected the foreign employment.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">A preliminary study conducted by the Federation of Foreign Employment Entrepreneurs found that around 70,000 migrant workers have been deprived of leaving for the Gulf countries due to the suspension of international flights. Sujita Shrestha, general secretary of the Federation, said workers who had returned on holiday and new visa recipients have been unable to go abroad for employment.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to Shrestha, 25,000 workers have been deprived from going to Saudi Arabia, 30,000 to Qatar, 10,000 to Cyprus, 1,500 to Bahrain and 1,500 to Oman. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-22', 'modified' => '2021-06-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13318', 'image' => '20210622011307_1624318349.2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-22 13:11:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13572', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => ' Lockdown Eased, Odd-Even Number Rule Enforced in the Valley ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 22: The district administration offices in the Kathmandu Valley have eased the lockdown enforced to contain the second wave of coronavirus. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">June 22: The district administration offices in the Kathmandu Valley have eased the lockdown enforced to contain the second wave of coronavirus. Government authorities have enforced odd-even number rule for private vehicles and cabs while certain days have been fixed for opening shops. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">A joint meeting of the chief district officers from Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktpur issued the order in this regard. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">CDO of Kathmandu Kali Prasad Parajuli informed that the prohibitory order was eased to make commercial sector active. The latest order has come into effect from today (June 22) and will remain in force till midnight of June 28. Light vehicles such as car, jeep and van are not allowed to carry more than four persons while taxis can carry three passengers. Departmental stores (except grocery), shopping malls, sports shops, cloth and fancy-dress stores, tailoring shops, cosmetics and gift shops are allowed to open for three days- Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 11:00am to 4:00pm. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The jewelry shops as well as shops selling pots and kitchen utensil, electric goods, auto parts, and automobile showroom are allowed to run their businesses on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday from 11:00am to 4:00pm. Shops selling hardwares, sanitary goods, tiles, marbles, furniture, and carpets can operate every day from 11:00am to 6:00pm. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Meanwhile, transportation of large delivery is allowed only during night. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Government authorities have allowed medical stores and pharmaceuticals to run daily as usual. Similarly, grocery stores as well as shops selling diary products, vegetables and fruits, stationery shops among others are allowed to open till 11:00am every day. Online and take-away services can operate till 7:00pm in the valley. The autmobile repair workshops can run till 7:00pm. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Marriage ceremonies can be performed at home by maintaining health and safety measures and without exceeding 10 attendants. For this, no more than two vehicles are allowed. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Vehicles providing essential service such as transportation of hospital staff, ambulance service, drinking water, cargo and courier, garbage management can be operated daily without any hindrance. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Schools are not still allowed to run classes physically. Transportation of vegetables, fruits, dairy products, poultry, fuel, gas, sanitary goods, printing and agricultural inputs can operate using banners. Such vehicles are allowed to operate from 8:00am to 11:00pm. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">People preparing to go abroad are allowed to enter the three districts of the valley by showing their plane tickets, passport and visa. The district authorities have also allowed banking and financial institutes, security service providers, insurance companies, remittance, cooperative, NGOs to operate with minimum human resources. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-22', 'modified' => '2021-06-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13317', 'image' => '20210622010212_1624336152.traffic.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-22 13:01:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13570', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => ' Probe Committee to Study High Fare of International Flights ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 22: The government has formed a probe committee to investigate extra fare charged by travel agencies to passengers of international flights. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">June 22: The government has formed a probe committee to investigate extra fare charged by travel agencies to passengers of international flights. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to the state-owned national news agency RSS, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has formed a-five member committee led by Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), Rajan Pokharel. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Joint secretary at the Ministry Taranath Adhikari shared that the probe committee was formed to carry out the investigation as some travel agencies reportedly charged additional ticketing fare for international flights of late. </span><br /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-22', 'modified' => '2021-06-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13315', 'image' => '20210622124120_20200311110634_1583889398.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-22 12:40:23', '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' => '13590', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bank and Financial Institutions Demand Voluntary Participation in SSF', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 25: Employees of banks and financial institutions (BFIs) have demanded voluntary participation in the government’s Social Security Fund (SSF) instead of mandatory provision.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">June 25: Employees of banks and financial institutions (BFIs) have demanded voluntary participation in the government’s Social Security Fund (SSF) instead of mandatory provision. They have expressed objection toward mandatory participation after the central bank directed BFIs to join the SSF mandatorily.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Various associations of BFI employees have accused the government of compelling BFIs to participate by submitting false details of their participation. Varun Khadka, treasurer of Nepal Financial Institution Employees Union, has expressed dissatisfaction over the mandatory participation in SSF. According to him, most of the employees of banks and financial institutions are not interested in joining SSF. He said that lack of uniformity in SSF's rules and procedure has created reservations among the employees.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">He said that the unwanted pressure to include SSF in the social security scheme would not be acceptable as joining SSF would also deprive them of existing perks and facilities.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">He fears that the government is intending to transfer billions of rupees of employees accumulated since the last 10 to 20 years in the Employee Provident Fund to the SSF. This mandatory provision has compelled many employees of BFIs to tender their resignations.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Roshan Koirala, head of Nabil Bank’s human resources department, said that around six employees have already resigned due to this very reason. According to him, there are many issues of the SSF work procedure and the related Act that do not match. Amendment of only the work procedure does not make sense. SSF work procedure states that all funds of Employee Provident Fund should be kept in the SSF but the same thing is not mentioned in the SSF Act, so employees are resigning due to lack of security.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">It would be more beneficial to deposit their money in banks' fixed deposit rather than joining SSF, he said. Nabil Bank is currently holding discussions over the issue of participation in SSF.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Bank and financial sector employees say that the SSF discriminates against the government and private sector employees in terms of social security facilities.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to Saroj Kaji Tuladhar, president of the Nepal Financial Institutions Association, the monthly pension is the amount earned by dividing the amount deposited by the workers during the service period by 160. But, this amount is much less for the private sector employees than that provisioned for the government employees.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Employees are required to contribute 31 percent of their monthly salary to the social security fund, but government employees are required to contribute 6 percent to the pension fund while the government contributes 100 percent. Tuladhar said that private sector employees don’t receive pension equivalent to their contribution. So it is not appropriate to compel private sector employees to join SSF. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Kapil Mani Gyawali, Executive Director of the SSF, said that the work procedure has been amended to accommodate everyone and will be amended in the future as well when needed. According to him, the ministry has formulated the work procedure on the recommendation of the SSF board using the authority provided by Article 70 of the Act. He claims that the second amendment to the work procedure has addressed the grievances of the contributors. However it is not possible to make any decision yet regarding the voluntary participation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Nepal Bankers' Association had also submitted an application to the Ministry of Labor and the SSF two weeks ago objecting to some provisions. Anil Sharma, Executive Director of the Association, said that they have urged the concerned bodies to make the provisions reasonable and participation voluntary. He said that it is not justifiable to ask to choose SSF pension fund by mid-July.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the SSF, only a small number of commercial banks, development banks, finance and microfinance institutions have participated in the fund. So far, 2246 employees of 10 out of 27 commercial banks have been registered. Banks including Laxmi Bank, Prime Commercial Bank, Mega Bank, Nepal Credit and Commerce (NCC) Bank and Global IME Bank are listed. Three out of 18 development banks, 11 out of 20 finance companies and 40 out of 72 microfinance institutions have been registered. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-25', 'modified' => '2021-06-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13331', 'image' => '20210625125128_20210215042205_20200401094426_1585693701.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-25 12:50:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13584', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Foodstuff worth more than 70 Million sold by 2 Government Entities during Prohibitory Period ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 24: Two state-owned companies, Food Management and Trading Company Limited and Salt Trading Corporation, have sold food items worth more than Rs 75 million at a discount of 20 percent.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">June 24: Two state-owned companies, Food Management and Trading Company Limited and Salt Trading Corporation, have sold food items worth more than Rs 75 million at a discount of 20 percent. The government in the budget for FY 2021/22 had announced a 20 percent discount on food sold by these two companies.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">As announced by the government in the budget, the companies provided a 20 percent discount on the prices of food items including rice, nuts, and sugar from June 7. Both the companies have sold food items worth Rs 78.3 million as of June 19.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The Food Management and Trading Company has sold 12,488 quintals of food worth Rs 69.1 million. Sharmila Subedi, information officer of the company, informed that they gave a discount of Rs 13.8 million. A total of 41,174 households have been estimated to have benefitted from the discounts.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">In the meantime, Salt Trading Corporation has sold food items worth Rs 9.1 million and provided a discount of Rs 1.8 million. A total of 1.52 million households have benefitted from the exemption given by Salt Trading Corporation, said Kumar Raj Bhandari, spokesperson of the corporation.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The Food Management and Trading Company gave discounts on Karnali beans, sugar, and rice except for Marcy and Basmati rice, while the Salt Trading Corporation offered discounts on items like salt, sugar, flour, cooking oil, and cooking gas. Both the companies have discontinued the 20 percent discount offer after the prohibitory order was eased on Tuesday, June 22.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">"We have stopped giving the discount after the government instructed us to postpone the waiver program for the time being," said Bhandari.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-24', 'modified' => '2021-06-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13330', 'image' => '20210624020623_20201123043159_92926.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-24 14:05:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13585', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Technical Team Finds it Difficult to Ascertain the Damage of Melamchi Water Supply Project.', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 24: The project office of Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP) has yet to ascertain the extent of damage caused by the floods last week as the technical team that went to inspect the damage at the project site could not reach the headworks area at Ambathan', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">June 24: The project office of Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP) has yet to ascertain the extent of damage caused by the floods last week as the technical team that went to inspect the damage at the project site could not reach the headworks area at Ambathan in Helambu Rural Municipality-1. A six-member team led by Madhav Nepal, senior divisional engineer of the project, had visited Ambathan. However, Rajendra Prasad Pant, the spokesperson of the Melamchi Water Supply Development Board, informed that the team could not assess the headworks and returned from Kiul.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">"A technical team is at the site to ascertain the extent of damage, but they could not reach the headworks. It would have been easier to plan if the team could ascertain the damage,” informed Pant. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The headworks of MWSP at Ambathan is about 5 km away from Kiul. The team could not reach the headworks due to continuous floods and rainfall.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">All the temporary structures of the headworks have been washed away due to the flood. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">"The headworks appears to be submerged," Pant said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to Pant, the retaining wall on the left is not visible, and the team was unable to calculate the damage done to the headworks to analyze the time and resources needed for its reconstruction.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The team had to cross four bridges to reach the structure, which is 21 km away from Melamchi Bazaar. He said that only a preliminary estimate of the damage was made, as the team could not reach the site. According to him, the damage is estimated to be around Rs 1 billion. The inspection of tunnel of the MWSP was scheduled to be completed in two months.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">"The inspection work has been affected due to the floods. The Ambathan tunnel is reported to be filled with sand," Pant said. He informed that the project office is coordinating with the rural municipality and the Nepal Army.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">“The most important thing right now is to get to the headworks area. For that, it is necessary to build entrances and bridges,” he said, adding, “We are coordinating with the municipality, Nepal Army, and the Department of Roads for that. He said that all the structures and construction equipment have been flooded.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Even though the main structure was not damaged, the headwork diversion tunnel has been affected by the flood. He said that it was necessary to wait for the monsoon to end to bring water through alternative diversion. He informed that alternative water diversion will be started after clean water reaches Melamchi as it is not possible to irrigate in the rainy season.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Likewise, Pant said that the contract of the construction company should be extended as they could not finish the work within the stipulated period due to the disaster. However, the project office hasn't made any decision on extending the contract yet.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Eight Sino Hydro workers involved in the construction of the project's headworks went missing due to a landslide above the construction site. Of them, three bodies have been found so far.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-24', 'modified' => '2021-06-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13329', 'image' => '20210624021648_20210611103908_1623336277.melamchi.