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Lawmakers members have expressed concern over the pressing issue of waste management in the Kathmandu Valley and sought the government's prompt response to address it. Airing their views in the zero hour of today's lower house session, Amrita Thapa Magar said garbage piles in the town have posed a grave threat to public health and made life challenging. Major cities in the country are getting their beauty and essence ruined due to lack of proper waste management, according to the lawmaker. Kalika Khatun insisted on the segregation of wastes. Anjana Bisankhe demanded broader discussions on the Citizenship Bill for necessary amendments to ensure its wider acceptance. Krishna Gopal Shrestha said the Bill was sent back to the House for reconsideration by the President as a severe loophole was assessed in the document. He advised the House to go for serious discussions on the issue. Khem Prasad Lohani said it was the constitutional right of the President to send the Bill back to the House for reconsideration.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that the government is ready to lend support required for the promotion and marketing of products manufactured with the use of domestic raw materials and homegrown technologies and skills. Inaugurating the "Sixth International Women's Trade Expo" organized by the Federation of Women Entrepreneurs' Associations of Nepal in Lalitpur on Thursday, the Prime Minister insisted on the need of promoting goods and services based on homegrown skills and technologies, as well as on promoting the market for such products. The Prime Minister was of the view that the trade fair featuring the skills of women entrepreneurs would help promote the country's export business, contributing to the protection and sustainability of small and medium-scale industries run by Nepali women. In addition to this, it would be helpful for promoting women entrepreneurship, excelling their skills in the related field, diversifying their services and products, and expanding the market for their efforts. He urged the women community to explore opportunities in the area of entrepreneurship with the maximum utilization of locally-available resources to become economically self-reliant and empowered. "The expo will be an inspiration to the women community to pursue a career as entrepreneur, contributing to the enchantment of women employment, self-employment and to the nation's economy. I hope the expo for publicity, sale promotion and marketing of goods produced by women entrepreneurs will help expand the network and connection of the entire Nepali women entrepreneurs, providing them a platform for the exchange of business ideas and skills," the head of the government said. The interactions among entrepreneurs and exchange of import-export information to take place during the expo will be helpful in consolidating business collaboration, coordination and the relations, and this will be the cause for the promotion of exports of Nepali products and inspiration for foreign investors to explore opportunities in Nepal, according to the Prime Minister. He said he is happy knowing that the products produced by women entrepreneurs of different districts of all seven provinces including Kathmandu Valley based on traditional skill from local means and resources would be kept on display in the expo. "I am very happy knowing that women entrepreneurs from remote districts including Jumla, Humla, Dadeldhura and Taplejung have been participating in the expo and that they have brought their production to keep on display," shared PM Deuba. Saying that the contribution of the private sector is very significant to make the economy dynamic, he mentioned that the private sector has been playing a leading role in creating employment and helping to increase the gross domestic product of the country. The Prime Minister also lauded the role played by the private sector for the country's economic development. Expressing the belief that there would be more participation of women in coming days, he urged to make it further extensive, well-coordinated and balanced. PM Deuba pointed out the need that the government and private sector should move ahead making coordination and collaboration to continue the supply system of essential goods and services by facing the possible challenges in the country's economy. The Federation would play a constructive role in the promotion of women entrepreneurship, he expressed the belief. Federation President Neeru Rayamajhi (Khatri) stressed on the collaboration between the government and private sector to make the services and products produced by the women entrepreneurs using local raw materials, skill, technology and experience of international level and marketing of such products. The products produced by women entrepreneurs could be exported to the international market making it more qualitative. She urged the government to pay attention to women entrepreneur's capacity building, financial management and market promotion as well as to construct local infrastructure for market management of local production. A total of 109 stalls of agriculture, handicraft, service, festival, food stuffs as well as production of international entrepreneurs have been kept on display in the expo. Expo coordinator Shova Gyawali said that 55,000 visitors are expected to observe the expo and a transaction worth Rs 20 million has been estimated.

As many as 25 students were injured when a boat capsized in Rapti river of Dang Thursday. According to District Police Office Chief Suresh Kafle, among the injured, three are being treated at Lamahi. The overloaded boat carrying students of Sikta Secondary School at Rajpur was en route to Rajpur-7 from Lamahi Municipality-9 when the incident occurred at around 9 am today. According to the police, the boat was carrying three to four times more people than its capacity. Those under treatment are Manish BK (grade six) (13) of Taruliya, Lamahi-9, Rima Ramjali (12) of the same grade and Sandip BK (grade nine) (16).  Condition of the remaining students is said to be normal.

