Salaries doubled

RAJBIRAJ:The elected people’s representatives of Rajbiraj municipality have doubled their salaries and allowances. A meeting of the municipality board on April 4, 2006 decided to fix the salary of mayor at Rs 9,000, deputy mayor at Rs 7,000 and ward chairpersons at Rs 3,000 to be effective from mid-April. The Local Governance Regulations, Annex 7 of Rule 114 has set the provision of salaries at Rs 4,000 for mayor and Rs 3,000 for deputy mayor. There is no provision of salary for ward chairpersons, according to regulations. Nevertheless, fixed allowances have been made available for ward chairpersons and members when they attend board, council and ward meetings. — RSS

Preserve image

RASUWA: Tour guides urged local hotel entrepreneurs to keep up the good image of Langtang and Kyangjen region by treating tourists well who arrive here to enjoy the mountainous landscapes. The guides also drew the attention of all concerned hotel entrepreneurs not to let the internal problems show in front of tourists and create a hostile atmosphere. Tourists arriving in the area have to face harassment from hotel entrepreneurs that has left negative effects on main tourist sites in the district. Tourists from various countries including Japan, USA, UK, Germany, France, Australia, Pakistan and Austria visit here to relish natural beauty of this area. —RSS

Employee strike at SBI

NEW DELHI: Striking employees at India’s largest commercial bank rejected a government appeal Friday to call off their walkout as tens of millions of people were left without access to cash. Nearly all the 210,000 employees of the state-owned State Bank of India went on an indefinite strike Monday demanding higher pensions. None of the bank’s more than 9,000 branches have opened since. Tens of millions of Indians use the State Bank, which serves 30 per cent of the country’s bank customers, and holds up to 19 per cent of the country’s total deposits.—AFP

German exports rise

FRANKFURT: Increased activity in February pushed Germany’s trade surplus wider and boosted the current account balance well above expectations, according to information released by the Federal Statistics Office on Friday. The agency, Destatis, said that export growth of 17.7 per cent on the year and 4.6 on the month earned Germany some $86.5 billion in February, outstripping imports worth $70.4 billion. —AP