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-24 14:15:29', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13583', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => ' Corruption Case of Rs 1 Billion Filed against Mahat, Dhakal and Sharma ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 24: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has filed a corruption case against the then Chairman of Tax Clearance Commission, Lumbadhwoj Mahat, and members Umesh Prasad Dhakal and Chudamani Sharma. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">June 24: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has filed a corruption case against the then Chairman of Tax Clearance Commission, Lumbadhwoj Mahat, and members Umesh Prasad Dhakal and Chudamani Sharma. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The CIAA filed the case of Rs 1 billion for compromising with the taxpayers breaching the jurisdiction given by Tax Clearance Commission Act and the notice published in Nepal gazette. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The CIAA has sought recovery of Rs 1.3 billion from the accused, said CIAA Spokesperson Narayan Prasad Risal, along with imprisonment. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-24', 'modified' => '2021-06-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13328', 'image' => '20210624124455_20190205023717_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-24 12:44:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13582', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Domestic Flights to Resume from July 1 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 24: The government has decided to resume domestic flights from July 1. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">June 24: The government has decided to resume domestic flights from July 1. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to the state-owned national news agency (RSS), the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has directed the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to resume domestic flights not exceeding 50 percent of the total flights from July 1.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Such arrangement has been made until further notice. The ministry has also instructed the aviation governing body to ensure that the airline companies follow health protocol after resuming flights.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS""> The ministry issued the directive following a cabinet decision on Monday to allow flight resumption under certain conditions. Domestic flights were halted following the second wave of COVID-19. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">In case of international flights, the ministry issued a notice on Wednesday (June 23) and directed CAAN to resume flights to certain destinations from coming Thursday (June 24). The Ministry has published a flight schedule until June 30 in relation to international flights, RSS further reported. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to the flight schedule, Turkish Airlines will operate a flight from Istanbul to Kathmandu on June 24. Likewise, on June 25, NAC will operate a flight to Japan and Air India from New Delhi to Kathmandu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">On June 26, Qatar Airways will run a flight from Doha to Kathmandu. On the same day, Air Arabia will operate a flight from Abu Dhabi to Kathmandu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">On June 27, NAC will operate a flight from Kathmandu to Doha. On the same day, Himalaya Airlines will run a flight each to Kuala Lumpur and Dubai. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">On June 28, NAC will operate a flight to Dubai and Himalaya Airlines to Dammam and Qatar Airways from Doha to Kathmandu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">On June 29, NAC will operate a flight from Kathmandu to Doha and Turkish Airlines to Kathmandu. Similarly, Fly Dubai will operate a flight to Kathmandu and Salam Airlines to Kathmandu. On June 30, NAC will run a flight from Kathmandu to Dubai, Himalaya Airlines from Kathmandu to Dammam, Qatar Airways from Doha to Kathmandu and Jazeera Airways from Kuwait to Kathmandu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The government had halted domestic flights from May 3 and international flights from May 6 following the second wave of COVID-19. </span><br /> <img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/20190402115618_A320%281%29.jpg" style="height:330px; width:800px" /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-24', 'modified' => '2021-06-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13327', 'image' => '20210624115748_20210221121806_Summit Air Landing.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-24 11:56:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13581', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'WHO Refutes Efficacy of ‘Mix and Match’ of Different Vaccines', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 24: The World Health Organization (WHO) Nepal has refuted the claims that a ‘mix and match’ regimen for Vero Cell and AstraZeneca CoviShield Vaccine would yield more effective results. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">June 24: The World Health Organization (WHO) Nepal has refuted the claims that a ‘mix and match’ regimen for Vero Cell and AstraZeneca CoviShield Vaccine would yield more effective results. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Issuing a press statement on Wednesday (June 23), WHO clarified that it has not issued any such statements and the attribution is false. “Such misinformation can lead to grave consequences for the public”, reads the press release. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">WHO stated that data on the efficacy of ‘mix and match’ of vaccines remains limited. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">While studies are ongoing regarding the interchangeability between vaccines and more evidence is needed regarding interchangeability of the second dose of AstraZeneca with Vero Cell vaccines before conclusions can be made,” the statement further said.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-24', 'modified' => '2021-06-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13326', 'image' => '20210624114748_Kundan.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-24 11:46:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13580', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Finance Minister Urges Hoteliers to Benefit from Subsidy ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 23: Minister for Finance Bishnu Prasad Poudel has urged hoteliers and tourism entrepreneurs to benefit from the subsidy given by the government. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">June 23: Minister for Finance Bishnu Prasad Poudel has urged hoteliers and tourism entrepreneurs to benefit from the subsidy given by the government. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Receiving the recommendations submitted by the Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) on Tuesday, Minister Poudel urged the hoteliers and business people to receive the benefits announced by the government for the upcoming fiscal year adding that the government has addressed most of the demands related to tourism sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Stating that the hotel and tourism sector has been given equal status to that of production sector, Poudel argued that it was unlikely to bring better budget than this due to COVID-19. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">In the budget for the fiscal year 2021/22, the government has announced to exempt electricity demand tariff to the hotels during the prohibitory period. The budget has also provision to automatically renew the registration of tourism industries including hotels and trekking agencies without any fee for the fiscal year 2021/22. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">President of HAN Srijana Rana stated that it was a big step to include hotels in the service sector and thanked the minister for incorporating the recommendations given by the HAN in budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Likewise, HAN recommended the government to increase the existing amount of refinancing and extend the time period for a year. It has also urged the central bank to monitor whether or not the decision of refinancing was implemented through the banks and financial institutions. --RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-23', 'modified' => '2021-06-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13325', 'image' => '20210623034921_20210531043451_20201015115013_1602717511.Clipboard02.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-23 15:48:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13578', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Investment Board Approves Foreign Investment worth Rs 97 Billion ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 23: The Investment Board Nepal has approved foreign investment of Rs 97 billion.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">June 23: The Investment Board Nepal has approved foreign investment of Rs 97 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The 47th board meeting of the Investment Board chaired by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on June 22 approved foreign investment of around Rs 97 billion for various projects.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The meeting discussed the Upper Tamor Hydropower Project (285 MW) with an estimated cost of USD 540 million and the Lower Manang-Marsyangdi Hydropower Project (139.2 MW) with an estimated cost of Rs 33.41 billion. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Similarly, the Investment Board has been instructed to make necessary preparations for the project development agreement with the developer by approving the detailed project report of China-Nepal Friendship Industrial Park, the largest industrial park in the country proposed to be constructed in Damak, Jhapa under public-private partnership model.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The meeting also approved the draft of the memorandum of understanding to be signed with project developer SJVN Limited India to issue a survey license for the detailed feasibility study of the Lower Arun Hydropower Project (679 MW) to be constructed in Sankhuwasabha district.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The meeting has also decided to direct the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation to make necessary legal reforms by addressing the ambiguities in granting survey permission for the Tamor Reservoir Hydropower Project (756 MW).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The meeting has formed a committee under the coordination of the Vice-Chairman of the National Planning Commission to study and prepare a blueprint for the development and investment of the West Seti and SR-6 joint hydropower projects.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The meeting also approved the 'Procedure on Recommendation of Foreign Exchange and Transfer Facility, 2078' for the institutional reform and management of the working system of the Investment Board.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Prime Minister Oli during the meeting instructed concerned authorities to take a decision on the hydropower project only after considering the transmission line, consumption of electricity generated from it, and export potential. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">"The mistakes of the past should not be repeated. If we generate electricity but are not able to build transmission lines, we will have to pay for the unused electricity in accordance to the PPA," he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">During the meeting, Finance Minister and Vice-Chairman of the Board, Bishnu Poudel, said that the proposals submitted to the Investment Board would help in the economic development of the country.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-23', 'modified' => '2021-06-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13324', 'image' => '20210623122152_20210115025352_20160222122813_ep3.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-23 12:20:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13577', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '20 Ministers Lose their Posts as Supreme Court stays Cabinet Expansion ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 22: The Supreme Court has stayed the decision of President Bidya Devi Bhandari to appoint 20 new ministers in the cabinet after the dissolution of the House of Representatives.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">June 22: The Supreme Court has stayed the decision of President Bidya Devi Bhandari to appoint 20 new ministers in the cabinet after the dissolution of the House of Representatives.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">In response to writ petitions filed by half a dozen advocates, a division bench of Supreme Court justices headed by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana today (June 22) issued an interim order against the recent appointments of deputy prime ministers, ministers and state ministers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Earlier on June 4 and June 27, President Bhandari, upon the recommendation of Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli, had inducted new deputy prime ministers, ministers and state ministers in the cabinet.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The cabinet expansions came after the dissolution of the House of Representatives and announcement of mid-term elections in November. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Upon the recommendation of the cabinet, President Bhandari had dissolved the House on May 22. </span></span>The decision to dissolve the lower house and announcement of the mid-term polls are currently subjudice in the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">With the Supreme Court’s interim order, 20 ministers including two deputy prime ministers in the Oli-led cabinet will lose their posts.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">In its interim order, the Supreme Court has barred all of them to serve in the capacity of deputy prime ministers, ministers and state ministers until the case is settled. The order states that the additional appointments for cabinet expansions were against the spirit of the constitution.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">However, Deputy Prime Minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel along with three other ministers who were the members of the lower house before its dissolution will continue to serve as members of the Oli-led cabinet. The other three who will continue to serve as ministers are Krishna Gopal Shrestha, Basant Kumar Nembwang and Lilanath Shrestha.</span></span></span></p> <p><strong><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"> <span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The ministers who lost their posts are as follows:</span></span></span></strong></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">1- Raghubir Mahaseth, Deputy Prime and Minister for Foreign Affairs</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">2- Rajendra Mahato, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Urban Development</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">3- Khaga Raj Adhikari, Minister for Home Affairs</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">4- Sharat Singh Bhandari, Minister for Energy, Water Resource and Irrigation</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">5- Anil Kumar Jha, Minister for Water Supply</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">6- Sher Bahadur Tamang, Minister for Health and Population</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">7- Rajkishor Yadav, Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">8- Laxman Lal Karna, Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">9- Nainkala Thapa, Minister for Communication and Information Technology</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">10- Jwala Kumari Shah, Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">11- Bimal Prasad Shrivastav, Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">12- Uma Shankar Aragriya, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">13- Chanda Chaudhary, Minister for Women, Children and Senior Citizen</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">14- Ekbal Miya, Minister for Youth and Sports</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">15- Narad Muni Rana, Minister for Forest and Environment</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">16- Ganesh Kumar Pahadi, Minister for Federal Affairs and General Administration</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">17- Mohan Baniya, Minister for the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">18- Chandra Kanta Chaudhary, State Minister for Energy, Water Resource and Irrigation</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">19- Renuka Gurung, State Minister for Women, Children and Senior Citizen</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">20- Asha Kumari B K, State Minister for Forest and Environment</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-22', 'modified' => '2021-06-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13323', 'image' => '20210622060018_20201127115547_20200417094838_CKC_ktm.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-22 17:59:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13579', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Domestic and International Flights to Resume with Conditions', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 23: The government has decided to resume domestic and international flights by adopting safety measures and protocols. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">June 23: The government has decided to resume domestic and international flights by adopting safety measures and protocols. The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation informed that the cabinet meeting on Monday decided to resume the air service by fixing destination and airlines companies. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Domestic flights would be operated with 50 per cent of the total number of usual flights until further notice. Similarly, number of the international flights would be increased gradually. