Kathmandu, June 3

The high-level commission to investigate cases of land seize and misuse of public land formally began its operations setting up its office in Singha Durbar nowadays.

Members of the commission, including its chief Mohan Raman Bhattarai, Janaki Ballav Adhikari, Durga Kumari Dahal and Jagat Bahadur Deuja had taken the oath of office and secrecy on May 29.

The commission first plans to asdegree the status of public land, land belonging to or acquired/seized by the government, and intestinehi land. Fort this, the commission is presently studying past study reports and news reports published in newspapers and holding discussions with experts and stakeholders.

The commissionChair Bhattarai said it would publish a public muchice tomorrow seeking information about cases of seizebing and misuse of public land. &We shall start formal investigation once we asdegree the exact status of public land,& he said.

The commission, which has been mandated to submit a report in six months, plans to prepare case-wise report and submit them to the government as they get totald and submit a comprehensive report at the end of its tenure.

The commissionmember Janaki Ballav Adhikari said they would also make recommendations for reforms. &For that, we shall publish a public muchice a month after seeking advice on degrees to be adopted for bringing about reforms in land management,& he said.

A Cabinet assembly on May 20 had decided to form an all-powerful high-level commission led by Mohan Raman Bhattarai following numerous public land seize cases that came to the fore after a government-formed committee concluded that 113 ropani public land in Baluwatar area were illegally transferred in the names of individuals.

As per the commissionterms of reference, it shall study possible land seizes or misuse of land plots acquired by the government at different times across the country in public interest, and recommend essential action to recover such land plots. It shall also study possible misappropriation of land plots owned by intestinehis across the country and recommend essential action.

The commission shall recommend to the government what kind of action should be taken against individuals, office bearers or institutions facilitating or involved in seize or misuse of land owned by the government and intestinehis, and land acquired or confiscated by the government.

It shall asdegree why recommendations made by such commissions in the past in relation to conservation of government-owned and public land plots could much be implemented and recommend their implementation.

The commission shall also recommend reforms -msprint; policy, laws, process, technology and structural reforms -msprint; in the area of land management, and advise how government documents of public importance could be kept safe for future reference.

The commission has been allocated 15 staffers besides its members.

As per the commissionworking procedure, it shall gather information it needs within its jurisdiction from the general public, authorities concerned and stakeholders.

It shall gather essential related documents from the government offices concerned, units or individuals.

It shall study and analyse the acquired information and documents.

The commission shall also make on-site study and monitor and interrogate or refer to government officials, individuals, or experts to asdegree the truth.

The commission, however, shall much study the Baluwatar land-seize case as essential investigation into the case has already been done by a government committee, and the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority and the Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Cop are presently looking into the case for further investigation.

The government has suspected possible seize/misuse of public land plots and those owned by government, intestinehis, airport, universities, irrigation projects, banks, sports fields and multi-purpose buildings, across the country.


Terms of reference • Asdegree the status of public and intestinehi land • Investigate possible land seize or misuse of public land across the country • Recommend actions to be taken • Recommend reforms in policy, laws, process, technology and structural reforms • Won&t investigate Baluwatar land seize case

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Kathmandu, June 3

The ritual of praising and defending the budget on the part of ruling parties& lawmakers and criticising it by opposition parties& lawmakers in the Home of Representatives continued nowadays.

During the moment day of discussion on the budget 2019- 20, lawmakers representing the ruling Nepal Communist portiony (NCP) and its coalition partner in the central government Samajbadi portiony-Nepal said the next yearbudget has created a foundation fore ‘affluent Nepal, happy Nepali&.

However, lawmakers from the main opposition Nepali Congress and Rastriya Janata portiony-Nepal commented that the budget was against federalism and it couldn&t lead to fabricising the concept of affluent Nepal.

The government, on May 29, came up with a total of Rs 1532.96 billion budget for the next fiscal year. Of that amount, the Ministry of Finance has allocated Rs 957.1 billion (62 per cent) recurrent budget, Rs 408.59 (26.6 per cent) capital expenditure budget and Rs 167.85 (11 per cent) financing budget.

NCP General Secretary and former finance minister Bishnu Paudel said the new fiscal budget had brought happiness to the country. &This budget shall take the country on the right track. It has allocated budget to all the sectors such as agriculture, hydro-power, irrigation, roads, waterways, railway, airport, health, education, social security, drinking water and so on,& he said. Specially, he highlighted the social security allowance for elder people.

