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Chairman and Managing Director of CG Holdings Arun Chaudhary, who was arrested for illegally appropriating the 10-ropani land belonging to Bansbari Leather and Shoe Factory on February 1, has been released on general date on Wednesday.

Ajit Narayan Singh Thapa, the then-chairman of the Bansbari-based factory, and Sanjay Thakur, chairman of Chandbagh School, who were in connection with the case along with Chaudhary, have also been released today.

The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police released the trio following the order of the Kathmandu District Court.

The District Court on Monday had ordered the CIB to release all of them if the investigation is not completed within two days.

A single bench of Judge Yagya Prasad Acharya had granted the CIB a two-day time to carry out the investigation into the case and issued an order to freed the trio if the investigation is not completed within the given timeframe.

CIB spokesperson Nawaraj Adhikari said that all three including Chaudhary have been released from custody.

The Bansbari Leather and Shoe Factory was established in the 1960s with the support of the Chinese government.

The disputed 10 ropanis of land were sold by the Bansbari Leather and Shoe Factory to Champion Footwear. Later in 1986, six acres of land were sold to Champion Footwear for Rs 250,000 per ropani, a far cheaper rate than the government valuation at the time. An additional four acres of land were given to get 2,500 shares of the industry.

At that time, along with Arun, Binod Chaudhary, Basant Chaudhary and others were the shareholders of Champion Footwear, which has long ceased to exist.

These days, the former shoe company operates as CG Chandbagh Residency Pvt Ltd, and Chaudhary Group Foundation has been running Chandbagh School here. Arun and his wife Sheela are its shareholders.

The land case was under investigation for the last three months. A three-member team headed by Superintendent of Police Hobindra Bogati is leading the investigation. The team had gathered evidence from the Department of Land Management and Archive and talked to the locals before arresting the suspects.

The price of gold has increased by Rs 600 per tola in the domestic market on Wednesday.

According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the precious yellow metal is being traded at Rs 118, 600 per tola today. It was traded at Rs 118, 000 per tola on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 118, 050 per tola. It was traded at Rs 117, 450 per tola.

Similarly, the silver is being traded at Rs 1,375 per tola today. 

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Narayan Prakash Saud, will be leaving for Perth, Australia this evening to attend the 7th Indian Ocean Conference being jointly organized by the Government of Australia and India Foundation on February 9-10.

The Minister is scheduled to address the Conference being held on the theme of ‘Towards a Stable and Sustainable Indian Ocean,’ on 10 February, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

While in Perth, Minister Saud will hold a bilateral meeting with Senator Penny Wong, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia. In the margins of the Conference, the minister is also scheduled to hold meetings with participating heads of delegation from friendly countries.

He will visit Wellington, New Zealand for a bilateral meeting with Winston Peters, Minister of Foreign Affairs of New Zealand on February 14. The meeting will be preceded by the Second Foreign Ministry Consultation Meeting between the senior officials of the Ministries.

The Minister will be accompanied by his spouse Jyotshna Adhikari Saud and officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Ambassador of Nepal to Australia, Kailash Raj Pokharel, will also join the Nepali delegation.

He will return to Kathmandu on February 15.

The National Concerns and Coordination Committee of the National Assembly has instructed the government to increase coordination between the three levels of government and among the ministries for effective implementation of federalism in the country.

The directive was issued based on a study report prepared by the Committee on the basis of discussion with the relevant agencies and experts of the seven provinces. The report was reviewed in Wednesday's meeting of the committee.

Chairperson of the committee, Dil Kumari Rawal Thapa (Parbati), said that recommendations and instructions have been given to the government to speed up the development of the laws and structures necessary to outline the rights and jurisdiction between the federal, provincial and local level governments. This should be done on the basis of mutual coordination.

Rawal said that the study found that inter-ministerial coordination of the government is not effective. Furthermore, the national coordination council, provincial coordination council, thematic committees under the federal ministry of federal affairs and general administration are also not functioning effectively.

The committee has directed the federal government to prioritize plans after identifying the needs of the country, to formulate and monitor plans and budgets based on clear criteria, and to implement fiscal federalism effectively.

The Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) has urged the government to move ahead with the formulation of the media related bills based on the Constitution of Nepal, the universal standards and practice of freedom of press and expression.