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">There would be four flights in a week by two airline companies to and from Kathmandu to Doha. Similarly, there would be two flights to and from Kathmandu to Istanbul and four flights between Kathmandu and Dubai. Similarly there would be two flights a week between Kathmandu and Damam as well as Kathmandu and Kuwait. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Likewise, there would be one flight between Kathmandu and Muscat and four flights between Kathmandu and Malaysia. The ministry further said that there would be a single flight to South Korea, Japan and Chengdu and Guangzhou of China. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-23', 'modified' => '2021-06-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13321', 'image' => '20210623123715_EHdVeZuVAAArjYS.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-23 12:36:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13575', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Vehicles Charging Three Times More to Passengers Traveling for Urgent Purpose ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 22: It has been found that the transport entrepreneurs have been charging three times more than the normal fare for passengers entering and leaving the Kathmandu Valley for urgent work during the current crisis of Covid-19.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">June 22: It has been found that the transport entrepreneurs have been charging three times more than the normal fare for passengers entering and leaving the Kathmandu Valley for urgent work during the current crisis of Covid-19.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Passengers who are compelled to travel due to various problems have been further affected by the arbitrary hike in fares.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Saroj Rawal, who is from Tikapur in Kailali and is currently living in Lanchaur, Kathmandu, had to go home after his father passed away due to coronavirus. A microbus traveling for Kailali from Gongbu bus park charged him Rs 5,000 more than the normal charge. However, as he was required to travel, he was compelled to pay the exorbitant fare.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">"I didn't even receive a ticket. When the police asked me about the fare, I was forced to tell them that I had paid Rs 1,500. Because I did not have any other option, I did as the driver told me to do," he said. The fare from Kathmandu to Tikapur is Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Naresh Shahi, who arrived in Kathmandu from Surkhet due to similar circumstances, also said that he paid Rs 3,000 more to the bus driver. Earlier, the fare from Surkhet to Kathmandu was Rs 2,000 under normal circumstances.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the victims, the vehicles carrying passengers are running smoothly with the pass provided by the district administration offices and looting the passengers who are in trouble. However, the Association of Transport Entrepreneurs claim that private vehicles are not involved in such activities.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">FNCCI General Secretary Saroj Sitaula said that the vehicles with red number plates were more active in such activities and were charging exorbitant fares. He is of the view that such a problem has arisen with the district administration office making arrangements for allowing the movement of vehicles unnecessarily.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">On the one hand, the transport entrepreneurs say such work may have been done in collusion with the local levels and district administration, but the police say that they are taking necessary action against such wrongdoings. Superintendent of Police Shyam Krishna Adhikari, Information Officer of the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division, Kathmandu, said that action would be taken against the vehicle owners if the passengers complained about the issue with the police.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-22', 'modified' => '2021-06-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13320', 'image' => '20210622013410_20200913023207_1595264681.yatayat.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-22 13:33:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13574', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers Start Paddy Plantation Amid Covid-19 Pandemic', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 22: Farmers in different districts are busy planting paddy amid the dire situation of the coronavirus pandemic. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">June 22: Farmers in different districts are busy planting paddy amid the dire situation of the coronavirus pandemic. With the onset of monsoon and rainfall, farmers have started planting paddy despite the risk of disease transmission.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, farmers in across the country are busy planting paddy at this time. Farmers of Kathmandu, Dhading, Makwanpur, Kaski, Baglung, Jhapa, Panchthar, Bara, Parsa, Rautahat, Dang, Pyuthan, Nawalparasi, Banke, Bardiya, Kailali, and Kanchanpur are busy planting paddy.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">So far this year, the ministry has not received data on how much land has been planted with paddy. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the ministry, most of the industries, trades, and businesses have been shut down this year due to the prohibitory order imposed by the government to prevent and control the surge of coronavirus. Therefore, the area of paddy cultivation is estimated to increase by about 20 percent this year as compared to last year, said Shri Ram Ghimire, spokesperson of the ministry.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the statistics of the Ministry, paddy was cultivated in 1.45 million hectares of land out of the total cultivable land in the Fiscal Year 2019/20. The area of paddy cultivation had increased by about 15,000 hectares in the fiscal year 2020/21 following lockdown to contain the first wave of coronavirus.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">About 3.1 million hectares of land in Nepal are considered suitable for agriculture.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Although the government does not have the exact data on how much of land is barren, it is said that the land remains barren due to migration of locals from villages to cities, the attraction of youths for foreign employment, lack of irrigation, and decline in production. Stakeholders say that the main contributor to the production is the monsoon trend as more than 60 percent of the land under paddy is dependent on rainwater.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Last year, farmers in most of the districts were facing shortage of fertilizer due to the scarcity of chemical fertilizer during paddy plantation season. However, the government claims that there will be no shortage of chemical fertilizers this year as there is sufficient stock of chemical fertilizers and there are no problems in import.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to Bishnu Prasad Pokhrel, spokesperson of the Agricultural Inputs Company Limited, the import of fertilizer is going smoothly and the stock is also sufficient. The Agricultural Inputs Company and Salt Trading Corporation currently have about 80,000 metric tons of chemical fertilizer in stock. Pokharel said that the problem has been resolved even though the farmers have complained that they have not received fertilizer due to the lockdown.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-22', 'modified' => '2021-06-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13319', 'image' => '20210622012350_1624318766.Clipboard07.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-22 13:22:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13573', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Number of Nepalis Leaving for Foreign Employment Declines', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 22: The number of Nepali migrant workers leaving for foreign employment has witnessed a sharp decline due to the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">June 22: The number of Nepali migrant workers leaving for foreign employment has witnessed a sharp decline due to the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic. The number of Nepalis going abroad for foreign employment declined significantly due to the border closure and prohibitory order imposed to contain the second wave of coronavirus.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">During the first wave of the pandemic as well, the number of Nepali workers going for foreign employment had witnessed a sharp decline. The government had even stopped issuing labor permits from March 13 to October 5, 2020. After the government resumed issuing labor permits, the number of workers going for foreign employment had increased gradually. Following the second wave of coronavirus, the number of migrant workers going for foreign employment has dropped again.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the Department of Foreign Employment, altogether 3,152 Nepalis went for foreign employment in August 2020. Since then, the number of workers going abroad for employment had been gradually increasing. But since May, the number of Nepali workers migrating for foreign jobs has gone down.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the department, a total of 24,363 Nepali workers went to the Gulf countries for foreign employment in April but only 4,086 workers went for foreign employment in May.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The government had imposed restrictions on April 29 to control the second wave of coronavirus. It had also suspended international flights from May 6, which resulted in a decline in the number of Nepali nationals leaving for foreign jobs.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Mahendra Nath Bhattarai, director of the department, said that the number of workers going for foreign employment decreased after the shutdown of international flights. "Currently, there are only two international flights a week. Some workers are leaving through those regular flights while some workers have also left through chartered flights,” he said, “Overall, the second wave of coronavirus has affected the foreign employment.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">A preliminary study conducted by the Federation of Foreign Employment Entrepreneurs found that around 70,000 migrant workers have been deprived of leaving for the Gulf countries due to the suspension of international flights. Sujita Shrestha, general secretary of the Federation, said workers who had returned on holiday and new visa recipients have been unable to go abroad for employment.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to Shrestha, 25,000 workers have been deprived from going to Saudi Arabia, 30,000 to Qatar, 10,000 to Cyprus, 1,500 to Bahrain and 1,500 to Oman. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-22', 'modified' => '2021-06-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13318', 'image' => '20210622011307_1624318349.2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-22 13:11:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13572', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => ' Lockdown Eased, Odd-Even Number Rule Enforced in the Valley ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 22: The district administration offices in the Kathmandu Valley have eased the lockdown enforced to contain the second wave of coronavirus. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">June 22: The district administration offices in the Kathmandu Valley have eased the lockdown enforced to contain the second wave of coronavirus. Government authorities have enforced odd-even number rule for private vehicles and cabs while certain days have been fixed for opening shops. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">A joint meeting of the chief district officers from Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktpur issued the order in this regard. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">CDO of Kathmandu Kali Prasad Parajuli informed that the prohibitory order was eased to make commercial sector active. The latest order has come into effect from today (June 22) and will remain in force till midnight of June 28. Light vehicles such as car, jeep and van are not allowed to carry more than four persons while taxis can carry three passengers. Departmental stores (except grocery), shopping malls, sports shops, cloth and fancy-dress stores, tailoring shops, cosmetics and gift shops are allowed to open for three days- Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 11:00am to 4:00pm. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The jewelry shops as well as shops selling pots and kitchen utensil, electric goods, auto parts, and automobile showroom are allowed to run their businesses on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday from 11:00am to 4:00pm. Shops selling hardwares, sanitary goods, tiles, marbles, furniture, and carpets can operate every day from 11:00am to 6:00pm. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Meanwhile, transportation of large delivery is allowed only during night. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Government authorities have allowed medical stores and pharmaceuticals to run daily as usual. Similarly, grocery stores as well as shops selling diary products, vegetables and fruits, stationery shops among others are allowed to open till 11:00am every day. Online and take-away services can operate till 7:00pm in the valley. The autmobile repair workshops can run till 7:00pm. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Marriage ceremonies can be performed at home by maintaining health and safety measures and without exceeding 10 attendants. For this, no more than two vehicles are allowed. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Vehicles providing essential service such as transportation of hospital staff, ambulance service, drinking water, cargo and courier, garbage management can be operated daily without any hindrance. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Schools are not still allowed to run classes physically. Transportation of vegetables, fruits, dairy products, poultry, fuel, gas, sanitary goods, printing and agricultural inputs can operate using banners. Such vehicles are allowed to operate from 8:00am to 11:00pm. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">People preparing to go abroad are allowed to enter the three districts of the valley by showing their plane tickets, passport and visa. The district authorities have also allowed banking and financial institutes, security service providers, insurance companies, remittance, cooperative, NGOs to operate with minimum human resources. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-22', 'modified' => '2021-06-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13317', 'image' => '20210622010212_1624336152.traffic.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-22 13:01:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13570', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => ' Probe Committee to Study High Fare of International Flights ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 22: The government has formed a probe committee to investigate extra fare charged by travel agencies to passengers of international flights. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">June 22: The government has formed a probe committee to investigate extra fare charged by travel agencies to passengers of international flights. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to the state-owned national news agency RSS, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has formed a-five member committee led by Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), Rajan Pokharel. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Joint secretary at the Ministry Taranath Adhikari shared that the probe committee was formed to carry out the investigation as some travel agencies reportedly charged additional ticketing fare for international flights of late. </span><br /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-22', 'modified' => '2021-06-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13315', 'image' => '20210622124120_20200311110634_1583889398.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-22 12:40:23', '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' => '13590', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Bank and Financial Institutions Demand Voluntary Participation in SSF', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 25: Employees of banks and financial institutions (BFIs) have demanded voluntary participation in the government’s Social Security Fund (SSF) instead of mandatory provision.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">June 25: Employees of banks and financial institutions (BFIs) have demanded voluntary participation in the government’s Social Security Fund (SSF) instead of mandatory provision. They have expressed objection toward mandatory participation after the central bank directed BFIs to join the SSF mandatorily.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Various associations of BFI employees have accused the government of compelling BFIs to participate by submitting false details of their participation. Varun Khadka, treasurer of Nepal Financial Institution Employees Union, has expressed dissatisfaction over the mandatory participation in SSF. According to him, most of the employees of banks and financial institutions are not interested in joining SSF. He said that lack of uniformity in SSF's rules and procedure has created reservations among the employees.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">He said that the unwanted pressure to include SSF in the social security scheme would not be acceptable as joining SSF would also deprive them of existing perks and facilities.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">He fears that the government is intending to transfer billions of rupees of employees accumulated since the last 10 to 20 years in the Employee Provident Fund to the SSF. This mandatory provision has compelled many employees of BFIs to tender their resignations.