KATHMANDU, March 1: Hundreds of people, family members and relatives of the Air Dynasty crash victims broke into tears as final tribute was offered to Tourism Minister Rabindra Adhikari and six others at Tundikhel on Friday morning.

Minister Adhikari, his security guard Arjun Ghimire, aviation officials Birendra Kumar Shrestha and Dhrubadas Bhochhibhoya, government official Yubaraj Dahal and pilot Pravakar KC were all killed in a helicopter crash at Dare Bhir, near Pathivara temple of Taplejung district when returning to Kathmandu on Wednesday.

Top political leaders, ministers, government officials also offered final tribute to the deceased.

The mortal remains of the deceased were kept at Tundikhel from 8 am to 11 am in the morning.

All the dead bodies were airlifted to Kathmandu from Taplejung on Thursday afternoon.

PM Oli offered a national flag to the dead body of Minister Adhikari.
CPN Chair and former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ also paid tribute to the late Minister Adhikari and others deceased. Chair duo of the Communist Party of Nepal, Oli and Prachanda also draped Adhikari’s dead body with party flag.

Speaker of the House of Representatives Krishna Bahadur Mahara, National Assembly Chair Ganesh Prasad Timilsina, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense Iswar Pokharel, Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa and other ministers also offered tributes on the occasion.

After the last tribute, the dead bodies were handed over to the respective families.

Minister Adhikari’s mortal body will be airlifted to Pokhara today afternoon where he will be kept at Exhibition Center for last tribute. Adhikari will be cremated at Ramghat with state honor.

KATHMANDU, Feb 28: All seven bodies of the Taplejung crash victims have been brought to Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH), Kathmandu for postmortem and identification.

The bodies were taken to the hospital from the Tribhuvan International Airport after being airlifted from Suketar airport.

An Air Dynasty helicopter carrying Tourism Minister Rabindra Adhikari and his team had crashed shortly after take off in Taplejung district killing all on board.

Minister Adhikari, Managing Director of Yeti Airlines, Aang Tshiring Sherpa, Deputy Director-General of Civil Aviation Authority Nepal, Birendra Prasad Shrestha, and Director Durba Bhochhibhoya, Under-Secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, Yubraj Dahal, Captain Pravakar KC and security guard of Minister Adhikari, Arjun Kumar Ghimire were killed in the crash.

According to sources only two of the seven bodies are identifiable. Minister Adhikari’s body was not completely burnt while his body guard is identifiable with the help of the boots he was wearing.

Photos: Mukunda Kalikote

KATHMANDU, Feb 28: Nepal Communist Party has decided to hoist the party flag at half-mast for three days at its offices across the country to mourn the departed soul of Tourism Minister Rabindra Adhikari, who was killed in a helicopter crash on Wednesday.

Minister Adhikari and his team comprising of six members, who were returning after a visit to Pathivara temple, were all killed when the chopper carrying them crashed at Dare Bhir in Taplijung district.

A secretariat meeting of the party took the decision in this regard, according to party Spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha.

According to Shrestha, the party has also decided to organize a condolence program at party headquarter in Dhumbarai on March 7.

KATHMANDU, Feb 27:Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Rabindra Adhikari and six others were killed in a Air Dynasty helicopter crash at Dare Bhir near Pathivara Temple, Mayum in Taplejung district.

Minister Adhikari, Yeti Airlines Chair Ang Tsiring Sherpa and under secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office Yubaraj Dahal, pilot Prabhakar KC, Minister Adhikari’s bodyguard Arjun Ghimire, Deputy Director General of Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal Birendra Prasad Shrestha and engineer Dhurba Bochhivoya were killed in the crash occured on Wednesday afternoon.

Minister Adhikari and the team, after visiting the Pathivara temple, had flown towards Chuhandanda of Tehrathum for an inspection of the area where a feasibility study had been conducted before for construction of airport.

All the dead bodies have been retrieved from the crash site.  According to the Home Ministry, security personnel who reached the crash site found the chopper and the bodies burnt.

Two helicopters of Air Dynasty and Simrik Airlines have reached the crash site while two more Army helicopters have flown toward the site. However the helicopters have had difficulty landing due to bad weather caused by rain and snowfall, according to Home Ministry.

Meanwhile, an emergency meeting of the cabinet has been called at the Office of Prime Minister in Baluwatar. Security chiefs have also been holding meeting at Singhadurbar.

According to a local eyewitness, the chopper hit a cliff and burst into flame moment after it took off. Local residents had informed the police about a huge flame at the crash site.

KATHMANDU, Feb 25: Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) Chair Kamal Thapa has asked the big political parties to review the achievements of federal republic and reassess the possibilities of restoration of monarchy in the country.

“Time has come to review the 12 years of period after the establishment of federal republic and rethink about the possibilities of revival of monarchy in the country,” said Chair Thapa at an interaction program organized by the Reporters’ Club Nepal on Tuesday.

“What have the country and the people achieved so far? Nothing… since the declaration of Nepal as secular state and abolishment of monarchy a decade ago,” added Thapa, who was known to have shared a quite good relationship with former King Gyanendra Shah.

Thapa was also the home minister of the Gyanendra appointed government following the suspension of parliament in February 2002. The King had suspended the parliament and forced martial law citing the civil politicians were unfit to handle the Maoist insurgency.

