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A tunnel breakthrough of the Sunkoshi-Marin Diversion Multi-purpose Project has been achieved.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal inaugurated the tunnel breakthrough amidst a program at Kanadhungri, Sunkoshi Rural Municipality-7 today.

After the Prime Minister pressed on the TBM switch, the TBM machine that had entered the tunnel from Kusumtar of Kamalamai Municipality-2 for digging the tunnel exited from the tunnel from the other side at Kanadhungri on the bank of the Sunkoshi River.

The tunnel stretches from Kusumtar, Kamalamai Municipality-2 to Kanadhungri of Sunkoshi-7. It is 13.3 kilometres long.

Project Chief Mitra Baral said they have been successful to accomplish the breakthrough a year ahead of the target. The breakthrough of the tunnel has been achieved in 19 months of the start of digging of the tunnel.

According to Baral, the tunnel was dug up to 72 meters on a single day. The works of digging the tunnel had started on October 14, 2022. However, the work on digging up the tunnel was disrupted six times since then. The works were stalled as the TBM machine could not dig the tunnel further up due to the dry landslide and mudslide inside the tunnel.

The tunnel has a diameter of 5.5 meters and the quality segment has been used for building the tunnel with the help of high technology. A 30 meters high and 158 meters long dam would be constructed across the Sunkoshi River at Kanadhungri and the water from the dam channeled through the tunnel to Marinkhola stream at Kusumtar.

At Kusumtar, the water would be dropped through penstock pipe from a height of 66 meters to generate 31.07 megawatts of electricity.

The Chinese construction company, China Overseas Engineering has got the contract for the construction of the tunnel. This company has carried out tunnel construction work of the Bheri Babai Diversion Project before this.

Project Chief Baral informed that COVEC was awarded the contract worth Rs 10 billion 50 million and 680 thousand for digging the tunnel alone.

The Project aims to provide irrigation water and produce electricity for the five districts of the Madhes throughout the year.

Along with power generation, the main objective of the project is to provide irrigation facilities on 122 thousand hectares of land in Bara, Rautahat, Sarlahi, Mahottari and Dhanusha districts of Terai by using the infrastructure of Bagmati irrigation project.

According to the project, the total cost of the project is Rs 49.42 billion.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal asserted that the policies, program and budget for the upcoming fiscal year would be introduced in a new manner.

Addressing the party cadres at Mulkot of Sunkoshi rural committee of CPN (Maoist Center) today, PM Dahal, also Chairperson of the CPN (Maoist Center), claimed that the national economy had improved a lot since he held the reign of the government. "Economy has improved a lot since I assumed the leadership of the government."

PM Dahal said that the upcoming policy, program and budget would be formulated by targeting those lagging behind in economic index thereby laying the foundation of socialism.

To make the government's upcoming policy and program more people-oriented, he said that suggestions would be solicited from various parties.

Furthermore, the Head of the Government said that the incumbent government had firmly taken forward the campaign for good-governance, social justice and prosperity, and had set a new record in the campaign of good-governance.

According to him, the incumbent government had worked hard to deliver justice for loan shark victims, to control smuggling of gold and bring to book the culprits of Lalita Niwas land grab scam among others.

He reaffirmed the commitment to continue with the pro-public works despite the fact that a few people did not like the reformative actions spearheaded by the government.

On a different note, the PM mentioned that the incumbent government had promoted Nepal's relations with international communities in a balanced manner and diplomatic relations of Nepal with other countries were further becoming stronger with the exchange of high-level visits in recent days.

Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation and CPN (Maoist Center) Deputy General-Secretary Shakti Bahadur Basnet, Member of Parliament from Sindhuli district, Lekhnath Dahal, party leader and former Minister Haribol Gajurel and Bagmati Province Assembly member Yuwaraj Chaulagain, among others were present in the program.

CPN-UML candidate Suhang Nembang, who was elected to the House of Representatives from Ilam-2, took the oath of office and secrecy on Wednesday.

Speaker Devraj Ghimire administered the oath of office and secrecy to Nembang amidst a function organized at the hall of Agriculture Committee in Singha Durbar this afternoon.

Deputy Speaker Indira Rana, Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Padam Giri, Defense Minister Hari Prasad Uprety, chief whips of various political parties and Parliament Secretariat General Secretary Padam Prasad Pandey among others were present on the occasion.

Nembang defeated Nepali Congress candidate Dambar Khadka by a margin of 5, 830 votes in the by-election held on April 27.

Nembang mustered 27, 772 votes while his closest contender Khadka garnered 21, 942 votes.

The by-election was held in Ilam-2 after the demise of Subash Nembang, father of Suhang Nembang.

The gold is being traded at Rs 136, 400 per tola in the domestic market on Wednesday.

According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 135, 750 per tola.

Similarly, the silver is being traded at Rs 1,675 per tola today.  

Humla is currently in the grip of a long spell of drought. Due to the drought, the ready-to-harvest crops, including wheat in the fields of Bargaun, Thehe, Limatang, Torpa and other villages here have dried up.