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Roshan Koirala, head of Nabil Bank’s human resources department, said that around six employees have already resigned due to this very reason. According to him, there are many issues of the SSF work procedure and the related Act that do not match. Amendment of only the work procedure does not make sense. SSF work procedure states that all funds of Employee Provident Fund should be kept in the SSF but the same thing is not mentioned in the SSF Act, so employees are resigning due to lack of security.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">It would be more beneficial to deposit their money in banks' fixed deposit rather than joining SSF, he said. Nabil Bank is currently holding discussions over the issue of participation in SSF.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Bank and financial sector employees say that the SSF discriminates against the government and private sector employees in terms of social security facilities.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to Saroj Kaji Tuladhar, president of the Nepal Financial Institutions Association, the monthly pension is the amount earned by dividing the amount deposited by the workers during the service period by 160. But, this amount is much less for the private sector employees than that provisioned for the government employees.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Employees are required to contribute 31 percent of their monthly salary to the social security fund, but government employees are required to contribute 6 percent to the pension fund while the government contributes 100 percent. Tuladhar said that private sector employees don’t receive pension equivalent to their contribution. So it is not appropriate to compel private sector employees to join SSF. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Kapil Mani Gyawali, Executive Director of the SSF, said that the work procedure has been amended to accommodate everyone and will be amended in the future as well when needed. According to him, the ministry has formulated the work procedure on the recommendation of the SSF board using the authority provided by Article 70 of the Act. He claims that the second amendment to the work procedure has addressed the grievances of the contributors. However it is not possible to make any decision yet regarding the voluntary participation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Nepal Bankers' Association had also submitted an application to the Ministry of Labor and the SSF two weeks ago objecting to some provisions. Anil Sharma, Executive Director of the Association, said that they have urged the concerned bodies to make the provisions reasonable and participation voluntary. He said that it is not justifiable to ask to choose SSF pension fund by mid-July.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the SSF, only a small number of commercial banks, development banks, finance and microfinance institutions have participated in the fund. So far, 2246 employees of 10 out of 27 commercial banks have been registered. Banks including Laxmi Bank, Prime Commercial Bank, Mega Bank, Nepal Credit and Commerce (NCC) Bank and Global IME Bank are listed. Three out of 18 development banks, 11 out of 20 finance companies and 40 out of 72 microfinance institutions have been registered. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-25', 'modified' => '2021-06-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13331', 'image' => '20210625125128_20210215042205_20200401094426_1585693701.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-25 12:50:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13584', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Foodstuff worth more than 70 Million sold by 2 Government Entities during Prohibitory Period ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 24: Two state-owned companies, Food Management and Trading Company Limited and Salt Trading Corporation, have sold food items worth more than Rs 75 million at a discount of 20 percent.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">June 24: Two state-owned companies, Food Management and Trading Company Limited and Salt Trading Corporation, have sold food items worth more than Rs 75 million at a discount of 20 percent. The government in the budget for FY 2021/22 had announced a 20 percent discount on food sold by these two companies.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">As announced by the government in the budget, the companies provided a 20 percent discount on the prices of food items including rice, nuts, and sugar from June 7. Both the companies have sold food items worth Rs 78.3 million as of June 19.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The Food Management and Trading Company has sold 12,488 quintals of food worth Rs 69.1 million. Sharmila Subedi, information officer of the company, informed that they gave a discount of Rs 13.8 million. A total of 41,174 households have been estimated to have benefitted from the discounts.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">In the meantime, Salt Trading Corporation has sold food items worth Rs 9.1 million and provided a discount of Rs 1.8 million. A total of 1.52 million households have benefitted from the exemption given by Salt Trading Corporation, said Kumar Raj Bhandari, spokesperson of the corporation.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The Food Management and Trading Company gave discounts on Karnali beans, sugar, and rice except for Marcy and Basmati rice, while the Salt Trading Corporation offered discounts on items like salt, sugar, flour, cooking oil, and cooking gas. Both the companies have discontinued the 20 percent discount offer after the prohibitory order was eased on Tuesday, June 22.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">"We have stopped giving the discount after the government instructed us to postpone the waiver program for the time being," said Bhandari.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-24', 'modified' => '2021-06-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13330', 'image' => '20210624020623_20201123043159_92926.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-24 14:05:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13585', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Technical Team Finds it Difficult to Ascertain the Damage of Melamchi Water Supply Project.', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 24: The project office of Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP) has yet to ascertain the extent of damage caused by the floods last week as the technical team that went to inspect the damage at the project site could not reach the headworks area at Ambathan', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">June 24: The project office of Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP) has yet to ascertain the extent of damage caused by the floods last week as the technical team that went to inspect the damage at the project site could not reach the headworks area at Ambathan in Helambu Rural Municipality-1. A six-member team led by Madhav Nepal, senior divisional engineer of the project, had visited Ambathan. However, Rajendra Prasad Pant, the spokesperson of the Melamchi Water Supply Development Board, informed that the team could not assess the headworks and returned from Kiul.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">"A technical team is at the site to ascertain the extent of damage, but they could not reach the headworks. It would have been easier to plan if the team could ascertain the damage,” informed Pant. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The headworks of MWSP at Ambathan is about 5 km away from Kiul. The team could not reach the headworks due to continuous floods and rainfall.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">All the temporary structures of the headworks have been washed away due to the flood. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">"The headworks appears to be submerged," Pant said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to Pant, the retaining wall on the left is not visible, and the team was unable to calculate the damage done to the headworks to analyze the time and resources needed for its reconstruction.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The team had to cross four bridges to reach the structure, which is 21 km away from Melamchi Bazaar. He said that only a preliminary estimate of the damage was made, as the team could not reach the site. According to him, the damage is estimated to be around Rs 1 billion. The inspection of tunnel of the MWSP was scheduled to be completed in two months.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">"The inspection work has been affected due to the floods. The Ambathan tunnel is reported to be filled with sand," Pant said. He informed that the project office is coordinating with the rural municipality and the Nepal Army.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">“The most important thing right now is to get to the headworks area. For that, it is necessary to build entrances and bridges,” he said, adding, “We are coordinating with the municipality, Nepal Army, and the Department of Roads for that. He said that all the structures and construction equipment have been flooded.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Even though the main structure was not damaged, the headwork diversion tunnel has been affected by the flood. He said that it was necessary to wait for the monsoon to end to bring water through alternative diversion. He informed that alternative water diversion will be started after clean water reaches Melamchi as it is not possible to irrigate in the rainy season.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Likewise, Pant said that the contract of the construction company should be extended as they could not finish the work within the stipulated period due to the disaster. However, the project office hasn't made any decision on extending the contract yet.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Eight Sino Hydro workers involved in the construction of the project's headworks went missing due to a landslide above the construction site. Of them, three bodies have been found so far.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-24', 'modified' => '2021-06-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13329', 'image' => '20210624021648_20210611103908_1623336277.melamchi.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-24 14:15:29', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13583', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => ' Corruption Case of Rs 1 Billion Filed against Mahat, Dhakal and Sharma ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 24: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has filed a corruption case against the then Chairman of Tax Clearance Commission, Lumbadhwoj Mahat, and members Umesh Prasad Dhakal and Chudamani Sharma. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">June 24: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has filed a corruption case against the then Chairman of Tax Clearance Commission, Lumbadhwoj Mahat, and members Umesh Prasad Dhakal and Chudamani Sharma. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The CIAA filed the case of Rs 1 billion for compromising with the taxpayers breaching the jurisdiction given by Tax Clearance Commission Act and the notice published in Nepal gazette. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The CIAA has sought recovery of Rs 1.3 billion from the accused, said CIAA Spokesperson Narayan Prasad Risal, along with imprisonment. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-24', 'modified' => '2021-06-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13328', 'image' => '20210624124455_20190205023717_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-24 12:44:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13582', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Domestic Flights to Resume from July 1 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 24: The government has decided to resume domestic flights from July 1. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">June 24: The government has decided to resume domestic flights from July 1. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to the state-owned national news agency (RSS), the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has directed the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to resume domestic flights not exceeding 50 percent of the total flights from July 1.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Such arrangement has been made until further notice. The ministry has also instructed the aviation governing body to ensure that the airline companies follow health protocol after resuming flights.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS""> The ministry issued the directive following a cabinet decision on Monday to allow flight resumption under certain conditions. Domestic flights were halted following the second wave of COVID-19. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">In case of international flights, the ministry issued a notice on Wednesday (June 23) and directed CAAN to resume flights to certain destinations from coming Thursday (June 24). The Ministry has published a flight schedule until June 30 in relation to international flights, RSS further reported. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to the flight schedule, Turkish Airlines will operate a flight from Istanbul to Kathmandu on June 24. Likewise, on June 25, NAC will operate a flight to Japan and Air India from New Delhi to Kathmandu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">On June 26, Qatar Airways will run a flight from Doha to Kathmandu. On the same day, Air Arabia will operate a flight from Abu Dhabi to Kathmandu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">On June 27, NAC will operate a flight from Kathmandu to Doha. On the same day, Himalaya Airlines will run a flight each to Kuala Lumpur and Dubai. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">On June 28, NAC will operate a flight to Dubai and Himalaya Airlines to Dammam and Qatar Airways from Doha to Kathmandu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">On June 29, NAC will operate a flight from Kathmandu to Doha and Turkish Airlines to Kathmandu. Similarly, Fly Dubai will operate a flight to Kathmandu and Salam Airlines to Kathmandu. On June 30, NAC will run a flight from Kathmandu to Dubai, Himalaya Airlines from Kathmandu to Dammam, Qatar Airways from Doha to Kathmandu and Jazeera Airways from Kuwait to Kathmandu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The government had halted domestic flights from May 3 and international flights from May 6 following the second wave of COVID-19. </span><br /> <img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/20190402115618_A320%281%29.jpg" style="height:330px; width:800px" /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-24', 'modified' => '2021-06-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13327', 'image' => '20210624115748_20210221121806_Summit Air Landing.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-24 11:56:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13581', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'WHO Refutes Efficacy of ‘Mix and Match’ of Different Vaccines', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 24: The World Health Organization (WHO) Nepal has refuted the claims that a ‘mix and match’ regimen for Vero Cell and AstraZeneca CoviShield Vaccine would yield more effective results. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">June 24: The World Health Organization (WHO) Nepal has refuted the claims that a ‘mix and match’ regimen for Vero Cell and AstraZeneca CoviShield Vaccine would yield more effective results. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Issuing a press statement on Wednesday (June 23), WHO clarified that it has not issued any such statements and the attribution is false. “Such misinformation can lead to grave consequences for the public”, reads the press release. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">WHO stated that data on the efficacy of ‘mix and match’ of vaccines remains limited. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">While studies are ongoing regarding the interchangeability between vaccines and more evidence is needed regarding interchangeability of the second dose of AstraZeneca with Vero Cell vaccines before conclusions can be made,” the statement further said.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-24', 'modified' => '2021-06-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13326', 'image' => '20210624114748_Kundan.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-24 11:46:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13580', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Finance Minister Urges Hoteliers to Benefit from Subsidy ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 23: Minister for Finance Bishnu Prasad Poudel has urged hoteliers and tourism entrepreneurs to benefit from the subsidy given by the government. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">June 23: Minister for Finance Bishnu Prasad Poudel has urged hoteliers and tourism entrepreneurs to benefit from the subsidy given by the government. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Receiving the recommendations submitted by the Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) on Tuesday, Minister Poudel urged the hoteliers and business people to receive the benefits announced by the government for the upcoming fiscal year adding that the government has addressed most of the demands related to tourism sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Stating that the hotel and tourism sector has been given equal status to that of production sector, Poudel argued that it was unlikely to bring better budget than this due to COVID-19. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">In the budget for the fiscal year 2021/22, the government has announced to exempt electricity demand tariff to the hotels during the prohibitory period. The budget has also provision to automatically renew the registration of tourism industries including hotels and trekking agencies without any fee for the fiscal year 2021/22. