Kathmandu, September 14, 2005

Defying a stay order, which was issued by the Supreme Court on September 7, the Police Headquarters and the Home Ministry began appointing police inspectors the very next day, a division bench of justices Khil Raj Regmi and Hari Jung Sijapati was told today. Even as Hari Prasad Uprety, an advocate, urged the apex court to take contempt of court action against the ministry and the police headquarters for the defiance, the government joint attorney, Raj Narayan Pathak, said the ministry went ahead with the appointment process because it did not get the stay order on that day. The authorities have started giving appointment letters to 236 inspectors. While 50 candidates were selected through open competition, 186 sub-inspectors were promoted through internal competition. The division bench, however, ruled there was no need to issue another stay order on the matter as the appointment process had already begun. Challenging the selection process, two women candidates, Kripa Sharma and Kopila Chundal, had moved the apex court on September 7. Citing the Police Regulation 2049, which states that half of the appointments in the police force must be made through open competition and the rest through internal assessment, the petitioners had moved the Supreme Court.

Mega-project aims at building new city in Valley

Kathmandu, September 14, 2005

The Ministry for PhysicalPlanning and Works has reached the final stage of planning for its mega-project of constructing a new city on the south of the Valley. The project is aimed at solving the population problem of the capital city for several decades. Officials said the government has recently given green signal to the ambitious project — Harisiddhi New City Project (HNCP) — after a long wait and discussions. Now, the project is waiting government sanction of initial budget for its launch.

The new city would accommodate full-facility shelter for around 150,000 to 200,000 people. It is estimated that over a million people live in three cities of the Valley at present. The Rs 3.6 billion project will turn the agricultural land located between Godawari and Kodku rivers into fully-developed modern residential city with its own Central Business District (CBD), markets, open spaces, institutional areas and other urban infrastructure. The proposed city, to be sprawled in 16,240 ropanis of land, will be located south of the existing Ring Road, around five kilometres from Gwarko. Areas in Imadol, Harishiddi, Siddhipur and Thaiba VDCs would be included in the new city.