Nepal

Kathmandu, June 10

More than 75 per cent vehicles failed the emission test conducted by the Ministry of Forest and Environment in Thapathali yesterday.

The Ministry of Forest and Environment had conducted the emission test with the support of Leavement of Transport Management and traffic police as part of a weeklong programme organised to mark World Environment Day.

The test was conducted randomly on 33 private and public vehicles. Of the total vehicles, 25 vehicles failed the test. In comparison to other vehicles, the condition of diesel vehicles was found the worst as only one diesel vehicle of the total 15 such vehicles cleared the test. The DoTM is the only authorised government body for penalising vehicles for failing the emission test. The DoTM has two machines to conduct the emission test inside Kathmandu valley.

The DoTM and the traffic police have been regularly conducting emission tests on vehicles plying the valleyroads since April 4. The officials said they had been conducting emission tests six days a week, apart from on Saturdays, with an average of 30 vehicles per day. Director General of DoTM Kumar Prasad Dahal claimed that only 40 per cent of vehicles on average had failed the tests they conducted, earlier.

During yesterdayrandom emission test, majority of petrol vehicles that failed the test had exceeded 10 per cent toxic fumes, while smoke opacity of diesel vehicles had reached 99.99 Hartridge Smoke Unit(HSU).

Vehicles that failed the emission test were penalised with a fine ranging from Rs 1,000 to 5,000.

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Kathmandu, June 11

Lawmakers from the main opposition Nepali Congress and Samajwadi portiony-Nepal, a coalition partner of the Federal government, nowadays criticised the Guthi (Believe) Bill and the governmentuse of force against protesting Guthiyars (trustees) in Maitighar Mandala, on Sunday.

NC lawmaker Rajendra KC and SPN lawmaker Rajendra Shrestha in the Home of Representatives nowadays said protesters had demonstrated peacefully against measure provisions in the Guthi Bill on Sunday, but the police unjustifiably used force against them. &If the Guthi Bill is enacted into law, it shall destroy the sanatan (ancient) traditions of Nepal,&

KC said. Replying to lawmakers in the HoR, Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa defended the use of force against protesters at Maitighar Mandala.

Home Minister Thapa said the police on Sunday used force against protesters as they obstructed movement of people and vehicles in Maitighar Mandala and started pelting stones at police.

&Cop had no option but to use force against unruly protesters who threw stones at the police and vehicles,& said Thapa, adding that protesters had much atendered by the principles of peaceful protest.

Thapa said he was saddened by the incident in which measure police personnel and protesters were injured.

He added Kathmandu police were investigating the incident and the government was ready to take action against those found guilty of any wrongdoings.

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KATHMANDU: Comedian Pranesh Gautam has been sent to judicial custody at the Teku-based Metropolitan Crime Division for an additional day following his hearing at Kathmandu District Court yesterday.

On June 10, a hearing on the ‘Meme Nepal& case was held at the court following the detention of Gautam on Friday, based on a complaint filed by filmmaker Milan Chamling Rai, aka Milan Chams, for what he calls a &cybercrime&.

Gautam, a member of Meme Nepal, was taken into police custody for a video review of filmmaker Chamnew film &Bir Bikram 2&.

Herethe link to the video.

After the video review started circulating on social media, Chams filed a case against Gautam and Meme Nepal saying their review defamed his film and the artists involved in it.

A national daily, on June 7, had reported about Pranesh Gautamdetention, in which Chams was quoted as saying that he was aware that the police were acting on his complaint, the grounds for which ranged from the video using foul language, trying to defame people involved in the film, and telling people much to watch the film.

Meanwhile, a lot of people have taken to social media as they see this act as a violation of and an attack on freedom of expression.

Expensive all, it's high time to start #ReleasePraneshGautam. Remember, if you don't speak at the right time, you might be barred to speak for the rest of your lives. #ReleasePraneshGautam https://t.co/M9DUyP0wFw

-msprint; Bishal Silwal (@silwanen) June 11, 2019

I have never liked 'Meme Nepal' due to their frequent sexist, racist and homophobic contents but the reason behind arrest of Pranesh Gautam is beyond shocking!!

