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Twenty-three houses were completely damaged by an earthquake at Bichchhya in Himali Rural Municipality-2 of Bajura district on Friday. An earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale with its epicenter at Dahakot, Gaumul Rural Municipality struck the district at 1.30 am. Chief Administrative Officer of Himali Rural Municipality Raj Bahadur Bhandari said that 23 houses were damaged by the tremor in Bichchhya. The houses of Dhanjit Budha, Dantir Budha, Joblal Budha, Naule Budha, Dil Bahadur Budha and Saurmal Rokaya were completely damaged. Similarly, the houses of Basu Rokaya, Surendra Budha, Duwalal Budha, Dev Bahadur Budha, Pancha Rokaya, Surendra Budha, Jaggi Bohara, Saimal Bohara, Surja Bohara, Jas Thapa, Bhayadhan Thapa, Purna Thapa, Kusum Khadka, Bachmal Rokaya, Kala Rokaya, Surja Khadka and Gellal Khadka were also completely damaged by the quake. Chief District Officer Pushkar Khadka said that the district administration is collecting the information on the damage caused by the earthquake in coordination with the Chief Administrative Officer and the rural municipality ward chairperson.  

Lumbini Province Chief Minister Dilli Bahadur Chaudhary took oath of office and secrecy on Friday. Province Chief Amik Sherchan administered the oath of office and secrecy to Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party leader Chaudhary at the Butwal-based office of the Province Chief this afternoon. The chief minister appointed three ministers without portfolios today itself. Dhan Bahadur Maski of the CPN (Maoist Center), Dharma Bahadur Chaudhary of the Nagarik Unmukti Party and Santosh Pandey of Democratic Socialist Party were appointed as the ministers. Chaudhary had submitted a claim for the post of chief minister with the support of 53 lawmakers of the eight political parties. Province Chief Sherchan appointed Chaudhary as the chief minister as per Article 168 (2) of the Constitution. Sherchan had called on the parties to submit a claim for the chief ministership as per Article 168 (2) of the Constitution after Chief Minister Leela Giri failed to secure a vote of confidence during the floor test. In the 87-member Province Assembly, Nepali Congress has 27 lawmakers, CPN (Maoist Center) 11 and Nagarik Unmukti Party 4. Similarly, Janatmat Party, Janata Samajbadi Party and Democratic Socialist Party have three lawmakers each and Rastriya Janamorcha and CPN (Unified Socialist) Party have one lawmaker each.  

Newly appointed Gandaki Province Chief Minister Surendra Raj Pandey took oath of office and secrecy on Friday. Province Chief Prithvi Man Gurung appointed him as the chief minister on Thursday. Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party leader Pandey had laid a claim for the post of chief minister with the support of CPN (Maoist Center) and an independent lawmaker. Province Chief Gurung administered the oath of office and secrecy to Pandey at his residence this afternoon. After being sworn in as the chief minister, Pandey expanded the Cabinet by inducting two ministers. Sushila Simkhada of the CPN (Maoist Center) and Saraswati Aryal of the Nepali Congress were appointed as the ministers. They also took the oath of office and secrecy today.    

The government has amended the Transport Management Procedures Guidelines 2060 BS to remove the legal hurdles to registering vehicles manufactured and assembled in Nepal. The latest move of the government came after the Nepali electric two-wheeler company Yatri Motorcycles warned to cease its production as older rules continue to prevent registration of domestically manufactured vehicles. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal instructed to amend the guidelines to remove the legal complications for domestic vehicle manufacturers. Issuing a notice on Thursday, the Department of Transport Management (DoTM) said manufacturers can now register their vehicles after the government revised the guidelines and added a point '11.1.9' to it which allows the registration of vehicles that are assembled in Nepal by importing parts from abroad or are fully manufactured in the country. After the amendment of the guidelines, producers have been exempted from submitting proof of opening the letter of credit (LC) for the registration of vehicles. The revision of the guidelines has cleared the way to register all types of electric, petrol and diesel vehicles made in Nepal.

