Kathmandu : Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) Chair Rabi Lamichhane have held a meeting today at the former’s official residence at Baluwatar.

During the meeting, the two leaders held discussions on the contemporary political situation of the country, RSP Vice President Dol Prasad Aryal said. According to Aryal, PM held a meeting with the RSP leadership to figure out the RSP’s take on the government.

“Views were exchanged on contemporary political matters. Our party has convened the meeting of the Central Committee and the Parliamentary Party tomorrow. The Prime Minister held discussion with the party president to get an idea of what RSP was thinking of the government in that context,” Aryal added.

PM Dahal on the occasion congratulated the RSP President on his election to the post of Member of Parliament through the by-election. The RSP central committee is scheduled to meet at 11.00 am tomorrow. RSS

Kathmandu : Flights at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) have got affected due to bad weather, said the TIA office. Due to low visibility, both domestic and international flights are not able to take off on time, and some international flights are on hold in the sky, said TIA general manager Pratap Babu Tiwari.

As a result of bad weather, a Colombo-Kathmandu aircraft of Sri Lankan Airlines was on hold in the Kathmandu sky for half an hour, and that of Batik Air was on hold in the Simara Sky, he said, adding that there is a delay in domestic flights to take off.

Rainfall is taking place in most parts of the country with the impact of the Westerly wind and local wind, according to the Meteorological Forecasting Division.

Flights were affected on Saturday afternoon as well due to rain. (RSS)

Kathmandu : Members for the thematic committees of the House of Representatives (HoR) have been nominated.

In today’s HoR meeting, the Speaker proposed parliament members be remained in 10 different thematic committees as per the HoR Regulation, 2079, Rule 173.

The meeting unanimously endorsed the proposal with the names of HoR members to be included in thematic committees.

Members to be included in the HoR finance committee, international relations, tourism, industry and commerce, labour and consumers interest, law, justice and human rights, agriculture, cooperative and natural resources, women and social affairs, state affairs and good governance, infrastructure development, education, health and information technology and public accounts committee were nominated. (RSS)

Kathmandu : Members for the thematic committees of the House of Representatives (HoR) have been nominated.

In today’s HoR meeting, the Speaker proposed parliament members be remained in 10 different thematic committees as per the HoR Regulation, 2079, Rule 173.

The meeting unanimously endorsed the proposal with the names of HoR members to be included in thematic committees.

Members to be included in the HoR finance committee, international relations, tourism, industry and commerce, labour and consumers interest, law, justice and human rights, agriculture, cooperative and natural resources, women and social affairs, state affairs and good governance, infrastructure development, education, health and information technology and public accounts committee were nominated. (RSS)

Kathmandu : The Election Commission (EC) has submitted a report on the April 23 by-election of the House of Representatives (HoR) before Acting President Ramsahay Prasad Yadav.

The report was presented today before the Acting President by Chief Election Commissioner, Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, amidst a programme at the Office of the President, Shital Niwas.

On the occasion, the Acting President thanked the EC for successfully concluding the election and fulfilling the constitutional and legal responsibilities.

The Chief Election Commissioner apprised the Acting President the election was held in a free and impartial atmosphere. Election Commissioners Ram Prasad Bhandari, Dr Janaki Kumar Tuladhar, Election Commission secretary Gokarnamani Duwadi and joint-secretary Shaligram Sharma Poudel were among those present on the occasion.

As per the law, the report of the election shall be presented to the President within a week of the election results. (RSS)

Kathmandu: Three earthquakes have happened in Bajura district since last night.

According to National Earthquake Monitoring and Research Centre, Lainchaur, three separate quakes took place with their epicenter in Dahakot of Bajura district.

According to the Centre, the first quake with 4.9 Richter scale in the magnitude occurred at 11:58 pm and second with 5.9 in the Richter scale happened at 1:30 in the night.

Likewise, the third quake jolted the district at 3.9 in the Richter scale at 1:51 in the night.
The detail of the damages caused due to the quakes is not received yet, it is stated.