A meeting of the FNJ officers and members on Wednesday decided to welcome the government's initiative to present the media bill in the current session of the Parliament. The bill should go through the parliamentary process after extensive discussion and consultation with the concerned parties including the FNJ.

Considering the current situation where the media sector is facing a financial crisis, the FNJ has appealed to the government to adopt a policy of protecting the media sector, by among others, creating a media-friendly environment and increasing public welfare advertisements while distributing it in a proportionate manner.

The FNJ has also demanded that the new media be classified and included as eligible for getting public welfare advertisements.

Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat has directed the employees to carry out works showing results, saying he is ready to fulfill their justified demands.

Issuing a directive after inspecting the Krishnanagar Customs and Internal Revenue Office here today, he said, "The employees would be evaluated on the basis of their work performance notwithstanding their position and responsibilities."

Finance Minister Mahat opined that it would not be difficult to meet the revenue targets if the realistic evaluation of the business is done adopting discipline and in a transparent manner. He urged the customs and revenue employees to take into consideration the constantly changing nature of trade and business.

Stating that internal revenue and customs are intricately related, he said, "Monitoring of trade and business from the revenue perspective would be easier if the customs identified which goods came legally and which did not."  

Minister Mahat stated that many goods have now been brought under the tax net and the transaction volume and the amount of income can be known from that. "The number of service-based businesses like hotels, restaurants etc is increasing. How many new business enterprises have been registered and their transaction volume should be constantly monitored. They should be linked to the tax system," he added.

The finance minister directed the employees to strive towards increasing the revenue, maintaining discipline and transparency. "Nobody should be unnecessarily harassed. The customs and revenue employees should also not shut their eyes. They should be serious about their duty and responsibilities," he further added.

Eleven rhinos have been found dead in Chitwan National Park (CNP) and surrounding areas in the current fiscal year.

Of these, two were killed by poachers while nine died due to natural causes, said Ganesh Prasad Tiwari, the CNP Information Officer.

According to him, the natural causes of the rhino deaths include getting stuck in bog, ill health, fighting with each other, attacks by tiger and old age.

Tiwari said the male rhino that was found dead on the bank of the Rapti river in west Chitwan on Monday had died due to old age.

He added that the horn and hooves of the about 30-year-old pachyderm were found intact.

The half-yearly review of the current fiscal year 2080-81 BS (2-23-24), showed the Gross foreign exchange reserves stood at NPR 1816.57 billion (USD 13.69 billion), with a 18-percent rise in the past six months.

According to the current macroeconomic and financial situation of Nepal based on the six months data ending in mid-January assessed by the central bank, the current size of the foreign exchange reserves is bigger than the country's annual budget and this is the highest forex reserves so far. 

The report states gross foreign exchange reserves increased 18.0 percent to Rs 1816.57 billion in mid-January 2024 from Rs 1539.36 billion in mid-July 2023. In the US dollar terms, the gross foreign exchange reserves increased 16.9 percent to 13.69 billion in mid-January 2024 from 11.71 billion in mid-July 2023.

Of the total foreign exchange reserves, reserves held by NRB increased 18.9 percent to Rs 1600.23 billion in mid-January 2024 from Rs 1345.78 billion in mid-July 2023.

Reserves held by banks and financial institutions (except NRB) increased 11.8 percent to Rs 216.35 billion in mid-January 2024 from Rs 193.59 billion in mid-July 2023. The share of Indian currency in total reserves stood at 22.5 percent in mid- January 2024. Based on the imports of six months of 2023/24, the foreign exchange reserves of the banking sector are sufficient to cover the prospective merchandise imports of 14.5 months, and merchandise and services imports of 12.1 months. The ratio of reserves-to-GDP, reserves-to-imports and reserves to-M2 stood at 33.8 percent, 100.9 percent and 27.7 percent respectively in mid-January 2024.

Such ratios were 28.6 percent, 83 percent and 25 percent respectively in mid-July 2023.

The current account remained at a surplus of Rs 161.62 billion in the review period against a deficit of Rs 35.57 billion in the same period of the previous year. In US Dollar terms, the current account registered a surplus of 1.21 billion in the review period against a deficit of 279.6 million since the same period last year.