Major Nepali and English broadsheet dailies published from Kathmandu on Wednesday have covered a host of issues on their front pages. Almost all newspapers have included reports about the submission of an investigation report over the rape and murder of Nirmala Pant, and an acid attack on a woman in Nawalpur district on their front pages. Likewise, newspapers have covered contracts awarded to notorious Pappu Construction by various government agencies from different angles.
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is currently in New York for the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly. He has met leaders of various countries on the sidelines of the event; and they have also been featured on the cover pages.
Few other political, sociocultural and economic issues have made it to the front pages today.
Important
No one knows what’s in Pant murder probe report
Whereas the investigation team led by Joint Secretary Hari Prasad Mainali submitted its report to Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa yesterday, the Ministry has not made it public hence no one officially knows what is there, according to newspaper reports.
Some newspapers claim that the report has pointed its fingers at police, but has failed to name who committed the crime.
House panel summons Minister over Pappu assignments
The Development and Technology Committee in the House of Representatives has summoned Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Raghubir Mahaseth to clarify the panel about why the controversial Pappu Construction is getting construction assignments, reports Republica.
Meanwhile, members of the panel have demanded that the company’s owner and lawmaker Hari Narayan Parasad Rauniyar among three be removed from the Committee as they may adversely influence discussions and decisions of the panel, according to Gorkhapatra.
Transport syndicate back to business
Rajdhani and Republica have reported that the monopoly of transport syndicates has been revived after the government signed a contract with the federal of transport entrepreneur committees which were scrapped by its earlier decision.
The agreement gave the validity to such committees registered as NGOs again, the newspaper reports say, suggesting the government’s inability to implement its own decisions resulted into the monopoly again.
Meanwhile, members of the Development and Technology Committee in Parliament expressed concerns over the revival, according to Rajdhani.
Ignored
47 Nepali workers arrested in Malaysia
The Nepali Embassy in Malaysia informs that 47 Nepali immigrants working for a Malaysian company have been arrested on the charge of staying there illegally, according to a three column story in Gorkhapatra.
Total 338 staff were arrested from the company by police who launched a special campaign to crackdown illegal workers, according to the report.
The Malaysian government had urged illegal workers to return their homes from June to August. Then, the government in the second week of September launched a crackdown targeting those denying the order, the report adds.
Nepal Army refuses to get designs of barracks approved
The national military organisation has denied giving details about structures of its official buildings in the Kathmandu Metropolitan City and getting them approved by the local government, according to Karobar.
Nepal’s building laws have authorised the local governments to approve the designs for all buildings in their jurisdiction. Accordingly, the KMC had demanded the details, according to the report.
Supreme Court scraps Sajha appointments
Nagarik reports in a snippet that the Supreme Court has cancelled the appointment of Dolindra Prasad Sharma as the Chairperson and General Manager of Sajha Prakashan. In a verdict on Sunday, the apex court said the Prakashan was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Agriculture; hence the appointment made by the Ministry of Education was invalid.
The verdict ordered that Tej Kumar KC, appointed by the Ministry of Agriculture, be reinstated. KC, however, refused to join back the office as it term is expiring after two weeks.
Special Court jails 9 PAF officials for corruption
The Special Court has sent nine officials of Poverty Alleviation Fund to jail convicting them in a corruption case, according to Kantipur. Those convicted also include then Executive Director Raj Babu Shrestha.
The officials have been given different jail terms from three to seven months.
Five of the accused, however, were acquitted.
You need to verify your economic status for overseas visit
The government of Nepal is preparing to make it mandatory for citizens to verify their economic status from concerned local governments to apply for a visit visa of any country, according to a report in Naya Patrika.
The preparation follows complaints that loose provisions for visit visa helped human traffickers use the legal loophole for criminal activities.
Medical education bill stuck in House
Going against their own repeated commitments, major parties in the Federal Parliament are seen reluctant about endorsing the new Medical Education Bill from this session, according to The Kathmandu Post.
Owing to repeated hunger strikes of medical education reform activist Dr Govinda KC, the government introduced the bill, but it has not moved ahead since then.
Interesting
Oli, Trump discuss high level visit exchange
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli held a two-minute meeting with the United States President Donald Trump in New York on Monday evening, on the sidelines of the 73rd session of UN General Assembly. During the meeting, the two leaders reportedly discussed exchanging high level visits between the two countries, reports Annapurna Post.
Customarily, the US President visits every chief of delegation of the UNGA for around two minutes.
