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WITHOUT F EAR OR FAVOUR Nepal’s largest selling English daily Vol XXIX No. 47 | 10 pages | Rs.5 O O Printed simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj 34.7 C 2.4 C Tuesday, April 06, 2021 | 24-12-2077 Nepalgunj Jumla C M Y K C M Y K WITHOUT F EAR OR FAVOUR Nepal’s largest selling English daily Vol XXIX No. 47 | 10 pages | Rs.5 O O Printed simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj 34.7 C 2.4 C Tuesday, April 06, 2021 | 24-12-2077 Nepalgunj Jumla As Congress and Janata Samajbadi Party hem and haw, politics has stagnated Congress leaders say Deuba must take a lead, but he is still reluctant with one eye on the polls. Maoist Centre’s indecision on withdrawing support complicates things. ANIL GIRI KATHMANDU, APRIL 5 When the Nepali Congress finally decided to take the lead in forming a new government by unseating Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, Nepal’s poli- tics, deadlocked since the restoration of the House of Representatives by the POST FILE PHOTO Supreme Court on February 23, was Parties are unclear about new government. finally thought to be moving forward. But three days since the decision, leaders of the party have been the tangle remains. calling for the removal of Oli and pro- There has hardly been any mean- viding an alternative by joining hands ingful dialogue between Nepali with the Maoist Centre and the Congress and the Nepal Communist Samajbadi Party. Party (Maoist Centre) and the Janata Poudel had met Janata Samajbadi Samajbadi Party yet. chair Mahantha Thakur on Sunday “Our President Sher Bahadur Deuba and sought his party’s support to POST PHOTO: DIPENDRA ROKKA should hold talks with Janata remove Oli. Smog hangs over Kathmandu in this image taken on Monday afternoon. Kathmandu Valley’s air, which has remained of low quality lately due to Samajbadi Party leaders includ- According to sources within the wildfires raging in several parts of the country, deteriorated again making Kathmandu the most polluted city in the world on Monday. As per ing [Mahanta] Thakur and anoth- Nepali Congress, although Thakur the IQ Air, a Swiss group that manages real-time worldwide data on air quality, Kathmandu’s AQI level was recorded 330, which is of er senior leader Rajendra Mahato sounded positive on Poudel’s proposal, ‘hazardous’ level, at 9:45 pm. in order to register a no-confi- he did not commit anything with dence motion against Oli,” respect to the formation of the new Congress senior leader Ram government under Deuba’s leadership. Chnadra Poudel told the Post. “I found Thakurji positive on join- Deuba, however, is in Jhapa. ing hands with Nepali Congress but Despite Deuba’s reluctance our president should take an initiative INSIDE Poverty Alleviation Fund to unseat Oli and take the lead on talks with opposition parties in in forming the government order to register a no-confidence under the leadership of Nepali motion,” said Poudel. Antigen test mandatory for Congress, Poudel and other >> Continued on page 2 those entering Kathmandu was scrapped, but it still Valley with any Covid-19 symptom exists. What does it do? KATHMANDU: The government has made antigen testing mandatory for those entering Kathmandu Valley The fund created at the height of insurgency has lost its with symptoms akin to coronavirus infection. According to Chief District relevance with local governments in place, officials admit. Officer of Kathmandu Kali Prasad Rijal the meeting of Kathmandu District Covid-19 Crisis Management Centre held on Monday decided to establish health desks for antigen tests at all the municipalities where the entry points to the Valley are situated. After Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur—two other districts in the Valley—are also following suit, according to officials. “We have decid- ed to make antigen testing mandatory for all those coming to Kathmandu with any symptom of Covid-19,” said Rijal. “We will begin the tests within a day or two.” (Details on Pg 3) India’s daily coronavirus cases breach 100,000; mutants, behaviour blamed NEW DELHI: India reported a record rise in Covid-19 infections on Monday, becoming the second country after the United States to post more than 100,000 new cases in a day, as politi- cians stage massive election rallies raising fears of further spreading the virus. Hospitals in the worst affected POST ILLUSTRATION state, Maharashtra, are being over- run by patients. India’s richest state, PRITHVI MAN SHRESTHA home to its commercial capital person of the fund. KATHMANDU, APRIL 5 Mumbai and numerous industries, Of the nine members on the board, reported a record 57,074 new cases as envisaged by the Poverty overnight. The country’s daily infec- The Poverty Alleviation Fund was Alleviation Act-2006, there are at pres- tions have risen about 12 fold since established in 2003 as elected