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WITHOUT F EAR OR FAVOUR Nepal’s largest selling English daily Vol XXVIII No. 323 | 8 pages | Rs.5 O O Printed simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj 24.8 C 1.5 C Wednesday, January 20, 2021 | 07-10-2077 Nepalgunj Jomsom In attacking Oli, Nepal set to get Dahal ratchets up incendiary rhetoric, Covid-19 vaccine only to draw flak Civil society members say from India within Dahal’s inciting of violence is more abhorrent and days, officials say could put the country on slippery slope. Health Ministry and Indian Embassy in Kathmandu are TIKA R PRADHAN expected to jointly announce the details of the supply of KATHMANDU, JAN 19 vaccines, including the number of doses, to Nepal today. Pushpa Kamal Dahal, a two-time prime minister and a former rebel leader, is ARJUN POUDEL & ANIL GIRI known as a masterly orator. There was KATHMANDU, JAN 19 a time when people would gather in thousands to listen to him—it was dur- Nepal is set to receive coronavirus ing those days when his Maoist party vaccines from India. had just laid down arms after a dec- Officials and diplomatic sources ade-long insurgency, in which around said that an announcement on India 13,000 people lost their lives. providing Covid-19 vaccines to Nepal He was known as a leader who could POST PHOTO: ELITE JOSHI under grant assistance will be made hold the masses spellbound. He used An artisan restores an old wood carving at the gate of Rato Machchhindranath temple in Bungamati, Lalitpur on Tuesday. Rebuilding of on Wednesday. to make rabble-rousing speeches. the temple damaged in the 2015 earthquakes, which had been halted for months due to a shortage of materials, has resumed. “Good news is coming regarding the vaccines on Wednesday. We are getting vaccines from India,” an offi- cial at the Health Ministry told the Post on condition of anonymity, say- ing talks are being finalised at the ‘My body was freezing. I told my diplomatic level. “But we do not know yet the exact number of doses that we are going to receive.” The Ministry of External Affairs of India confirmed on Tuesday evening teammates I couldn’t move.’ that Nepal is on the list of countries to AP/RSS which it will start supplying the vac- Nepal’s drug regulatory body has granted cines. emergency use approval to Covishield. POST FILE PHOTO Nepali mountaineers relive the historic winter ascent of K2. As it emerges, Purja, The Serum Institute of India is pro- Pushpa Kamal Dahal ducing Covishield, the Covid-19 vac- teers—are also on the priority list. the record breaking climber, achieved the feat without supplemental oxygen. cine developed by University of It was not immediately clear the Four years after signing the peace Oxford and the pharmaceutical giant number of doses of the vaccine Nepal deal, in 2010, a year after he was forced SANGAM PRASAIN AstraZeneca. will get from India in the form of to resign as prime minister, Dahal KATHMANDU, JAN 19 “Keeping with India’s stated com- grant assistance, but Kathmandu has asked students at a programme to mitment to use India’s vaccine pro- made a request for around two million turn all the colleges into barracks. He When George Bell, an American duction and delivery capacity to help doses. would use every other occasion to mountaineer, came down from Mount all of humanity fight the Covid-19 “We understand about two million deliver fiery speeches, branding other K2 in August 1953, having nearly fall- pandemic, supplies under grant assis- doses will come as a grant but we have parties, especially the Nepali Congress en to death during his failed ascent, he tance to Bhutan, the Maldives, not received details from the Indian and then CPN-UML, as reactionaries told reporters, “It’s a savage mountain Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and side yet,” the Nepali diplomat in Delhi and conspirators. It looked like the that tries to kill you.” Seychelles will begin from January told the Post requesting anonymity. revolutionary character still resided Since then the 8,611-metre (28,251 20,” the ministry said in a statement. An announcement in that regard somewhere within him. feet) mountain, the world’s second Nepal’s drug regulatory body on would be made in Kathmandu. As parties played the game of musi- highest peak, has been known as The Friday granted emergency use approv- Each individual will have to be cal chairs, while the Constituent Savage Mountain and is widely al to Covishield. administered two doses of the vaccine. Assembly struggled to deliver a con- regarded as the toughest, and most “A joint press conference will be Covishield is the preferred choice stitution, Dahal continued to make a dangerous, to climb. held by the embassy and the Health of vaccine of Nepali authorities since desperate push for returning to power. And Bell was narrating his summer Ministry