Jaswant not coming

NEW DELHI: Senior BJP leader and former foreign minister of India, Jaswant Singh has cancelled his visit to Nepal that was scheduled for Monday. Singh’s chief secretary B Thomas said the visit was postponed after the emergence of a new situation that developed after BJP’s national general secretary Pramod Mahajan was critically injured in a shootout by his brother, Pravin Mahajan. Singh went to see injured Mahajan in Mumbai, on Monday. Meanwhile, another former Indian former foreign minister Natwar Singh expressed his stern objection to the Indian policy towards Nepal, saying the policy pursued by India was late in evaluating the sentiments of the Nepali people. — HNS

Shops catch fire

KATHMANDU: Property worth Rs 2,145,000 was reportedly damaged when fire broke out at a retail shop and spread to 15 meat shops and two other retail shops nearby at Bouddha on Sunday evening. The retail shop of Bhagawani Luitel caught fire after a short circuit, Bouddha Ward Police Office said. — HNS

Statues for ‘martyrs’

Kathmandu: The Aarambha Contemporary Sculpture Group on Monday announced it would erect statues of the people killed during pro-democracy protests at the birthplaces of these “martyrs”. According to chairperson Om Khatri, the group also plans to construct a park in the memory of the “martyrs”. —HNS

NT staffers’ demand

KATHMANDU: The Central Joint Struggle Committee (CJSC) of Nepal Telecom called on NT management to take back all CDMA mobile phones being used by high-level government officials. The NT Workers’ Union and Telecom Employees Association of Nepal, through a joint statement on Monday, accused high-level government officials of using CDMA mobile phones provided by the NT to suppress the ongoing movement.— HNS