Canadian agency to stop work in Nepal

KATHMANDU, FEB 06 -

The Canadian Cooperation Office, established in 1987, has decided to wind down its Nepal-based operations.

“The Government of Canada decided to wind down its direct country-to-country bilateral development assistance for Nepal on February 28, 2013. This decision is part of a Deficit Reduction Action Plan announced in the Government of Canada ’s 2012 budget,” said the Canadian Cooperation Office in a statement.

The purpose of the Deficit Reduction Action Plan was to make government operations more efficient and achieve greater effectiveness in the government’s programmes and services, said the statement, adding that based on these factors, Canada has decided to scale down its direct bilateral development assistance in a number of countries.

Although no further bilateral programmes will be undertaken, Nepal will remain eligible for Canadian assistance through multilateral organisations and Canadian NGOs.

Canada ’s New Delhi-based mission will look after Nepal affairs. “When a bilateral agency shuts down its office, we cannot expect the same level of assistance. This will definitely hamper future Canadian assistance to Nepal,” said a senior government official.

Read More

Present government will exit soon: Oli

KAILALI, FEB 06 -

Senior leader of the CPN–UML KP Oli has said that the tenure of the present government will end soon.

Speaking at an interaction programme organized in Kailali on Wednesday by the Nepal Intellectual Council Kailali, Oli said, as there is no reason for this government to remain intact, it will soon collapse.



The outlet of the present crisis is nothing other than exit of the present government, he said, adding that new government would hold election and a democratic constitution would be promulgated.

The UCPN (Maoist) has two alternatives either to correct or to perish, and if they do not correct they will be finished, he said.

The UML leader said the present government is unworthy and corrupt, it does nothing good and people will overthrow if it nurtures the aspirations of dictatorship.

Oli said as the UCPN (Maoist) has invited crisis it should itself open avenues for crisis mitigation.

Read More

34 Killed by Heavy Rain

SLAMABAD: Days of torrential rain have killed 34 people in Pakistan, mostly on the northwestern border with Afghanistan, officials said Wednesday.The worst-hit region was Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the northwest where 25 people were killed and 57 injured as a result of heavy rain from Sunday to Tuesday, the provincial disaster management authority said.

Three soldiers were also reported missing after they were hit by a snow avalanche in the northwestern district of Lower Dir.Eight people were killed in the central province of Punjab, said Shahzad Abbasi, spokesman for the Punjab disaster management authority.

One person died and another was injured when they were hit by lightning in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, said state official Shahid Hasan Malik.Pakistan has suffered devastating monsoon floods for the last three years, including the worst in its history in 2010 when catastrophic inundations killed almost 1,800 people and affected 21 million.

Read More

Two abductors gun down; child rescued

BIRGUNJ, FEB 04 - Police shot dead two persons who were allegedly involved in the abduction of Sulok Agrawal, eight-year old boy of Birgunj .

The police said they resorted to firing in retaliation against the abductors .

The deceased have been identified as Sanjay Giri and one Bindeshwor, police informed.

Giri and Bindeshwor, who were injured in police firing, were rushed to National Medical College in Birgunj where they succumbed to their injuries while undergoing treatment.

Meanwhile, special police team led by SP Pitamber Adhikari freed the boy from the residence of Ram Nath Giri at Bhediyare-9, Parsa at around 3 this morning.

The boy is a son of businessman Ashok Agrawal.

Police constable Surya Bahadur Thapa and Bod Bahadur Tamang have also sustained injuries in the scuffle. They have been receiving medical attention in Birgunj .

Meanwhile, police have detained Ram Nath and his wife Ramba Devi, son Ajay, Kunal Agrawal of Birgunj -13, Rajan Babu Baniya, Panna Lal Sahani and Sikendra Yadav in connection with the investigation.

Read More

Panel to submit report on petro pipeline next week

KATHMANDU, FEB 03 -

A technical team entrusted with the task of holding study on the appropriate modality for the Nepal-India cross-border petroleum pipeline is scheduled to submit its report to the National Planning Commission (NPC) next week.

The team led by the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS) Secretary Lalmani Joshi comprises experts from the Finance and Home Ministries and Public Procurement Office, among others. “We will hold a meeting soon and forward the project report to the NPC appropriate suggestion,” Joshi said.

The build, operate, own, and transfer (BOOT) committee of the NPC will evaluate the report before giving the final nod to develop the much-delayed 41-km petroleum pipeline . The BOOT committee is led by NPC Vice Chairman Dipendra Bahadur Kshetry.

The project, which was first proposed by the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) in 1995, has been the subject of much discussion. “The study will help fast-track the project as it has been put on ice for several years,” Joshi said, adding there are some positive indications that the project will be executed this time.

On Jan 3, the Cabinet had agreed in principle to develop the project. Subsequently, the NPC formed a committee to look after a number of legal and technical complexities.

MoCS officials said the IOC was keen to develop the project with its own resources. However, the committee will decide whether Nepal can utilise its own resources, go for a 50-50 percent ownership or ask India for grant to build the project.

The project has been estimated to cost Rs 1.6 billion, besides the costs for the land acquisition. A pre-feasibility study in 2004 and a technical study in 2006 had termed the project economically viable on condition the pipeline is operated unhindered for 20 years.

