Apropos of the news story “Central bank bars Axiata from repatriating dividend” (THT, July 11, Page 1), poor Axiata must have sorely realized that virgin Nepal is a siren. They are surely going to suffer mental agony for the Capital Gain Tax (CGT) scandal involving Ncell and the different organs of Nepal government including tax office, whose chief is already in the net for waiving off billions of rupees illegally, and P K Dahal who reportedly took unwanted interest in the case by giving surreptitious directives during his second stint as PM. The latter was summoned by a parliamentary State Affairs Committee to clarify his purported statement that Ncell does not have to pay CGT. He seems to have

retracted his statement later.

This case could find parallel with the Watergate scandal that brought down US President Nixon. For, we are talking of mountains of money here, enough to cover half the estimated cost of our national pride project: The Fast Track. But the downside is Nepal is no US and there is really no one to bring him down. Whatever, Axiata must have realized their folly in rushing in where local angels (investors) fear to tread. This is not going to be a pleasant stint for Axiata.

For virgin Nepal this could open up a Pandora’s Box. It would be good for the country to clean up the dirt and plug all loopholes before inviting everyone to throw their investment in virgin Nepal. If Axiata finds its way in international media, we may have no one to save our next door cousins interested in investing here.

Manohar Shrestha, Kathmandu

Recklessness

This is in reference to the news article “1 dead, 1 hurt as tipper rear ends motorcycle in Mohottari” (THT, July 10, Page 3). It is really saddening to hear this news that accident of this kind is really venomous to entire motorcycle riders on the road. I don’t think we have any statistical data to learn about how we can minimise the incidents happening in the future. Accidents happen in every part of the world.

However, the frequent occurrences should be analysed properly and effective measures should be taken to minimise them. There is something wrong with our transportation system or the transport department for not being able to curb such recklessness. To my mind, there are a host of reasons and such accidents can be sharply reduced if proper steps are taken to address them. For example, whether or not a person legally and morally deserves to get a driving license by assessing their driving test? There needs to be subtle investigation on this issue because it can take anybody’s life. The concerned department must provide periodic refresher training to the driver operating heavy duty vehicles about the seriousness of their job and the importance of every human life. Driving licenses should not be licenses for killing the road users.

Shiva Neupane, Melbourne