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Garlic smuggling through the Indian border at Nawalparasi continues unabated, with an increase in the smuggling of Chinese garlic from Nepal to India. On Monday, a team from the Revenue Investigation Office in Butwal seized over 11,000 kg of garlic during a raid on a warehouse at the border post following complaints of increased smuggling. The investigation is ongoing, according to the Revenue Office. Smuggling has risen as garlic fetches a higher price in India, selling for Rs 30 to 40 per kg. Garlic is being sent to India from Bujhawa, Basaiya, Germi, and other points in the district.

Traders have registered firms near Dashagaja in the border area, building large warehouses under the firm's name to store garlic and other goods. Much of the garlic purchased in Nepal is billed and stored, creating a legal challenge for security officers trying to arrest those involved in smuggling. The garlic is reportedly sent to India at night, crossing Dashagaja, just 50 meters away. 

SP Gyanendra Phuyal, head of the District Police Office in Nawalparasi, said that while authorities receive information about garlic stored in warehouses at the border, the presence of a bill makes it difficult to make arrests. “We get information that goods are coming, but when we check, there is a bill. It’s a legal issue, as it’s permitted to take the goods to the firm near Dashagaja,” Phuyal said.

Smuggling has reportedly been encouraged by revenue office teams who sometimes leave without checking the details of purchases and sales, despite posing as bill collectors. “It’s clear where the goods have gone by looking at the bill and the sales account, but failure to check increases suspicion of the raiding teams,” said a police officer.

SP Phuyal suggested that preventing smuggling would be easier if goods were required to be stored at least 500 meters to one kilometer from the Nepal-India border. Armed Police Force SP Prakash Wagle noted that they have been unable to enforce this as the revenue office holds the authority to raid warehouses and inspect bills.

There are reportedly more than 20 registered firms near Dashagaja in the district, many of which are illegally sending goods to India under the guise of legitimate firms. On Monday, a team from the Revenue Office, with the help of the Armed Police and Customs Office, raided a warehouse in Pratappur Rural Municipality-5, Basaiya. During the raid, 119 quintals of garlic were found in the warehouse of local Ajay Harijan, according to Manoj Sahni, branch officer of the revenue office. “We’ve requested the bill. The auditor claimed he will bring it later. We’ve issued a written order to submit the documents to the office by Thursday,” said Sahni.

The Manakamana Cable Car resumed after an upgrade today.

With the upgrade, the cable transportation run by the Manakamana Darshan Pvt Ltd has gone digital.

The cable car had halted its service since July 15 to change the rope. The ropeway service in operation for 26 years through the analogue system has been upgraded to digital technology, according to Deputy General Manager of Manakamana Darshan Pvt Ltd, Ujjwal Sherchan.

The ropeway's transformation from analogue to digital operation was accomplished with the technological supervision of engineers from Austria.

The cable car was initiated on November 24, 1998 to facilitate the religious visitors' access to the famous Manakamana Temple located at Shahid Lakhan Rural Municipality of Gorkha district.

The bottom station of the ropeway is at Cheres of Ichchhakamana Rural Municipality of Chitwan.

The Potato Zone Development Program has been introduced in Mustang for the current fiscal year. The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development implemented this program in Mustang for the fiscal year 2024/25, aiming to increase potato production and productivity, reduce imports, and support food security.

Netra Prasad Bhatta, head of the project implementation unit in Mustang, said, “A budget allocation of Rs 12.7m has been made, of which Rs 11.7m will be spent on subsidies for the Potato Zone.” He added that the remaining Rs 1.3m will be used for service programs, including training, technology exhibitions, crop cutting, and data collection under the Potato Zone.

A total of 500 hectares has been designated for the Potato Zone Development Program. Farmers from agricultural farms, groups, and cooperatives within the zone are eligible to submit proposals. They will receive an 85 percent subsidy for infrastructure development and a 50 percent subsidy for the purchase of equipment, seeds, and other production and processing materials.

The Ministry of Animal and Poultry Development believes there is great potential for potato cultivation in Mustang, a Himalayan district with a temperate climate. In the fiscal year 2023/24, Mustang produced 7,031 tons of potatoes from 459 hectares, according to data from the Agriculture Knowledge Center.

Mustang’s local white potato is planted in March/April in Upper Mustang and harvested in August. In Lower Mustang, it is planted and harvested in February. Due to Mustang’s cold climate, the potatoes are known for their taste, juiciness, and high quality.

The Vishwakarma Puja is being celebrated especially in major cities and industrial areas of the country today. Vishwakarma is regarded as the main craftsman and architect of Gods.

As per Hindu mythologies, Vishwakarma is the designer of all the flying chariots of the gods and goddesses. The ancient Hindu scripture reads that he engineered the weapons for the good. It is celebrated on Aswin 1 each year as per Nepali Calendar.

The puja is generally conducted within the factory premises, workshops and the public places as well. All the machines are worshiped along with the worship of Vishwakarma.

People worship their vehicles. Red and white clothes are offered to machinery and vehicles decorated with festoons.

