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W I T H O U T F E A R O R F A V O U RNepal’s largest selling English dailyPrinted simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj

Vol XXIX No. 130 | 8 pages | Rs.5Monday, June 28, 2021 | 14-03-2078

36.0 C 11.5 CNepalgunj Jomsom

O O

POST PHOTO: DEEPAK KC

People cross a suspension bridge at Sanga, Bhaktapur with the statue of the Hindu god Shiva in the background, on Sunday. The authorities in Kathmandu Valley are mulling further relaxation of Covid-19 prohibitory orders.

INSIDE

PRITHVI MAN SHRESTHAKATHMANDU, JUNE 27

The Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital on Saturday admitted two new patients—a 56-year-old woman and a 65-year-old man—with mucor-mycosis, a rare fungal infection com-monly known as ‘black fungus’ and mostly found among diabetic Covid-19 patients.

With the new cases, the number of patients with mucormycosis at the government-run hospital has reached 14.

According to the hospital, the condi-tion of both patients admitted on Saturday is critical.

But the hospital does not have Liposomal Amphotericin B, the pri-mary drug used for treating the black fungus infection.

India, the main source of the drug, has banned its export.

“In the absence of this drug, we are treating the patients with an alterna-tive drug—Deoxycholate,” said Dr Rabindra Pradhananga, coordinator of the Mucormycosis Management Committee at the Teaching Hospital.

Mucormycosis affects the brain, sinuses and lungs and can be life-threatening to diabetic or severely immunocompromised individuals like cancer and HIV/AIDS patients. Such cases have appeared mostly among Covid-19 patients in Nepal and neigh-bouring India.

Amid the shortage of Liposomal Amphotericin B, Deoxycholate and Posaconazole are two other drugs available in the Nepali market to treat patients of mucormycosis.

But Dr Pradhananga said that the patients’ families need to procure Deoxycholate and Posaconazole from the markets and these drugs are avail-able only because they were in stock

before India imposed a blanket ban on the export of Amphotericin B drugs amid surging cases of mucormycosis in India in early June.

“All three drugs—Liposomal Amphotericin B, Deoxycholate and Posaconazole—come under Amphotericin B and all of them come under India’s restrictive category,” said Dr Pradhananga.

The government does not have any of these drugs in its store to distribute to its hospitals at the moment.

“We had received 1,000 doses of Liposomal Amphotericin B in early June from the World Health Organization but they have been used up,” said Krishna Prasad Paudel, spokesperson at the Ministry of Health and Population. “Alternative drugs can be found in the market but they are not as good as Liposomal Amphotericin B. The government does not have a stock of these alterna-tive drugs either.”

In a notification dated June 1, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade under India’s Commerce Ministry cat-egorised Amphotericin B under the restricted category for export with immediate effect.

According to an NDTV report as of June 11, over 31,000 black fungus cases had been identified in India with the death of over 2,100 people from the infection.

With the stock of the Deoxycholate and Posaconazole also running out in the market, doctors said that it would be difficult for Nepali patients to secure these drugs if cases of black fungus rose sharply.

A patient needs many vials of this scarce drug and the 1,000 vials of Liposomal Amphotericin B received from the World Health Organization in early June were used up early.

>> Continued on page 2

As black fungus cases rise, country faces shortage of drugs for treatmentIndia has put a ban on export of the drugs. So far around two dozen cases of black fungus among diabetic Covid-19 patients and at least six deaths have been reported.

AFP

Blurred or double vision is one of the symptoms of mucormycosis or black fungus infection.

On duty doctor, employee attacked at Covid-19 hospitalDOLAKHA: A group of four people attacked health workers at a Covid-19-dedicated hospital in Tamakoshi Rural Municipality, Dolakha on Saturday night. The hospital adminis-tration said medical officer Dr Robis Karki and office assistant Top Bahadur Mijar were attacked by the group. “The group had come to the hospital seeking treatment for one of them with an injured leg,” said Karki. “I told them I will step outside and have a look since there are coronavi-rus patients receiving treatment inside the hospital building. They got angry for not being allowed into the hospital.” Karki said the group man-handled the health workers, saying they can’t be stopped from entering the hospital they built. (Details on Pg 2)

Valley authorities mull allowing public vehiclesKATHMANDU: The prohibitory orders in place in the three districts of Kathmandu Valley since April 29 have been extended by a week start-ing Monday but the ban on public vehicles is to be lifted. The chief dis-trict officers of Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur are for allowing pub-lic vehicles to resume services but they are yet to decide the modality. “We have agreed to allow public vehi-cles. Most probably buses having more than 20 seats will be permitted to run, ” said Dhundi Prasad Niraula, the chief district officer of Lalitpur. “Regarding the modality of operating public vehicles, the Valley’s CDOs will be sitting for another meeting tomorrow at 10am. That will give a decision,” said Niraula. Last week the three district administrators had eased prohibitory orders to allow pri-vate vehicles to run on odd-even num-ber basis and business to operate on alternate days. (Details on Pg 3)

Paddy farmers happy as fertiliser arrives in timeLUMBINI: Farmer Hari Narayan Chaudhary of Tilottama-13 laughed all the way home with seven bags of precious fertiliser he had finally got from a cooperative. The paddy trans-plantation season had set in, and Chaudhary had been waiting anx-iously for more than a month as fer-tiliser supply had stopped because of the coronavirus lockdown. The Covid-19 Crisis Management Operations Centre, which has blanket authorisa-tion to take measures against Covid-19 spread, had removed chemical fer-tiliser from the list of “essential com-modities”, barring it from being transported when the stay-home order was issued on April 29. The decision had affected Nepali farmers as they feared a repeat of last year’s fertiliser shortage, which made them miss out on a super harvest since rains were good and labour plentiful, with Nepalis working in various parts of India returning home to escape the pandemic. (Details on Pg 5)

Court should order Deuba be appointed prime minister, lawyers argueAs Article 75 (5) has already been activated, the question now is who should lead the government on its basis, they say. The defendants’ arguments begin today.

TIKA R PRADHANKATHMANDU, JUNE 27

Lawyers representing writ petitioners against the May 21 House dissolution have demanded that President Bidya Devi Bhandari appoint Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba as prime minister.

They asked the five-member Constitutional Bench led by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana to issue a mandamus order in the name of the President to appoint Deuba as per Article 76 (5) since he had the sup-port of 149 lawmakers of the 275-mem-ber House of Representatives.

As the lawyers representing the petitioners finished their arguments

on Sunday, senior advocate Satish Krishna Kharel said that the President failed to com-ply with her constitutional responsibilities.

“Oli went to the President with decisions of the parties but Deuba with the signatures of 149 lawmakers. Deuba made the legit-imate claim but the President didn’t follow her constitutional duty to appoint the prime minis-ter,” Kharel said at the bench.

After he failed to get a confi-

dence vote in Parliament on May 10, and no one made a claim on forming a coalition government as per Article 76 (2) of the constitution, the President reappointed Oli as prime minister as per Article 76 (3) on May 13 as he leads CPN-UML, the largest party in parlia-ment with 121 seats.

Although such a minority govern-ment needs to win a confidence vote within 30 days, Oli instead recom-mended to the President to call for the formation of a government as per Article 76 (5) of the constitution on May 20.

Both Oli and Deuba had staked their claims on the basis of Article 76 (5). While Deuba had signed support of 149 lawmakers—61 from his Nepali Congress, 49 from Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), 26 from Madhav Nepal faction of CPN-UML, 12 from Upendra Yadav led faction of Janata Samajbadi Party and one from Rastriya Janamorcha—Oli claimed support of his party’s 121 lawmakers and Janata Samajbadi Party’s 32.

But the President invalidated both claims and subsequently, on Oli’s rec-ommendation, dissolved the House and announced midterm polls for November 13 and 20.

>> Continued on page 2

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MONDAY, JUNE 28, 2021 | 02

NATIONAL

Rajbiraj MunicipalityOffice of Municipal Executive

Saptari

Invitation for BidsInvitation for Bids for the Construction of Rajbiraj Craft Village and Museum, Rajbiraj

Notice No.: NCB/2077/78/07Contract Identification No: Rmun/Saptari/Work/ NCB/2077/78/07

First Date of Publication: 2078-03-14 [28-06-2021]1. Rajbiraj Municipality, Office of the Municipal Executive, Saptari invites electronic bid from eligible and qualified bidders for

the Construction of Rajbiraj Craft Village and Museum under National Competitive Bidding – Single Stage Two EnvelopeBidding procedure. Some of the qualification criteria are mentioned below, though the details are

S.N.

ContractNo.