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">President of HAN Srijana Rana stated that it was a big step to include hotels in the service sector and thanked the minister for incorporating the recommendations given by the HAN in budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Likewise, HAN recommended the government to increase the existing amount of refinancing and extend the time period for a year. It has also urged the central bank to monitor whether or not the decision of refinancing was implemented through the banks and financial institutions. --RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-23', 'modified' => '2021-06-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13325', 'image' => '20210623034921_20210531043451_20201015115013_1602717511.Clipboard02.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-23 15:48:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13578', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Investment Board Approves Foreign Investment worth Rs 97 Billion ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 23: The Investment Board Nepal has approved foreign investment of Rs 97 billion.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">June 23: The Investment Board Nepal has approved foreign investment of Rs 97 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The 47th board meeting of the Investment Board chaired by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on June 22 approved foreign investment of around Rs 97 billion for various projects.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The meeting discussed the Upper Tamor Hydropower Project (285 MW) with an estimated cost of USD 540 million and the Lower Manang-Marsyangdi Hydropower Project (139.2 MW) with an estimated cost of Rs 33.41 billion. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Similarly, the Investment Board has been instructed to make necessary preparations for the project development agreement with the developer by approving the detailed project report of China-Nepal Friendship Industrial Park, the largest industrial park in the country proposed to be constructed in Damak, Jhapa under public-private partnership model.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The meeting also approved the draft of the memorandum of understanding to be signed with project developer SJVN Limited India to issue a survey license for the detailed feasibility study of the Lower Arun Hydropower Project (679 MW) to be constructed in Sankhuwasabha district.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The meeting has also decided to direct the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation to make necessary legal reforms by addressing the ambiguities in granting survey permission for the Tamor Reservoir Hydropower Project (756 MW).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The meeting has formed a committee under the coordination of the Vice-Chairman of the National Planning Commission to study and prepare a blueprint for the development and investment of the West Seti and SR-6 joint hydropower projects.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The meeting also approved the 'Procedure on Recommendation of Foreign Exchange and Transfer Facility, 2078' for the institutional reform and management of the working system of the Investment Board.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Prime Minister Oli during the meeting instructed concerned authorities to take a decision on the hydropower project only after considering the transmission line, consumption of electricity generated from it, and export potential. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">"The mistakes of the past should not be repeated. If we generate electricity but are not able to build transmission lines, we will have to pay for the unused electricity in accordance to the PPA," he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">During the meeting, Finance Minister and Vice-Chairman of the Board, Bishnu Poudel, said that the proposals submitted to the Investment Board would help in the economic development of the country.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-23', 'modified' => '2021-06-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13324', 'image' => '20210623122152_20210115025352_20160222122813_ep3.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-23 12:20:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13577', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '20 Ministers Lose their Posts as Supreme Court stays Cabinet Expansion ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 22: The Supreme Court has stayed the decision of President Bidya Devi Bhandari to appoint 20 new ministers in the cabinet after the dissolution of the House of Representatives.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">June 22: The Supreme Court has stayed the decision of President Bidya Devi Bhandari to appoint 20 new ministers in the cabinet after the dissolution of the House of Representatives.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">In response to writ petitions filed by half a dozen advocates, a division bench of Supreme Court justices headed by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana today (June 22) issued an interim order against the recent appointments of deputy prime ministers, ministers and state ministers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Earlier on June 4 and June 27, President Bhandari, upon the recommendation of Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli, had inducted new deputy prime ministers, ministers and state ministers in the cabinet.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The cabinet expansions came after the dissolution of the House of Representatives and announcement of mid-term elections in November. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Upon the recommendation of the cabinet, President Bhandari had dissolved the House on May 22. </span></span>The decision to dissolve the lower house and announcement of the mid-term polls are currently subjudice in the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">With the Supreme Court’s interim order, 20 ministers including two deputy prime ministers in the Oli-led cabinet will lose their posts.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">In its interim order, the Supreme Court has barred all of them to serve in the capacity of deputy prime ministers, ministers and state ministers until the case is settled. The order states that the additional appointments for cabinet expansions were against the spirit of the constitution.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">However, Deputy Prime Minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel along with three other ministers who were the members of the lower house before its dissolution will continue to serve as members of the Oli-led cabinet. The other three who will continue to serve as ministers are Krishna Gopal Shrestha, Basant Kumar Nembwang and Lilanath Shrestha.</span></span></span></p> <p><strong><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"> <span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The ministers who lost their posts are as follows:</span></span></span></strong></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">1- Raghubir Mahaseth, Deputy Prime and Minister for Foreign Affairs</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">2- Rajendra Mahato, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Urban Development</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">3- Khaga Raj Adhikari, Minister for Home Affairs</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">4- Sharat Singh Bhandari, Minister for Energy, Water Resource and Irrigation</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">5- Anil Kumar Jha, Minister for Water Supply</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">6- Sher Bahadur Tamang, Minister for Health and Population</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">7- Rajkishor Yadav, Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">8- Laxman Lal Karna, Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">9- Nainkala Thapa, Minister for Communication and Information Technology</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">10- Jwala Kumari Shah, Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">11- Bimal Prasad Shrivastav, Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">12- Uma Shankar Aragriya, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">13- Chanda Chaudhary, Minister for Women, Children and Senior Citizen</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">14- Ekbal Miya, Minister for Youth and Sports</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">15- Narad Muni Rana, Minister for Forest and Environment</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">16- Ganesh Kumar Pahadi, Minister for Federal Affairs and General Administration</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">17- Mohan Baniya, Minister for the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">18- Chandra Kanta Chaudhary, State Minister for Energy, Water Resource and Irrigation</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">19- Renuka Gurung, State Minister for Women, Children and Senior Citizen</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">20- Asha Kumari B K, State Minister for Forest and Environment</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-22', 'modified' => '2021-06-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13323', 'image' => '20210622060018_20201127115547_20200417094838_CKC_ktm.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-22 17:59:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13579', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Domestic and International Flights to Resume with Conditions', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 23: The government has decided to resume domestic and international flights by adopting safety measures and protocols. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">June 23: The government has decided to resume domestic and international flights by adopting safety measures and protocols. The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation informed that the cabinet meeting on Monday decided to resume the air service by fixing destination and airlines companies. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Domestic flights would be operated with 50 per cent of the total number of usual flights until further notice. Similarly, number of the international flights would be increased gradually. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">There would be four flights in a week by two airline companies to and from Kathmandu to Doha. Similarly, there would be two flights to and from Kathmandu to Istanbul and four flights between Kathmandu and Dubai. Similarly there would be two flights a week between Kathmandu and Damam as well as Kathmandu and Kuwait. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Likewise, there would be one flight between Kathmandu and Muscat and four flights between Kathmandu and Malaysia. The ministry further said that there would be a single flight to South Korea, Japan and Chengdu and Guangzhou of China. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-23', 'modified' => '2021-06-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13321', 'image' => '20210623123715_EHdVeZuVAAArjYS.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-23 12:36:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13575', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Vehicles Charging Three Times More to Passengers Traveling for Urgent Purpose ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 22: It has been found that the transport entrepreneurs have been charging three times more than the normal fare for passengers entering and leaving the Kathmandu Valley for urgent work during the current crisis of Covid-19.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">June 22: It has been found that the transport entrepreneurs have been charging three times more than the normal fare for passengers entering and leaving the Kathmandu Valley for urgent work during the current crisis of Covid-19.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Passengers who are compelled to travel due to various problems have been further affected by the arbitrary hike in fares.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Saroj Rawal, who is from Tikapur in Kailali and is currently living in Lanchaur, Kathmandu, had to go home after his father passed away due to coronavirus. A microbus traveling for Kailali from Gongbu bus park charged him Rs 5,000 more than the normal charge. However, as he was required to travel, he was compelled to pay the exorbitant fare.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">"I didn't even receive a ticket. When the police asked me about the fare, I was forced to tell them that I had paid Rs 1,500. Because I did not have any other option, I did as the driver told me to do," he said. The fare from Kathmandu to Tikapur is Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Naresh Shahi, who arrived in Kathmandu from Surkhet due to similar circumstances, also said that he paid Rs 3,000 more to the bus driver. Earlier, the fare from Surkhet to Kathmandu was Rs 2,000 under normal circumstances.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the victims, the vehicles carrying passengers are running smoothly with the pass provided by the district administration offices and looting the passengers who are in trouble. However, the Association of Transport Entrepreneurs claim that private vehicles are not involved in such activities.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">FNCCI General Secretary Saroj Sitaula said that the vehicles with red number plates were more active in such activities and were charging exorbitant fares. He is of the view that such a problem has arisen with the district administration office making arrangements for allowing the movement of vehicles unnecessarily.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">On the one hand, the transport entrepreneurs say such work may have been done in collusion with the local levels and district administration, but the police say that they are taking necessary action against such wrongdoings. Superintendent of Police Shyam Krishna Adhikari, Information Officer of the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division, Kathmandu, said that action would be taken against the vehicle owners if the passengers complained about the issue with the police.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-22', 'modified' => '2021-06-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13320', 'image' => '20210622013410_20200913023207_1595264681.yatayat.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-22 13:33:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13574', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers Start Paddy Plantation Amid Covid-19 Pandemic', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 22: Farmers in different districts are busy planting paddy amid the dire situation of the coronavirus pandemic. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">June 22: Farmers in different districts are busy planting paddy amid the dire situation of the coronavirus pandemic. With the onset of monsoon and rainfall, farmers have started planting paddy despite the risk of disease transmission.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, farmers in across the country are busy planting paddy at this time. Farmers of Kathmandu, Dhading, Makwanpur, Kaski, Baglung, Jhapa, Panchthar, Bara, Parsa, Rautahat, Dang, Pyuthan, Nawalparasi, Banke, Bardiya, Kailali, and Kanchanpur are busy planting paddy.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">So far this year, the ministry has not received data on how much land has been planted with paddy. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the ministry, most of the industries, trades, and businesses have been shut down this year due to the prohibitory order imposed by the government to prevent and control the surge of coronavirus. Therefore, the area of paddy cultivation is estimated to increase by about 20 percent this year as compared to last year, said Shri Ram Ghimire, spokesperson of the ministry.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the statistics of the Ministry, paddy was cultivated in 1.45 million hectares of land out of the total cultivable land in the Fiscal Year 2019/20. The area of paddy cultivation had increased by about 15,000 hectares in the fiscal year 2020/21 following lockdown to contain the first wave of coronavirus.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">About 3.1 million hectares of land in Nepal are considered suitable for agriculture.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Although the government does not have the exact data on how much of land is barren, it is said that the land remains barren due to migration of locals from villages to cities, the attraction of youths for foreign employment, lack of irrigation, and decline in production. Stakeholders say that the main contributor to the production is the monsoon trend as more than 60 percent of the land under paddy is dependent on rainwater.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Last year, farmers in most of the districts were facing shortage of fertilizer due to the scarcity of chemical fertilizer during paddy plantation season. However, the government claims that there will be no shortage of chemical fertilizers this year as there is sufficient stock of chemical fertilizers and there are no problems in import.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to Bishnu Prasad Pokhrel, spokesperson of the Agricultural Inputs Company Limited, the import of fertilizer is going smoothly and the stock is also sufficient. The Agricultural Inputs Company and Salt Trading Corporation currently have about 80,000 metric tons of chemical fertilizer in stock. Pokharel said that the problem has been resolved even though the farmers have complained that they have not received fertilizer due to the lockdown.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-22', 'modified' => '2021-06-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13319', 'image' => '20210622012350_1624318766.Clipboard07.