The pipeline , if developed, is expected to save Rs 300-350 million annually in transportation costs alone for Nepal Oil Corporation, which currently spends around Rs 500 million annually to transport petroleum products from Raxaul of India, to Amalekhgunj.

The annual operation cost of the proposed pipeline is estimated at Rs 120 million.

The project is envisaged to reduce leakage and ensure the supply of cleaner and cheaper fuel. It could also bring relief to Nepali consumers from frequent shortages caused by strikes.

A report of the High-Level Petroleum Reform Committee had also suggested immediate construction of the pipeline .

A joint-venture model with equity participation of the NOC and IOC was planned when the government approved the project in February 2010. But in March 2011, Nepal and India dropped the JV model and agreed to a new modality, whereby the two countries would construct the pipeline separately on their respective territories, and it would then be linked after signing a bilateral pipeline treaty.

Read More

Three Star champions

POKHARA, FEB 03 -

Three Star broke the hearts of 15 thousand home crowd to lift the title of Rara Aaha Golf Cup on Saturday.

League leaders Three Star, who had also won the trophy of the mofussil’s most popular football tournament back in 2008 and 2011, edged hosts Sahara 1-0 in the final to emerge champions for the third time.

The confident Sahara side who were playing the title decider for the first time did well to contain the Patan outfit with their stern defense until Femi Joshua’s header seven minutes from time denied the hosts a chance of creating history.

Joshua had headed a rebound ball from the near post after substitute Anil Gurung had headed Jeevan Sinkeman’s corner kick. Sahara goalkeeper Ajit Prajapati, who was later adjudged best goalkeeper,  stretched his fingers to push a ball little wide, and it went on  to hit the crossbar, but the ball ricocheted off the crossbar only to find Joshua.

Incidentally, Joshua was sent-off after he recieved his second yellow card in the dying minutes of the match.

Sahara, having defeated Tribhuvan Army, who are second in the A Division League, third placed Machhindra and Manang Marshyangdi Club (fifth) on their way to the final, were unable to repeat the match winning performance. In contrast to the previous games, the home team concentrated more on defense and failed to capitalise on the few chances that came their way.

Along with the winners’ trophy Three Star pocketed a cash prize of Rs 351,000 while Sahara received Rs 2,50,000. Sahara’s goalie Prajapati adjudged tournament’s best player and he recived a TVS motorcycle along with Rs 10,000 for his feat.

Three Star’s coach Pradeep Humagain said the winner’s trophy was the result of the hard work his boys had done.

“We were able to execute our plan into action,” jubilant Humagain said, “We had planed not to let Sahara’s foreign players settle down.” This is Humagain’s first trophy after taking over the team four months ago.

Read More

Subisu has led Nepal into the Internet Age

Sudhir Parajuli, CEO of Subisu Cablenet, was born into a family of bureaucrats. So when he aborted a nascent but promising career in the civil service to become a businessman, he ran into immediate resistance from his relatives.


Today, Subisu is one of Nepal's leading information and communications technology firms. Parajuli has no doubts about his career trajectory. "It gives me immense pleasure to have grown from a person who used to work for others to a person who is leading an organisation," he says.

Subisu provides state of the art cable TV and internet and data connectivity services across 33 districts, and employs 300 people in the Kathmandu Valley alone. The company is an out-and-out industry leader, having pioneered the use of several key technologies in Nepal, and even counts a few competitors among its clients.
The path to its current perch at the top, however, hasn't been smooth. On the eve of the new millennium, Nepalis were still using dial-up modems to connect to the internet. Parajuli and his peers reckoned that cable connections, which had already proven their worth in the west, would serve internet users better. Together, they started Subisu Cablenet in 2000 with the intention of introducing and marketing this technology in Nepal.

National regulatory bodies thought differently and didn't allow Subisu to operate cable internet in the country. Unfazed, and convinced of the technology's virtues, Parajuli and his team decided to set up a cable TV service instead, hoping to build the infrastructure for a cable internet service some time in the future.

The plan worked. In 2004, Subisu received a license to operate cable internet and in 2006, data connectivity services as well.

Subisu has done so well partly because it has been very quick to identify and resolve service problems. It has a record-setting Mean Time to Restore (MTR), a measure of the time taken to respond to service disruptions, within the industry.

"We study service problems our customers face very closely to ensure they don't happen again. Fast service delivery and response to problems really sets us apart," Parajuli says.

Underwriting Subisu's commercial success is a commitment to help ordinary people take advantage of the latest in information and communications technologies. Parajuli laments the backwardness of the Nepali countryside, where many don't have access to electricity, but believes that technology firms are well-positioned to help.

"Sixty per cent of Nepal doesn't have electricity, forget about internet. However, being in the field of ICT services,
we have tried our level best to change this."

Subisu has worked with NGOs to connect remote villages to cable TV and internet, and distributed laptops to needy educational institutions free of cost. It has also helped doctors and teachers deliver diagnoses and lectures remotely, through internet and telephones.

These inroads into the countryside aren't just humanitarian gestures, but part and parcel of Subisu's commercial strategy. Subisu plans to reach at least all district headquarters in the future, and is fully prepared to invest in the necessary technological innovations to negotiate Nepal's rugged and varied landscape. Subisu will also introduce digital television services in the near future.

A fully connected Nepal, of course, remains a distant prospect. But with bright stars like Subisu and Parajuli leading the way, we're getting there.

Read More