Descriptionof works

Specific nature of similar workexperience

AverageAnnualTurnover

BidsecurityAmountin(NRS)

Last date ofbid

submission

BidDocument

price

1. Rmun/Saptari/Work/NCB/2077/78/07

Constructionof Rajbiraj

Craft Villageand Museum

At least Two RCC frame structurewith minimum one doublebasement building value of atleast NRs 49.6 million within last3 years.

Should have comp-leted followingkey activities:

Ø Reinforcement (Fe-415/500)work in building: 40MT in onecontract within last 3 years.

Ø Flooring (Tiles/Marble/Granite)W ork: 4000 Sq.m. in onecontract within last 3 years.

NRs.93millions

17,00,000 2078/04/13(28th July,

2021) Up to12:00 pm

noon

NRs. 5,000/-

2. A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased from E-procurement section of PPMO website http://www.bolpatra.gov.np/egp only, on payment of bid document price of NRs. 5,000 on given below account on or before 3:00 houron 2078/04/12 (27th July, 2021):-

Rajaswa (Revenue) Shirshak No:Office’s Account No.: 2180100301010006 Name of the Bank: Rastriya Banijya Bank Limited, Rajbiraj, SaptariName of Office: . Rajbiraj Municipality Municipal Executive Office

3. Bidder shall submit their bid electronically on or before 12:00 hour on 2078/04/13 (28th July, 2021). Bids received after thisdeadline will be rejected.

4. Eligible Bidders may obtain further information from the office of Rajbiraj Municipality Municipal Executive Office Contact No.:031-520643/ 9852842111 Email:- rajbirajmunsaptari@gmail.com

5. Bidder shall quote the item rates in the BOQ (in figure as well as in words) exclusive of VAT.6. Bid must be valid for a period of 120 days after bid opening and must be accompanied by scanned copy of the bid security in

pdf format amounting to a minimum of NRs 17,00,000.00, which shall be valid for 30 days beyond the validity period of the bid(i.e. total 150 days of bid security)

7. The technical Bids will be opened electronically immediately in the presence of Bidders’ representatives, who choose to attendat 14:00 hour on the last day of bid submission 2078/04/13 (28th July, 2021) at at the office of Rajbiraj Municipality MunicipalExecutive Office.

8. In case, the last date of purchase, submission or opening of Bid happens to be a holiday, the next working day will be deemedas the due date but the time will be the same as stipulated.

9. After the completion of evaluations of technical Bids, which are substantially Responsive Evaluated Bidders will be invited toattend the opening of price bids. The date, time and location of opening of price bid shall be notified in writing.

10. Other related rules and regulations are as per Public Procurement Act-2063(revised) and Public Procurement Regulations-2064 (revised).

11. Bidders are advised to visit site and assess the actual site conditions before attending pre bid meeting and submitting their bid.12. The Employer deserves the right to accept or reject any bid, and to annual the process and reject all bids at any time prior to

contract award.

Health workers attacked at Dolakha Covid-19 hospitalThree assailants in police custody, search for the fourth underway, police say.

KEDAR SHIWAKOTIDOLAKHA, JUNE 27

A group of four people attacked health workers at a Covid-19-dedicated hospi-tal in Tamakoshi Rural Municipality, Dolakha on Saturday night.

The hospital administration said medical officer Dr Robis Karki and office assistant Top Bahadur Mijar were attacked by the group.

“The group had come to the hospital seeking treatment for one of them with an injured leg,” said Karki. “I told them I will step outside and have a look since there are coronavirus patients receiving treatment inside the hospital building. They got angry

for not being allowed to enter the hos-pital.”

Karki said the group manhandled the health workers, saying they can’t be stopped from entering the hospital that they built.

Karki and Mijar escaped the assail-ants.

“All of us closed the main door and went to the roof of the building as they threatened to set the hospital on fire and kill us. We immediately informed the police and the rural municipal office about the incident,” said Karki.

Karki lodged a complaint at the District Police Office against the four assailants from Malu in Tamakoshi

Rural Municipality-4 on Sunday. He has demanded legal action against the accused in accordance with a recently issued ordinance related to the securi-ty of health workers and institutions.

Tamokoshi Rural Municipality has also demanded legal action against the group who attacked the health workers.

Seven health workers, including a doctor, work at the five-bed hospital.

Meanwhile, security personnel detained three of the four accused involved in the attack on Sunday.

“We have taken three suspects in custody. Search is underway for the fourth suspect,” said DSP Bheshraj Rijal.

Earlier in May, family members of a 53-year-old man from Dang had barged into the ward of Nepalgunj-based Bheri Hospital, vandalised the inten-sive care unit and assaulted a team of doctors and nurses on duty. The assail-ants claimed that the 53-year-old patient of Covid-19 died due to the negligence of the medical team.

On June 6, an ordinance was issued by amending the existing security of health workers and health organisa-tions act with the provision of strong legal action against attacks on health workers or health institutions. As per the ordinance, an assailant involved in vandalising the health sector or hurting health workers and staffers of the health sector can be jailed up to three years or be fined upto Rs 300,000 or both.

>> CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

“All the vials of the medicines were spent in treating 16 black fungus patients at government-run hospi-tals,” said Paudel, who is also the director of the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division under the Health Ministry. “A single patient required as many as 80 vials.”

According to him, the government had requested 3,000 vials with the WHO but only received 1,000.

Unified Covid-19 Hospital, run on the premises of Bir Hospital, also treated four patients of mucormycosis and most of the drugs made available by the Health Ministry were used, the hospital authority said.

Dr Nabin Pokharel, deputy director at the Unified Covid-19 Hospital, said that his hospital has a few vials of Liposomal Amphotericin B remaining to treat any new patients.

“Initially, we failed to get Liposomal Amphotericin B to treat patients and used alternative drugs,” said Pokharel.

The drugs to treat mucormycosis are expensive, which the poor will not be able to afford.

According to an Indian media report, one vial of Amphotericin B costs as high as INR (5,000-6,000) or almost Rs10,000 in the Indian market.

“If a patient needs 80 vials, he or

she will end up paying around Rs800,000 for this medicine only,” said Paudel.

Given the shortage of the medicine in the market, the cost might be even higher in the black market.

Meanwhile, the number of black fungus cases has been rising. In early June, the fungal infection was seen in about a dozen people. Now, the number has reached around two dozens even though the number of daily new coronavirus infections in the country has been falling sharply.

On Sunday, 1,353 new Covid-19 cases were reported, the second lowest fig-ure since April 20. On Saturday, 1,174 new cases were reported. The Ministry of Health and Population reported 34 more deaths from Covid-19 complica-tions, taking the total toll to 9,009. The number of cases reported since the pandemic began stands at 633,679. The number of active cases stands at 40,336.

The black fungus infection is most-ly seen in people with pre-existing diabetic conditions who have been infected with the coronavirus. It caus-es blackening or discoloration over the nose, blurred or double vision, chest pain, breathing difficulties and coughing blood.

The indiscriminate use of steroids

for some Covid-19 patients could be linked to mucormycosis or other fun-gal infections, doctors say.

“Of the 14 patients admitted at the Teaching Hospital, one died and six were discharged, four of them after recovery and two without completing treatment as per their own request,” said Dr Pradhananga.

The other seven are undergoing treatment.

The Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital has so far conducted surger-ies on seven mucormycosis patients to remove the mucor fungus.

Likewise, two patients admitted at Unified Covid-19 Hospital have died while two others were discharged, according to Dr Pokharel.

One patient who had been admitted at Seti Zonal Hospital died on June 3. A patient who was hospitalised at Lumbini Provincial hospital died in late May.

In May, four Covid-19 patients were found with the black fungus infection at the Nepalgunj-based Bheri Hospital of which one had died.

But with the Indian ban on exports, it is uncertain when the drugs treat-ing the disease will be available in Nepal.

“It is not certain when we can get additional vials,” said Paudel, the spokesperson.

As black fungus cases rise, country ...

>> CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

On May 24, 146 of the 149 members of the dissolved House who had signed in support of Deuba, had filed a joint writ petition at the Supreme Court with at least seven demands, including reinstatement of the House of Representatives and an order of mandamus to appoint the Nepali Congress president as the new prime minister.

Kharel claimed that the constitu-tional bench should not only reinstate the House of Representatives but also issue an order to appoint Deuba as prime minister.

“While issuing an order the bench should not say that the reinstated House will do the needful but it is essential to issue an order to appoint Deuba, who has shown majority sup-port, as prime minister,” Kharel said. “Oli has breached constitutional lim-its many times and the problem was created after he dissolved the House for the second time. Neither has the President accomplished her constitu-tional duties.”

He said the President had tried to interfere with the issues which should be sorted out by Parliament.

“Which office will take action against the lawmakers violating the party’s decisions — is it the President’s office or parliament,” Kharel asked.