Earlier, a quake had occurred with its epicenter at Jugada area of the district on April 17.
The western belt of the country has witnessed increased number of earthquakes in the recent days.RSS

Kathmandu : A plane of Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) made a successful test flight at Resunga Airport at 7:39 am today.

NAC’s plane (9N-ABT) departed from Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), Kathmandu, landed at Resunga Airport located at Simichaur of Resunga Municipality-10 in Gulmi.

The NAC made a test flight today for commercial flights as per the agreement between the NAC and municipality.
Spokesperson of the Nepal Airlines Operators Association, Yograj Kandel, said that plans are afoot for the commercial flights after today’s successful test flight. He said that the NAC will begin commercial flight after carrying out needed assessment from a technical team.

According to Kandel, the travel fare and the number of passenger in a flight would be determined after the study. “However, the plane fare could be around Rs 6,000 per person for Resunga-Kathmandu flight,” he added.
Captain Manish Bista of NAC said that regular flights would be conducted after submitting today’s flight report to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) within a week.

Construction of the airport was completed some months ago after 16 years of its commencement. Constructed with the investment of Rs 330 million, the airport’s runway is 520 metres long and 20 metres wide. Located at an elevation of 1,526 metres above the sea level, the airport is spread over 156 ropani of land.

After the successful test flight, Mayor of Resunga Municipality Khildhowj Panthi expressed his happiness stating that the dream of folks here to travel to Kathmandu by plane is being materialised soon.
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Kathmand : With the impacts of the westerly wind in the country, there is probability of partial to general rainfall in the hilly belt of Koshi, Gandaki, Karnali and Sudurpaschim provinces.

The Weather Forecasting Division said that weather will be mainly fair in rest of the part in the country.

Isolated brief rain or thundershowers is possible at a few places of the hilly regions of Gandaki Province, Karnali Province and Sudur Pashchim Province and at one or two places of hilly regions of rest of the provinces, the Division said.

Tonight, there will be partly cloudy in the hilly areas and mainly fair to partly cloudy in Tarai areas. Isolated Brief rain or thundershowers is possible at one or two places of hilly regions of Koshi Province and Gandaki Province tonight. (RSS)

Dhanusha : The high-level commission formed by the government to resolve the issues of the usury victims has initiated its preliminary job by opening an office in Janakpurdham.

Chief of the Commission, Gauri Bahadur Karki, said that the victims have been asked to submit their application with 15 days.

According to Karki, the victims of the loan sharking can submit their applications online or directly at the Commission’s office and District Administration Office along with the evidences they have.

The Commission said that the officials of the district administration office would help fill the firms up for free.

The government had formed the three-member high-level commission led by former judge Gauri Bahadur Karki to resolve the issues of the usury victims. The other members of the commission include former Additional Inspector General of Nepal Police Uttam Raj Subedi and former Deputy Attorney General Ganesh Babu Aryal.

The commission is given three months’ time to submit a report to address the problems faced by the loan sharking victims. (RSS)

Kathamandu: The Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has said its attention has been drawn towards the events/programs carried out by political parties and their sister organisations in some schools within the KMC.

The KMC directed such political parties and their sister organisations not to organise political activities in schools onwards as the KMC Education Department has received complaints with evidence that political parties and their sister organisations held programmes in schools against existing Education Act and Regulations.

KMC Education Officer Sitaram Koirala said the KMC would monitor the schools based on the complaints and it has made preparation to take departmental action to principal of such schools if political activities were found carried out there.

Similarly, ‘Book Free Friday’ programme is going to be launched in all community schools from this academic session. The KMC has asked all the community schools to mandatorily run the programme.

As per the programme, students will go to school on regular time on every Friday without carrying bags and return home after participating in extracurricular activities and practical knowledge, added Koirala.

The KMC has already distributed Rs 100,000 budget to every secondary school for the same and preparation has been made to increase the budget up to Rs 200,000 next year.

Likewise, the KMC has set a plan to expand the programme at private schools from next year. There are 89 community schools and 540 private schools within KMC. RSS