President Ram Chandra Paudel has extended best wishes to all Nepali sisters and brothers on the occasion of the Indra Jatra festival today. He wished for peace, prosperity and happiness.

During the festival, the God of rains and good harvest, Indra, and living Goddess Kumari are worshiped. Similarly, chariot procession of Lord Ganesh and Bhairav is held.

We pay obeisance to God Indra for the good harvest, which reflects human relations with nature, President Paudel reminded, adding that such native festival helps protect ancient civilization.

The festival is celebrated especially in the districts of Kathmandu Valley, and adjoining Kavrepalanchowk and Dolakha districts.

"I believe the festival helps foster national unity, harmony and good will among the people from diverse cultures, languages and regions," the President stated in the message of best wishes.

He further wished the festival inspired all to work for social justice and economic prosperity with balanced and sustainable use of natural resources.

A meeting of the Constitutional Council (CC) held today has recommended the senior-most Justice of the Supreme Court (SC), Prakash Man Singh Raut, for the post of the Chief Justice of the SC.

Deputy Speaker of House of Representative Indira Rana Magar said that the meeting held at the Prime Minister's official residence in Baluwatar has recommended the name of Raut for the next CJ.  

The meeting chaired by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was attended by Chief Justice Bishwambhar Prasad Shrestha, Speaker of the House of Representatives Devraj Ghimire, Chairperson of the National Assembly Narayan Prasad Dahal, main opposition party leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda', and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Indira Rana Magar.

The Council recommended the name of Raut from among the senior justices for the vacant position and the name of Raut will be sent to the Parliamentary Hearing Committee under the Federal Parliament.

The tenure of the incumbent Chief Justice, Bishwambhar Prasad Shrestha, is coming to an end on October 15.

Earlier, a meeting of the CC on Friday had decided to further study and discuss the recommendation for the Chief Justice in the country.

The budget session of the House of Representatives (HoR) and National Assembly (NA) has ended effective from midnight today.

In a HoR meeting this afternoon, Speaker Devraj Ghimire read out a letter received from the Office of the President stating that the current session of the Federal Parliament was concluded.

The Council of Ministers on Sunday recommended the President to end the ongoing session of the Federal Parliament as per Article 93 (2) of the Constitution of Nepal.

In today's HoR meeting, Speaker Ghimire shared the major highlights of the ongoing session of the HoR.  

In this budget session, the 56 meetings of the HoR were held in 53 days and the session continued for 130 days, Speaker Ghimire said.

In this session of the HoR, eight governmental and one non-governmental bills were registered and five of them have been passed from both HoR and NA, while three others are under consideration in parliamentary committees, Ghimire added.

A parliamentary special committee formed to investigate the alleged misappropriation of the cooperative funds submitted its report to the House of Representatives (HoR).

Committee Chair Surya Bahadur Thapa Chhetri presented the report before the Committee.

The seven-member committee was constituted on May 28 as per the wider demand to investigate the alleged misappropriation of a huge cooperative fund.

The committee President said, the committee commenced its work on June 5 and held 66 meetings during the period of the investigation. It was focused on finding the facts behind the matter through interrogations, discussions, and inquiries.

Though the committee sought the presence of 29 people including GB Rai for interrogation, only some people approached the committee.  The document is oriented to finding out issues in the cooperative operations and advising solutions.

The committee talked to 451 representatives from various sectors and recorded statements from 47 alleged cooperative proprietors including the Gorkha Media Network. It interrogated them in the 14 meetings.

It sat for talks with various authorities concerned to discuss the concept of cooperatives and its crisis.

President Thapa said that he has given suggestions on 14 issues related to the regulation of cooperatives and presented eight suggestions regarding Gorkha Media. He said, "The cooperative sector is in a state of decline, but there is also a lot of potentiality. Collective efforts are needed to revive and rebuild cooperatives."

Thapa stressed on strengthening the national economy through cooperatives. He further added that there were several irregularities, fraud and fake documentation in cooperative sectors. "There were several fake account holders and fake divorce and marriage cases to cheat cooperatives. Activities against law and morals were found in several places in the course of investigation," Thapa said.  

He informed that the last meeting of the committee today passed the report and submitted it to the Parliament. Thapa, the president of the committee, also requested that the report was prepared in 18 chapters based on the facts and the issues mentioned in the report and that it should be implemented. He expressed his gratitude for the support of the government, parliament, ministers and all stakeholders in the course of investigation.

Speaker Devraj Ghimire instructed the Parliament Secretariat to send the report to the Government of Nepal for necessary action.

Minister for Communication and Information Technology Prithvi Subba Gurung, on the behalf of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, presented the 'Annual Report of the National Information Commission, Fiscal Year 2079/80' in the meeting.

Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Ajaya Kumar Chaurasiya, tabled all the questions and their answers that were received from various ministries during the current session of Parliament.

The questions and answers tabled in the House today are related to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development.

Similarly, lawmaker Sita Mijar presented the Annual Report of the Industry and Commerce, and Labour and Consumer Interests Committee-2081.

Speaker Devraj Ghimire read out a letter received from the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, related to the allocation of additional ministerial portfolios.