While invalidating Deuba’s claim, the President had said action against the lawmakers of the Nepal faction of

the UML and the Yadav faction of Janata Samajbadi Party would be taken and they wouldn’t remain law-makers.

However, according to the Political Parties Act 2017, if a lawmaker vio-lates a party’s decision, the Central Committee of the party will have to inform the Parliament Secretariat about the action taken by the party and that will be announced in Parliament and unless the parliament informs its full house, the action taken by the party as per the Political Parties Act 2017, action against them cannot be implemented.

Lawyers also argued on Sunday that the same person cannot be prime min-ister on the basis of all the relevant articles of the constitution.

“The prime minister must go for a floor test as per 76(4) within a month,” said advocate Bhimarjun Acharya. “It’s written nowhere that a person can become prime minister from all the provisions of the constitution in a single term.”

Prime Minister Oli first became prime minister of Article 76(2) in February 2018 and then became prime minister as per Article 76(1) after the merger of his CPN-UML with the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) in May 2018. After losing the confidence on May 10 he was appoint-ed prime minister of 76(3) on May 13.

“For Article 76(5) to come into effect the position of the prime minister

must be vacant,” said Acharya. “The process of forming a new government cannot begin unless the prime minister goes for a floor test in parlia-ment.”

Therefore, the House must be reinstated first, he said.

Oli never went for a floor test although Article 76 (3), under which Oli was serving since May 13, says he must do so.

But senior advo-cate Baburam Kunwar said Article 76(5) has already been acti-vated by the President and now the question is whose claim between Oli and Deuba is valid.

“Since Deuba has already pre-sented the signa-

tures of 149 members, he seems to have a clear majority,” said Kunwar, who has also served as provincial chief of Gandaki Province and is also a former attorney general. “But since 76(5) was already active, Prime Minister Oli cannot go for a floor test anymore.”

Reiterating arguments of other lawyers last week, Kunwar also said that framers of the constitution had included Article 76 (5) so that the individual lawmakers elected by the sovereign people of the country could save Parliament even if the parties failed.

“Since the utility of 76(5) was auton-omous, any member of parliament can become the prime minister and the party whip is not applicable,” Kunwar said. “With Deuba showing a clear majority, there is no alternative to appointing Deuba as prime minis-ter.”

Likewise, senior advocate Sabita Bhandari, the only female law practi-tioner pleading on behalf of the peti-tioners, said Oli, who had surrendered saying he could not garner confidence vote, cannot lay claim to premiership again.

“Not appointing Deuba as prime minister shows the mala fide intention of the President,” Bhandari said.

As many as 16 lawyers pleaded on Sunday while many advocates, includ-ing advocate Om Prakash Aryal, were deprived of pleading due to the time limit of 15 hours allocated to each of the two sides, including 3 hours for counterarguments later.

But more than 250 lawyers had sub-mitted their names to participate in the hearing on behalf of the petition-ers. Aryal accused a ‘syndicate’ of the lawyers close to political parties as being responsible for his inability to plead and made his notes public through various media.

The defendants’ lawyers will begin their arguments on Monday with law-yers of Speaker Agni Sapkota plead-ing at the end.

Besides the Speaker, the Office of the President, Prime Minister Oli and the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers are the defend-ants. While the President and the prime minister have, in their separate written responses to the Constitutional Bench on June 17, defended the House dissolution and call for midterm elec-tions, the Speaker has termed the move unconstitutional.

Following the arguments of the defendants the four members of the amicus curiae will put forward their views for a total of two hours.

After that the petitioners’ lawyers will be given three hours for rebuttal before the verdict on the case.

Court should order Deuba be ...

PHOTO COURTESY: KEDAR SHIWAKOTI

Seven health workers, including a doctor, work at the five-bed hospital.

POST PHOTO: ANISH REGMI

A vendor walks on the road carrying acrylic rugs at Chhetrapati, Kathmandu on Sunday.

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03 | MONDAY, JUNE 28, 2021

NATIONAL

Oldest varsity plans stalled exams next month but students harbour doubtsSHUVAM DHUNGANAKATHMANDU, JUNE 27

On Thursday, the Tribhuvan University published rou-tines for the stalled exams of first and second years of various bachelor’s level programmes.

A notice issued by the Office of the Controller of Examinations states that bachelor second year’s exams will start from July 20 and first year exams (old batch) from July 25. According to the notice all the exams will be held in person.

Although the exams are a month away, students are still concerned whether the exams will actually be con-ducted on the scheduled date as they had been post-poned earlier citing the Covid-19 pandemic.

Swastika Shrestha, a second year student of Bachelor of Social Work from Kathmandu, said the university’s plan to conduct the exams in person may fail any time.

“Even last time our exam was scheduled nearly after a year but it was postponed due to the rise in Covid-19 cases,” said Shrestha.

“The university should have learnt from the past but they are still insisting on holding in-person exams which could fail at any time as the pandemic is still here.”

The final exams of various disciplines and pro-grammes at the country’s oldest and largest university have been delayed by over a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, subsequent restrictions in movement and the university’s insistence on holding the exams in physical presence of students.

While other universities including Kathmandu University, Pokhara University and Agriculture and Forestry University, have conducted the exams virtual-ly, the Tribhuvan University does not have any plans to conduct the exams online.

When asked about the possibility of conducting the exams online, Shiva Lal Bhusal, rector of the uni-versity said it is impossible to conduct the exams virtu-ally as many of the students were unable even to fill up the online form, so they surely cannot take examina-tions online.

“The number of examinees is very high so it would be difficult to monitor them online and in lack of prop-er monitoring the validity of online exams could come under question so we are conducting the exams in person,” said Bhusal.

The university administration though has shifted the teaching-learning activities to virtual medium amid the pandemic.

Kriti Dangal, 20, a first year Bachelor in Social Work student in Kathmandu, regrets joining the Tribhuvan University.

“If I had joined other universities for my bachelor studies, I would have nearly completed my second year exams. But here they are planning to conduct the first year exams after nearly 19 months and I am still not sure whether the exams will be conducted as per the newly announced schedule,” said Dangal.

“If they can teach us in online class why can’t they conduct exams online?” questioned Dangal.

When the Post asked Rector Bhusal if the new exam schedule also could be affected if Covid-19 cases surged again, he said decisions will be made accordingly.

“We decided to conduct exams physically because the Covid cases are on the decline,” said Bhusal.“If cases rise again, the university will hold emergency meetings and make necessary decisions.”

However, according to health experts, the situation has not come under control yet, so any sort of gather-ing is risky until and unless the government vacci-nates everyone or they figure out what is the possible reason for cases decline.

“Though the covid-19 cases are on the decline, the risk has not gone yet because we don’t know the reason behind the decline,” said Dr Sher Bahadur Pun, a virol-ogist at Teku Hospital.

“If the cases have slowed down due to a break in the chain of transmission as a result of the restrictions on movement and gatherings, then they could soar again if gatherings are allowed. Even those who were not infected could catch infection.”

Until and unless, government vaccinates everyone, the risk will remain the same, he added.

The daily Covid-19 cases have been coming down after peaking on May 11 when the country confirmed a record 9,317 new infections. On April 29, when the pro-hibitory orders were imposed in the Valley, 4,831 cases had been reported countrywide.

On Sunday, the daily new infection numbers in the country had come down to 1,353 with 34 fatalities.

The Tribhuvan University, which has 1,124 affiliate and 61 constituent colleges, is the largest university in the country with over 400,000 regular students. The number of examinees, however, exceeds 500,000 as there are students sitting exams for back papers. The university runs 125 programmes in the bachelor’s and the master’s levels.

Nepal hasn’t seen a single conviction for torture and custodial deaths in the past three yearsPolice cannot be trusted to conduct impartial investigation into cases where own officers are involved, says a 2020 Supreme Court ruling.BINOD GHIMIREKATHMANDU, JUNE 27

The National Penal Code that came into force in 2018 has criminalised torture and includes a provision of up to five years of imprison-ment for the perpetrators in addition to com-pensation for the victims.

Nepal in 1996 adopted the Compensation Relating to Torture Act following pressure to fulfil its international commitment. As the government is a party to the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment 1991, having a domestic law was necessary. The convention treats all acts of torture as criminal offence and envisions punishment for the perpetrators and compensation for the victims.

Article 14 of the convention says each state party shall ensure in its legal system that the victim of an act of torture obtains redress and has an enforceable right to fair and adequate compensation, includ-ing the means for as full rehabilitation as possible. In the event of the death of the vic-tim as a result of an act of torture, his dependants shall be entitled to compensa-tion, it says.

However, the 1996 Act didn’t reflect the spirit of the convention as it was limited to providing compensation up to Rs 100,000 to the victims with the provision of some departmental actions against the govern-ment employees involved in torture but it lacked the provisions of prosecution.