But the April uprising in 2006 following the 12-point historic and unprecedented agreement between the then CPN (Maoist) and the Seven Party Alliance, the King returned the power to the people and reinstated the House of Representatives—which later abrogated Nepal’s status and Hindu kingdom declaring the country as secular state and abolished the monarchy in 2007. The federal republic was established in May 2008 which formally ended the 240 year long royal rule in the country.

“Why is there no stability? Where is change? Why is there the voice of disintegration? Where did the new Maoist rebellion emerge from when he peace process should have ended?,” said Thapa.

“We had warned that the 12-point peace accord between the seven parties and Maoists was a bad omen.”

“Republic, secularism and federalism were established without informing the people. It is therefore, time is ripe now to review the achievement of the political change the uprising brought,” he added.

Thapa-led RPP has been lobbying for the restoration of Nepal has Hindu state and revival of monarchy. He recently submitted a 22-point demand paper to Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli, in which he has asked for a direct national referendum on federal republic. He however says that his voice is not for king but for a royal institution.

“The federal republic has only given birth to wrongs and corruption instead of realizing positive change. The new system has failed. Thus, now is time to revive kingdom in the country,” he said adding, “Our party demands a round-table discussion on these issues.”

Thapa further said that if the government fails to address the 22-point memorandum, the agitating party will launch people’s struggle from mid-March.

On the occasion, Thapa also asked the government to form a high-level investigation commission to probe into the assets of the politicians and bureaucrats since 1991.

He also underlined the need to nationalize the assets kept in foreign banks by Nepali nationals and immediately freeze bank accounts of those individuals suspected in money laundering, and called for taking legal against those found involved in illegal transactions.

He also urged the government collect all the taxes including the 38 billion capital gain tax due with the Ncell as per the order issued by the Supreme Court.

He further urged the government to take action against those individuals involved in the embezzlement of 1.35 billion in the procurement of two wide-body aircraft. Several government officials including Tourism Minster Rabindra Adhikari has been implicated in the wide-body purchase scam.

KAVREPALANCHOWK, Feb 13: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Rabindra Adhikari has claimed the government would triumph in its fight for prosperity.

Addressing the Sonam Lhosar Cultural Festival-2855 at Temal Rural Municipality on Tuesday, Minister Adhikari said, “We are working to keep people’s dignity high. Government would succeed in its journey for prosperity”.

The incumbent government is working for prosperity, development and forward-looking agenda, he noted.

The Minister claimed the government would be able to fulfill the promises made with the people within five years.

He also pledged to provide necessary government support in the establishment of Tamang National Museum at Temal. RSS

DANG, Sept 17: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Rabindra Adhikari said that the Tarigaun airport in Dang district will come into operation before Dashain festival.

Speaking in a program organized by the Tulsipur Sub-Metropolitan City on Sunday, Minister Adhikari said that the flights would be resumed to and from Kathmandu to Tarigaun airport if possible. Otherwise, the flights would be made from Bhairahawa.

Minister Adhikari also shared that technical team from the Ministry is carrying out a study for the same. RSS

KATHMANDU, March 2: CPN-UML leader Rabindra Adhikari has said that the ruling parties are trying to bring both the Madhes-centric parties on board the government.

UML and Maoist Center have been holding discussions with Federal Socialist Forum Nepal (FSFN) in a bid to persuade the Madhes-centric parties to join the government. FSFN is also closer to reach an agreement with the left alliance. However, some differences over constitution amendment and sharing of ministerial portfolios are delaying the final agreement.

“We want to take Mountains, Hills and Terai together so as to strengthen national integrity. For that we want to take FSFN and Rastriya Janata Party Nepal (RJPN) into confidence. Talks with FSFN have remained positive,” said Adhikari while speaking at an interaction program organized by the Reporters’ Club Nepal on Friday.

“UML has never become an obstacle to revision of constitution. But the issues must be based on ‘necessity’ and ‘justification,” he added.

However, Adhikari furthered that the revision of article 274 of the constitution is far from possible. FSFN has demanded the revision of article 274 in a way which allows redrawing of federal boundaries in the futures. The party has also demanded setting up of a federal commission permanently to resolve all the disputes related to federal boundaries.

Also, on the formal meeting held on Friday, the ruling parties and FSFN could not hit a deal after Prime Minister K P Oli and CPN (Maoist Center) Chair refused to give deputy prime minister or any constitutional post to FSFN. FSFN has demanded three ministries alongside a deputy chairman, and either deputy president or deputy speaker.

Adhikari also said they had also been holding talks with RJPN informally.

KASKI, Dec 9: CPN-UML’s central member Rabindra Adhikari has secured a seat in the federal parliament defeating Nepali Congress candidate Dev Raj Chalise in Kaski constituency-2. Youth leader Adhikari secured 27,207 votes while Chalise only managed 18,661 votes. Previously, Adhikari had won both Constitution Assembly elections from the same constituency.

Likewise, UML’s Krishna Thapa has secured victory in Province Assembly ‘A’ in Kaski-2. He secured 15,329 votes to defeat Nepali Congress candidate Guru Prasad Baral, who only got 8,325 votes. In Kaski-2 ‘B’, Nepali Congress’ Bindu Kumar Thapa has already been elected.

Similarly, in Kaski-1 ‘B’, UML’s Mana Bahadur Gurung has secured victory. He secured 17,249 votes while Nepali Congress candidate Krishna Bahadur KC garnered 13,102 votes.