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Nepali Congress (NC) leader and Member of Parliament (MP) Chandra Bhandari, who was injured when a cooking gas cylinder exploded at his residence in Kathmandu on Wednesday night, is receiving treatment at Mumbai-based National Skin Burn Centre, India. As per the consultations of Dr Sunil Keswani, Dr Sandip Mistri and Dr Amul of the Hospital, Bhandari is being treated by keeping in a ventilator for 48 hours, according to NC leader Yograj Kandel. Leader Kandel, who is in Mumbai, said that the first and second phases of surgeries would be carried out on Friday. Doctors have said that the health parameters of leader Bhandari are in normal condition. The doctors have also shared that Bhandari’s heartbeat is normal. Bhandari was taken to National Skin Burn Centre on Thursday in a Shree Airlines air ambulance for further treatment. Prior to taking him to Mumbai, Bhandari received treatment in Kirtipur Burn Hospital following the incident. The Hospital recommended taking him outside the country for further treatment. Bhandari and his mother, Harikala Bhandari, were injured in the incident that took place at their residence in Buddhanagar. However, the mother succumbed to burn injuries on Thursday morning. Bhandari has sustained 25-30 percent burns including on his both hands and legs, according to the Kirtipur Burn Hospital.  

The Gandaki Province Government has announced this year’s Province Civil Service Prize on the occasion of Province Establishment Day. For the prize, the name of 10 civil servants has been announced. According to the Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers, a civil servant shall receive the Outstanding Province Civil Service Prize with a purse of Rs 100,000 and three others shall get the Best Civil Service Prize, while six employees are named for the Province Civil Service Prize. It is said that Man Maya Bhattarai Pangeni, the secretary at the Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers, is named as the recipient of the Outstanding Province Civil Service Prize. Likewise, Officer of Division Forest Office, Lamjung, Purneshwor Subedi, Officer of Transport Management Office, Kaski, Dilli Ram Rijal and Senior Public Health Officer of Manang Baburam Acharya are selected for the Best Civil Service Prize. The recipients shall receive Rs 75,000 each. Similarly, Officer of Province Museum Karuna Rai; Engineer of Infrastructure Development Office, Mustang Bibek Sigdel; and Officer of Ministry of Agriculture, Energy and Water Resources Anil Subedi have been selected for the prize. Others include Officer of Ministry of Economic Affairs Rameshwor Dhungana; Senior Assistant of Province Public Service Commission Bishnu Pokharel Poudel, and Surya Bahadur Baniya of Gandaki Province Assembly Secretariat. The prizes would be conferred on the recipients on the occasion of the Republic Day, Spokesperson at the Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers Ramesh Gharti said.  

The Birgunj Metropolitan City has announced plans to demolish the physical structures constructed by encroaching upon the public lands including the road, footpath and drain areas. The metropolitan city has issued a notice urging the people to demolish such structures on their own within seven days. The Metropolitan City itself will demolish such structures if they were not demolished in the given deadline and the cost incurred for the demolition would be recovered from the concerned individuals, according to the Birgunj Metropolitan City. Coordinator of Physical Infrastructure Committee of the Birgunj Metropolitan City Pradip Kumar Chaurasiya said the city is launching an initiative to reclaim its encroached lands after clearing the physical structures built in the public spaces.  

Police have nabbed three persons in possession of counterfeit notes worth Rs 500,000 from Nepalgunj in Banke district on Tuesday. Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Ram Prasad Gharti said that the arrestees have been identified as Mohan Kumai (33) of Kolapur Municipality-11, Dipak BC (37) of Turmakhand Rural Municipality-3 in Achham district and Mohan Rana (30) of Bangand Kupinde Municipality-5 in Salyan district. A special team of Nepal Police also arrested three persons with a total of 569 fake notes in denomination of Rs 1,000 from New Road area of Nepalgunj.  

