Crown Prince in Phidim

PHIDIM:

Crown Prince Paras visited Phidim, the district headquarters of Panchathar on Saturday. He inspected the Phidim based based Batukdal barrack of the Royal Nepalese Army at 11.35 am and left for Damak of Jhapa after 45 minutes, a security source said. Crown Prince had also conducted an aerial observation of the Phidim bazaar. He was accompanied by Crown Princess Himani. — HNS

Five houses looted

JANAKPURDHAM:

A band of about 25 dacoits looted property and cash worth Rs 100,000 from five houses of the Giddh VDC, along the Indian border of Dhanusha district and shot at one local on Friday night. The injured is identified as Idaris Rain, 55 of Gidhha VDC-4. He has sustained injuries in head and left hand. Bullet splinters hit him in the stomach. Rain is being treated at Janakpur Zonal Hospital. The houses under attack belonged to Salamat Rain, Nabiya Rain, Sadik Rain, Liyakat Rain and Dukharan Rain. When the locals geared up to resist them, the fleeing dacoits fired bullets. — HNS

Maoists free UML cadres

TANSEN:

Maoists on Saturday freed all five UML they had abducted last Monday from Galdha VDC of Palpa district. Maoists released UML cadres Buddhiraj Gautam, Bimla Bashista, Yuraj Khanal, Tej Prasad Ghimire and Mehar Singh Thapa from unidentified location of the district in the presence of local human rights activists and journalists. Maoists said that they had taken the UML cadres to attend a political programme. — HNS

Anti-Maoist interaction

RUPANDEHI:

The Janamorcha Nepal has been organising a one-month-long interaction programmes in different places of Rupandehi district to oppose the Maoist attrocity against the Janamorcha cadres. The interaction programme entitled ‘Go to village and aware the people’ was organised at Butwal, Rudrapur, Gajedi, Dudharaj, Paroha, Semlar, Kaihiya, Makrahar, Devdah, Dhak Dahi, Budhbare, Bhairahwa and Shankarnagar, said a press release issued on Saturday by the JMN, Rupandehi. The programme will conclude on Monday. — HNS

Interim order quashed

BARA:

The joint bench of Appellate Court Hetauda judges Purushottam Parajuli and Som Bahadur Koirala on Thursday quashed earlier interim order which had barred the Bara District Development Committee to tax the contractors concerned for extracting sand, stones and gravels from the local rivers. The DDC in a peition had sought re-hearing of the earlier order, said Narayan Devkota, legal advisor of Bara DDC. — HNS

Lack of coordination

BUTWAL:

Regional Plant Quarantine Office, Belhiya Bhairahawa has said that infected and low quality agricultural products are being imported from India through the Sunauli border due to lack of coordination with the Customs Office. Of the agricultural products and goods imported country, only about 15 per cent undergo quarantine checks. Despite provisions that goods including agricultural products imported through the transit need to be checked whether they meet the quality standards but this is not happening because of lack of assistance from the Customs Office, a release issued by the Quarantine Office. — RSS

Locals, Maoists clash

NAWALPARASI:

Local people arrested a Mand handed him over to the security forces after a clash on Friday night between the Maoists and people in the villages of southern Nawalparasi district near the Indian border. A clash ensued between the villagers and the Maoists after the latter, who came in their hundreds, surrounded Paklihawa and started attacking the locals. — RSS