repre- ent only four, including the prime hitting a multi-month low in early sentatives could not work with local minister who is its chair, as the gov- February, when authorities eased communities and government agen- ernment has not appointed the other most restrictions and people largely cies could not reach them because of members. stopped wearing masks and following the Maoist insurgency which was at “The PAF currently has nothing to its peak. do but it continues to exist,” admitted social distancing. (Details on Pg 6) But in the changed political context Bhattarai. under a federal system, local govern- Besides Bhattarai there are 10 staff ‘We dream to be Nepal’s first ments are active and have the primary members and running the institution responsibility of working for the wel- costs around Rs20million a year, billion-dollar IT company’ fare of the people. according to Anjan Neupane, deputy KATHMANDU: In the spring of 2019, in a Cognizant of the changed context, executive director at the fund. small apartment in Lazimpat, four the Cabinet in November 2018 decided With the board failing to take any bright-eyed, hopeful college students to restructure the Rs19 billion Poverty decision to transfer the budget to the come together. Two Development Alleviation Fund and scrap the Act local governments, the Finance Finance students from National that governs it by mid-December. Ministry has diverted the budgeted College, on the cusp of graduating But even more than two years after Rs150 million for other purposes. and itching for their next business the decision was made, it is yet to be “We don’t have the allocated budget project, and two Information implemented. now,” said Neupane. Technology students from Islington The government had allocated In an effort to reduce poverty, the College with a penchant for ethical Rs150 million for the fund in the cur- fund had created 32,000 revolving hacking and software development. rent fiscal year for it to help local gov- funds across the country which were Back then, Subash Gautam, 25, and ernments form 600 cooperatives operated by local communities to pro- Nishchal Narsingh Rana, 25, were involving the users of more than vide credit to people in the communi- planning on opening a management 32,000 revolving funds that had been ties for income generation activities. consulting firm with focus on IT. At set up across the country to provide Its other activities included funding the same time, Subash was also work- credit for income generation. the building of community infrastruc- ing on a digital information platform But the fund cannot make any deci- ture like roads, trails, mule tracks, that connected potential students sion in the absence of a functioning culverts, suspension bridges, truss with representatives from interna- board. “Our board is incomplete and bridges, short distance gravity cable tional educational institutions called cannot fulfil the quorum to hold its ways, riverbed land reclamation, AbroadSanjal with Ajay Gautam and meeting. Therefore we have not been drinking water systems including san- Shishir Shrestha. Ajay Gautam, 22, able to provide the fund to the local itation, water management systems— was bounty hunting for bug and secu- government for facilitation of merg- plastic tanks, sprinkler/drip sys- rity vulnerabilities in many interna- ers of the revolving funds,” said tems—that enhanced livelihoods. tional services. (Details on Pg 8) Nirmal Kumar Bhattarai, vice-chair- >> Continued on page 2 C M Y K TUESDAY, APRIL 06, 2021 | 02 NATIONAL As Congress and Janata Samajbadi Party ... >> Continued from page 1 ment, the government has promised to Despite Poudel sounding upbeat about register a motion in Parliament for fur- the Janata Samajbadi joining hands ther discussion,” the Samajbadi Party with Deuba, other leaders of the Nepali leader said. “Therefore, our talks with Congress are not as confident that an the government, in order to extend sup- alternative government is possible. port to Oli, have already reached an “Deuba knows Oli is in the mood to advanced stage.” dissolve the House and hold early elec- According to Mahato, the Congress tions. Therefore, he is not taking any made the mistake of deciding unilateral- steps,” said a Nepali Congress leader, ly to take the lead in forming a coalition who has been in talks with both the by unseating Oli. Deuba and Poudel factions of the party, “Nepali Congress has taken its deci- on condition of anonymity. sion alone and we were not consulted The issue of early elections came up beforehand. Therefore, we are under no at the meeting between Poudel and obligation to support it. Second, there is Thakur too. no need for us to support Oli at a time During the meeting with Poudel on when the government is enjoying a Sunday, Thakur said that Prime Minister majority,” said Mahato.

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