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The Jufal Airport in Dolpa will be closed from February 28.

The airport is going to be closed from February 28 to March 29 for the maintenance of the runway.

The Civil Aviation Authority has already sent a notice to the Dolpa office for the same, said Civil Aviation Authority Office Jufal Chief Amit Chaurasiya.

A meeting of the district-based concerned body held under the chairmanship of Subarna Budha, Municipal Chief of Thulibheri Municipality, Jufal on February 12, had recommended the Civil Aviation Authority, Kathmandu to close the airport.

The airport is to be upgraded following complaints from the pilots that the runway is unsafe.

The 185 meters of the airport will be upgraded. It will cost Rs 60 million.

National Assembly (NA) Chairman Ganesh Prasad Timilsina paid a courtesy call on President Ram Chandra Paudel on Friday.

In the meeting held at the Office of the President, Sheetal Niwas, the two exchanged views on contemporary issues, according to the President's Secretariat. The term of NA Chair Timilsina is ending on March 3.

The secretariat meeting of the CPN (Unified Socialist) has asked the government to immediately release the report of the probe commission formed by the government in relation to the Balkumari incident.

The meeting held on Thursday has agreed to take further decisions on party's participation in the present government or on recalling Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Prakash Jwala only after studying the commission's report, party's central publicity department's chief Jagannath Khatiwada said.

The Home Ministry had formed a three-member commission to investigate the Balkumari incident that took place on December 29, 2023 where two youths were killed in police firings following a demonstration on Korean Language Test (KLT) exam.

It is said that contemporary political situation of the country, government's performance, issues of the usury victims, party's roles on maintaining good-governance and others were discussed in the party meeting.

Cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane, who was convicted of rape by the Kathmandu District Court, will be allowed to fight the case from outside the jail.

Lamichhane had reached the Patan High Court on Thursday to file an appeal against the District Court’s decision.

Deputy registrar Tirtha Raj Bhattarai, who is also the spokesperson of the High Court, said that the permission has been granted to Lamichhane to fight the case from outside the jail.

“He got the permission to fight the case from outside the jail as per Civil Code 2074,” Bhattarai said.

The Kathmandu District Court on January 10 had slapped on cricketer Sandip Lamichhane an eight-year jail term along with Rs 500,000 as fine and compensation after finding him guilty of rape..

On Dec 29 last year, a single bench of judge Sishiraj Dhakal had issued a verdict in consonance with Section 219 (3) (e) of Civil Code 2074, finding Lamichhane guilty of raping ‘Gaushala 26’. 

The verdict has established that the accused “raped the victim taking advantage of her poor economic condition” and convicted him as per clause 219—1, 2 and 3 (d)—of the Criminal Code Procedure.

The case started unraveling after Lamichhane’s arrest from Tribhuvan International Airport on Oct 6 last year, on the basis of a complaint accusing him of raping a minor on Sept 6 the same year.

Citing statements from both the parties, the CCTV footage and an eyewitness account, the verdict states that ‘Gaushala 26’ and Lamichhane stayed at a hotel room in Kathmandu after their return from a journey to Nagarkot, adding that Lamichhane had raped her in the room.

Prof Dr Keshar Jung Baral has been appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of the Tribhuvan University.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal appointed Baral as the Vice-Chancellor of the Tribhuvan University on Thursday.

Prime Minister Dahal’s press advisor Hari Lamichhane said that Prof. Dr Baral has been appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of the Tribhuvan University.

Prior to this, Prof. Dr Baral had served as the Vice-Chancellor of Pokhara University.

The Vice-Chancellor Selection and Recommendation Committee had recommended the names of three persons for the post of Tribhuvan University Vice-Chancellor.

Along with Baral, the names of Prof. Dr Chitra Bahadur Budhathoki and Prof. Dr Tankanath Dhakal were recommended for the post of Vice-Chancellor.

Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha has viewed sluggishness, unaccountability and impunity are costing dear to governance in the country.

Corruption is a huge challenge before us, DPM Shrestha said, suggesting the home administration to maintain peace and law and order.

Addressing the Lumbini Province level security seminar here today, DPM Shrestha reminded that the government had aimed at building good governance, social justice and prosperity. Crime can be curbed by building peace, he suggested.

The DPM viewed people should ensure an atmosphere conducive for their realization of change. It is equally essential to increase public trust in the current system, he underscored. Entire society needs to build positivity for maintaining good governance.  "The concept of 'citizen first' should be internalized and enforced so that public service delivery can be effective.

According to him, public security and development works should be taken together. Rule of law, protection of human rights, and social stability are the government's priorities, he added.

He directed for the cooperation and collaboration among the province and local governments for good governance, stability and development. DPM Shrestha however said administrative and legal frameworks were yet to be built to enforce federalism in full scale.

He informed that the government was launching special schemes for the poverty-stricken community. He made the participants aware of misuse of social networks intended to disrupt social harmony.

"I direct the subordinates to take immediate action- to the extent of removal from post- against those who work in cahoots with criminals on girl trafficking, financial crimes, internet fraud, among others," DPM Shrestha underlined.

The seminar, to run for two days has witnessed participation of chief district officers and chiefs of security agencies from 12 districts in the province.

The South Asian University (SAU) has started receiving funds from the member countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), a step that will help the varsity to bounce back from its financial crisis, SAU president KK Aggarwal said.

In an interview with PTI, Aggarwal said that the university, under his tenure, will focus on controlling the expenditure by attracting more students without scholarships and designing a rational salary structure for teachers.

“The university is supposed to be funded by all the member countries. Others were not paying their share for quite some time. I have spoken to all of them and by and large, their response is that now that things have started improving we are ready to pay,” Aggarwal said.

“We have recently moved to a new permanent campus. Previously, we were functioning from a rented space. So our first focus is to build the required infrastructure such as hostels for students and academic blocks for the new programmes that are in the pipeline to be rolled out starting this academic year,” Aggarwal said.

“We will also look into opening offshore campuses of SAU in each of the SAARC countries using the funds and setting up its branches across India,” he added.

Earlier in 2022, Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had said that some of the SAARC countries had not paid their share of the financial aid to the university due to which the varsity was facing severe financial constraints.

“Beyond that, there are issues of management and academic freedom,” Jaishanker had said while responding to a question in the parliament.

The top three posts of the university were served by ad-hoc members since 2019, during which it suffered a loss of about Rs 9m due to an erroneous tax exemption granted to the registrar, according to a Public Accounts Committee report tabled in the Lok Sabha in December last year.

President Ram Chandra Paudel inaugurated the 5, 555 kg bell placed at Panchakot-4 of Baglung on Thursday.

The President also offered prayers at the Anantashree Brhamandiya Mahayagya being held in Panchakot since Wednesday.

The grand bell has been installed with the objective of developing Panchakot as a religious tourist destination.

Dozens of other religious structures including Sis Mahal, Gandaki Mata Temple, Yagyasala, a Hanuman statue have been built in Panchakot.

On the occasion, President Paudel also observed the 108 feet high Gandaki Vishwashanti Kalash built at the same place.

The grand bell was made at a cost of around Rs 20 million.