The Nepali public seethes with anger whenever VIPs and VVIPs head abroad for medical treatment. Once again, public outrage manifested itself when the President of this federal secular democratic republic, Ram Chandra Paudel, went on a medical trip with an elaborate entourage despite claims from at least a section of the medical fraternity that treatment for his condition was available in the country itself. Lending credence to their version is the fact that facilities meant for VIPs and VVIPs have been gathering dust at Bir Hospital and Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital. It is natural for the Nepalis, one of the most taxed and worst served peoples in South Asia, to react in such a manner because it is the tax slapped on them under various topics that goes into paying the medical bills of the ‘dignitaries’, of which there seems to be no dearth in this country. This fury makes sense also because the powers that be have started going abroad for medical treatment even in cases where treatment is available at home itself. The laity is aware that medical visits, in most of the cases, are but just a ruse meant to cover ‘important meetings’ in foreign capitals with controversial agendas. What’s more, government authorities almost always keep the ‘ills’ afflicting powerful people like the President under wraps,  giving rise to speculations about the real motive behind their medical trips abroad. This daily has repeatedly brought to light the pitiable plight of the public health delivery system in Nepal with a main focus on government-run hospitals that see thousands of people making a beeline for treatment every day. Its reports have highlighted the problems plaguing these hospitals, such as the lack of medical professionals, lack of budget for infrastructure expansion and poor occupational safety and health standards. Given such a scenario, time has come for the ruling elite of the republic ‘geared toward’ socialism to focus more on the treatment of an ills-plagued public health delivery system and discourage the VIP and VVIPs’ tendency of seeking medical treatment abroad even for minor ills, for which treatment is available in Nepal. Leaders of the country, who are so much  more in love with ‘socialism’, can even learn from highly efficient functional public health delivery systems in operation in capitalist countries without depleting the country’s foreign currency reserves to send experts on study tours abroad as resources are available online.

The price of gold has dropped by Rs 500 per tola in the domestic market on Friday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the yellow bullion is being traded at Rs 109, 100 per tola today. The yellow metal was traded at Rs 109, 600 per tola on Wednesday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 108, 600 per tola. It was traded at Rs 109, 100. Similarly, the silver is being traded at Rs 1,410 per tola today.

House of Representative members elected from the by-elections Rabi Lamichhane and Swarnim Wagle took the oath of office and secrecy on Friday. Speaker Devraj Ghimire administered the oath of office and secrecy to Lamichhane and Wagle amidst a program organized in Singha Durbar this morning. Lamichhane was elected from Chitwan-2 and Wagle from Tanahun-1. The by-election in Chitwan-2 was held after the Supreme Court scrapped Rastriya Swatantra Party President Lamichhane’s lawmaker post saying that he had never applied to reclaim his Nepali citizenship after renouncing his American citizenship. Similarly, the by-election in Tanahun-1 was held after Nepali Congress lawmaker Ram Chandra Paudel was elected as the President of the country. Meanwhile, Janata Samajbadi Party Chairman Upendra Yadav, who was elected from Bara-2, did not take part in the swearing in ceremony.    

Karnali Province Chief Minister Raj Kumar Sharma is seeking a vote of confidence on Friday. Chief Minister Sharma is seeking a vote of confidence from the National Province Assembly after the CPN-UML withdrew the support extended to the government. He is scheduled to take a vote of confidence at 3 pm in the Province Assembly meeting. Nepali Congress, CPN (Maoist Center) and CPN (Unified Socialist) are preparing to give a vote of confidence to Chief Minister Sharma. In the 40-member Province Assembly, Nepali Congress has 14 lawmakers, CPN (Maoist Center) 13 and CPN (Unified Socialist) one. It has been learnt that independent lawmaker Devendra Bahadur Shahi, who was elected from Jumla, will also give a trust vote of the provincial government. CPN (Maoist Center) Parliamentary Party leader Sharma was appointed as the chief minister on January 11. He was appointed as the chief minister with support of CPN-UML, CPN (Unified Socialist) and Rastriya Prajatantra Party. Sharma sought a vote of confidence for the first time on January 20. He sought a vote of confidence for the second time on March 31 after the Rastriya Prajatantra Party withdrew support extended to the government.