Fuel pumps operated by police, army sealed for cheating customers

KATHMANDU, JUN 28 -The government’s monitoring on fuel stations has shown even the pumps operated by the Nepal Army (NA) and the Nepal Police are involved in cheating customers.

A joint monitoring team of the government on Thursday sealed a diesel dispensing machine of Nepal Police’s Prahari Kalyan Kosh Petrol Pump in Naxal, Kathmandu, for providing customers with less amount of fuel than they pay for.

The monitoring team comprised of officials from the Department of Commerce and Supply Management, Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) and Nepal Bureau of Standards Metrology (NBSM).

“Out of five fuel pumps of Nepal Police, one diesel pump has been sealed as it was found dispensing 30 ml less fuel on every 5-litre sales,” said Hari Narayan Belbase, director of the Commerce Department.

Earlier on Tuesday, Shakti Devi Petrol Pump operated by the army in Lagankhel, Lalitpur, was found selling less diesel and petrol than what customers pay for. The inspection team had prohibited the pump from fuel trading until the next notice. During the monitoring, the pump was found selling 50ml less diesel and 15-20ml less petrol on every 5-litre sales.

‘Paralysis’ at NTA puts entire telecom sector in chaos

KATHMANDU, JUN 28 -The Nepal Telecommuni-cations Authority ( NTA ) has been “paralysed” due to a series of controversial decisions by the government that have been regularly challenged at court.

All the tasks related to licence, tariff approval and new programmes have remained pending because the NTA has no chairman. Attempts to appoint a chief executive have been engulfed in disputes over the selection of ineligible candidates due to political pressure.

“Nothing important is happening except for normal administrative work so that the staff can get their monthly salaries,” said an NTA official. He added with the NTA ’s ad hoc board not being able to hold meetings, they had not been able to renew licence of internet service provider (ISP) Web Surfer and limited mobility licence of United Telecom Limited (UTL) for Morang and Sunsari.

Similarly, the NTA ’s annual programme for the next fiscal year, licence issuance to new network service providers (NSPs) and ISPs, tariff approval of Nepal Telecom and Ncell, licence scrapping of four ISPs who have remained out of contact, utilisation of the Rural Telecommuni-cation Development Fund (RTDF) in the district optical fibre plan, study for 4G spectrum auctioning and assignment of WiMax spectrum to ISPs, among others, have remained in limbo. NTA regulates and monitors more than 200 licensees.

EIR not implemented for cell phones even after three years

KATHMANDU, JUN 26 -The Equipment Identity Register (EIR) is yet to be implemented in the telecom sector three years after the government planned to enforce it. The Nepal Telecom-munications Authority (NTA) has been blaming telecom companies for the failure.

The EIR requires telecom companies to save and control the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI), a unique number that is given to each mobile phone by the manufacturer. It is designed to prevent illegal call bypass, use of cell phones in criminal activities, theft of handsets and import of poor quality products.

In 2010, the Prime Minister’s Office had ordered the Ministry of Information and Communications and the NTA to implement the EIR system at the earliest. Last year, the NTA issued a directive to telecom companies to put it into action. However, phone companies have been ignoring the order and the NTA has never bothered to follow it up either. A senior ministry official said that reluctance on the part of telecom companies and phone dealers and the NTA’s inefficiency were to blame for the EIR not happening. “The regulation also promotes use of quality handsets imported through legal channels and approved by the NTA,” added the official.

Under the EIR, telecom companies can mark an IMEI as being invalid if a set is stolen or is not type approved, which will prevent it from being used. The system allows operators to verify the IMEIs, blacklist a device or trace illegal users. The EIR also helps to make compensation claims in case of injury or death due to a faulty mobile set.

China-aided Ring Road expansion begins

KATHMANDU, JUN 26 -It was built in the 1970s with with Chinese assistance. Now, after some 40 years, the expansion of the Ring Road is also being carried out with support from the northern neighbour.

The first phase of the Kathmandu Ring Road Improvement Project took off formally on Tuesday, Vice-president Paramananda Jha and visiting State Councillor of China Yang Jiechi jointly inaugurating the project.

The existing 27-km four-lane two-way road around Kathmandu will now be widened to eight lanes, with a two-way bicycle lane and a pedestrian pathway.

Addressing the inaugural programme, Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Chhabi Raj Pant said the improved road would provide better by-pass service to inner roads and ease traffic pressure. “The road has been designed incorporating a bicycle lane and a pathway for pedestrians,” he said.

China’s Vice-Minister of Commerce Jiang Zengwei said the road witnessed tremendous changes in the last 30-40 years.“So we decided to undertake this improvement project,” he said.Nepal and China had signed and exchanged the Letters of Exchange for a Chinese grant of Rs 547 million for the widening of the Ring Road and other mutually agreed projects in February 2011.