Farmers of Simkot Rural Municipality-1, 2, 3 and 4 complained that the crops have been ruined due to drought.

In absence of alternative water arrangements, they are worried about cultivating another crop and eking out a livelihood for their families.

Gajima Lama, a resident of Simkot Rural Municipality-3, said famine might take place in absence of snow in the winter. 

There has been no snow this year, she said, adding that there may emerge a situation of starvation in the area.

Lama further voiced her complaint that she could not cultivate crops now due to lack of rain as it was already delayed to sow millet.

Gaugora Bohara, a farmer of Simkot Rural Municipality-2, Thehegaun said they could not cultivate chilies, corn, pumpkins and other vegetables in the wait for rain.

"Eight to 10 years ago, the fields were not dry like this, but the problem has arisen when there is no snow and rain in the winter season this year", he shared.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has directed the authorities to complete remaining works of the Sunsari Marin Diversion Multipurpose Project in the designated time.

After enquiring about the project in the course of monitoring its site in Sunkoshi Rural Municipality today, PM Dahal directed to diagnose possible problems in the project and fix them in a timely manner, PM's personal secretariat informed.

"There may emerge several challenges in the multipurpose project having larger scope of work", PM Dahal said, adding, "Please be prepared with thinking, action plan and early preparation to identify and resolve the problem". 

He also instructed the authorities to work in a way to get returns of investment on time.

PM Dahal directed the project chiefs to prepare a concrete action plan for punishment and rewards to the project employees.

Stressing the need for completing the construction works related to barrage, powerhouse, electromechanical, transmission line, river control and social development works on time with high priority, the Prime Minister said that all the works as specified in the action plan and procurement master plan should be completed within the stipulated time.

Assuring that there would be no budget crunch as marine diversion is a transformative project of national pride, PM Dahal said that the government would fully facilitate the construction of the project.

The budget session of the House of Representative (HoR) is beginning from May 10.  As per constitutional provisions, the government has to present the budget by the end of May.

But the main opposition Nepali Congress and Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) have toughened their respective stances, signaling that the parliamentary stalemate, seen during the winter session, will continue. NC has said it will not allow the government to table the budget in the Parliament if it does not form a parliamentary panel to investigate Rabi Lamichhane’s alleged involvement in a cooperative fraud. At a meeting called by Speaker Devraj Ghimire, NC reiterated its call for a parliamentary probe panel. “We are firm in our position and hope that the government will address our demands,” said NC leader Ramesh Lekhak.

Earlier in the day, RSP’s official meeting reiterated its stance against the formation of a panel to probe Lamichhane’s alleged involvement in the case. At the meeting, RSP leaders accused NC of trying to create friction in the five-party ruling alliance at the whims of some external forces. Lamichhane has been demanding that he be allowed to speak in the parliament to come clean on the charges leveled against him. “We won’t accept a probe panel targeted against an individual (Lamichhane),” Manish Jha, a lawmaker from RSP, said and suggested forming a panel for investigating all cooperative frauds across the country.

Lamichhane has written to the Speaker urging the latter to allow him to furnish clarifications on the allegations leveled against him. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and CPN-UML KP Sharma Oli have maintained that a panel targeting an individual will not resolve the cooperative crisis.

The World Red Cross Day is being observed by organizing several programs today with the slogan 'keeping humanity alive'.

The world celebrates World Red Cross Day, on May 8 every year to honor humanitarian works and principles of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. 

The day helps highlight the humanitarian values and activities of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

These associations play a crucial role in assisting and aiding people impacted by different natural disasters, armed conflicts, and different crises, everywhere.

It is the day when the legacy of Henry Dunant, the pioneering volunteer who founded the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement more than 160 years ago, is commemorated and respected.

Humanity has been weakening in the modern and tech-savvy world due to inter-country and inner wars, violence and discrimination. Likewise, frequent incidents of disaster, drought and famine due to the negative impacts of rising global temperature and climate change have also made the efforts for protecting humanity more pressing.

In this context, the theme of the year has been set to remind the people of the significance of compassion, love, affection, support, and treatment on this day.

In a message of best wishes on the occasion, Secretary-General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Jagan Chapagain has called for elevated level of humanitarian service with the challenges mounting on keeping humanity alive.

Respect for international humanitarian law not only preserves the humanity of people affected by crises, it preserves our own humanity – both today and in the future, the message reads.

As an inseparable part of the Red Cross movement, Nepal Red Cross Society was founded on 19 Bhadra 2020 BS The Nepal Red Cross now has 1,615 sub-branches, including province offices in all seven provinces and district branch offices in all 77 districts, and 6,934 junior and youth circles across the country.

The community-based organization has a robust member base of 930,000 members.

The Nepal Red Cross has been annually offering its humanitarian services to over 2.5 million people.

IFRC's country representative for Nepal Ajmat Ulla informed that humanitarian support will continue in Nepal.