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A meeting of the House of Representatives today passed the 'Public Debt Management Bill, 2022' by a majority. Finance Minister Janardan Sharma had presented a proposal in the meeting seeking passage of the bill. Prior to this, House of Representatives secretary Gopalnath Yogi informed the House about the letter sent by the Office of the President about returning the Citizenship Bill back to the Parliament for reconsideration. Similarly, the House was also informed of a letter regarding the allocation of portfolios received from the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers.

A meeting of the House of Representatives (HoR) today passed with majority the Standard Weights and Measures (Fifth Amendment) Bill, 2078 BS. Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Dilendra Prasad Badu had presented a proposal in the House seeking passage of the bill to amend the Weights and Measures Act, 2025 BS. The House session, however, rejected by a majority the amendment proposal put forth on the bill by lawmakers Prem Suwal and Ghanashyam Khatiwada. Minister Badu had replied to the questions raised by the lawmakers on the bill. He said the bill has also made provision for appeal. According to this provision, the victimized party can go to the chief seeking an appeal in case the inspector commits a mistake while the aggrieved party can knock the door of the High Court on a decision handed by the District Court. Minister Badu said that the main objective of the bill is to bring into use the metric system throughout Nepal, promote fairness, accountability and competition in economic activities and making the definition of the basic unit of weights and measures of international standard. He added that a provision has been made in the bill for a new type of punishment on anyone misusing the weights and measurement instruments or committing any faults. Before this, taking part in the bill along with the message of National Assembly, Khatiwada demanded replacing the word Standard used in the name of the bill by Nepali word. He argued that he has brought an amendment proposal on the bill to make it further richer. Prem Suwal said that if it is mentioned in the preamble of the bill itself that production and distribution of goods would be carried under the state ownership, only then there would be a uniform standard of weights and measures. This would help make the economic activities transparent and fair. He demanded action against any person pre-informing about the market monitoring. Rajbhandari called for paying attention to international standards while bringing the bill. Lawmakers Mana Kumari GC and Padma Narayan Chaudhary pointed out the need of making the weights and measures systematic.

The Nepali Congress has nominated ten women to the party's Central Working Committee. Prime Minister and party president Sher Bahadur Deuba today nominated Kiran Yadav (Mahottari), Radha Ghale (Kathmandu), Dhana Khatiwada (Lalitpur), Urmila Thapaliya (Dhading), Rukmini Koirala (Morang), Kalyani Rijal (Kathmandu), Goma Bhattarai (Jhapa), Ganga Shahi (Rupandehi), Laxmi Khatiwada (Sunsari) and Sita Devkota (Nawalpur) as the members of the Central Working Committee of the party. Deuba nominated them as the Central Working Committee members in accordance with the party statute, Nepali Congress Chief Secretary Krishna Prasad Poudel said.

Locals have seized six trucks loaded with chemical fertilizers from the Bhutandevi-based province office store of the Agriculture Inputs Company Limited.

Irate local farmers took control of the chemical fertilizers being transported to other districts.

Birgunj Metropolis Mayor Rajesh Man Singh, who reached the incident site, said that he would take initiatives to increase the quota of chemical fertilizers in the district.

locals held a discussion with mayor Singh and Agriculture Inputs Company Province Office Birgunj Chief Chandra Prakash Chaulagain among others on the issue.  

The provincial office of the company has been distributing fertilizers in Parsa. Though farmers here require 8,000 metric tons of chemical fertilizers, the metropolis has set a limited quota of 800 metric tons, locals lamented.

Chinese ambassador to Nepal Hou Yanqi called on Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota at the latter’s official residence in Lainchaur on Friday.

During the meeting, Speaker Sapkota and Chinese ambassador Hou talked on matters of bilateral relations, mutual interest and concern between Nepal and China.

On the occasion, Speaker Sapkota lauded China for the achievement it has made in poverty alleviation in the recent decade, for the initiatives it has taken to control the COVID-19 pandemic and its maturity as regards neighborhood policy and international diplomacy.

Reiterating that Nepal is consistently committed to the One-China policy, he said the country is always conscious about not allowing its land to be used against any neighboring nation.

He was of the opinion that all should respect the policy of non-interference on the sovereignty and internal affairs of any nation in line with the United Nations Charter and the principles of 'Panchasheel'.

