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Everyone loves weekends. You get a break from your hectic routine. It’s when we can do what we want and spend some time with ourselves or our loved ones. ApEx talked to a few known personalities to find out how they like to spend their weekend. 

Reecha Sharma, Actor

I’m quite a homebody. For me, staying home with my family is the best way to spend my weekend. Weekdays are quite hectic for both me and my husband. So the weekend is when we get to have a nice and quiet time with our families. We like to stay home with our son, have lunch together, watch movies, and have some good conversations. We go out sometimes when we have time. It’s usually for hiking or to the movies. But ideally, we both prefer to stay home. 

Neer Bikram Shah, Actor

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With the work I do, sometimes I need to go shooting or dubbing even on weekends. I think I speak for many actors when I say that we are always hoping to have our weekends to ourselves. I’m always looking forward to having no professional engagements on Fridays and Saturdays. But, when I do have some time to myself, my priority is my family. I love spending time with them on my weekends, especially with my grandkids. They are like my friends. I like to take them out for lunch, movies, or anywhere where we can spend some quality time together. Sometimes, we even go a bit far to places like Dhulikhel and Chandragiri just to grab some lunch. I find that quite refreshing. 

Amar Neupane, Writer

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I don’t think of weekends as some special day to be very honest. A special day can be any day when I would like to spend some with myself, my friends, and my family. I don’t wait for weekends to give myself a break. Doing research for my next work, meeting new people, and spending time living in different parts of Nepal is what I enjoy the most. And I make time for that as much as I can. On days when I am free, I spend some time with my friends and family. We have gatherings where we share our thoughts, and we go for activities like hiking and trekking. 

Nevertheless, for me, an ideal Saturday would be when I can just be by myself, read books, write something based on my months-long research, and just delve into literature. I’m someone who enjoys being on my own. That gives me time to process my thoughts, read the books that I have yet to read, and write something that I have always wanted to.

The Janata Samajbadi Party has demanded parliamentary investigation into the Gaur massacre.

Organizing a press conference at the Parliamentary Party Office in Singha Durbar on Friday, the party accused the government of trying to frame the victims by making a deal with them.

Spokesperson Manish Suman said that the party has objected to some of the points of the agreement signed with the victims.

“The investigation process into the Gaur massacre is being taken in the wrong way.  We disagree on many points in the agreement,” he said.

Though the party has no mentality to quit the government, he said, it will depend on the behavior of the government.

“We are politicians. We will not be afraid of cases. But we want to express our dissatisfaction over the way the Gaur incident has been portrayed,” Suman said.

He expressed his doubts over the intention of the government, saying why a deal was made now in an incident that occurred 17 years ago.

Leader Suman also demanded to make public the reports of the past.

“It has been mentioned in many reports that the Maoist foiled the peaceful assembly of the Forum. Why did the government make an agreement after 17 years? Let the reports of the past be made public. Let the facts be ascertained by carrying out a parliamentary investigation,” spokesperson Suman said.

He was of the opinion that there is an involvement of the Maoist in the incident that took place in Gaur of Rautahat on March 21, 2007.

Suman said that the incident occurred due to the mulishness of the then Maoist leader Prabhu Sah.

“It was the Maoist who attacked with weapons in the peaceful assembly of the JSP. The Maoist foiled the assemblies in Bhairahawa and Nepalgunj,” he said.

The JSP leader accused the Maoist of exploding bombs and opening fire in the program venue of the JSP.

Spokesperson Suman made it clear that the incident occurred after the Maoist cadres clashed with the anguished public.

Police have arrested Rohan Kumar, son of businessman Rakesh Kumar Adukiya, in connection with the 100-kg gold smuggling case.

Nepal Police spokesperson Kuber Kadayat said that Rohan Kumar was nabbed from the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) while coming to Nepal from India.

The Department of Immigration has handed Rohan Kumar over to the Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI).

Eight years following the government’s declaration of an energy crisis, the Independent Power Producers’ Association Nepal (IPPAN) has once more called upon the authorities to announce a state of energy emergency and put in place necessary arrangements for the acceleration of hydropower projects.

During its presentation to the Infrastructure Development Committee of the Federal Parliament on Tuesday, the IPPAN reiterated this request. On the same day, the President of IPPAN, Ganesh Karki, also discussed the energy emergency once more in a conversation with the Confederation of Nepalese Industries.

The Independent Power Producers (IPPs) are advocating for the declaration of an energy emergency to address the issues encountered in the development of hydropower projects. They assert that regulations concerning forests, the environment, and land have been impeding hydropower development due to challenges in acquiring land and obtaining forest clearances. The IPPs suggest that these provisions should be temporarily suspended through the announcement of an energy emergency.

According to IPPAN President Karki, the private sector has demanded an energy emergency as industries in the country are not getting as much electricity as they demand, but the electricity produced by the IPPs is being wasted. Karki also pointed out that the Nepal Electricity Authority is encountering difficulties in constructing transmission lines.