The country has raised Rs 30 billion internal and Rs 26.46 billion external loans till January 14, 2023, it is stated in the half-yearly review of the budget of current fiscal year 2022/23 released on Sunday. Similarly, the government has received foreign grants worth Rs 8.12 billion during the same period. Government mobilizes internal and external loans and foreign grants for the implementation of annual policies and programs. According to the Ministry of Finance, discussions are being held with different development partners for the mobilization of development assistance for the current fiscal year and coming fiscal year. The half-yearly review report stated that initiatives are underway for loan and grants with more than two dozens of development partners. The government has been taking initiative to take Rs 39 billion concessional loan from the Asian Development Bank for the implementation of Kakadbhitta-Laukahi road section. Discussion with the World Bank to get this loan is underway, according to the Finance Ministry. Similarly, the government is preparing to take Rs 13 billion subsidized loan for the School Sector Reform Program as well as Rs 13 billion subsidized loan for Quality Health System Project from the World Bank. It is said that the project document has already been prepared to get this loan assistance. The Finance Ministry mentioned in the review report that a subsidized loan for budgetary assistance of around Rs 13 billion is going to be taken from the World Bank under Nepal Fiscal Reforms DPC-2 Program as well as preparation is underway to take budgetary assistance worth around Rs 13 billion under 'Finance for Growth' program. The Asian Development Bank has already given initial consent for the implementation of the 635-MW Dudh Koshi Storage Hydroelectric Project. "The Asian Development Bank has given hints to provide around Rs 75.40 billion subsidized loan for the implementation of the project. Coordination is underway to collect investment from other donor agencies in the project," mentioned the review report. Similarly, homework is on to secure a subsidized loan worth US Dollars 500 million (around Rs 65 billion) to implement the 1061-megawatt Upper Arun Reservoir-based Hydropower Project. In addition to this, the government is coordinating with other probable investors for the project to manage remaining funds required to undertake the project. For the implementation of the Customs Reform and Modernization Strategies and Action Plan, the government is in the process of receiving a loan of around Rs 6.50 billion in subsidy from the Asian Development Bank. Moreover, the government is making preparations to get a soft loan of worth Rs 13 billion from the ADB to implement a public finance management and service delivery reform program. Discussions are underway in regard with a draft of the Memorandum of Understanding to secure around Rs 14.40 billion grants from the British Government to undertake the Local Infrastructure Support Programme. Besides this, Nepal is to take a loan of worth Rs 1.19 billion from the ADB for the implementation of the Rural Roads Improvement Programme. The government is in touch with some of its development partners and donor agencies to receive foreign assistance. It reached the phase of collecting submissions from the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs in regard to obtaining 40 million Euros from the European Union for the implementation of the School Sector Reform Project and projects in other areas. The EU has been urged to provide Rs 15.06 million grants to Nepal for the support of the agricultural and rural development endeavors.

The State-owned Hetauda Cement Factory has stopped producing cement in lack of coal. According to the management, tender has already been announced for the supply of coal. The Industry has set a plan to import 10,000 metric tons of coal in the first and second phase. Deputy General Manager of the Industry Nabin Karna claimed that the management has been making arrangements to import necessary coal and they would start producing cement within a week. The coal would be brought from India, Indonesia, Bhutan and Pakistan. The Industry, which remained closed for a long time, was again brought into operation three months ago. Although it has a capacity to produce 750 tons of cement in a day, it has not been able to produce the cement as per its capacity due to machinery problems and lack of human resources. The Industry is in loss for the past four years. It was established with the support of the Asian Development Bank in 2033 BS.

Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kiranti said that the services at Tribhuvan International Airport has seen some gradual improvement. During his third inspection of the TIA since assuming office today, Minister Kiranti said that he was happy with the steady improvement of the airport. He, however, said the improvement is only partial and should be continued to get a completion. Minister Kiranti, who arrived early in the morning, took note of all services provided by the airport. Mentioning that the ease of service users is his first priority, Minister Kiranti expressed the belief that the improvements would satisfy the service users. According to TIA spokesperson Teknath Sitaula, Minister Kiranti has asked the officials of the airport to provide quality passenger services in addition to maintaining cleanliness. Minister Kiranti also thanked the airport team for the progress made so far and asked them to complete the remaining work soon.  

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Secretary General Jagan Chapagain has pledged to ensure additional humanitarian assistance to Nepal. Chapagain, who arrived here Saturday on the four-day visit, said he was already ready to provide more humanitarian assistance to Nepal. This is second visit to Nepal after he assumed the post of IFRC General Secretary in February 2020. Before departing for Geneva following the completion of his visit today, he applauded the role of Nepal Red Cross Society in building safe and resilient societies in partnership with the government. A high-level delegation from the IFRC Nepal was there to see off the Secretary General at a VVIP lounge of Tribhuvan International Airport. Describing the Red Cross as the largest humanitarian assistance body, he insisted on the collective efforts to further strengthen its movement. During his stay here, the IFRC Secretary General had separate meetings with the senior officials from the Ministry of Health and Population and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During his meetings with political leadership, he sought their help to further promote the Red Cross movement. He also attended the ceremony to launch the IFRC ‘World Disasters Report’.  The IFRC assistance are majorly focused on prevention, mitigation and response of natural and human-caused disasters and the climate change.