Speaker Sapkota recalled his virtual interaction in April with Chairperson of the National People's Congress of China Li Zhanshu. He expressed that the bilateral relations between the two countries could be further expanded and strengthened through the exchange of visits and sharing of experience among the parliamentary friendship groups and the parliaments of both countries.

The Speaker thanked the People's Republic of China for its continued support to Nepal's economic-social sector as well as in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic and during big natural disasters.

They also discussed the operation of trade transit points between the two countries.

In the meeting, Chinese ambassador Hou said that Nepal is a good neighbor of China and highly commended the former's pledge to the One-China policy.

She further said that China has always been resolutely supporting the independence, sovereignty and national indivisibility of Nepal.

Ambassador Hou pledged China's continued support and assistance for Nepal's development and prosperity in the coming days as well.

An army man deployed for the construction of Karnali corridor at Lalibagar of Kharpunath Rural Municipality-1 in Humla district died after falling off a cliff on Thursday.

Tika Ram Lamichhane, a technical corporal of the Nepal Army, originally from Surkhet district was working for the Development Taskforce of the Nepal Army.

Chief District Officer (CDO) of Humla Sita Pariyar said Lamichhane fell some 100 meters down the road during the road construction. It is said that Lamichhane skidded while testing a machine for explosion to ensure a breakthrough of the road in the cliff.

Hariram Bista, who was working with Lamichhane, got injured while attempting to save Lamichhane, CDO Pariyar said.

Bista is receiving treatment in the Nepalgunj-based Military Hospital for his head injuries.

Likewise, the body of Lamichhane was sent to Surkhet on Thursday itself.

Flooded Manohara river damaged property worth around Rs 7.5 million.

Manohara river flows through the border of Kathmandu and Bhaktapur districts.

Flood has destroyed landless squatters, other settlements surrounding the river, infrastructures at Kadaghari Police Sector and Divyashwori Land Integrated Project on Tuesday night.

Lawmaker Mahesh Basnet and Bagmati Province Assembly member Pratima Shrestha visited the flood hit areas and demanded the government to address the problems of the flood-affected people immediately.

Similarly, a team comprising Madhyapurthimi municipality Mayor Surendra Shrestha and Deputy Mayor Bijay Krishna Shrestha visited the flood-hit areas and enquired about the loss caused by the flood.

Deputy Superintendent of Police at Metropolitan Police Range, Bhaktapur, Raju Pandey, said property worth Rs 7.5 million was destroyed as flood swept away cattle as damaged food stuffs.

A disaster management team of the Nepal Red Cross Society, Bhaktapur, was mobilized at flood hit areas on Tuesday and involved in rescue as well as relief distribution, said President of Nepal Red Cross Society, Bhaktapur, Manoj Kumar Thapa.

Details of loss caused by flood were collected on Wednesday.

Also read: Over 800 houses inundated in Bhaktapur after overnight rainfall (In pictures)

Office Chief of Bhaktapur chapter of Nepal Red Cross Society, Uma Thapa shared that 16 houses and huts of landless squatters and 11 houses in the settlement above the landless squatters were demolished as well as more than 300 huts of landless squatters suffered damages.

Nepal Red Cross Society is distributing food stuffs as well as other goods to the flood-affected people.

Chemical fertilizers (Urea) procured by the Agriculture Inputs Company Limited through global bidding are being supplied to different districts.

A total of 5,000 metric tons of chemical fertilizers imported to the country is being supplied to different districts. Altogether 100,000 sacks of chemical fertilizers were imported to Birgunj in two phases.

Information Officer at Agriculture Inputs Company Limited Provincial Office Birgunj, Alok Kumar said that the chemical fertilizer is being sent to different districts as per the need.

"Remaining quantity of chemical fertilizer will be imported. 12,000 metric tons of fertilizers are being transported to the country (Birgunj) through Sirsiya dry port", he added.

The office has been supplying chemical fertilizers in 16 districts, including Madhes province districts, Kathmandu, Kavre, Dhading, Makawanpur, Sindhuli, Chitwan, Tanahun, Parbat, Nuwakot and Kaski.

The fertilizer is being distributed to the farmers through the Agriculture Inputs Company Office based in different districts.

The government had entrusted the Swiss Singapore Overseas Enterprises with the responsibility for importing 30,000 metric tons of chemical fertilizers that was purchased from Oman through global bidding.