The issue was addressed in the National Penal Code-2017, which came into force in August 2018.

Section 167 (1) of the code says no authori-ty who is competent under the law in force to investigate or prosecute any offence, imple-ment law, take any one into control, or hold

any one in custody or detention in accord-ance with law shall subject, or cause to be subjected, any one to physical or mental tor-ture or to cruel, brutal, inhuman or degrad-ing treatment.

A person who commits the offence referred to in subsection as per the section is liable to a sentence of imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or a fine not exceeding fifty thousand rupees or both the sentences, according to the penal code.

Despite such a provision in place, not a single perpetrator of torture has been con-victed over the past three years although cases of torture are reported in significant numbers every year, according to organisa-tions working on human rights.

Over a dozen cases of custodial deaths and several cases of torture have been reported in the three years since the enforcement of the National Penal Code.

The death of Bijay Ram Mahara from Garuda in Rautahat in August 2020, Raj Kumar Chepang in July 2020 in Chitwan and Shambhu Sada Musahar in Janakpur in June last year are some of the cases where there have been no prosecution.

Although the police reluctantly received complaints from the victims’ families, there have not been any investigations. “Firstly, it is extremely difficult to file a police com-plaint of custodial death due to torture because police themselves are involved in the torture so they are reluctant to register the complaint,” Bikash Basnet, a programme manager at the Advocacy Forum, a non-gov-ernmental organisation advocating for human rights in Nepal, told the Post. “Even if a complaint is registered with the police, prosecution doesn’t happen.”

The police are reluctant to book their offi-cials even in the cases which have been termed as “extrajudicial killings” by the

National Human Rights Commission. In October last year, the constitutional

human rights watchdog had concluded that the police extrajudicially killed Gopal Tamang, 23, of Sindhupalchok and Ajay Tamang, 24, from Nuwakot in a forest in Bhaktapur.

The commission had recommended action against the police officials including a depu-ty superintendent of police who had shot the two alleged kidnappers dead after their arrest in August 2018.

The commission’s investigation also found that police had killed Kumar Paudel, Sarlahi district in-charge of the Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal, after his arrest in June, 2019. The commission termed it extrajudicial killing and recom-mended actions against the perpetrators including a police inspector. The police didn’t adhere to the recommendations. “Cases of torture and extrajudicial killings are continuing because there is no action against the perpetrators,” Govinda Sharma Poudyal, a former member of the National Human Rights Commission, told the Post.

Following the police reluctance in investigating the cases of torture, custodi-al deaths and extrajudicial killings, the Supreme Court in January 2020 (full text was

issued in December) directed the govern-ment to constitute a separate entity, inde-pendent of Nepal Police, to investigate the cases where the police officials are involved.

The ruling by the division bench of justic-es Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada and Kumar Regmi said a separate mechanism compris-ing experts from different sectors is neces-sary as the police cannot be trusted to con-duct impartial investigation into cases where its own officers are involved.

“The government must form an independ-ent agency with specially trained experts to investigate allegations of a serious and vio-lent nature,” read the verdict. “It must estab-lish a legal and institutional framework to facilitate investigations that are independ-ent, impartial and effective.”

However, instead of abiding by the court order, the government has moved the Supreme Court demanding a review of the verdict. But hearing in the case has yet to begin.

“Formation of a separate mechanism would have been instrumental in providing justice to the victims of torture, custodial deaths and extrajudicial killings,” said advo-cate Sunil Ranjan Singh, who had moved the court demanding such a mechanism. “The government, however, is looking for ways not to implement it.”

According to the Advocacy Forum, non-implementation of court orders too are barriers to providing justice to torture vic-tims. In the last two decades, the Forum facilitated 152 victims of torture claiming compensation. Out of them the court ordered compensation in 46 cases.

“However, only 7 (15.22 percent) of them actually received the monetary compensa-tion,” reads the report by the forum issued on the occasion of International Day Against Torture on Saturday.

Valley authorities mull allowing public vehicles as restrictions stay for another week

ANUP OJHAKATHMANDU, JUNE 27

The prohibitory orders in place in the three districts of Kathmandu Valley since April 29 have been extended by a week starting Monday but the ban on public vehicles is to be lifted.

The chief district officers of Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur are for allowing public vehicles to resume services but they are yet to decide the modality.

“We have agreed to allow public vehicles. Most probably buses having more than 20 seats will be permitted to run, ” said Dhundi Prasad Niraula, the chief district officer of Lalitpur.

“Regarding the modality of operat-ing public vehicles, the Valley’s CDOs will be sitting for another meeting tomorrow at 10am. That will give a decision,” said Niraula.

Last week the three district admin-istrators had eased prohibitory orders to allow private vehicles to run on odd-even number basis and businesses to operate on alternate days.

Following the outbreak of a second

coronavirus wave in late April, pro-hibitory orders have been in place in Kathmandu Valley for two months. After permission for private and gov-ernment vehicles, the Valley’s roads have already witnessed traffic jams.

Across the country, district authori-ties have adopted the model practised in Kathmandu Valley. The nationwide Covid-19 infection tally has reached 633,679, with 9,009 deaths reported as of Sunday.

The notice published by the District Administration Office, Kathmandu last week allows shops selling jewel-lery, electronic appliances and auto-mobiles to open on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Shopping malls, cloth-ing stores, gift shops, sports apparel stores and cosmetics shops are allowed to do business on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays.

Grocery shops and department stores are allowed to open until 11am every day.

There is no change in the decisions other than resuming public transport services, said Niraula, the Lalitpur district administrator. “We still need

to be more conscious as the Delta Plus virus has already entered the coun-try,” The Valley’s authorities took up the agenda after transport entrepre-neurs held a meeting and submitted a memorandum to them.

“We reached Kathmandu CDO office and held a meeting with Valley’s chiefs on Friday about allow-ing public vehicles, as the sector is linked with the livelihood of thou-sands of families,” said Yogendra Karmacharya, chairman of the Federation of Nepalese National Transport Entrepreneurs.

Millions more depend on the trans-portation sector as a number of other businesses rely on it. According to the federation, over 400,000 public vehi-cles have been garaged for two months.

Last year, when the country went under lockdown from March 24 for four months, public vehicles were forced out of roads, and vehicle own-ers had complained of them rusting away. Long-route vehicles remained in the garage for nine months.

“The owners of public vehicles are already at a great loss due to last

year’s lockdown. Now it’s been over two months. They have bank loans to pay and families to look after. It seems that the government is not concerned about the problem of public vehicle operators,” said Karmacharya.

The federation has demanded that the government not restrict public vehicles on odd-even basis after reopening. Because doing this will leave vehicles crowded, said Karmacharya.

“Instead, all public vehicles should be allowed to run following the health protocols strictly,” said Karmacharya.

Daily Covid-19 cases have been com-ing down after peaking on May 11 when the country confirmed a record 9,317 new infections. On April 29, when the prohibitory orders were imposed in the Valley, nationwide daily cases numbered 4,831.

On Sunday, the country reported 1,352 new Covid-19 cases and 34 deaths. In the past 24 hours, Kathmandu Valley recorded 424 new infections. Of these, 292 cases were confirmed in Kathmandu, 100 in Lalitpur and 32 in Bhaktapur.

As daily nationwide coronavirus cases fall below 2,000, transport entrepreneurs say the sector faces another crisis this year and seek permission for all large vehicles.

POST PHOTO: ANGAD DHAKAL

Private and essential service vehicles and taxis are currently allowed on the Valley roads.

Over dozen cases of custodial deaths and several of torture have been reported in past three years.

POST PHOTO: ELITE JOSHI

Young people play football at a park at Chobhar in Kirtipur, Kathmandu.

C M Y K

MONDAY, JUNE 28, 2021 | 04

OPINION

There is somewhat of a broad agree-ment among political scientists that democracy has swept the world in waves. Samuel P Huntington is credit-ed with popularising the concept while arguing that the third, and so far the last, wave of democratisation began in the mid-1970s and lasted for around 15 years, ending with the break-up of the Soviet empire. Explaining the reasons for its success, besides factors such as erosion of legitimacy of authoritarian states and the unprecedented economic growth worldwide in the preceding era, Huntington also mentions the ‘demon-stration effect of transitions earlier in the third wave in stimulating and pro-viding models for subsequent efforts at democratisation’, a fact most relevant to us since we ourselves rode the third wave’s coattails to usher in the second coming of democracy in 1990.