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-22 13:22:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13573', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Number of Nepalis Leaving for Foreign Employment Declines', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 22: The number of Nepali migrant workers leaving for foreign employment has witnessed a sharp decline due to the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">June 22: The number of Nepali migrant workers leaving for foreign employment has witnessed a sharp decline due to the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic. The number of Nepalis going abroad for foreign employment declined significantly due to the border closure and prohibitory order imposed to contain the second wave of coronavirus.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">During the first wave of the pandemic as well, the number of Nepali workers going for foreign employment had witnessed a sharp decline. The government had even stopped issuing labor permits from March 13 to October 5, 2020. After the government resumed issuing labor permits, the number of workers going for foreign employment had increased gradually. Following the second wave of coronavirus, the number of migrant workers going for foreign employment has dropped again.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the Department of Foreign Employment, altogether 3,152 Nepalis went for foreign employment in August 2020. Since then, the number of workers going abroad for employment had been gradually increasing. But since May, the number of Nepali workers migrating for foreign jobs has gone down.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the department, a total of 24,363 Nepali workers went to the Gulf countries for foreign employment in April but only 4,086 workers went for foreign employment in May.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The government had imposed restrictions on April 29 to control the second wave of coronavirus. It had also suspended international flights from May 6, which resulted in a decline in the number of Nepali nationals leaving for foreign jobs.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Mahendra Nath Bhattarai, director of the department, said that the number of workers going for foreign employment decreased after the shutdown of international flights. "Currently, there are only two international flights a week. Some workers are leaving through those regular flights while some workers have also left through chartered flights,” he said, “Overall, the second wave of coronavirus has affected the foreign employment.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">A preliminary study conducted by the Federation of Foreign Employment Entrepreneurs found that around 70,000 migrant workers have been deprived of leaving for the Gulf countries due to the suspension of international flights. Sujita Shrestha, general secretary of the Federation, said workers who had returned on holiday and new visa recipients have been unable to go abroad for employment.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to Shrestha, 25,000 workers have been deprived from going to Saudi Arabia, 30,000 to Qatar, 10,000 to Cyprus, 1,500 to Bahrain and 1,500 to Oman. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-22', 'modified' => '2021-06-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13318', 'image' => '20210622011307_1624318349.2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-22 13:11:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13572', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => ' Lockdown Eased, Odd-Even Number Rule Enforced in the Valley ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 22: The district administration offices in the Kathmandu Valley have eased the lockdown enforced to contain the second wave of coronavirus. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">June 22: The district administration offices in the Kathmandu Valley have eased the lockdown enforced to contain the second wave of coronavirus. Government authorities have enforced odd-even number rule for private vehicles and cabs while certain days have been fixed for opening shops. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">A joint meeting of the chief district officers from Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktpur issued the order in this regard. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">CDO of Kathmandu Kali Prasad Parajuli informed that the prohibitory order was eased to make commercial sector active. The latest order has come into effect from today (June 22) and will remain in force till midnight of June 28. Light vehicles such as car, jeep and van are not allowed to carry more than four persons while taxis can carry three passengers. Departmental stores (except grocery), shopping malls, sports shops, cloth and fancy-dress stores, tailoring shops, cosmetics and gift shops are allowed to open for three days- Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 11:00am to 4:00pm. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The jewelry shops as well as shops selling pots and kitchen utensil, electric goods, auto parts, and automobile showroom are allowed to run their businesses on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday from 11:00am to 4:00pm. Shops selling hardwares, sanitary goods, tiles, marbles, furniture, and carpets can operate every day from 11:00am to 6:00pm. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Meanwhile, transportation of large delivery is allowed only during night. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Government authorities have allowed medical stores and pharmaceuticals to run daily as usual. Similarly, grocery stores as well as shops selling diary products, vegetables and fruits, stationery shops among others are allowed to open till 11:00am every day. Online and take-away services can operate till 7:00pm in the valley. The autmobile repair workshops can run till 7:00pm. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Marriage ceremonies can be performed at home by maintaining health and safety measures and without exceeding 10 attendants. For this, no more than two vehicles are allowed. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Vehicles providing essential service such as transportation of hospital staff, ambulance service, drinking water, cargo and courier, garbage management can be operated daily without any hindrance. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Schools are not still allowed to run classes physically. Transportation of vegetables, fruits, dairy products, poultry, fuel, gas, sanitary goods, printing and agricultural inputs can operate using banners. Such vehicles are allowed to operate from 8:00am to 11:00pm. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">People preparing to go abroad are allowed to enter the three districts of the valley by showing their plane tickets, passport and visa. The district authorities have also allowed banking and financial institutes, security service providers, insurance companies, remittance, cooperative, NGOs to operate with minimum human resources. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-22', 'modified' => '2021-06-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13317', 'image' => '20210622010212_1624336152.traffic.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-22 13:01:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13570', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => ' Probe Committee to Study High Fare of International Flights ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 22: The government has formed a probe committee to investigate extra fare charged by travel agencies to passengers of international flights. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">June 22: The government has formed a probe committee to investigate extra fare charged by travel agencies to passengers of international flights. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to the state-owned national news agency RSS, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has formed a-five member committee led by Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), Rajan Pokharel. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Joint secretary at the Ministry Taranath Adhikari shared that the probe committee was formed to carry out the investigation as some travel agencies reportedly charged additional ticketing fare for international flights of late. </span><br /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-22', 'modified' => '2021-06-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13315', 'image' => '20210622124120_20200311110634_1583889398.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-22 12:40:23', '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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They have expressed objection toward mandatory participation after the central bank directed BFIs to join the SSF mandatorily.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Various associations of BFI employees have accused the government of compelling BFIs to participate by submitting false details of their participation. Varun Khadka, treasurer of Nepal Financial Institution Employees Union, has expressed dissatisfaction over the mandatory participation in SSF. According to him, most of the employees of banks and financial institutions are not interested in joining SSF. He said that lack of uniformity in SSF's rules and procedure has created reservations among the employees.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">He said that the unwanted pressure to include SSF in the social security scheme would not be acceptable as joining SSF would also deprive them of existing perks and facilities.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">He fears that the government is intending to transfer billions of rupees of employees accumulated since the last 10 to 20 years in the Employee Provident Fund to the SSF. This mandatory provision has compelled many employees of BFIs to tender their resignations.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Roshan Koirala, head of Nabil Bank’s human resources department, said that around six employees have already resigned due to this very reason. According to him, there are many issues of the SSF work procedure and the related Act that do not match. Amendment of only the work procedure does not make sense. SSF work procedure states that all funds of Employee Provident Fund should be kept in the SSF but the same thing is not mentioned in the SSF Act, so employees are resigning due to lack of security.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">It would be more beneficial to deposit their money in banks' fixed deposit rather than joining SSF, he said. Nabil Bank is currently holding discussions over the issue of participation in SSF.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Bank and financial sector employees say that the SSF discriminates against the government and private sector employees in terms of social security facilities.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to Saroj Kaji Tuladhar, president of the Nepal Financial Institutions Association, the monthly pension is the amount earned by dividing the amount deposited by the workers during the service period by 160. But, this amount is much less for the private sector employees than that provisioned for the government employees.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Employees are required to contribute 31 percent of their monthly salary to the social security fund, but government employees are required to contribute 6 percent to the pension fund while the government contributes 100 percent. Tuladhar said that private sector employees don’t receive pension equivalent to their contribution. So it is not appropriate to compel private sector employees to join SSF. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Kapil Mani Gyawali, Executive Director of the SSF, said that the work procedure has been amended to accommodate everyone and will be amended in the future as well when needed. According to him, the ministry has formulated the work procedure on the recommendation of the SSF board using the authority provided by Article 70 of the Act. He claims that the second amendment to the work procedure has addressed the grievances of the contributors. However it is not possible to make any decision yet regarding the voluntary participation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Nepal Bankers' Association had also submitted an application to the Ministry of Labor and the SSF two weeks ago objecting to some provisions. Anil Sharma, Executive Director of the Association, said that they have urged the concerned bodies to make the provisions reasonable and participation voluntary. He said that it is not justifiable to ask to choose SSF pension fund by mid-July.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the SSF, only a small number of commercial banks, development banks, finance and microfinance institutions have participated in the fund. So far, 2246 employees of 10 out of 27 commercial banks have been registered. Banks including Laxmi Bank, Prime Commercial Bank, Mega Bank, Nepal Credit and Commerce (NCC) Bank and Global IME Bank are listed. Three out of 18 development banks, 11 out of 20 finance companies and 40 out of 72 microfinance institutions have been registered. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-25', 'modified' => '2021-06-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13331', 'image' => '20210625125128_20210215042205_20200401094426_1585693701.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-25 12:50:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13584', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Foodstuff worth more than 70 Million sold by 2 Government Entities during Prohibitory Period ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 24: Two state-owned companies, Food Management and Trading Company Limited and Salt Trading Corporation, have sold food items worth more than Rs 75 million at a discount of 20 percent.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">June 24: Two state-owned companies, Food Management and Trading Company Limited and Salt Trading Corporation, have sold food items worth more than Rs 75 million at a discount of 20 percent. The government in the budget for FY 2021/22 had announced a 20 percent discount on food sold by these two companies.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">As announced by the government in the budget, the companies provided a 20 percent discount on the prices of food items including rice, nuts, and sugar from June 7. Both the companies have sold food items worth Rs 78.3 million as of June 19.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The Food Management and Trading Company has sold 12,488 quintals of food worth Rs 69.1 million. Sharmila Subedi, information officer of the company, informed that they gave a discount of Rs 13.8 million. A total of 41,174 households have been estimated to have benefitted from the discounts.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">In the meantime, Salt Trading Corporation has sold food items worth Rs 9.1 million and provided a discount of Rs 1.8 million. A total of 1.52 million households have benefitted from the exemption given by Salt Trading Corporation, said Kumar Raj Bhandari, spokesperson of the corporation.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The Food Management and Trading Company gave discounts on Karnali beans, sugar, and rice except for Marcy and Basmati rice, while the Salt Trading Corporation offered discounts on items like salt, sugar, flour, cooking oil, and cooking gas. Both the companies have discontinued the 20 percent discount offer after the prohibitory order was eased on Tuesday, June 22.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">"We have stopped giving the discount after the government instructed us to postpone the waiver program for the time being," said Bhandari.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-24', 'modified' => '2021-06-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13330', 'image' => '20210624020623_20201123043159_92926.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-24 14:05:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13585', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Technical Team Finds it Difficult to Ascertain the Damage of Melamchi Water Supply Project.', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 24: The project office of Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP) has yet to ascertain the extent of damage caused by the floods last week as the technical team that went to inspect the damage at the project site could not reach the headworks area at Ambathan', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">June 24: The project office of Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP) has yet to ascertain the extent of damage caused by the floods last week as the technical team that went to inspect the damage at the project site could not reach the headworks area at Ambathan in Helambu Rural Municipality-1. A six-member team led by Madhav Nepal, senior divisional engineer of the project, had visited Ambathan. However, Rajendra Prasad Pant, the spokesperson of the Melamchi Water Supply Development Board, informed that the team could not assess the headworks and returned from Kiul.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">"A technical team is at the site to ascertain the extent of damage, but they could not reach the headworks. It would have been easier to plan if the team could ascertain the damage,” informed Pant. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The headworks of MWSP at Ambathan is about 5 km away from Kiul. The team could not reach the headworks due to continuous floods and rainfall.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">All the temporary structures of the headworks have been washed away due to the flood. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">"The headworks appears to be submerged," Pant said. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to Pant, the retaining wall on the left is not visible, and the team was unable to calculate the damage done to the headworks to analyze the time and resources needed for its reconstruction.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The team had to cross four bridges to reach the structure, which is 21 km away from Melamchi Bazaar. He said that only a preliminary estimate of the damage was made, as the team could not reach the site. According to him, the damage is estimated to be around Rs 1 billion. The inspection of tunnel of the MWSP was scheduled to be completed in two months.