WI THOUT F EAR O R F A V O U R Nepal’s largest selling English daily Vol XXIX No. 165 | 8 pages | Rs.5 O O Printed simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj 35.0 C 16.4 C Monday, August 02, 2021 | 18-04-2078 Nepalgunj Jumla Karki committee for Constitutional Council without chief justice The idea behind having the chief justice on the council is he/she could vet names proposed by the prime minister, ensuring checks and balances, constitution drafters say. BINOD GHIMIRE tions needs to be conducted by the KATHMANDU, AUG 1 Constitutional Bench, which Chief Justice Rana heads. A day after the Sher Bahadur Deuba Amid this, a report prepared by a government repealed the ordinance committee led by Justice Hari Krishna on the Constitutional Council Act, an Karki has recommended that the pres- advocate on July 19 filed a supplemen- ence of the chief justice in the tary petition at the Supreme Court Constitutional Council needs to be demanding a “quo warranto”. reviewed. The Karki-led committee Om Prakash Aryal, the advocate was formed to study the malpractices who filed the supplementary petition, and corruption in the judiciary and said his demand for “quo warranto” recommend solutions. means those 52 individuals appointed “The nominations made by the under the now-repealed ordinance Constitutional Council have been must show on what warrant they are dragged into controversy and they holding their offices. have also been challenged in the Aryal had earlier on June 13 this Supreme Court,” Chandeshwor year and December 16 last year filed Shrestha, president of Nepal Bar petitions demanding the quashing of Association and a member of the those appointments, saying they were Karki-led panel, told the Post. POST PHOTO: ELITE JOSHI made after amending the “However, the hearing hasn’t been Staffers arrange new beds in a shed on the premises of Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital at Teku, Kathmandu on Sunday. With Constitutional Council Act conducted yet because the chief jus- an increase in Covid-19 cases after a lull following the second wave’s devastation, hospitals have reported a rise in bed occupancy rates. through an ordinance. tice, who was present in the nomina- The court, however, has not tion process, leads the Constitutional conducted a single hearing on Bench. We have, therefore, recom- any of the petitions. mended a review of the provision that Many say since Chief Justice makes the chief justice’s presence in Cholendra Shumsher Rana was the council mandatory.” INSIDE Coordination is key to present in the meetings of the The constitution mandates the Constitutional Council that Constitutional Council to nominate made nominations for various officials for positions in the constitu- Women workers in Salyan fighting the pandemic, but constitutional bodies, he has tional bodies to keep checks on the refrained from conducting a government. get paid less than men hearing. The hearing on the peti- >> Continued on page 2 SALYAN: Sunita Roka has been work- ing as a daily wage earner for the last it is lacking at all levels 10 years. The 27-year-old from Simkharka in Sharada Municipality-8 is a skilled mason equally dexterous in building mud/stone walls as well Covid-19 Crisis Management Centre wants Health Ministry as concrete ones. She is well known in her locality as a proficient mason. to come up with a plan to check virus spread. Ministry says But she still doesn’t get wages on par with her male counterpart despite its suggestions are not followed and Centre is responsible. doing the same work. “The govern- ment has fixed equal wages for equal work. But women still get paid less than men,” said Roka. According to her, she is paid Rs600 per day for her work while her male co-worker receives Rs800 for the same work. “We know it’s unfair but we can’t afford to not work. We have to take what we are given or else we’ll have no means of survival,” she said. (Details on Pg 2) Chiefs of stock market and market regulator under probe for alleged insider trading KATHMANDU: The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority has launched an investigation into the alleged involvement of Securities Board of Nepal Chairperson Bhisma Raj Dhungana and Nepal Stock Exchange Chief Executive Officer POST FILE PHOTO Chandra Singh Saud in insider trad- An isolation centre set up by Nepal Army. Experts say preparations are lacking to tame virus. ing. The issue has come to light after it was revealed that Dhungana’s ARJUN POUDEL ic and preparing the policies needed daughter Rebika Dhungana and KATHMANDU, AUG 1 for the purpose. But it points the fin- Saud’s wife Sushila Kumari Bohora, ger to the Health Ministry to come up each, had each purchased 11,911 Last month, senior officials of the with plans of