Nepal

Kathmandu, July 5

Finance Secretary Rajan Khanal and German Ambassador to Nepal Roland Schäfer today signed a financial cooperation agreement of Euro 24.3 million on behalf of their respective governments. The total volume of bilateral technical and financial cooperation from Germany since cooperation began in 1959 amounts to around Euro 979.6 million of grant assistance, according to a press release issued by the German Embassy.

The grant assistance committed by the Federal Government of Germany in September 2018 will be used for the promotion of solar energy in rural areas, improvement of mother and child care in urban areas and sustainable economic development in rural and semi-urban areas.

Under these programmes, German Development Bank KfW, on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, is implementing promotion of solar energy in rural areas to support solar energy technologies such as solar pumping systems for drinking water and for irrigation, solar systems for public institutions like schools, health centres and government offices.

The bank is also implementing a project related to ‘improvement of mother and child care in urban areas including in Kathmandu-based Paropakar Maternity and WomenHospital. The project will construct and rehabilitate the extension of health facilities for up to four satellite centres. These satellite centres will provide both in-patient and out-patient services to women and children closer to their residencies.

Sustainable economic development project in rural and semi-urban areas is the continuation of earlier support to improve access to target-group oriented loans, predominantly in rural and semi-urban Nepal and in particular for loan sizes which go beyond microfinance but remain below traditional corporate finance.

Both governments expressed their commitments to ensuring a successful and timely implementation of these key projects, according to the press release.

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KATHMANDU: A quick but strong jolt of earthquake was felt in and around the valley on Saturday, at around 16:15.

According to the National Emergency Operation Centre (NEOC), Nepal, the aftershock measured 4.6 ML with its epicentre near Bhaktapur.

Earthquake 4.6 @ 4.15 pm bhaktapur. aftershocks. -NSC

— NEOC, MoHA Nepal (@NEOCOfficial) July 6, 2019

Todaytremor was an aftershock of the massive 2015 Barpak earthquake, according to a National Seismological Centre official.

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Kathmandu, July 5

Police have arrested a Pakistani couple for their alleged involved in a series of thefts in Kathmandu valley.

Mohsin Khan, 32, and Pooja Mohsin Kahan, 31, of Islamabad were held by sleuths of Metropolitan Police Crime Division from Bhaktapur Durbar Square, yesterday. They were having snacks in a cafe when the cops handcuffed and took them into custody.

Superintendent of Police Sushil Singh Rathaur said that MPCD sprung into action after it received an FIR against the Pakistani couple for stealing foreign currency notes from Thamel-based Devis Metro Money Exchange. According to the complaint, Mohsin and Pooja had visited the money exchange run by Rajendra Shrestha of Lalitpur posing as clients, last week.

The couple produced five Saudi Riyal for its exchange into US dollar. Mohsin made-off with US Dollar 900, Saudi Riyal 3,000 and Chinese Yuan 1,400 from the counter of the money exchange as Pooja engaged the staffers in a conversation to divert their attention.

The Pakistanis have committed multiple thefts in the valley and other districts as well, MPCD said. They mainly targeted shopkeepers on the pretext of having a look at Nepali currency of high denominations and duped them. Earlier on May 12, they had decamped with Rs 30,000 from RK Electronic Centre of Ramkrsihna Shrestha in Suryabinayak of Bhaktapur, Rs 70,000 from Heka Kitchen Stores of Shanta Krishna Shrestha in Madhyapur Thimi and Rs 150,000 from Rising Sports Gallery of Sharada Wagle in Butwal.

The couple would visit various shops and request shopkeepers to show them how a Nepali bank-note in denomination of Rs 1,000 looked like. As the shopkeepers showed them a bundle of notes to the ‘foreign tourists and prospective customers&, they secretly concealed some of the notes and fled the scene. Following three complaints against the Pakistanis, MPCD had arrested them on June 14. However, Lalitpur District Court released them on bail of Rs 50,000 each, after holding them in police custody for a few days.

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Kathmandu, July 5

The Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration has issued a circular to all local levels, including Kathmandu Metropolitan City, requesting them to expedite the process of ensuring that Nepal becomes an open defecation free country.

In response to a letter received from the Ministry of Water Supply yesterday, the MoFAGA told local levels to declare their concerned areas as ODF by September 30. A meeting of the Steering Committee for National Sanitation Action had made a decision to coordinate with the concerned districts and local levels to declare remaining places as OFD zones as soon as possible, said Dipendra Nath Sharma, MoWS secretary.

According to the MoFW, 11 districts and their 63 local levels remain to get the status of ODF zones to declare Nepal as an ODF country. KMC is among the places where people still practice open defecation.

Following execution of National Sanitation and Hygiene Master Plan-2001, Nepal witnessed social momentum and improvement in sanitation for a few years with several rural municipalities, municipalities and districts being declared ODF. As per statistics released by the MoWS, basic sanitation facilities and toilets have now increased to 95.5 per cent of the countryhouseholds from 43 per cent in 2011.

&In 2011 the government and political parties took an oath to initiate this campaign and make Nepal ODF by 2017, but the campaign could not gain momentum despite tireless efforts of all three tiers of government, development partners and communities. Now we are making a last-ditch effort to meet the target within September 30,& the MoWA claimed. It said Nepal could not pave the way for journey to total sanitation and Sustainable Development Goals until it was declared an ODF country.

&Nepal will be an ODF country after construction and utilisation of around 25,000 toilets,& Secretary Sharma said. Lack of adequate public toilets in urban areas, including KMC, has remained an obstacle of the ODF programme. There are only a handful of public toilets to cater service to huge mobile population. Recently, KMC had identified 69 places for constructing public toilets. Currently, the metropolis has 62 public toilets, out of which only 28 are usable while rest are in need of repair.

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