ICYMI: Here are our top stories from Friday, November 29
Here are some of the top stories from The Kathmandu Post (November 29, 2019). At Three Brothers Oil Store, transactions through digital wallets are minimal despite a cashback offer. Prakash Chandra Timilsena/TKP
Here are some of the top stories from The Kathmandu Post (November 29, 2019).
Digital wallets are everywhere but Nepalis still prefer cash
From petrol depots to butcher shops, a growing number of businesses display a small placard with a QR code on it, notifying customers that the outlet accepts cashless payments.
Digitals wallets like Fonepay, IMEPay, Khalti and PrabhuPay have proliferated particularly this year, making aggressive marketing pushes into retail. But despite the number of cashless apps available to users, most consumers still prefer cash, according to service providers and vendors.
Bhairahawa airport is nearing completion, but no foreign airline has applied to serve it
On a recent afternoon in Bhairahawa, hundreds of workers poured into the construction site of Gautam Buddha International Airport. A section of the workers are working on interior finishing of the arrivals and departures halls while others are completing ground work on the vehicle parking site in front of the terminal.
The good news is that most of the civil works at Nepal’s second international airport have been completed. But there’s bad news: The airport won’t be completed by its March deadline, and officials are reluctant to announce the exact date the airport will come into operation.
For long-haul drivers, long hours on the road and no help in case of accidents
According to the Labour Act-2017 and Motor Vehicles and Transport Management Act-1993, transport workers are mandated a maximum of eight hours of work time. But both laws don’t mention any rest time for long haul drivers. And despite the law stipulating that transport companies hire two drivers for long haul routes, numerous companies have not complied with the rules, owing to lax monitoring on the part of the authorities.
According to Raju Lama, a bus driver who operates on the Kakarvitta-Kathmandu route, transport entrepreneurs and government authorities need to be more vigilant and monitor ongoing practices so as to minimise the risk of accidents.
Former anti-graft body chief abruptly suspended investigations into a dozen lawmakers and government officials, records show
Two years ago, in the middle of an investigation into Nepali Congress lawmaker Mohamad Aftab Alam, the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority abruptly suspended the probe, saying there wasn’t enough evidence against him.
The man in charge of the investigation was Deep Basnyat, then chief of the anti-corruption body. Basnyat himself is now under investigation—and has his assets frozen—by the Department of Money Laundering Investigation for allegedly transferring money to foreign countries. The CIAA is also investigating into the property Basnyat earned during his government service, and his involvement in transferring the land at Lalita Niwas to fake tenants.
Health Ministry to provide hormonal tablets through volunteers to new mothers to prevent postpartum haemorrhage-related deaths
One way of combating postpartum haemorrhage effectively, doctors say is improving the accessibility of misoprostol, a hormonal tablet that helps to stop bleeding in the aftermath of child delivery. Earlier, the Ministry of Health and Population in its bid to promote institutional delivery rate had stopped distributing the medicine to female community health volunteers.
Officials at the Family Welfare Division of the Department of Health Services say they are already working towards improving the distribution of misoprostol tablets through health volunteers across the country.
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