action. shares of Sarbottam Cement, which Ministry of Health and Population “We have held several rounds of is preparing to make an initial public were deployed to all seven provinces meetings with Health Ministry offi- offering (IPO) worth Rs6 million to assess the management in the cials and officials of other ministries under book building mechanism. first and second waves of the Covid-19 but Health Ministry officials have not Prem Kumar Rai, the chief commis- pandemic. presented any plan for better and sioner of the anti-graft body, con- The litany of complaints from effective management of the pandem- firmed to the Post on Sunday that health workers as well as people’s rep- ic,” Nurhari Khatiwada, spokesperson they have sought relevant documents resentatives in local governments was for the Covid-19 Crisis Management from the Finance Ministry on the similar: insufficient financial resourc- Centre, told the Post. issue. He didn’t elaborate more on the es, not enough antigen test kits, lack “We have been trying to convince matter. (Details on Pg 3) of viral transport medium needed for them for better coordination and coop- polymerase chain reaction tests, and eration.” non-payment of the promised allow- The Centre is headed by a retired Sugarcane farmers resort ances to health workers, according to Nepal Army lieutenant general to agitation again after multiple ministry officials the Post despite the Covid-19 pandemic being a talked to. public health issue. It has representa- government breaks promise “Like at the centre, we found a lack tives from the home, commerce, and KATHMANDU: Weeks after Sher of coordination as agencies under pro- health ministries as well as security Bahadur Deuba took the helm of the vincial and local governments did not agencies. government, sugarcane farmers have take the risks of the pandemic seri- The Health Ministry, in turn, points resorted to agitation for payment of ously enough,” an official at the to the Covid-19 Crisis Management their remaining dues, seven months Health Ministry who was deployed to Centre, saying it should be coordinat- after the then KP Sharma Oli admin- one of the provinces told the Post, ing and giving directions. istration had struck a deal commit- asking not to be named. “The CCMC was established to coor- ting farmers to clear their arrears. “I am not authorised to speak to dinate among all the agencies con- Last winter, hopeful sugarcane farm- the media, but what we found is we cerned, and it is responsible for taking ers returned home after weeks of pro- could have managed the pandemic far the necessary measures [to control the test in Kathmandu following an better than what happened, had all pandemic] and giving directives to the agreement with the government. The agencies concerned owned their agencies concerned,” Dr Samir Kumar Industry Ministry had on December responsibilities.” Adhikari, joint spokesman for the 28, 2020, assured farmers that it As the official pointed out, there Health Ministry, told the Post. would make sugar mills liable to pay still seems to be no coordination at the The Centre has held meetings with their dues pending for the last 4-5 centre in fighting the pandemic, 18 the representatives of several other years. As per the agreement, sugar- months into it. ministries, according to Khatiwada. cane producers would get all their The Covid-19 Crisis Management The current incarnation of the outstanding dues within 21 days of Centre, formed as per the May 20 Covid-19 Crisis Management Centre is the agreement. Now farmers are back Covid-19 Crisis Management different from the one formed earlier in Kathmandu to exert pressure on Ordinance, has the responsibility of and has the sole responsibility of the Sher Bahadur Deuba led coalition taking the necessary measures for responding to the pandemic. government. (Details on Pg 5) controlling the spread of the pandem- >> Continued on page 2 C M Y K MONDAY, AUGUST 02, 2021 | 02 NATIONAL BRIEFING Women workers in Salyan get paid less than men One dead, three missing in Karnali boat capsize Authorities say those found guilty of gender discrimination at workplace can be penalised but they have received no such complaints so far. TIKAPUR: A woman died while two BIPLAB MAHARJAN others and a newborn went missing SALYAN, AUG 1 in a boat capsize in the Karnali river on Sunday. The women were on Sunita Roka has been working as a their way to get their Covid-19 vac- daily wage earner for the last 10 years. cine shots when the wooden boat car- The 27-year-old from Simkharka in rying 10 people capsized. The boat Sharada Municipality-8 is a skilled was heading towards Chaukune mason equally dexterous in building Rural Municipality in Surkhet dis- mud/stone walls as well as concrete trict from Mohanyal Rural ones.