The IPPAN believes that operational processes would be smoother if the government were to declare an energy emergency, as this would lead to a heightened emphasis on overcoming challenges within the energy sector. The IPPs have expressed that to attain the government’s goal of producing 30,000 MW of electricity within the next decade, the implementation of an energy emergency is imperative.

The private sector engaged in the hydropower industry is urging the parliament to announce a ‘Decade of Energy Development’ and make revisions to certain regulations. They have suggested that the government should temporarily halt specific provisions within laws pertaining to forests, the environment, and land, and instead concentrate on advancing energy-related infrastructure development.

IPPAN suggests that the immediate issuance of the new electricity bill is necessary, along with increasing the bank’s energy sector investment to 20 percent within a decade. They also emphasize the importance of fostering a political climate that supports energy development within the nation and enabling the private sector to engage in power trading.

The IPPAN has called for the establishment of a streamlined process where investors can obtain government approvals through a single point of access. Presently, investors are required to navigate through at least seven ministries and 23 departments to progress with the development of a single hydropower project.

If past precedent is anything to go by, the experiment of declaring an energy emergency has not been successful. The last time when the government announced such an emergency was in 2016. The then Cabinet endorsed the National Energy Crisis Reduction and Electricity Development Decade plan aiming to add an additional 839 MW of electricity in the next one year during the dry season.

In 2008, the government had also declared an energy emergency during the tenure of Water Resources Minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel. However, it flopped as there were no concrete plans and programs. In 2012, the government again announced an energy emergency for a four-and-a-half year’s period.

The meeting of the House of Representatives has been postponed following obstruction from main opposition CPN-UML on Friday.

The meeting that started at 1 pm today was postponed owing to the obstruction from the UML.

The next meeting has been scheduled from 1 pm on Monday.

As soon as the meeting began, Speaker Devraj Ghimire gave time to lawmaker Jwala Kumari Sah to speak.

The UML lawmakers stood from their respective seats as a gesture of protest while Sah was speaking.

After the UML lawmakers stood from their seats in protest, the lawmakers of the ruling parties also stood from their respective seats demanding that they be given time to speak and Parliament be allowed to proceed with its business.

Speaker Ghimire urged the lawmakers to allow the Parliament to resume its business. He also requested the lawmakers to follow the rules to operate the Parliament smoothly.

But still, the UML lawmakers keep on protesting demanding the formation of a high-level probe committee to investigate the latest gold smuggling case.

Marshals had stopped the lawmakers while they were moving ahead to gherao the well.

Afte the lawmakers were stopped by the marshals, they started changing slogans like take action against the corrupt leaders and gold smugglers.

Saying that the House could not be resumed amid the obstruction, Speaker Ghimire informed that the meeting has been postponed till 1 pm on Monday.

The UML lawmakers obstructed the meeting of the National Assembly today as well.

The UML alleged that the government ministers are involved in the gold smuggling.

Two more Chinese nationals have been arrested in connection with the recent 100 kg gold smuggling case on Friday.

Li Jialin and Liu Fuyan were arrested from Tibhuvan International Airport on the charge of their involvement in the scam, said Chief of TIA Immigration Office, Ram Bandhu Subedi.

The duo were arrested when they were travelling to China, he added.

The arrested ones have been handed over to the Central Investigation Bureau for further investigation, according to the TIA Immigration Office.

As the expenses surged, the profit of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) declined by Rs 1.04bn in the last fiscal. The state-owned power utility posted a profit of Rs 12.33bn in the fiscal 2022/23. The NEA had logged a profit of Rs 13.37bn in the FY 2021/22. 

The authority’s net profit in the FY 2022/23 plunged by 7.77 percent compared to a whopping 119.18 percent growth in the FY 2021/22. 

According to NEA Executive Director Kulman Ghising, the profit took a beating due to a decline in power generation from hydel projects of the NEA and the private sector, as well as increased electricity imports to manage domestic power demand. 

Despite the decline in profit, the NEA’s operating income surged by 13.88 percent last fiscal. The authority earned an income of Rs 100.37bn in the FY 2022/23 compared to Rs 88.13bn in the FY 2021/22. 

Of the total income in the last fiscal, the NEA earned Rs 89.78bn from the distribution of electricity within the country and Rs 10.59bn from electricity export to India.

Due to the prolonged dry season and decrease in water levels in the rivers, the NEA imported more electricity from the southern neighbor last fiscal. The NEA spent Rs 19.44bn for electricity imports from India in the FY 2022/23.

The state-owned power utility has said that it is going to issue shares to the public. In a press conference organized by the authority on Thursday, Ghising said the process of issuing an initial public offering (IPO) has been initiated. According to Ghising, the NEA has received an AA+ rating from the rating agency ICRA Nepal for its IPO.

The price of gold has dropped by Rs 200 per tola in the domestic market on Friday.

According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the precious yellow metal is being traded at Rs 111, 100 per tola today. It was traded at Rs 111, 300 per tola on Thursday.

Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 110, 550 per tola. It was traded at Rs 110, 750 per tola.

Similarly, the price of silver has dropped by Rs 5 and is being traded at Rs 1,370 per tola today.