Some of the main stories from today's The Kathmandu Post.
Oli, Dahal headed for a truce, but factional feud is unlikely to end
After an eventful week, the ruling Nepal Communist Party seems to be heading for a truce, but insiders doubt it will end the growing factionalism in the party.
Over the last two years, the Nepal Communist Party, born out of the merger between the CPN-UML and the CPN (Maoist Centre), has been struggling to become a united force in a true sense, as various senior leaders have their own factions that are always after each other’s throat.
The latest in the series, however, culminated in the direct confrontation between two chairmen KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal over Bamdev Gautam.
As UN health agency raises Covid-19 outbreak risk to the highest level, Nepal scrambles to step up measures
Amid widespread concerns in Nepal and the World Health Organization raising the global risk of the Covid-19 outbreak to “very high”, the government is now scrambling to step up measures to contain the possible outbreak of the deadly disease.
The Ministry of Health and Population said it is working to put in place measures to ensure that all international air passengers, who come to Nepal via international flights, are thoroughly screened.
The health ministry move follows warnings of a growing risk of Covid-19 outbreak as people from most of the countries affected by the disease are entering Nepal without getting screened.
Bhojraj Pokharel: Honest people cannot contest direct elections anymore
In April 2008, at the first Constituent Assembly election, I cast my first vote. I remember feeling elated as I stood in line at the Maharajgunj voting station alongside hundreds. There was a 90-something woman who’d come to vote in a wheelchair and there were barely eligible 18-year-olds. The election marked an end to a decade of violence and the beginning of a new era. And behind the orchestration of this mammoth exercise was one man: Bhojraj Pokharel.
Pokharel is modest enough to attribute that historic election to his team at the Election Commission and the political parties, but the truth really is that if he hadn’t stood his ground, maintained strict neutrality and brought everyone together, the election might never have happened.
Thamel offers everything to foreign tourists, but lacks a very basic thing: A public toilet
Thamel, a major foreign tourist hub in Kathmandu, offers just about everything to them—a vast range of hotel rooms, varieties of food, travel agencies, money exchanges, grocery stores and a vibrant night-life. But, it lacks one thing and a pretty vital one at that: A public toilet.
Last month, the Nepal government celebrated Visit Nepal 2020 with much fanfare. The Kathmandu Metropolitan City had allocated Rs 2 million for a weeklong extravaganza that included cultural shows, concerts, and food festivals. But neither the central government nor the city office showed their concern in building public lavatories in Thamel.
14.24°C Kathmandu
