WI THOUT F EAR O R F A V O U R Nepal’s largest selling English daily Vol XXIX No. 139 | 8 pages | Rs.5 O O Printed simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj 37.2 C 17.1 C Wednesday, July 07, 2021 | 23-03-2078 Nepalgunj Jumla Fate of opposition alliance at stake as CPN-UML factions step up unity talks As talks to bring Oli and Nepal together are termed positive, the future of the alliance, formed to make Nepali Congress President Deuba prime minister, is uncertain, leaders say. ANIL GIRI positive direction. KATHMANDU, JULY 6 And if Oli and Nepal patch up their differences, the opposition alliance On Tuesday afternoon, chairman of will break down. the Nepal Communist Party (Maoist Nepal did not participate in the alli- Centre) went to Koteshwor to meet ance’s meeting at the residence of senior CPN-UML leader Madhav Nepali Congress President Sher Kumar Nepal at his residence. The Bahadur Deuba on Monday, raising visit came as the UML has begun dis- suspicion and doubt in the opposition cussions to chart out the roadmap for bloc, leaders said. party unity. “We know there is immense On Monday the UML had revived its pressure on Nepal to patch up two-month old task force to resolve the differences with Oli. There are some dispute inside the party as Nepal has leaders in the Nepal camp who favour been siding with the opposition alli- party unity. Besides, Nepal might ance against the high-handedness of also face difficulties in building a Prime Minister and UML chair KP new party if he severs ties with Oli,” Sharma Oli. said Shekhar Koirala, a Nepali “Concerned over the revival of the Congress leader. UML task force, Dahal went to “But after all it is politics. If there is POST PHOTO: DIPENDRA ROKKA meet Nepal to inquire about the a patch up between Oli and Nepal, Ramji Adhikari of Old Baneshwor carries his 90-year-old father Min Bahadur after he got the second dose of Chinese Vero Cell Covid-19 vaccine progress made on the task force,” then the opposition alliance will break at Civil Hospital, Minbhawan in Kathmandu on Tuesday. Vaccination will continue until Thursday for the people who got their first shot in June. a member of the Dahal’s secre- down and Deuba’s chances of becom- tariat told the Post. “Nepal ing prime minister will be over.” briefed him on the possible sce- Nepal and 25 members of the dis- narios in the UML amid the solved House of Representatives close ongoing talks of the task force.” to him had sided with Deuba when the The UML task force, with five latter staked his claim to form a gov- INSIDE Academics plan a university members each from Oli and ernment under Article 76 (5) of the Nepal factions, held two meet- constitution. Oli too had made a bid Curfew imposed in Chitwan’s ings on Monday and Tuesday claiming the support of his UML and of excellence but keeping and, according to its members, the Rastriya Janata Party. Piple following protests talks are heading towards a >> Continued on page 2 against death of woman CHITWAN: The District Administration politics at bay is a challenge Office in Chitwan has issued a curfew order in Piple of Rapti Municipality-3 effective from 7:30 pm on Tuesday fol- lowing protests by the local residents Unlike existing universities, the board of trustees will have against the death of 23-year-old Sujita Bhandari. The residents of Piple had complete authority over appointment of vice-chancellor staged demonstrations on Tuesday as well, demanding that the murderers and it will not grant affiliations, its promoters say. of Bhandari be booked immediately. They obstructed vehicular movement along the East-West Highway for a few hours. The body of Bhandari, who had gone missing from her house on June 25, was recovered inside the Ghamile forest of Bhandara Piple on Sunday evening. The site where the body was found is around 3 km from her house. The curfew order has been clamped within 500 metres on both sides of the highway from Lothar bridge at Ward 1 to Daduwa at Ward 4 in Rapti Municipality. (Details on Pg 2) Transporters, businesses are flouting health safety protocols KATHMANDU: On Sunday the Valley’s chief district officers announced fur- ther easing of Covid-19 restrictions and removed the odd-even number plate rule for public vehicles allowing them to operate from Tuesday by fol- POST FILE PHOTO lowing certain health protocols. More Granting affiliations, like Tribhuvan University (pictured) does, affects the quality of education. shops and businesses have been allowed to operate albeit on alternate BINOD GHIMIRE School of Law, writer and engineer days. As per the new rule, public KATHMANDU, JULY 6 Dovan Rai and Surya Raj Acharya, transport vehicles should not carry former visiting faculty member at passengers beyond their seating There are around a dozen universities the