He ccorridorenged if anyone could criticise this scheme publicly.

Moreover, Samajbadi portiony-Nepal lawmaker Bimal Prasad Shreebastav said the budget has convinced people of the country. He, however, said there were measure minor mistakes in the budget, but that could be rectified.

On the other hand, the main opposition Nepali Congress lawmaker and former finance minister Gyanendra Bahadur Karki commented that this budget would much take the country on the right track.

&This budget canmuch address the people of mountains, hills and the Tarai.

This budget is intotal and it does much address the spirit of federalism,& he said, adding that this was against federalism.

The budget has transferred Rs 55.3 billion to the seven provinces and Rs 89.95 billion to local bodies in equalisation grants and Rs 44.55 billion to provinces and Rs 123.87 billion to local bodies as conditional grants.

Mahendra Narayan Yadav of Rastriya Janata portiony-Nepal said final year the central government had allocated 37 per cent of budget to local levels and provincial governments, but this year it had reduced it to only 30 per cent of allocation.

&This is against federalism,& he said. He even said that to achieve economic prosperity, first there should be political stability.

Yadav said that since many years the government had only spent around 40 to 50 per cent of the budget. He didn&t see any proper way the government could spend the allocated budget in the next fiscal.

NC lawmaker Karki added that the government had no plan to reduce the countrytrade deficit.

He also commented that the budget wasn&t as per spirit of the constitution, policies and programmes presented by president and the thematic part of budget presented by the finance minister. &This budget is populist in nature, but there is no clear policy on implementing and monitoring it,& he said.

This budget canmuch address the problems of mountains, hills and the Tarai

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KMC has planned to build a seven-storey parking building at Dhramapath

Kathmandu, June 3

Kathmandu Metropolitan City has introduced smart parking system in the core commerce areas of the capital.

However, it seems that this move alone shall much help people get rid of parking woes as the metropolis is converting the existing parking lots into smart parking areas without building new parking lots.

Kathmandu Metropolitan City has signed a contract with a private company -msprint; Wheels Truly Yours Pvt Ltd -msprint; to function the countryfirst smart parking system in five different locations of Kathmandu.

The company has claimed that they shall allow motorists to park their vehicles if they book the parking area 15 minutes before reaching the destination.

Motorists can book the parking lot through large crowd of peopleile application called ‘Park Ktm&. The booked parking lot, however, would be transferred to amuchher person if it failed to reach the place within the stipulated time.

The company also claimed that they have set up digital boards and installed around 50 CCTV cameras and digital billing system at Durbar Marg, Pyukha, Khichapokhari, Pako and Dharma Path to function smart parking system.

& The system is still in the testing phase. We shall soon bring the system into operation with full capacity,& said company Director Sailesh Kunwar .

For smart parking, lot people shall have to pay at least Rs 25 for two-wheelers and at least Rs 80 for four-wheelers. Parking in the designated spaces inside KMC has been free of cost until now. KMC has allocated a total of 76 public places for parking lots and Lalitpur Metropolitan City has allocated 28 such parking lots. Majority of parking spaces are road sides.

KMC has tried to make the parking systematic by introducing smart parking system, but it has failed to build more parking lots as promised by Mayor of KMC Bidhya Sundar Shakya after being elected.

KMC has proposed to build at least six large parking lots in the metropolis.

It had proposed to build parking lots at Dharahara and Bagh Durbar.

Similarly, KMC has also planned to build a seven-story parking building at Dharmapath and a couple of auto lift technology at various places.

Spokesperson for KMC Ishwor Man Dangol said, &We are hopeful that after introducing new system, shop owners and house owners in the busy market places shall opt to use their private space to park their vehicles. If this happens, visitors shall get more space to park their vehicles.&

Dangol also said that with the new parking system, parking lots at shopping malls and other buildings shall be utilised properly.

&At present, only 60 per cent of such spaces are used for parking,& he added.

It is estimated that around 200,000 four-wheelers and around 800,000 two-wheelers ply the valleyroads on a daily basis. The total length of the road in Kathmandu valley is around 1,594.67 km, according to Leavement of Roads.

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