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">"The inspection work has been affected due to the floods. The Ambathan tunnel is reported to be filled with sand," Pant said. He informed that the project office is coordinating with the rural municipality and the Nepal Army.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">“The most important thing right now is to get to the headworks area. For that, it is necessary to build entrances and bridges,” he said, adding, “We are coordinating with the municipality, Nepal Army, and the Department of Roads for that. He said that all the structures and construction equipment have been flooded.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Even though the main structure was not damaged, the headwork diversion tunnel has been affected by the flood. He said that it was necessary to wait for the monsoon to end to bring water through alternative diversion. He informed that alternative water diversion will be started after clean water reaches Melamchi as it is not possible to irrigate in the rainy season.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Likewise, Pant said that the contract of the construction company should be extended as they could not finish the work within the stipulated period due to the disaster. However, the project office hasn't made any decision on extending the contract yet.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Eight Sino Hydro workers involved in the construction of the project's headworks went missing due to a landslide above the construction site. Of them, three bodies have been found so far.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-24', 'modified' => '2021-06-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13329', 'image' => '20210624021648_20210611103908_1623336277.melamchi.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-24 14:15:29', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13583', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => ' Corruption Case of Rs 1 Billion Filed against Mahat, Dhakal and Sharma ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 24: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has filed a corruption case against the then Chairman of Tax Clearance Commission, Lumbadhwoj Mahat, and members Umesh Prasad Dhakal and Chudamani Sharma. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">June 24: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has filed a corruption case against the then Chairman of Tax Clearance Commission, Lumbadhwoj Mahat, and members Umesh Prasad Dhakal and Chudamani Sharma. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The CIAA filed the case of Rs 1 billion for compromising with the taxpayers breaching the jurisdiction given by Tax Clearance Commission Act and the notice published in Nepal gazette. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The CIAA has sought recovery of Rs 1.3 billion from the accused, said CIAA Spokesperson Narayan Prasad Risal, along with imprisonment. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-24', 'modified' => '2021-06-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13328', 'image' => '20210624124455_20190205023717_aaaa.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-24 12:44:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13582', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Domestic Flights to Resume from July 1 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 24: The government has decided to resume domestic flights from July 1. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">June 24: The government has decided to resume domestic flights from July 1. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to the state-owned national news agency (RSS), the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has directed the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to resume domestic flights not exceeding 50 percent of the total flights from July 1.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Such arrangement has been made until further notice. The ministry has also instructed the aviation governing body to ensure that the airline companies follow health protocol after resuming flights.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS""> The ministry issued the directive following a cabinet decision on Monday to allow flight resumption under certain conditions. Domestic flights were halted following the second wave of COVID-19. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">In case of international flights, the ministry issued a notice on Wednesday (June 23) and directed CAAN to resume flights to certain destinations from coming Thursday (June 24). The Ministry has published a flight schedule until June 30 in relation to international flights, RSS further reported. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to the flight schedule, Turkish Airlines will operate a flight from Istanbul to Kathmandu on June 24. Likewise, on June 25, NAC will operate a flight to Japan and Air India from New Delhi to Kathmandu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">On June 26, Qatar Airways will run a flight from Doha to Kathmandu. On the same day, Air Arabia will operate a flight from Abu Dhabi to Kathmandu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">On June 27, NAC will operate a flight from Kathmandu to Doha. On the same day, Himalaya Airlines will run a flight each to Kuala Lumpur and Dubai. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">On June 28, NAC will operate a flight to Dubai and Himalaya Airlines to Dammam and Qatar Airways from Doha to Kathmandu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">On June 29, NAC will operate a flight from Kathmandu to Doha and Turkish Airlines to Kathmandu. Similarly, Fly Dubai will operate a flight to Kathmandu and Salam Airlines to Kathmandu. On June 30, NAC will run a flight from Kathmandu to Dubai, Himalaya Airlines from Kathmandu to Dammam, Qatar Airways from Doha to Kathmandu and Jazeera Airways from Kuwait to Kathmandu. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The government had halted domestic flights from May 3 and international flights from May 6 following the second wave of COVID-19. </span><br /> <img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/20190402115618_A320%281%29.jpg" style="height:330px; width:800px" /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-24', 'modified' => '2021-06-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13327', 'image' => '20210624115748_20210221121806_Summit Air Landing.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-24 11:56:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13581', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'WHO Refutes Efficacy of ‘Mix and Match’ of Different Vaccines', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 24: The World Health Organization (WHO) Nepal has refuted the claims that a ‘mix and match’ regimen for Vero Cell and AstraZeneca CoviShield Vaccine would yield more effective results. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">June 24: The World Health Organization (WHO) Nepal has refuted the claims that a ‘mix and match’ regimen for Vero Cell and AstraZeneca CoviShield Vaccine would yield more effective results. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Issuing a press statement on Wednesday (June 23), WHO clarified that it has not issued any such statements and the attribution is false. “Such misinformation can lead to grave consequences for the public”, reads the press release. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">WHO stated that data on the efficacy of ‘mix and match’ of vaccines remains limited. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">“</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">While studies are ongoing regarding the interchangeability between vaccines and more evidence is needed regarding interchangeability of the second dose of AstraZeneca with Vero Cell vaccines before conclusions can be made,” the statement further said.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-24', 'modified' => '2021-06-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13326', 'image' => '20210624114748_Kundan.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-24 11:46:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13580', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Finance Minister Urges Hoteliers to Benefit from Subsidy ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 23: Minister for Finance Bishnu Prasad Poudel has urged hoteliers and tourism entrepreneurs to benefit from the subsidy given by the government. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">June 23: Minister for Finance Bishnu Prasad Poudel has urged hoteliers and tourism entrepreneurs to benefit from the subsidy given by the government. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Receiving the recommendations submitted by the Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) on Tuesday, Minister Poudel urged the hoteliers and business people to receive the benefits announced by the government for the upcoming fiscal year adding that the government has addressed most of the demands related to tourism sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Stating that the hotel and tourism sector has been given equal status to that of production sector, Poudel argued that it was unlikely to bring better budget than this due to COVID-19. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">In the budget for the fiscal year 2021/22, the government has announced to exempt electricity demand tariff to the hotels during the prohibitory period. The budget has also provision to automatically renew the registration of tourism industries including hotels and trekking agencies without any fee for the fiscal year 2021/22. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">President of HAN Srijana Rana stated that it was a big step to include hotels in the service sector and thanked the minister for incorporating the recommendations given by the HAN in budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Likewise, HAN recommended the government to increase the existing amount of refinancing and extend the time period for a year. It has also urged the central bank to monitor whether or not the decision of refinancing was implemented through the banks and financial institutions. --RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-23', 'modified' => '2021-06-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13325', 'image' => '20210623034921_20210531043451_20201015115013_1602717511.Clipboard02.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-23 15:48:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13578', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Investment Board Approves Foreign Investment worth Rs 97 Billion ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 23: The Investment Board Nepal has approved foreign investment of Rs 97 billion.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">June 23: The Investment Board Nepal has approved foreign investment of Rs 97 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The 47th board meeting of the Investment Board chaired by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on June 22 approved foreign investment of around Rs 97 billion for various projects.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The meeting discussed the Upper Tamor Hydropower Project (285 MW) with an estimated cost of USD 540 million and the Lower Manang-Marsyangdi Hydropower Project (139.2 MW) with an estimated cost of Rs 33.41 billion. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Similarly, the Investment Board has been instructed to make necessary preparations for the project development agreement with the developer by approving the detailed project report of China-Nepal Friendship Industrial Park, the largest industrial park in the country proposed to be constructed in Damak, Jhapa under public-private partnership model.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The meeting also approved the draft of the memorandum of understanding to be signed with project developer SJVN Limited India to issue a survey license for the detailed feasibility study of the Lower Arun Hydropower Project (679 MW) to be constructed in Sankhuwasabha district.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The meeting has also decided to direct the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation to make necessary legal reforms by addressing the ambiguities in granting survey permission for the Tamor Reservoir Hydropower Project (756 MW).</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The meeting has formed a committee under the coordination of the Vice-Chairman of the National Planning Commission to study and prepare a blueprint for the development and investment of the West Seti and SR-6 joint hydropower projects.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The meeting also approved the 'Procedure on Recommendation of Foreign Exchange and Transfer Facility, 2078' for the institutional reform and management of the working system of the Investment Board.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Prime Minister Oli during the meeting instructed concerned authorities to take a decision on the hydropower project only after considering the transmission line, consumption of electricity generated from it, and export potential. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">"The mistakes of the past should not be repeated. If we generate electricity but are not able to build transmission lines, we will have to pay for the unused electricity in accordance to the PPA," he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">During the meeting, Finance Minister and Vice-Chairman of the Board, Bishnu Poudel, said that the proposals submitted to the Investment Board would help in the economic development of the country.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-23', 'modified' => '2021-06-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13324', 'image' => '20210623122152_20210115025352_20160222122813_ep3.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-23 12:20:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13577', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '20 Ministers Lose their Posts as Supreme Court stays Cabinet Expansion ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 22: The Supreme Court has stayed the decision of President Bidya Devi Bhandari to appoint 20 new ministers in the cabinet after the dissolution of the House of Representatives.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">June 22: The Supreme Court has stayed the decision of President Bidya Devi Bhandari to appoint 20 new ministers in the cabinet after the dissolution of the House of Representatives.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">In response to writ petitions filed by half a dozen advocates, a division bench of Supreme Court justices headed by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana today (June 22) issued an interim order against the recent appointments of deputy prime ministers, ministers and state ministers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Earlier on June 4 and June 27, President Bhandari, upon the recommendation of Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli, had inducted new deputy prime ministers, ministers and state ministers in the cabinet.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The cabinet expansions came after the dissolution of the House of Representatives and announcement of mid-term elections in November. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Upon the recommendation of the cabinet, President Bhandari had dissolved the House on May 22. </span></span>The decision to dissolve the lower house and announcement of the mid-term polls are currently subjudice in the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">With the Supreme Court’s interim order, 20 ministers including two deputy prime ministers in the Oli-led cabinet will lose their posts.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">In its interim order, the Supreme Court has barred all of them to serve in the capacity of deputy prime ministers, ministers and state ministers until the case is settled. The order states that the additional appointments for cabinet expansions were against the spirit of the constitution.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">However, Deputy Prime Minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel along with three other ministers who were the members of the lower house before its dissolution will continue to serve as members of the Oli-led cabinet. The other three who will continue to serve as ministers are Krishna Gopal Shrestha, Basant Kumar Nembwang and Lilanath Shrestha.</span></span></span></p> <p><strong><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"> <span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The ministers who lost their posts are as follows:</span></span></span></strong></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">1- Raghubir Mahaseth, Deputy Prime and Minister for Foreign Affairs</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">2- Rajendra Mahato, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Urban Development</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">3- Khaga Raj Adhikari, Minister for Home Affairs</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">4- Sharat Singh Bhandari, Minister for Energy, Water Resource and Irrigation</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">5- Anil Kumar Jha, Minister for Water Supply</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">6- Sher Bahadur Tamang, Minister for Health and Population</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">7- Rajkishor Yadav, Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">8- Laxman Lal Karna, Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">9- Nainkala Thapa, Minister for Communication and Information Technology</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">10- Jwala Kumari Shah, Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">11- Bimal Prasad Shrivastav, Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">12- Uma Shankar Aragriya, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">13- Chanda Chaudhary, Minister for Women, Children and Senior Citizen</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">14- Ekbal Miya, Minister for Youth and Sports</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">15- Narad Muni Rana, Minister for Forest and Environment</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">16- Ganesh Kumar Pahadi, Minister for Federal Affairs and General Administration</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">17- Mohan Baniya, Minister for the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">18- Chandra Kanta Chaudhary, State Minister for Energy, Water Resource and Irrigation</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">19- Renuka Gurung, State Minister for Women, Children and Senior Citizen</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">20- Asha Kumari B K, State Minister for Forest and Environment</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-22', 'modified' => '2021-06-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13323', 'image' => '20210622060018_20201127115547_20200417094838_CKC_ktm.