Institute of Engineering, among capacities but many public vehicles in the country. others. including buses were carrying more Half of them—Lumbini Buddhist, The members of the board have passengers Tuesday. At a time when Far-Western, Mid-western, claimed that the University of Nepal public health workers have been Agriculture and Forestry, Nepal Open will be different from existing ones warning the authorities that the and Rajarshi Janak—came into opera- because it will be fully autonomous. Covid-19 risk is not over yet, all kinds tion after the country adopted a new “The University of Nepal will be of shops have reopened in breach of political system following the 2006 autonomous,” Adhikari told the Post. the prohibitory orders. Eateries and movement. At the time of their estab- “We are aware that setting up a uni- restaurants, which are allowed to lishment, each of them promised aca- versity for top-quality education is not operate takeaway services only, have demic excellence as all the country’s possible without keeping it away from been allowing dine-in customers for existing universities have largely the shadow of politics.” the past few days. (Details on Pg 3) failed in imparting quality education. Indeed, Nepal’s universities are in However, they too have failed in the news during appointments of the their stated missions. vice-chancellors and other top offi- Illegal mobile phones to Now a group of academicians and cials which are made on the basis of become unusable from July 16 leading members of the civil society political affiliations of the candidates. have conceptualised a multidiscipli- All of Nepal’s existing universities KATHMANDU: Come July 16, all mobile nary university that can be a centre of operate under their own separate Acts sets bought without a bill or imported excellence. with the prime minister as chancellor into the country without paying cus- “We have shouldered an extremely and the education minister as toms duty will become unusable challenging responsibility by our own pro-chancellor. The vice-chancellor is when the Mobile Device Management choice,” said Dr Arjun Karki, former the executive head of the university. System kicks in. The Nepal vice chancellor at the Patan Academy The prime minister, as the ex-officio Telecommunications Authority will of Health Sciences, who leads the chancellor, appoints vice-chancellors implement the scheme from the team. “The country desperately needs based on the recommendations made beginning of the new fiscal year to improve its higher education. The by the education minister-led search which will secure and keep track of University of Nepal could set an committee. all cell phones in the country in a bid example for others.” But, according to Karki, the pro- to prevent misuse and grey market Conceptualised three years ago, posed university will operate under a imports, officials said. “As we have it was on June 15 that the Cabinet board of trustees and it will have com- observed that Integrated Data Centre formed the Infrastructure plete authority for the management of of the government can make real Development Preparation Board for the university including the appoint- time observation of mobile devices’ setting up the University of Nepal. ment of its vice-chancellor. genuineness, we decided to make a The proposed university will be estab- “Other than the formulation of the soft launch,” said Purushottam lished in Gaidakot Municipality, necessary laws for its establishment Khanal, the telecom regulator chair. Nawalparasi. and supervision, the government will Travellers to Nepal will be permitted It has an 11-member board and also have no role in its operation,” to bring only one mobile set along includes Bipin Adhikari, former Adhikari said. with the purchase bill. (Details on Pg 5) dean at the Kathmandu University >> Continued on page 2 C M Y K WEDNESDAY, JULY 07, 2021 | 02 NATIONAL Piple under curfew following protests over Fate of opposition alliance at stake after ... >> Continued from page 1 woman’s death in suspicious circumstances President Bidya Devi Bhandari, however, invalidated both claims calling them ‘insufficient’ following which, on Oli’s recommenda- tion, she dissolved the lower house and announced midterm elections The body of 23-year-old Sujita Bhandari, who had gone missing on June 25, was recovered in a nearby forest on Sunday. for November 12 and 19. The dissolution was subsequently chal- lenged in court and among the signatories of the writ petition were RAMESH KUMAR PAUDEL Nepal and 22 former UML lawmakers. CHITWAN, JULY 6 “As of now Madhav Nepal is sticking to his words but we have to think about possible future scenarios if he patches up with Oli and The District Administration Office in withdraws the signature put in support of Deuba,” Koirala said.