The power of the demonstration effect was on full display last year with the Black Lives Matter protests erupt-ing globally following the killing of George Floyd, an African-American, at the hands of a white police officer in the United States. The very fact that multi-racial groups of Americans felt impelled in the middle of a pandemic to go out onto the streets to demand changes, prompted similar movements in other parts of the world, and for a few weeks, it seemed as if we were on the verge of a revolutionary moment. Ultimately how far the cause of racial justice was advanced will only become apparent over time, and the portents so far are mixed.

Just two days before the Floyd mur-der in May 2020, a perhaps more hei-nous killing rooted equally in history had taken place in Nepal. News of the multiple homicides of Nawaraj BK and five of his friends in Chaurjahari Municipality in Rukum West left us quite shaken as a nation. That he had fallen in love with an ‘upper-caste’ girl and was planning an elopement with her was incidental to the fact that the one and only reason he was set upon by a crazed mob was that he was a Dalit. Our national consciousness appeared quite thoroughly outraged by the bra-zenness of the act, giving hope it might lead to a collective reckoning on the question of both discrimination and offences against Dalits. Unfortunately, that did not happend, and it is perhaps telling of where we are as a nation that the incipient Dalit Lives Matter cam-paign got no traction and has all but

fizzled out since. Yet, we fail not to be outraged again. This time, in the case of Rupa Sunar, a young woman who faced no physical violence but an expe-rience that cannot have been any less traumatic.

State vs DalitsEarlier this year, Nepal underwent its third Universal Periodic Review (UPR), the mechanism established in 2006 by the UN Human Rights Council to look at all member states’ human rights record. The report submitted by the government included a separate sec-tion on ‘Non-discrimination’, which made much of what the law says. It also threw in the trump card of the Caste-based Discrimination and Untouchability (Offence and Punishment) Act, 2011 as further proof of the state’s commitment towards end-ing everyday violence against Dalits. The irony that there were fewer than 100 cases filed in the three years men-tioned in the report cannot have been lost on whoever compiled it.

It was in 2001 that in response to the Maoist juggernaut and its appeal among marginalised groups, including Dalits, the Nepali Congress govern-ment under Sher Bahadur Deuba declared the ‘practice of social discrim-ination and untouchability’ to be ‘grave and punishable crimes’ and also announced the formation of a National Dalit Commission (NDC) to ‘work for the interest and welfare of Dalits throughout the country’. Of course, the declaration changed practically noth-ing on the ground for Dalits, and it would take a full decade before the law was finally enacted to put its spirit into

practice; the NDC was (and continues to remain) fangless. While that has not prevented Deuba from crowing at every given opportunity of his being a cham-pion of Dalit rights, the 2001 declara-tion marked the beginning, albeit much belated, of attempts to criminalise atrocities against Dalits.

Unfortunately, the state is Janus-faced with regard to Dalits, and it is as the oppressor of Dalits that is present-ed foremost. Thus, it took Sunar hours in the heart of the capital before the police even registered her complaint. Far away in Rukum, the state was pres-ent in the person of Dambar Bahadur Malla, the ward chairperson who is reported to have led the attack on BK and his friends. I do not know whether readers noticed it or not but in all the reporting on the Rukum killings that mentioned Malla’s complicity in it not once was it explicitly stated that he had been elected on a Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) ticket and at that time belonged to the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP). I do not know if that was an oversight or a deliberate omission but that is a pattern evident in other cases as well, most notably not long after the Rukum case of the death of Angira Pasi of Devdaha Municipality in Rupandehi district. Here, too, an elected official was implicated but his party affiliation was kept out of the reporting. (For the record, the ward chair involved, Amar Bahadur Chaudhary, is from the Nepali Congress.)

As far as I know, neither official has been denounced by his respective party, and this reflects poorly on the Maoists more than any other party. Together

with adjoining Rolpa, Rukum was one of the districts most strongly affected by their insurgency and where their writ against casteism held sway the longest. In fact, it has been reported that BK was given to understand by the girl he loved that since they came from a family of Maoists, caste differences would not matter. She was probably naïve enough to believe that rhetoric; for, like much of their agenda that took a backseat after the Maoists joined mainstream politics, their attitude towards gender equality and continued atrocities against Dalits has also taken a regressive turn. It was reported at the time that powerful Maoist leaders did their best to get Malla off the hook, and it was only due to the sheer pressure of public opinion that they failed.

To complete the circle, we needed a CPN-UML example of protecting caste privilege, and sure enough along came Education Minister Krishna Gopal Shrestha standing firmly on the side of the perpetrator and against Sunar. That is the crux of the problem. The backlash against Sunar on social media is painful enough to even read but per-petuating the environment to make it even possible are those very individu-als whose stated mission in life should have been to fight against it. So long as politicians in power are allowed to get away with visiting atrocities against Dalits, either through action or otherwise, and so long as those at the top of the party hierarchy grant them leave to do so, we will continue to be served platitudes like our UPR report that does show progress but which in reality is an infinitesimal one at best.

The Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily has been forced to close. On the day it was shuttered, people queued to buy one last copy; a million were printed. The paper was doomed since last year, when China’s Communist government imposed a harsh National Security Law on Hong Kong. Its offices were raided by the police. Its journal-ists were threatened with violence. Its assets were frozen. Salaries could no longer be paid. Senior editors and a chief columnist were arrested.

The paper’s alleged crime was ‘col-lusion with foreign powers,’ or as the former Chief Executive of Hong Kong, CY Leung, crassly put it, ‘collusion with scum from foreign countries.’ Its real crime was its highly critical cov-erage of the Communist Party of China, of the Hong Kong government, and of corrupt local tycoons and poli-ticians ever since Jimmy Lai founded the paper in 1995.

Lai himself has already been in prison for almost a year, charged with fraud, collusion with foreign coun-tries, and taking part in unlawful demonstrations. He could in theory be locked up for life.

Neither Lai, nor his paper, fit the high-minded ideal of progressive activism. Apple Daily is partly a sensa-tionalist tabloid full of stories about the sexual transgressions of movie stars and other local celebrities, sala-cious gossip, and general muckraking. In most liberal democracies, such pub-lications are usually seen as the unfor-tunate price to be paid for the right to

free speech. The British tabloid press, for example, is hardly progressive, high-minded, or principled.

But Apple Daily was principled in its way. True, the paper’s tone was populist and not always civil. People from mainland China arriving in Hong Kong to share in its riches were once compared to ‘locusts.’ But Apple Daily also offered some of Asia’s sharpest political reporting and was often the only publication in Hong Kong that regularly exposed and analysed financial or political wrongdoing.

Lai is a fascinating and complicated figure. An avowed admirer of Donald

Trump and a devout Catholic convert, he holds rather strident views on the superiority of Western Christian civi-lisation over what he sees as the tyran-nical nature of Chinese civilisation. This opinion is not uncommon among Christian Chinese political activists, but it tends to find more backing from the far right in the West than from liberals.

Lai is what might be described as a rough diamond. After fleeing China in 1959 at the age of 12, in less than 30 years he worked his way up from being a child labourer in a garment factory to become a textile magnate whose jeans brand, Giordano, sold

well all over China and elsewhere in Asia. He became a very rich man.

Everything changed radically for Lai after the savage crackdown on the pro-democracy demonstrations in China in 1989. He had supported the student protesters occupying Tiananmen Square and sent them free T-shirts. When the Chinese authori-ties sent in troops to crush the pro-tests, killing thousands, Lai became a vocal opponent of the Communist regime. He sold his garment business, which was threatened with closure in China anyway, and started a magazine called Next, and then Apple Daily. ‘Information to me is

freedom,’ he said.Lai wrote articles calling Li Peng,

who carried out the savage crackdown in 1989, an ‘idiot’ and ‘the son of a turtle egg’ (a particularly nasty insult among mainland Chinese). Since Li was rumoured to have been adopted by Zhou Enlai after his own father was killed—a claim Li has denied—calling his parentage into question was an especially stinging affront. The gov-ernment denounced Lai as a ‘traitor,’ a ‘black hand,’ a ‘rotten apple,’ and so on, and viewed his support of demo-cratic politicians and activists in Hong Kong, and his efforts to keep the memory of 1989 alive, as dangerously

subversive.It was in fact unusual for a Hong

Kong tycoon to defy the Communist government and promote democracy. Most businessmen keep quiet or do their best to please and placate the government in Beijing. Local busi-nesses stopped advertising in Lai’s publications, and pro-China newspa-pers in Hong Kong published cartoons of Lai as a monstrous beast wrapped in the American flag.

Lai faced physical danger as well. His house in Hong Kong was fire-bombed. He was threatened with machetes, and he was under constant surveillance and followed wherever he went.