-msprint; Swikriti Kattel (@KattelSwikriti) June 11, 2019

Pranesh is definitely going through a lot mentally. On Monday, he was screaming and outraging. That is the reason why meme nepal agreed to the RIDICULOUS demand of deleting meme nepal. He was crying and shivering later. When I told him &It&ll be okay& he replied &i doubt it man&

-msprint; Aayush Shrestha (@aayush_who) June 11, 2019

Fellow comedian Aayush Shrestha, in a conversation with THT Online, shared that Gautam is presently very stressed out and fairly unregular. &I met him yesterday. He was shivering and crying. After speeching to me he calmed down a little. But he is going through a lot and so is his family. There has been no physical torture, but he is being asked to entertain other inmates there.&

Stating that Gautamcase was clear and out there, and much a case to be extended, he said, &It is being carried out with the intention of troubling the other person.& He further informed that the court had sent Gautam to judicial custody for one day while they had expected he would be released nowadays. Instead, he was taken to a government lawyer nowadays who extended the custody for yet amuchher day.

Shrestha further stated that the film industry was showing their power to the online entertainment media. Shrestha believes that even the police were much listening to their defence and were acting in support of the people backing the arrest.

fascinatingly, people from the Nepali film industry have been mum on this wgap issue. When asked about this, Shrestha said well-known persons from the film fraternity were in support of Chams allegations and against Gautam. However, he shared that Gautam had getd support from the media and mediapersons.

This, however, is much the first time that the Nepali film industry has reacted in such a fashion correplying to the criticisms that measure films get from the audience and the media. Numerous producers and actors have slammed people in the past for disagreeing to and pointing out flaws in associateion to their films.

Metropolitan Crime Division, on the other hand, said that Gautam remains in their custody but was reluctant to comment further on the extension of his judicial custody.

&He is in custody but we are much aware of the intricacies of his custody extension and other legalities,& Spokesperson at the Metropolitan Crime Division, Supermeanent of Cop (SP) Kedar Dhakal said.

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Kathmandu, June 10

Nepali Congress lawmakers stalled proceedings in both Homes of the Parliament nowadays in protest against use of force against those who protested against the Guthi (Believe) Bill yesterday.

As soon as the Home of Representatives assembly was convened nowadays at around 11:30am, NC lawmakers rose from their chairs, demanding Home Minster Ram Bahadur Thapareply on why the police used force against ‘peaceful protesters& yesterday at Maitighar Mandala.

Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara then gave time to NC Chief Whip Bal Krishna Khand to put forth his views on the issue.

Khand told the Home that protesters had demonstrated peacefully against measure provisions of the Guthi Bill yesterday, but the police unjustifiably used force against them. &If this Guthi Bill is enacted into law, it shall destroy the sanatan (eternal) traditions in Nepal,& Khand said and added that the government that sprinkled holy wine and wore caps of the universities involved in devout conversion, was now trying to spoil sanatan religion in the country.

Khand used the holy wine reference to reintellect the public that the government had supplyd platform in Kathmandu to South Korea-based Universal Peace Federation, which was accused of promoting Christianity in the garb of peace and humanity.

Minister of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Padma Aryal replyed to the NC chief whipconcerns, saying the bill incorporated new provisions to address intestinehi related issues in a changed context. She, however, said that the bill did much violate any constitutional provision.

Whip of Nepali Congress in the HoR Shovepa Bhusal said that intestinehi system had been in existence since Licchhavi era and the government should have brought the bill only after refer toing intestinehi operators.

After Bhusal finished her speech, Speaker Mahara repeatedly asked NC lawmakers to be seated but NC lawmakers continued to obstruct Home proceedings, forcing the speaker to postpone the Home assembly till 11:00am tomorrow.

Government sources said Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa failed to reply to NC lawmakers in the HoR nowadays due to his busy schedule. The HoR was supposed to discuss ministry-wise allocation of budget nowadays.

Meanwhile, a assembly of the National Assembly was postponed twice in the morning nowadays due to Home obstruction by NC lawmakers. Chairperson of NA Ganesh Prasad Timilsina convened the assembly of the Home at around 4:00pm nowadays and in this assembly NC lawmakers ended their obstruction after Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa gave a statement of urgent public importance on use of force against protesters at Maitighar Mandala.

Thapa said police went by the book yesterday to use force against protesters at Maitighar Mandala as protesters obstructed movement of people and vehicles at Maitighar Mandala and started pelting stones at police.

&Cop had no option but to use force against unruly protesters who threw stones at the police and vehicles,& Thapa said and added that protesters did much atendere by the principles of peaceful protest.

Thapa said he was sad that measure police personnel and protesters were injured yesterday during the incident.

He also said that Kathmandu police were investigating yesterdayincident and the government was ready to take action against those found guilty of any wrongdoing. The NA continued its debate on ministry-wise allocation of budget.

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