Govt to escort essential goods to ensure normal supply

The government has decided to provide armed security escorts to vehicles carrying food and other essential items to prevent their shortage in all 75 districts of the country.

A high-level Supply Management Committee (SMC), coordinated by commerce and supplies Secretary and having secretaries from ministries like home, finance, agriculture and cooperatives among others, took the decision after Chief Secretary Madhav Prasad Ghimire instructed it to act promptly to quell the shortage of essential commodities. 

Likewise, the government on Monday also activated Regional and District Security Councils, which are headed by regional administrators and chief district officers across the country. “We have asked them to coordinate with the local business community and supplies officials so that essential goods are not scarce,” said a source at Prime Minister´s Office.

The government followed back to back banda started affecting availability of basic commodities in different parts of the country. Strikes in Tarai districts have resulted in shortage of daily necessities, including foods, in the eastern as well as western hilly districts. 

According to our correspondent Dil Bahadur Chhatyal, trucks carrying food meant for hilly districts like Doti, Achham and Bajura in the far-west have been stranded in the Tarai districts. Hospitals in the far west are facing severe shortages of oxygen cylinders, saline and other life-saving drugs.

Some hospitals in Kathmandu too complained on Monday that their stocks of oxygen and medicines were fast running out. Sales of vegetables, fruits and milk have been badly affected in most cities. Import of petroleum products too have come to a halt since Sunday.

“SMC meeting in the evening decided to provide security escorts to the vehicles ferrying petroleum products, vegetables, fruits, milk, oxygen cylinders and medicines, among others,” said Dipak Subedi, spokesperson of Ministry of Commerce and Supplies.

It also instructed the Home Ministry and security agencies to make arrangements for security escorts, whenever asked for by the hospitals, traders and transporters for the delivery of all essential goods. 

“Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives has been assigned to coordinate for the transportation of milk, vegetables and milk,” Subedi told Republica. Likewise, the committee has instructed Nepal Food Corporation (NFC) to immediately transfer its food stocks from various depots in the far-western region to districts like Humla.

During the meeting, Nepal Oil Corporation informed the SMC that it has enough fuel to maintain supply for two weeks and Salt Trading Corporation said it had stock of salt enough for six months.

Likewise, National Trading Limited, NFC and private traders informed they had adequate stock of rice, pulses, edible oil and other edible items. 

“The meeting identified petroleum products, vegetables, fruits and milk as four major commodities on which SMC needs to focus on in the Kathmandu Valley,” said Subedi. 

As for the districts outside the Valley, the committee has asked the local authority to identify sensitive items, and take prompt steps in coordination with the security agencies to maintain their supplies.


Source myrepublica

Third day of NEFIN banda cripples life

The general strike called by the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) has crippled life across the nation on Tuesday as well.

The banda has been called to name and map territory of federal states on the basis of ethnicity.

Transportation has come to a grinding halt due to the strike.

Normal life has been paralysed in the valley due to the NEFIN banda and it has been further crippled in Tarai region due to the banda called by various organisations and associations.

It has been reported that the demonstrators vandalised a vehicle in Dang early morning today.

The banda continued today as talks between the agitating ethic groups and the government remained inconclusive on Monday.

The two sides, however, have agreed to continue the discussions today.

source ekantipur

A bus got attacked in Hetauda

Agitating cadres of Indigenous Nationalities’ Joint Struggle Committee set a bus on fire at Simpani in Manahari VDC-4 along the east-west highway in Hetauda early Tuesday morning.

The night bus (Na 3 Kha 9169) was heading to the east from Butwal in Rupandehi district.

The attack took place at 5 a.m.

Fire destroyed passengers' luggage, but no human casualties have been reported in the incident, the District Police Office,Makawanpur, stated. RSS

Source ekantipur

Scribes manhandled, vehicles vandalised

Supporters of the banda called by the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) continued to assault journalists and press vehicles on Tuesday as well.

The supporters manhandled a journalist of Mountain TV and vandalised the van ( Ba 9 Cha 2933) at Gatthaghar in Bhaktapur this morning.

The irate banda enforcers vandalised the van that was heading to pick up television staffs, and took away the identity cards and manhandled journalist Uttar Phuyal and office staff Mina Khadka, sources confirmed. The banda supporters had impounded the van for some time.

Likewise, a tourist bus (Ba 1 Ya 430) has also been vandalised at Mahankal of Bouddha this morning.

Meanwhile, police detained some eight banda supporters at Jadibuti for forcefully enforcing banda in the area.

Though NEFIN Chairman Raj Kumar Lekhi, in a statement, urged cadres not to obstruct the movement of media persons, banda supporters have ignored the call.

Source ekantipur

Banda cripples banking activities

 Early Monday morning, Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) hurriedly deposited checks collected from various dealers worth Rs 1.4 billion at Standard Chartered Bank and asked it to immediately convert them into cash. The state-owned petroleum company was in a rush as the deadline of May 23 to pay its fortnightly installment to Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) for consignments of petroleum products was approaching. 