The weather will be partly to generally cloudy across the country today with chances of light to moderate rainfall accompanied by thunderstorms. According to the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, light to moderate rainfall accompanied by thunderstorms and lightning is likely to occur at some places of Lumbini and Karnali Provinces and at a few places of the remaining provinces. Issuing a 24-hour bulletin, the Department requested the people to adopt precautions as heavy rainfall with thunderstorms and lightning has been predicted at one or two places of Gandaki Province which is likely to cause soil erosion, landslide, and increase in water level in rivulets and rivers and will also affect the daily life and transport services. The weather across the country will remain partly to generally cloudy tonight with the possibility of light to moderate rainfall with thunderstorms and lightning at a few places of Province 1, Madhes and Sudurpaschim Provinces and at one or two places of the remaining provinces. Weather on Friday Similarly, Gandaki, Lumbini, Karnali and Sudurpaschim provinces will witness generally cloudy weather while the sky in other provinces will remain partly cloudy on Friday. Light to moderate rainfall is likely to take place at some places of Gandaki, Lumbini, Karnali and Sudurpaschim Provinces and in a few places of the remaining provinces on Friday. According to the Meteorological Forecasting Division, there is a possibility of heavy rain with thunderstorms and lightning at one or two places in Gandaki and Lumbini Provinces. As per the latest details of the Division, today's minimum temperature of the Kathmandu Valley is recorded at 21.6 degree Celsius and maximum temperature at 30.2 degree Celsius.  

A proposal seeking reconsideration of the Nepal Citizenship (First Amendment) Bill, 2079 BS has been approved by the House of Representatives on Thursday. President Bidya Devi Bhandari had returned the bill along with a message to the HoR for reconsideration. The proposal was tabled in the HoR meeting by Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand today. The meeting approved the proposal with a majority. Discussions on the proposal are in the lower house of the Federal Parliament at present. The Bill designed to amend the Nepal Citizenship Act, 2063 BS was sent to the President on August 1 for authentication in accordance with Article 113 (2) of the Constitution of Nepal after it was passed by the HoR and the National Assembly. President Bidya Devi Bhandari on August 14 returned the bill to the House of Representatives, citing that the parliament needed to reconsider it. The parliament has the agenda of passing the Nepal Citizenship (First Amendment) Bill, 2079 BS today itself. Also, Home Minister Khand, on behalf of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, presented the 14th annual report of National Women Commission in the meeting.

British Ambassador to Nepal Nicola Kathryn Pollitt held a meeting with Arun Subedi, foreign affairs advisor to the Prime Minister, at the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers on Wednesday. During the meeting, the duo discussed various issues of bilateral interests between Nepal and the United Kingdom. On the occasion, Subedi praised the UK for its continuous help for democratization and the development of Nepal based on age-old ties. The meeting also touched on removing Nepali airlines from the EU's blacklist citing air safety concerns of the country. In response, Ambassador Pollitt assured of continuing UK’s assistance for the development endeavors of Nepal including in the field of democracy and human rights.  

Common cold and fever cases have increased in Kailali of late. Number of patients turning up to the health facilities, including Tikapur Hospital and Tikapur Municipality-based health service providing institutions have increased compared to previous days. "Common cold with high fever has troubled all family members including minors. We have not sent our children to school due to high fever", said Arbind BK, a local of Tikapur. As informed, the number of patients turning up to the health facility at Tikapur-based Bijayanagar City Health Centre now has doubled than that was in the normal times before. In-charge of City Health Centre Usha Shah said all members of families were found ill. "Daily up to 35 people used to visit the clinic. It has now increased to 60", she added. Likewise, the number of patients visiting Manikapur-based City Health Centre has also whopped. Health worker Kabita Khadka said the number of people visiting the health centers here have doubled in recent days. "Most of the patients visiting the health facility are complaining of common cold, fever and respiratory complications.” The cases of seasonal common cold and fever have heightened after the rainy season, said Public Health Inspector Kewal Singh Sarki. With the cases on the rise, Kailali Municipality has urged the public to compulsorily wear face masks, test Covid on suspect and take care of necessary treatment.

The Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has today also managed the waste generated in the Kathmandu Valley, amidst a security cordon. The waste had to be managed by deploying police following continued obstruction by the locals of Banchare Danda, the landfill site. Waste remains to be completely managed for two months sometimes due to road repair works and sometimes due to the obstruction by the locals of Sisdol and Banchare Danda. The Valley roads are reeking due to the piles of waste dumped on the roadside and crossroads and this has also started to affect the daily life of the Valley dwellers. Locals of Sisdol and Banchare Danda have been protesting, saying the road repair works have not been carried out on time and demands like making arrangements for health, education and employment to the locals as per the agreement reached with the KMC in the past have not been fulfilled yet. The locals have been vandalizing the trucks carrying waste and creating obstruction in transporting the waste to the landfill site in protest. KMC has however said that the agreement reached with the locals of Sisdol and Banchare Danda is under implementation phase and urged the locals to extend cooperation in the transportation of the waste. It said the waste management had to be carried out by mobilizing the police as the waste had to be removed since it would not be appropriate to keep the waste uncollected for a long time. KMC mayor Balendra Shah said the waste is managed in a sincere and sensitive manner, being conscious that it would not cause problems to anyone. Stating the agreement signed between KMC and the Dhunibesi Municipality and the Kakani rural municipality on June 9 is under implementation, he asserted that the works that have to be immediately carried out are being done through the regular process and budget has been allocated for carrying out works in the same sites in the current fiscal year. KMC has allocated Rs 200 million in the current fiscal year’s budget for carrying out road repair works and other works related to waste management at Sisdol and Banchare Danda area. Waste was carried to the landfill site in 186 trucks on Tuesday taking the help of the police administration. The waste is being transported today also with the assistance of the police. However, the obstruction by locals continues.