Parliament’s Budget session starts today, say all major newspapers published in Kathmandu on Monday. Some of the papers report that Sherpas have found three bodies on Everest during a clean-up campaign.
Here is a summary of important, ignored and interesting stories from the front pages of national broadsheets:
Important
Budget session to begin today
Kantipur, Gorkhapatra, Republica and The Himalayan Times report that the budget session of the federal parliament is beginning on Monday. Separate meetings of the House of Representatives and National Assembly are scheduled to be held at 4 pm in the parliament building in New Baneshwor.
Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara said that if key leaders of political parties wanted to speak during the joint session of Parliament, he would give them a chance for the same or else he would give them time on May 3 when the government would present its policies and programmes.
The Parliament will debate the government’s policies and programmes from May 3 to 12 and lawmakers will have a chance to question the concerned representative of the ruling party.
Mahara urged the main opposition party — Nepali Congress — to play the role of a constructive opposition in the Parliament. He said passing of other bills would be on the back burner this budget session.
Everest cleanup campaign bringing both trash and dead bodies
Kantipur, The Kathmandu Post and Republica report that Sherpas deployed to remove dead bodies of climbers and waste emerging from Everest ice recovered three bodies on Sunday. The bodies, according to tourism officials, were found during this year’s mega Everest Cleanup Campaign that started Thursday.
The Everest Cleaning Campaign aims to bring back 5,000kg of waste from Everest Base Camp, 2,000kg from South Col, and a combined 3,000kg from Camp I and Camp II, according to Danduraj Ghimire, director general of the Department of Tourism.
Ignored
Land revenue officials sent to judicial custody
Republica reports that Banke District Court has sent 18 land revenue officials of Banke and Bardiya districts to judicial custody. They had been arrested on the charge of transferring the ownership of huge chunks of land belonging to the Sikta Irrigation Project to private ownership through forgery.
A single bench of Judge Ram Prasad Basyal issued the order on Sunday after preliminary hearings on a case filed against the accused. The court has sent 10 officers of the Land Revenue Office (LRO), Banke, including Officer Pushpa Shrestha, non-gazetted staffers Tanka Prasad Sharma, Ram Bahadur Khadka, Man Bahadur KC, Rudra Devkota, Sushil Rijal, Sanjay Thakur, computer operator Yagyashwar Oli, assistant computer operator Prem Bahadur Chand and office help Antaram Chaudhary to judicial custody.
NCP MPs want pork barrel funds increased
The Himalayan Times reports that as the pre-budget session begins on Monday in the House of Representatives, lawmakers representing the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) have started lobbying for increasing the Constituency Infrastructure Special Programme fund to Rs 100 million from Rs 40 million. Ruling party lawmakers had lobbied with Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Finance Minister Yubaraj Khatiwada to raise the amount to Rs 100 million last year.
The government had then raised the amount to Rs 40 million from Rs 30 million and scrapped Rs 5-million Lawmaker Development Fund.
NCP Central Committee member and lawmaker Rajendra Gautam said 25 lawmakers had signed for the hike.
Patients need to bring own generators to operate x-ray machine
Annapurna Post reports that locals from Dolpa have been forced to manage their own generator to operate the x-ray machine at the District Hospital. They are doing so because the hospital doesn’t have enough electricity. Patients’ families have been renting generators paying up to Rs 1,000 per hour.
Interesting
Local level government opens vacancies
Rajdhani reports that the federal government via Public Service Commission will hire employees for the vacant local level posts. Around 100 local governments have sent letters to the federal government asking them to send employees for the vacant posts.
Three agreements signed between Nepal and China
Karobar reports that two agreements and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) have been signed between Nepal and China during the Nepal-China Economic and Trade Forum.
The first agreement was between the Investment Board Nepal and the Economic Joint Committee of China Commercial Stock Enterprises on the form and structure of cooperation. Another agreement was between the Nepal Trans Himalayan Friendship Society and the Stock Enterprises while an MoU was signed between the China Overseas Development Association and Nepal China Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
Govt to take action against medical colleges charging extra fees
Rajdhani reports that the Education and Health Sub-committee of Parliament will begin taking necessary steps to initiate action against the medical colleges found charging extra fees once they complete studying all the reports and complaints received from concerned stakeholders.
According to the sub-committee, around 70 complaints were registered by the students against various medical colleges charging exorbitant fees as opposed to the fee ceiling set by the government.
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