Locals shut Tatopani check post Date:13-02-2012

SINDHUPALCHOWK, Feb 13: Locals in Tatopani near the Nepal-China border have closed the check point protesting tough measures taken by police to curb crime in the area.

The check post has been shut since Sunday afternoon. The locals are chanting slogans against police administration and have also burned tyres to create a roadblock.

More than dozen trucks carrying Chinese goods, tourist buses and other vehicles have been stranded on the road.

The locals have accused the border police office of being unnecessarily strict. The police over the past three months have been working hard to curb crimes in the area.

After his posting, Inspector Bishwa Karki, who was transferred as chief of the police office, has beefed up the security in the border area.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Rabindra Pratap Shah had sent Karki to the police office to curb smuggling of goods and other rampant illegal activities after inspector Bhakta Bahadur Bista was found to have been involved in a number of dubious activities.

"Even though we are doing excellent work, the locals resort to protest, which shows that they are demanding to carry on with their illegal works,” said District Police Chief and DSP Basanta Kumar Lama.

"The police won´t compromise on curbing the illegal activities. However, we are trying to open the border and resolve the matter," Lama added.

Source: myrepublica.com

PAC seeks details of Kathmandu-Nijgadh fast track Date:12-02-2012

Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the legislature parliament has directed the Nepal Army (NA) to provide details of under-construction fast track linking capital city Kathmandu to Nijgadh of Bara district.

The PAC meeting held on Sunday asked the NA to furnish all the details of the fast track including contract, progress reports and expenditure among other within five days on suspicion of the financial embezzlement.

In the meeting, the NA representatives informed that some Rs. 520 million has already been spent for the construction of 44 km track so far.

On the occasion, secretaries at the Ministry of Physical Planning and Construction and Defence Ministry informed that the land acquisition and the compensation distribution for constructing the fast track was in progress.

The government has targeted to complete the track opening by mid-July this year allocating Rs 350 million for the project.

However, NA has been saying that delays in land acquisition and compensation distribution would affect the construction works.

Source: nepalnews.com

NEA slashes load-shedding by an hour Date:13-02-2012

Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has cut down power outage by an hour a day.

Citing increase in water-level in Kulekhani reservoir and steps taken to curb electricity leakage through theft, NEA on Sunday decreased loadshedding from 14 hours a day to 13 hours.

As per the new load-shedding schedule published by NEA, from Monday onwards consumers will face 80 hours of load-shedding a week from the earlier 88 hours.

NEA officials said that the Mid-Marshyangdi Project, which had been closed down for repair, has also come into operation, resulting in decreased load shedding hours.

Source :nepalnews.com