“We knew the deadline was just two days away and it was creating pressure on us. Yet we decided to wait till the last hour to carry out the task as it was our assumption that it would only take couple of hours to cash checks,” a senior official of NOC told Republica on condition of anonymity.

But that was where NOC´s assumption went wrong. The reason: Monday was not a normal day like NOC had presumed, as it was the second consecutive day of three-day banda called by the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities. 

To make the banda effective, protest organizers had asked various banks to keep their offices shut and show solidarity to their program. As a result, many banks were not open or partially open on Monday. 

“Since nothing was operating in a normal way, we informed banks that we would not be delivering any service related to settlement of check payment on Monday,” a senior official of Nepal Clearing House Limited said, informing that Nepal Rastra Bank, the central monetary authority, had given consent to its decision.

This basically meant that checks of various banks, say, Nabil and Rastriya Banijya, that were issued by NOC´s dealers could not be cashed and deposited at its account in Standard Chartered.

Later, the panicking fuel monopolist even reached the doors of the Ministry of Finance to help it get the checks cleared. But it was told to wait until Tuesday when the clearing house resumes normal operation.

The clearing house works as an intermediary between two banks to settle check payments. Simply put, it indirectly helps, say, Standard Chartered client, who has received payment via check issued by, say, Nabil Bank, to have the amount deposited in Standard Chartered within two to five and half hours, without making the client go to Nabil Bank.

That´s why check payments cannot be processed without the help of the clearing house. 

Although NOC is quite sure about meeting the IOC´s deadline as it will still have one more day to settle the payment if it is able to have its check cashed on Tuesday, the oil corporation´s experience shows how the banda has affected day to day work of firms that have to rely on financial institutions to conduct business.

The shutdown has had similar impact on individuals who want to access banking services like depositing money or obtaining a bank draft. The protest has also forced those going abroad to scuttle places to convert foreign currency, while closure of ATM kiosks in many places has also affected those who are in need of cash.

In Pokhara, for instance, many depositors who are in urgent need of money have started calling bankers to arrange the funds they need. Although many banks in the western city have opened back doors for their clients, many call it a risky proposition as protesters are “violent this time”.

“These institutions which were allowed to provide services unhindered during the Maoist insurgency and people´s movement of 2006 now cannot risk calling their staff to work as protesters prevent them from entering workplaces,” Bishwa Mohan Adhikari, CEO of City Development Bank, said, calling the situation “tragic”.

This has not only affected deposit collection and loan distribution but has also affected loan recovery process, which is of utmost importance to ensure sound financial health of banks and financial institutions.

Although there are no official figures on losses these daily bandas are inflicting on banks and financial institutions, Rajan Singh Bhandari, CEO of Citizens Bank and vice president of Nepal Bankers´ Association, said when every wheel of economy has been forcefully clogged, banks will definitely be in the losing end as they need support of other sectors for their growth.

“When industries and firms are being told to shut down their business operations how will they pay the loan amount and approach us for fresh credit,” Singh wondered. “And when there is low demand for the money that we collect from depositors, we obviously cannot generate profit.”


Source myrepublica

Banda affects movement of cargo from customs points

 Around a thousand vehicles carrying essential goods are stranded in the northern and southern border areas of the country due to bandas called by various groups, compelling importers to pay extra cost, which will eventually be transferred to consumers. 

Cargo trucks are currently lying in the yard of Biratnagar Customs Office. Trucks that are carrying raw material for industries, mainly located in the Morang-Sunsari industrial corridor, and fast moving consumer goods, are currently stuck in the customs office since the last five days, Binod Kunwar, chief of customs office, told Republica on Monday. 
 
Similarly, imports from China have come to a complete halt and more than 60 containers are stranded in the yard of Tatopani Customs Office, while around 350 empty-containers are in the Birgunj inland containers depot (ICD). The containers that are stranded in the Birgunj ICD had brought iron, feeds and fast moving consumer goods. 

“The empty containers which are on the property of Indian shipping companies charge US$14 per day,” Rajan Sharma, president of Nepal Freight Forwarders´ Association (NFFA), told Republica. 

Similarly, goods such as summer apparels and cosmetics that are imported from China are stuck in the Tatopani Customs Office. “More than a dozen containers are lying in the Tibetan territory of China,” said officials at the Tatopani customs. 

Importers, such as Arjun Sapkota, fear agricultural products, like fruits, imported from China might be ruined if they are not taken to the market in time. 

Abhinas Bohara, president of the Morang Merchants´ Association (MMA), said many industries are on the verge of closure due to scarcity of raw materials. According to local importers, they have to pay detention charge of up to Rs 2,500 per day to customs office in case their vehicles have to be parked in the yard of the office. 

“The whole cost that occurs due to delay in the transporting goods will ultimately be transferred to customers,” Sharma said.


Source myrepublica

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