Two killed in mishap

TANAHUN: Two persons were killed and 40 injured when a bus heading to Kilchowk from Gorkha skidded off the road near Green Park Hotel at Byas municipality-8 on the Prithvi highway on Saturday night. Shyam Shahi, 11, and Mangali Barai, 26, of Jamune-6 died while they were being rushed to Damauli hospital. Twelve injured passengers are in a critical condition. While 21 injured are undergoing treatment in the Pokhara-based Gandaki Hospital, 19 are being treated in Damauli Hospital. Passengers in the bus were returning home from a picnic, the police said. — HNS

Task force formed

SIRAHA: The administration in Siraha district has deployed a special task force to control cases of looting abduction and murder in the district. The task force, comprising 30 armed policemen and 20 civil police personnel, is led by deputy superintendent of armed police Bhim Thapa, said CDO Bal Krishna Panthi. It will operate in sensitive areas in rural parts of the district. CDO Panthi said the task force arrested one person with two live rounds of ammunition. — HNS

Dealers’ call

RUPANDEHI: Dealers of petroleum products have called for an end to adulteration in petroleum products. They were speaking at the ninth general meeting of the Western Petroleum Dealers’ Association on Saturday. President of the association MK Miya said the allegation of adulteration labelled against the petroleum dealers was baseless. — HNS

Sit-in for polls

BARA: Demanding the implementation of the 22-point pact reached with the government, announcement of the date for constituent assembly elections and formation of a new government to hold the elections, activists of the Upendra Yadav-led Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum ( MJF-Yadav) staged a four-hour sit-in at the Bara District Administration Office on Sunday, a source at the MJF-Yadav said. — HNS

Man quits party

RAJBIRAJ: District commissar of the Janatantrik Tarai Mukti Morcha-Goit, Binod Kumar Yadav alias Binod on Sunday morning announced that he quit from the party. He said he decided to quit the party because the party lacked collective thinking and ideology and that the party could not free the Madhesi people. Bibek, a former confidant of Maoist leader Matrika Yadav, had entered the JTMM-G three months ago along with a jeep, an AK-47 gun and five lakh rupees in cash, all belonging to the CPN-Maoist. — HNS

Hut gutted

DAMAK: A hut was damaged in a fire at the Beldangi Camp of Bhutanese refugees at Damak on Sunday morning. The fire broke out from the kitchen in the hut belonging to Hem Lal Lamgade in sector C the camp, the Camp Management Committee said. — HNS

FNJ aid

BARA: President of the Chitwan chapter of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ), Janak Aryal, handed over Rs 12,700 to Umarawati Devi, wife of slain journalist Birendra Shah, at her residence in Bara on Sunday. Journalists based in Chitwan had donated the amount. — HNS

One found dead

RUPANDEHI: Bhagwan Aryal, an activist of the Nepali Congress and resident of Shanker Nagar, was found dead on the bank of a canal at Shanker Nagar on Sunday, police said, adding that Aryal probably died of inebriation. Also an advocate, Aryal was former chairman of Turang VDC in Gulmi district. — HNS