Yet he never gave up. Lai turned up every year to commemorate the Tiananmen Square Massacre. He marched in pro-democracy demon-strations. He visited Britain and the United States to elicit support for maintaining Hong Kong’s freedoms. Although he was ridiculed for meeting US Vice President Mike Pence during Trump’s presidency, he went to see the Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, too. And his tabloid, with its peculiar blend of scandal, gossip, and serious political reporting, was Hong Kong’s indispensable voice of free speech.

Now that voice has been silenced, and Lai is in prison with others who tried to protect the right of Hong Kong’s citizens to speak and write freely, to be ruled by law, and to vote for their own autonomous govern-ment. Their politics are diverse: Martin Lee is a venerable barrister and moderate liberal democrat, Joshua Wong is a young leftist fire-brand, and Lai is a red-baiting, Trump-admiring conservative Christian. Yet they stand together. When freedom is under siege, people cannot afford the narcissism of small differences that are tearing apart liberal politics in countries where people think democ-racy can be taken for granted.

Buruma is the author, most recently, of The Churchill Complex: The Curse of Being Special, From Winston and FDR to Trump and Brexit.

— Project Syndicate

The death of free speech in Hong Kong

Those in power are allowed to get away with perpetuating atrocities against Dalits.

DEEPAK THAPA

Dalit rights: No respite at the topEDITORIAL

The fallout of the unimpressive vaccine rollout in Nepal is becoming more apparent each successive day, the latest instance being the failure of Nepali migrant workers to travel to labour destination countries as they are yet to be inoculated. One of the most devastating effects of the long spell of lockdowns, trav-el restrictions and border sealings in much of the world in the past year and a half has been in the lives of Nepali migrant workers working in labour destination countries in the Persian Gulf and Southeast Asia. While thousands of workers who had lost their jobs were left stranded in the destination countries, thousands of others have now been left stuck in the home coun-try even if they hold valid travel documents.

The reason: Even though international flights to labour desti-nations have resumed and the countries are gradually reopen-ing their borders to labour migrants, the migrants themselves are unable to travel as they have yet to be inoculated against the coronavirus. Dubai, for instance, has said foreign nationals with UAE residency visas who are stuck in specified nations could return if they have been inoculated with vaccines approved by the UAE. Kuwait has said it would allow foreign nationals into the country if they are inoculated with Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson and Johnson and carry valid residence permits. Saudi Arabia is also set to reopen its borders to labour migrants, but non-vaccinated people have to be quarantined.

As countries worldwide attempt to resuscitate their econo-mies while also considering the possibility of yet another wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, the balance they are trying to main-tain by keeping vaccination at the centre is understandable. But that very balance is now proving a dead end for the young Nepali labour workforce that is seeking its luck in labour desti-nations abroad. The fact that Nepal has faced a sharp economic downturn means that more Nepalis are seeking to go abroad in search of work. However, it is not only the new aspirants but also those who already have valid residence permits in the des-tination countries who have been stuck in the home country.

There is some point in the argument that the workers who have valid travel permits to labour destination countries should be inoculated because, after all, they are going abroad to make money and will ultimately send remittance home. But at a time when the country is unable even to inoculate the most vulnera-ble population—the elderly—the idea of inoculating the youth just to send them abroad also sounds unethical. The only way out of this imbroglio is to ramp up the vaccination drive itself. In the cut-throat world of migrant labour work, Nepalis cannot afford to be left behind for lack of inoculation, because the work will go to the labourers of other countries who have been inoc-ulated.

If the Nepal government cannot inoculate outbound migrant labourers immediately, it could at least request authorities in the labour destinations to allow them safe passage into the country with a negative PCR test and a quarantine facility paid for by the recruiting agencies. It is understandable that the labour destination countries are concerned about keeping the virus at bay. But it is not enough for rich countries to continue living in a cocoon anymore, having fully vaccinated their citi-zens alone. The failure of poor countries like Nepal to inoculate a large section of their citizens is also reflective of the global vaccine inequality in which the rich countries are complicit.

Get the point?Nepali migrant workers cannot travel to labour destinations as they are yet to be inoculated.

LEWIS TSE PUI LUNG/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

The populist tabloid was an indispensable pillar of freedom. And now it is gone.

SRIZU BAJRACHARYA/TKP

IAN BURUMA

AS I LIKE

C M Y K

05 | MONDAY, JUNE 28, 2021

MONEY

GASOLINE WATCH

FOREX

US Dollar 119.03

Euro 142.06

Pound Sterling 165.20

Japanese Yen 10.74

Chinese Yuan 18.44

Qatari Riyal 32.69

Australian Dollar 90.31

Malaysian Ringit 28.64

Saudi Arab Riyal 31.74

Swiss Franc 129.70

Thai Bhat 3.74

Exchange rates fixed by Nepal Rastra Bank

BULLIONPRICE PER TOLA

SOURCE: FENEGOSIDA

Fine Gold Rs 90,700

Silver Rs 1,305

Paddy farmers happy as fertiliser arrives in timeSANJU PAUDELLUMBINI, JUNE 27

Farmer Hari Narayan Chaudhary of Tilottama-13 laughed all the way home with seven bags of precious fertiliser he had finally got from a cooperative.

The paddy transplantation season had set in, and Chaudhary had been waiting anxiously for more than a month as fertiliser supply had stopped because of the coronavirus lockdown.

The Covid-19 Crisis Management Operations Centre, which has blanket authorisation to take measures to stop the spread of Covid-19, had removed chemical fertiliser from the list of “essential commodities”, barring it from being transported when the stay-home order was issued on April 29.

The decision had affected tens of thousands of Nepali farmers as they feared that there could be a repeat of last year’s fertiliser shortage, which made them miss out on a super har-vest since the monsoon rains were good and labour was plentiful, as Nepalis working in various parts of India had returned home to escape the pandemic.

But the ban on the transportation of fertiliser was lifted in the first week of June, just as farmers were prepar-ing to transplant paddy, allowing them to heave a sigh of relief.

“This time, we got fertiliser,” Chaudhary said. He bought seven sacks of diammonium phosphate (DAP) and one sack of urea, each weighing 50 kg, and applied the plant nutrients on his paddy field.

Last year, the government faced massive criticism for not being able to supply enough chemical fertiliser during the peak paddy transplanta-tion season.

Notwithstanding a severe shortage of fertiliser, farmers recorded a larger harvest backed by the availability of adequate farm workers and rainfall. Following the fiasco last year, the gov-ernment took several measures to make sure it did not happen again.

The ban on the transportation of plant nutrients was lifted in the first week of June, just as farmers were preparing to transplant paddy.

A. Branch Relocation:

B. Branch Expansion/Renovation:

Eligibility/Criteria for Branch Relocation/Expansion/Renovation:• •

•

Documentation Requirement:•••••••

INVITATION FOR SEALED BIDS

S.N. Location Province

S.N. Location Province

Sagar Lamsal, a resident of Sainamaina, said he was able to finish paddy transplantation on time this year due to the availability of chemical fertiliser and sufficient monsoon rains.

Lamsal, who owns a 5-bigha farm in Sainamaina-9, said he got two 200 kg of urea and DAP and 100 kg of potash from cooperatives. “We had sufficient fertiliser, and hope to raise a good crop this year,” he said. Lamsal had planted paddy without fertiliser last year.

“We waited for months last year to get fertiliser. At one point, we even

began to rethink about farming as an occupation. But this year, there is something to cheer about.”

In many districts last year, farmers were forced to buy urea smuggled in from India by paying a black market price of Rs50 per kg following a nationwide shortage.

Om Prakash Gupta, chairman of Gautam Buddha Swavalamban Savings and Credit Cooperative in Sammarimai-6, said they distributed sufficient amounts of fertiliser in the ward during this year’s paddy trans-plantation season.

“We brought 1,400 bags of DAP, 900 bags of urea and 150 bags of potash,” he said. “As the current stock is not sufficient, we are in the process of bringing more fertiliser,” he added.

The cooperative distributes fertil-iser every Tuesday.

Mahesh Prasad Harijan, the head of the agriculture division of Sammarimai Rural Municipality, said that the local government has been distributing chemical fertiliser through eight cooperatives. “This year, farmers did not have to go to the Indian market to buy fertiliser,” he

POST FILE PHOTO

The annual demand for chemical fertilisers currently exceeds 700,000 tonnes while official imports reach just around 300,000 tonnes.

said. The local government has fixed the price of urea at Rs800 per 50 kg, DAP at Rs2,250 per 50 kg and potash at Rs1,650 per 50 kg.

This year, despite the delay in the supply of fertiliser due to the lock-down, paddy transplantation is going on in full swing.

Ganesh Prasad Ghimire, assistant manager of the Bhairahawa branch of Agriculture Inputs Company, said that cooperatives and farmers had been stockpiling fertiliser since mid-January. “We don’t see a shortage of fertiliser this year.”