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-22 17:59:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13579', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Domestic and International Flights to Resume with Conditions', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 23: The government has decided to resume domestic and international flights by adopting safety measures and protocols. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">June 23: The government has decided to resume domestic and international flights by adopting safety measures and protocols. The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation informed that the cabinet meeting on Monday decided to resume the air service by fixing destination and airlines companies. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Domestic flights would be operated with 50 per cent of the total number of usual flights until further notice. Similarly, number of the international flights would be increased gradually. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">There would be four flights in a week by two airline companies to and from Kathmandu to Doha. Similarly, there would be two flights to and from Kathmandu to Istanbul and four flights between Kathmandu and Dubai. Similarly there would be two flights a week between Kathmandu and Damam as well as Kathmandu and Kuwait. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Likewise, there would be one flight between Kathmandu and Muscat and four flights between Kathmandu and Malaysia. The ministry further said that there would be a single flight to South Korea, Japan and Chengdu and Guangzhou of China. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-23', 'modified' => '2021-06-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13321', 'image' => '20210623123715_EHdVeZuVAAArjYS.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-23 12:36:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13575', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Vehicles Charging Three Times More to Passengers Traveling for Urgent Purpose ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 22: It has been found that the transport entrepreneurs have been charging three times more than the normal fare for passengers entering and leaving the Kathmandu Valley for urgent work during the current crisis of Covid-19.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">June 22: It has been found that the transport entrepreneurs have been charging three times more than the normal fare for passengers entering and leaving the Kathmandu Valley for urgent work during the current crisis of Covid-19.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Passengers who are compelled to travel due to various problems have been further affected by the arbitrary hike in fares.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Saroj Rawal, who is from Tikapur in Kailali and is currently living in Lanchaur, Kathmandu, had to go home after his father passed away due to coronavirus. A microbus traveling for Kailali from Gongbu bus park charged him Rs 5,000 more than the normal charge. However, as he was required to travel, he was compelled to pay the exorbitant fare.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">"I didn't even receive a ticket. When the police asked me about the fare, I was forced to tell them that I had paid Rs 1,500. Because I did not have any other option, I did as the driver told me to do," he said. The fare from Kathmandu to Tikapur is Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Naresh Shahi, who arrived in Kathmandu from Surkhet due to similar circumstances, also said that he paid Rs 3,000 more to the bus driver. Earlier, the fare from Surkhet to Kathmandu was Rs 2,000 under normal circumstances.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the victims, the vehicles carrying passengers are running smoothly with the pass provided by the district administration offices and looting the passengers who are in trouble. However, the Association of Transport Entrepreneurs claim that private vehicles are not involved in such activities.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">FNCCI General Secretary Saroj Sitaula said that the vehicles with red number plates were more active in such activities and were charging exorbitant fares. He is of the view that such a problem has arisen with the district administration office making arrangements for allowing the movement of vehicles unnecessarily.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">On the one hand, the transport entrepreneurs say such work may have been done in collusion with the local levels and district administration, but the police say that they are taking necessary action against such wrongdoings. Superintendent of Police Shyam Krishna Adhikari, Information Officer of the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division, Kathmandu, said that action would be taken against the vehicle owners if the passengers complained about the issue with the police.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-22', 'modified' => '2021-06-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13320', 'image' => '20210622013410_20200913023207_1595264681.yatayat.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-22 13:33:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13574', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Farmers Start Paddy Plantation Amid Covid-19 Pandemic', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 22: Farmers in different districts are busy planting paddy amid the dire situation of the coronavirus pandemic. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">June 22: Farmers in different districts are busy planting paddy amid the dire situation of the coronavirus pandemic. With the onset of monsoon and rainfall, farmers have started planting paddy despite the risk of disease transmission.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, farmers in across the country are busy planting paddy at this time. Farmers of Kathmandu, Dhading, Makwanpur, Kaski, Baglung, Jhapa, Panchthar, Bara, Parsa, Rautahat, Dang, Pyuthan, Nawalparasi, Banke, Bardiya, Kailali, and Kanchanpur are busy planting paddy.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">So far this year, the ministry has not received data on how much land has been planted with paddy. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the ministry, most of the industries, trades, and businesses have been shut down this year due to the prohibitory order imposed by the government to prevent and control the surge of coronavirus. Therefore, the area of paddy cultivation is estimated to increase by about 20 percent this year as compared to last year, said Shri Ram Ghimire, spokesperson of the ministry.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the statistics of the Ministry, paddy was cultivated in 1.45 million hectares of land out of the total cultivable land in the Fiscal Year 2019/20. The area of paddy cultivation had increased by about 15,000 hectares in the fiscal year 2020/21 following lockdown to contain the first wave of coronavirus.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">About 3.1 million hectares of land in Nepal are considered suitable for agriculture.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Although the government does not have the exact data on how much of land is barren, it is said that the land remains barren due to migration of locals from villages to cities, the attraction of youths for foreign employment, lack of irrigation, and decline in production. Stakeholders say that the main contributor to the production is the monsoon trend as more than 60 percent of the land under paddy is dependent on rainwater.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Last year, farmers in most of the districts were facing shortage of fertilizer due to the scarcity of chemical fertilizer during paddy plantation season. However, the government claims that there will be no shortage of chemical fertilizers this year as there is sufficient stock of chemical fertilizers and there are no problems in import.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to Bishnu Prasad Pokhrel, spokesperson of the Agricultural Inputs Company Limited, the import of fertilizer is going smoothly and the stock is also sufficient. The Agricultural Inputs Company and Salt Trading Corporation currently have about 80,000 metric tons of chemical fertilizer in stock. Pokharel said that the problem has been resolved even though the farmers have complained that they have not received fertilizer due to the lockdown.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-22', 'modified' => '2021-06-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13319', 'image' => '20210622012350_1624318766.Clipboard07.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-22 13:22:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13573', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Number of Nepalis Leaving for Foreign Employment Declines', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 22: The number of Nepali migrant workers leaving for foreign employment has witnessed a sharp decline due to the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">June 22: The number of Nepali migrant workers leaving for foreign employment has witnessed a sharp decline due to the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic. The number of Nepalis going abroad for foreign employment declined significantly due to the border closure and prohibitory order imposed to contain the second wave of coronavirus.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">During the first wave of the pandemic as well, the number of Nepali workers going for foreign employment had witnessed a sharp decline. The government had even stopped issuing labor permits from March 13 to October 5, 2020. After the government resumed issuing labor permits, the number of workers going for foreign employment had increased gradually. Following the second wave of coronavirus, the number of migrant workers going for foreign employment has dropped again.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the Department of Foreign Employment, altogether 3,152 Nepalis went for foreign employment in August 2020. Since then, the number of workers going abroad for employment had been gradually increasing. But since May, the number of Nepali workers migrating for foreign jobs has gone down.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to the department, a total of 24,363 Nepali workers went to the Gulf countries for foreign employment in April but only 4,086 workers went for foreign employment in May.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">The government had imposed restrictions on April 29 to control the second wave of coronavirus. It had also suspended international flights from May 6, which resulted in a decline in the number of Nepali nationals leaving for foreign jobs.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Mahendra Nath Bhattarai, director of the department, said that the number of workers going for foreign employment decreased after the shutdown of international flights. "Currently, there are only two international flights a week. Some workers are leaving through those regular flights while some workers have also left through chartered flights,” he said, “Overall, the second wave of coronavirus has affected the foreign employment.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">A preliminary study conducted by the Federation of Foreign Employment Entrepreneurs found that around 70,000 migrant workers have been deprived of leaving for the Gulf countries due to the suspension of international flights. Sujita Shrestha, general secretary of the Federation, said workers who had returned on holiday and new visa recipients have been unable to go abroad for employment.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Times"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">According to Shrestha, 25,000 workers have been deprived from going to Saudi Arabia, 30,000 to Qatar, 10,000 to Cyprus, 1,500 to Bahrain and 1,500 to Oman. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-22', 'modified' => '2021-06-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13318', 'image' => '20210622011307_1624318349.2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-22 13:11:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13572', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => ' Lockdown Eased, Odd-Even Number Rule Enforced in the Valley ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 22: The district administration offices in the Kathmandu Valley have eased the lockdown enforced to contain the second wave of coronavirus. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">June 22: The district administration offices in the Kathmandu Valley have eased the lockdown enforced to contain the second wave of coronavirus. Government authorities have enforced odd-even number rule for private vehicles and cabs while certain days have been fixed for opening shops. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">A joint meeting of the chief district officers from Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktpur issued the order in this regard. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">CDO of Kathmandu Kali Prasad Parajuli informed that the prohibitory order was eased to make commercial sector active. The latest order has come into effect from today (June 22) and will remain in force till midnight of June 28. Light vehicles such as car, jeep and van are not allowed to carry more than four persons while taxis can carry three passengers. Departmental stores (except grocery), shopping malls, sports shops, cloth and fancy-dress stores, tailoring shops, cosmetics and gift shops are allowed to open for three days- Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 11:00am to 4:00pm. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">The jewelry shops as well as shops selling pots and kitchen utensil, electric goods, auto parts, and automobile showroom are allowed to run their businesses on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday from 11:00am to 4:00pm. Shops selling hardwares, sanitary goods, tiles, marbles, furniture, and carpets can operate every day from 11:00am to 6:00pm. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Meanwhile, transportation of large delivery is allowed only during night. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Government authorities have allowed medical stores and pharmaceuticals to run daily as usual. Similarly, grocery stores as well as shops selling diary products, vegetables and fruits, stationery shops among others are allowed to open till 11:00am every day. Online and take-away services can operate till 7:00pm in the valley. The autmobile repair workshops can run till 7:00pm. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Marriage ceremonies can be performed at home by maintaining health and safety measures and without exceeding 10 attendants. For this, no more than two vehicles are allowed. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Vehicles providing essential service such as transportation of hospital staff, ambulance service, drinking water, cargo and courier, garbage management can be operated daily without any hindrance. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Schools are not still allowed to run classes physically. Transportation of vegetables, fruits, dairy products, poultry, fuel, gas, sanitary goods, printing and agricultural inputs can operate using banners. Such vehicles are allowed to operate from 8:00am to 11:00pm. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">People preparing to go abroad are allowed to enter the three districts of the valley by showing their plane tickets, passport and visa. The district authorities have also allowed banking and financial institutes, security service providers, insurance companies, remittance, cooperative, NGOs to operate with minimum human resources. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-22', 'modified' => '2021-06-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13317', 'image' => '20210622010212_1624336152.traffic.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-22 13:01:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13570', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => ' Probe Committee to Study High Fare of International Flights ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'June 22: The government has formed a probe committee to investigate extra fare charged by travel agencies to passengers of international flights. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Cambria"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">June 22: The government has formed a probe committee to investigate extra fare charged by travel agencies to passengers of international flights. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">According to the state-owned national news agency RSS, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has formed a-five member committee led by Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), Rajan Pokharel. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"">Joint secretary at the Ministry Taranath Adhikari shared that the probe committee was formed to carry out the investigation as some travel agencies reportedly charged additional ticketing fare for international flights of late. </span><br /> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-06-22', 'modified' => '2021-06-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13315', 'image' => '20210622124120_20200311110634_1583889398.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-06-22 12:40:23', '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