regarding India’s commit- the existing storage and transporta- It took him eight years to return to expedition experience. ment to supply Covid-19 vaccines [to tion infrastructure used in the coun- power—in 2016 he became prime min- It was only next year in 1954 that the Nepal],” a senior diplomat at the try to immunise babies under 15 ister for a second time with the sup- mountain, that straddles Pakistan and Embassy of India in Kathmandu told months can be utilised. Covishield port of the Nepali Congress for seven China, was first conquered by Italy’s the Post requesting anonymity. vaccines have to be stored in 2 to 8 months. Achille Compagnoni. The coronavirus vaccine could degrees Celsius. >> Continued on page 2 True to its killer sobriquet, 86 have arrive in Nepal within a week or so, More than 16,000 vaccination cen- lost their lives on the mountain according to a Nepali diplomat at the tres are designated across the country and slightly more than 300 had Embassy of Nepal in New Delhi. to immunise them against childhood summited it before this winter. PHOTO COURTESY: MINGMA GYALZE SHERPA The Ministry of Health and diseases. While all other 13 eight The Bottleneck (pictured) at 8,200 metres, with tons of ice overhanging, is the most perilous Population has prepared a priority list Indian news portal livemint on thousanders have been climbed part of the climb. of those who will be administered the Tuesday reported that Covishield will during winter, K2 hadn’t because coronavirus vaccines. All health work- be given to Nepal for free. of extreme weather conditions about 60 climbers from about a dozen high winds and clouds besides low ers serving either in state-run or pri- “The India government plans to give as winds blow up to 200km per countries had a taste of the normal temperatures. vate health facilities who are at high Serum India Institute’s Covishield to hour and temperature drops to winter conditions in early January. They faced a multi-day storm, risk of catching the infection are the its neighbouring countries. To Nepal, minus 50 degrees Celsius The climbers at base camp were which affected their plans. At Camp 2 first priority. for free and 2 million doses as a gift to (minus 58 degrees Fahrenheit), able to see sunshine only on January situated at 6,760m (22,178 ft), the team Support staff—drivers, cleaning Bangladesh,” the portal reported. cold enough to freeze anyone 10, after a gap of eight days. The was battered by heavy winds. The staff of health facilities, security per- India launched its drive to vacci- standing. climbing team had to remain inside tents were ripped apart. sonnel deployed on the front line and nate its population on Saturday. The K2 winter expedition with their tents for seven days because of >> Continued on page 2 female community health volun- >> Continued on page 2 C M Y K WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2021 | 02 NATIONAL Five signatories withdraw from no-confidence motion against Rai DEONARAYAN SAH topple the Rai government seems to stay neutral regarding the no-confi- MORANG, JAN 19 unlikely now, as the Nepali Congress dence motion filed against Rai. has decided to stay neutral during the “Our party won’t take any formal Chief Minister of Province 1 Sherdhan voting of the no-confidence motion. At decision unless the motion is tabled in Rai is likely to survive the no-confi- least 47 members should vote in favour the provincial assembly meeting for dence motion filed against him, as five of the no-confidence motion in the voting,” said Karki. signatories of the motion announced 93-member provincial assembly to Chief Minister Rai on Tuesday to withdraw their support and oust CM Rai from his post. organised a gathering of the provin- the Nepali Congress decided to stay “We cannot support any group until cial assembly members close to his neutral. the party splits officially. We are in a group in Biratnagar. It is learnt that With the split of the ruling Nepal wait-and-see situation,” said Kedar the gathering decided to pressurise Communist Party, the Dahal-Nepal Karki, the chief whip of Nepali the provincial assembly not to allow group had registered the no-trust Congress in Province 1. 16 members earlier suspended by Rai motion against Rai, who is close to The Province 1 assembly session is to enter the assembly. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, on scheduled for Wednesday. According Buddhi Kumar Rajbhandari, the December 27. Though 37 provincial to Speaker Pradeep Kumar Bhandari, chief whip of the Oli faction of NCP, assembly members had signed the the provincial assembly session will said the assembly meeting will not be no-confidence motion, five of them have decide the no-confidence motion held if the suspended members are announced to withdraw their support.

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