Agriculture Inputs Company, which is tasked with distribution in Lumbini province, has a stock of 13,717 tonnes of chemical fertiliser--5,656 tonnes of urea, 7,000 tonnes of DAP and 762 tonnes of potash, according to Ghimire.

A shipment of 5,000 tonnes will be arriving soon to shore up inventory, he said, adding that the company had sold 8,083 tonnes of urea, 7,621 tonnes of DAP and 1,078 tonnes of potash in Gulmi, Arghakhanchi and Pyuthan as of mid-June. Most of the fertiliser was consumed in Rupandehi district as there are many farms there.

Ghimire said that demand for DAP and potash will decline once the paddy transplantation is completed, and farmers will want urea next to apply to their fields.

The government has allocated Rs11 billion in fertiliser subsidies for this fiscal year, up from Rs9 billion in the last fiscal year. The value of total imports of chemical fertiliser hovers around Rs19 billion annually.

According to the Agriculture Ministry, the annual demand for chemical fertiliser currently stands at more than 700,000 tonnes while official imports reach just around 300,000 tonnes.

Subsidised fertiliser fulfils 40 per-cent of the country’s total require-ment while the rest is met by informal imports or shipments smuggled across the open border.

First post-pandemic cruise ship from US sails awayASSOCIATED PRESSFORT LAUDERDALE, JUNE 27

The first cruise ship to leave a US port since the coronavirus pandemic brought the industry to a 15-month standstill sailed away on Saturday with nearly all vaccinated passengers on board.

Celebrity Edge departed Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at 6 pm with the number of passengers limited to about 40 percent capacity, and with nearly all 1,100 passengers vaccinated against Covid-19. Celebrity Cruises, one of Royal Caribbean Cruise’s brands, says 99 percent of the passengers are vaccinated, well over the 95 per-cent requirement imposed by the Centres for

Disease Control and Prevention. A giant greeting was projected on a wall of one of the port build-ings: “Someday is here. Welcome back.”

Passengers arrived with matching T-shirts that read phrases such as “straight outta vacci-nation” and “vaccinated and ready to cruise.”

“Words can’t describe how excited we are to be a part of this historic sailing today,” said Elizabeth Rosner, 28, who moved from Michigan to Orlando, Florida, in December 2019 with her fiancé just to be close to the cruise industry’s hub. To comply with both the CDC’s requirement and a new Florida law banning businesses from requiring customers to show proof of

vaccination, Celebrity Cruises asked guests if they would like to share their vaccination status. Those who did not show or say they are vaccinat-ed face additional restrictions. Saturday’s sailing kicks off the cruise lines’ return to business with Carnival vessels already scheduled to depart from other ports next month.

The seven-night cruise will sail for three days in the Western Caribbean waters before making

stops in Costa Maya, Cozumel and Nassau.The ship is led by Captain Kate McCue, the

first American woman to captain a cruise ship, who has more than 1 million followers on TikTok.

“You can truly feel the palpable sense of excite-ment and energy amongst the group as we pre-pare for our welcoming of our first guests,” McCue said. “I’ve never honestly seen a group so excited to get back to work.”

C M Y K

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION

CROSSWORD

HOROSCOPE

SUDOKU

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19) ****You’re looking to get productive under Monday’s cosmic landscape, Capricorn. Yet, the logical Aquarius moon seems to lack contacts that help get things underway. Turn your focus towards small efforts and the maintenance of ongoing projects.

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18) ***

Don’t expect to bolt forward into the week ahead, Aquarius. Monday’s skies offer up slow and steady energy, as the nurturing moon finishes her stay in your sign. Send your energy towards your body, and unexpressed feelings to make the most of today.

PISCES (February 19-March 20) ***Monday’s skies are mostly aimless, Pisces. Luna spends the day in heady Aquarius without any con-tact-rendering a low-key, low-energy day. Aim to catch up on rest and spend time in solitude.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) ****Things are slow to start this week, Aries. Lean into the relaxed pace, as the moon coasts through mental-ly-minded Aquarius. Luna’s lack of contacts makes for an easygoing, but somewhat aimless day.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) ***

Pick up any slack that’s gathered around your cur-rent career projects, Taurus. Now’s the time to send your focus towards maintenance and small fixes, as the moon roams through logical Aquarius. Today, don’t push yourself too hard.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21) ****

As a Gemini, you’re eternally curious about life. Let yourself lean into that open-minded approach to the world today. It’s an ideal time to tap into educational ventures or seek out a routine-breaking adventure.

CANCER (June 22-July 22) ***Spend some time in your shell today, Cancer. You’re likely to be in a slow-paced, reflective mood—as the moon travels through heady Aquarius. Luna’s lack of contacts renders a low-key day, so embrace the aimlessness and slowed down pace.

LEO (July 23-August 22) ***

Send your focus towards the close relationships in your world, Leo. The moon floats through communi-cation-concerned Aquarius today, helping you hone in on the changing terrain of your love life.

VIRGO (August 23-September 22) ****In true Virgo fashion, you’re looking to indulge in some productive efforts. The logical Aquarius moon sends your focus towards any looming errands on your to-do list. Luna’s lack of cosmic action suggests small fixes and low-key maintenance.

LIBRA (September 23-October 22) ***Monday’s skies make it hard to kick things into high gear, Libra. Let yourself coast, as the future-oriented Aquarius moon focuses your efforts on creative out-lets and pleasure-seeking. Save any productive action for the second half of the day.

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21) ***

Your home life is all-important today, Scorpio. Rather than rushing into the week ahead, aim to start slow and make sure you have a grounded emotional foun-dation. Spend some time connecting to family to feel your best.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21) ***Send your attention to your mental health today, Sagittarius. Where can you slow down and find a better sense of equilibrium in that arena? Monday’s relaxed cosmic atmosphere makes an ideal day for journaling, conversing, and meditation.

MONDAY, JUNE 28, 2021 | 06

SPORTS | MEDLEY

Lewis guides West Indies to comfortable win over South AfricaREUTERS LONDON, JUNE 27

Opener Evin Lewis smashed 71 from 35 balls as West Indies cruised to an eight-wicket victory over South Africa with 30 balls to spare in the first Twenty20 International at the National Cricket Stadium in St George’s, Grenada on Saturday.

After being sent into bat, South Africa managed a below-par 160-6 in their 20 overs on a good batting wick-et, and the home side reached their target with ease to go 1-0 up in the five-match series. Lewis smashed seven sixes in a thrilling display of power hitting before he was caught by David

Miller off Tabraiz Shamsi (1-27).Chris Gayle (32 not out from 24

balls), batting at No 3, steered the home team to the win, and with the second match to be played at the same venue on Sunday, the tourists will have to quickly come up with vastly improved bowling plans.

South Africa’s innings was anchored by an unbeaten half-century from Rassie van der Dussen, who amassed 56 from 38 balls. The only other score of significance came from opener Quinton de Kock (37 from 24 balls). Left-arm spinner Fabian Allen stifled the visitors’ scoring as he took 2-18 in his four overs to halt their momentum after a fast start.

Copa upgrading Maracana pitch for final amid criticismASSOCIATED PRESSSAO PAULO, JUNE 27

South American football body CONMEBOL said on Saturday it is upgrading the Maracana stadium pitch for the Copa America final amid criticism of other fields of play in the tournament. The decider will be on July 10.

Weeks ago, after Brazil became last-minute hosts of Copa America, organisers scheduled seven matches for the Nilton Santos stadium in Rio precisely because the pitch at the Maracana was worn out. But criticism has only grown since the start of the tournament. The Arena Pantanal in Cuiaba, which will hold one more group stage match, has also been tar-

geted for irregular patches and sink-ing areas on the pitch.

Brazil’s coach Tite recently joined Neymar, Lionel Messi and others who attacked the organisation for the poor pitch of the Nilton Santos, which was used for track and field in the 2016 Olympics and is regularly used by local club Botafogo, currently playing in the country’s second division.

After Thursday’s 2-1 win against Colombia, Tite said the pitch of the arena was “unacceptable.” CONMEBOL fined him $5,000 the next day for criticising the organisation of the tournament, which was trans-ferred to Brazil after Colombia and Argentina withdrew from hosting due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

On Saturday Tite again raised

doubts about the Maracana pitch for the decider. “If I talk about the bad pitch (of the Nilton Santos) I will be fined,” Tite said in a press conference ahead of Sunday’s Group ‘B’ match against Ecuador in Goiania. “It will happen again. The Maracana will not be good until the final. The time is too little (to improve). You can write that.”

Hours after Tite’s press conference CONMEBOL published a video show-ing improvements it is making on half of the Maracana’s pitch. Agronomist Maristela Kuhn told the football body’s objective is “good results in very few days.” “This is great because the pitch will be only used for one (Copa America) match,” she said.

After Brazil’s 4-0 win against Peru on June 17, Neymar went to Instagram

and said: ‘Celebrating yesterday’s goal on the ‘beautiful’ pitch of the Engenhao.” “Please, fix the pitch,” he added. Peruvian goalkeeper Pedro Gallese agreed. “The pitch was in ter-rible conditions. You couldn’t take a goal kick. The ball sinks,” he said.

Three days earlier, Messi said “the pitch did not help much” after Argentina’s 1-1 draw with Chile in the same stadium. His coach, Lionel Scaloni, was even harsher: “It is a pitch for another sport, not to play football.” No major improvements were made since.

Brazilian media reported on Saturday that the country’s football federation is trying to convince CONMEBOL to move its quarterfinals match to the Arena Pantanal.

Djokovic ready to be first among equals at WimbledonAGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE LONDON, JUNE 27

Novak Djokovic targets a record-equal-ling 20th major and sixth Wimbledon title from Monday which will edge him tantalisingly closer to becoming only the third man in history to com-plete a calendar Grand Slam.

The world number one has already won a ninth Australian Open and sec-ond French Open this season. That has put him halfway to emulating Don Budge (1937) and Rod Laver (1962 and 1969) in sweeping all four majors in the same year. It is a feat even his clos-est rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have never managed.

“Everything is possible,” said 34-year-old Djokovic after winning the French Open earlier this month when asked if the Golden Slam of all four majors and Olympic gold was a realis-tic target. Djokovic memorably cap-tured a fifth Wimbledon in 2019, sav-ing two championship points to defeat Federer in the longest ever final at the All England Club at four hours and 57 minutes.

The Serb was deprived of defending his title in 2020 when Wimbledon was cancelled due to the pandemic. He has won seven of the last 11 Slams as he ramps up his assault on the record of 20 majors held jointly by Federer and Nadal. Djokovic starts his defence on Monday against British world number 250 Jack Draper who was born just six miles (9.5km) from the All England Club.

Nadal, the Wimbledon champion in 2008 and 2010, has already withdrawn from this year’s tournament, still scarred by the bruising loss to Djokovic in the French Open semi-fi-nals. Eight-time winner Federer, meanwhile, will be 40 in August and won just one match on grass at Halle in the build-up to Wimbledon.

Federer, who underwent two knee

surgeries in 2020, won the last of his eight Wimbledons in 2017 and the most recent of his 20 majors in Australia in 2018. The Swiss star has lost three finals to Djokovic at the All England Club—2014, 2015 and the epic 2019 clash.

“Truthfully, I don’t think my goal was to play till, whatever, 39 or 40 or more,” said Federer on Saturday. “It was maybe more like 35 maybe I was thinking, which was already a high number at the time.”

Federer, in the opposite half of the

draw to Djokovic, begins his campaign on Tuesday against France’s Adrian Mannarino against whom he holds a 6-0 head-to-head advantage. The rest of the current top 10 have endured relatively mediocre Wimbledon records. Only 33-year-old Roberto

Bautista Agut, a surprise semi-finalist two years ago, has reached further than the last 16.

Daniil Medvedev has made only the third round but was buoyed Saturday by a first grass court title in Mallorca. Dominic Thiem has withdrawn due to a wrist injury. Alexander Zverev had a best last-16 run in 2017 but was a first-round loser two years ago while Andrey Rublev has yet to get past the second round.

Of the remainder of the top 10, French Open runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas and Matteo Berrettini are Djokovic’s most likely threats. Tsitsipas made the last 16 in 2018 before exiting in the first round two years ago. The Greek, however, is one of the form players of 2021, winning titles in Monte Carlo and Lyon before forcing Djokovic to recover from two sets down in the Roland Garros final.

Queen’s Club champion Matteo Berrettini is also a dangerman for Djokovic. The Italian made the last 16 in 2019 where it took Federer to stop his progress. He was also the first man to win the Queen’s title on debut since Boris Becker in 1985—the German went on to win a maiden Wimbledon just weeks later.

Andy Murray, the 2013 and 2016 champion, will hope to ride a national wave of emotion at least into the sec-ond week. But the injury-plagued Briton, a former world number one, is down at 119 in the rankings and has won just two matches all season.

“I’m delighted that I can be back competing here again,” said Murray who hasn’t played singles at Wimbledon since 2017. “I’m most excited about being in front of a big crowd and the fans and everything. That’s really something that I’ve missed a lot.” Sixteen years on from his debut at the event, Murray faces Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili in the first round.

Sri Lanka fans abandon players after England humiliationAGENCE FRANCE-PRESSECOLOMBO, JUNE 27

Disgruntled Sri Lanka cricket fans launched a campaign to shun their team on social media after they slumped to a dismal Twenty20 series drubbing in England.

England recorded a thumping 89-run win at Southampton on Saturday to sweep the contests 3-0—a fifth consecutive series defeat for Sri Lanka in the shortest format. As the hashtag #unfollowcricketers began to trend on Facebook on Sunday, thou-sands of fans boycotted the Facebook pages of vice-captain Kusal Mendis and opener Dhanushka Gunathilaka, the newscenter.lk website said.

“The aim of the campaign is to unfollow failed Sri Lankan cricketers from their verified profiles on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter,” the popular website said. Fans were also sharing memes asking each other not to watch the national team on televi-sion. “Unfollow all these failed cricket-ers,” said Ahmed Inaamulhaq on Twitter. “Don’t let them have the social media attention if they can’t perform for the national team. They do not deserve massive fan bases.”

There was no immediate reaction from any of the senior players, but some observers posted that the latest performance in England was one of the team’s worst in three decades. “I have been watching cricket matches since 1993 but I have never seen such a weak Sri Lankan cricket team,” sports reporter Manjula Basnayake said on Twitter. “They can’t hit the ball. #SLvENG.”

England’s 180 proved well beyond Sri Lanka, who were all out for 91 as left-arm quick David Willey took 3-27.

England and Sri Lanka meet again in the first of three one-day interna-tionals at Chester-le-Street on Tuesday.

The winner of Australian Open and French Open this season will ramp up his assault on the record of 20 Grand Slams held jointly by Federer and Nadal.

AP/RSS

The 34-year-old Novak Djokovic will open his Wimbledon title defense against 19-year-old British wildcard entrant Jack Draper on Monday.

C M Y K

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSEBUDAPEST, JUNE 27

The Czech Republic reached the Euro 2020 quarter-finals Sunday after shocking 10-man Netherlands 2-0 in their last-16 tie in Budapest thanks to second-half strikes by Tomas Holes and Patrik Schick.

A header by Holes and clinical finish by Schick came after Matthijs de Ligt was sent off in the 55th minute, securing the effi-cient Czechs a deserved berth in the last eight against Denmark in Baku on July 3.

Having emerged as Group C winners with a 100 percent record after playing all three of their games in Amsterdam, Frank de Boer’s fancied Netherlands were on the road for the first time in the tournament.

Roared on by boisterous ranks of orange-

clad fans in a packed Puskas Arena, the only Euro 2020 venue not to limit stadium capacity as an anti-coronavirus precaution, it was the livelier Dutch who dominated the opening exchanges.

On eight minutes a floated cross by Danny Blind evaded Tomas Vaclik in the Czech goal but De Ligt’s header across the goalmouth was sliced well wide by Memphis Depay.

Then Denzel Dumfries, raiding on both wings, was released on the left soon after but, with Vaclik again flailing, couldn’t direct his header into the open goal.

But after soaking up the early pressure Jaroslav Silhavy’s well-organised side, who qualified as one of the four best third-placed sides, began posing threats of their own with a series of dangerous counter-at-

tacks. Tomas Soucek, who took over the captain’s armband from the injured Vladimir Darida, glanced a dangerous header just wide at full stretch midway through the period.

Then Antonin Barak, fed by Lukas Masopust, blasted a left-footed effort high and wide when through on goal approach-ing the break.

Early in the second period the advantage swung decisively the Czechs way when De Ligt was sent off by the Russian referee Sergei Karasev after a VAR review.

Bayer Leverkusen striker Schick, scorer of all three Czech goals in the group stage, put De Ligt under pressure, prompting the Juventus defender to blatantly knock the ball away with his hand to deny a goalscor-ing opportunity.

Midway through the half, with the Czechs scenting blood, Pavel Kaderabek should have got the opener while in space in the area but saw his shot blocked.

Then 68 minutes in a curled free-kick from the right by Barak was headed across goal by Tomas Kalas to the unmarked Holes who had time to place his header and spark bedlam among the Czech fans.

Ten minutes from the end Schick sealed the win with his fourth goal of Euro 2020, slotting home with his left foot at the near post after the rampant Holes pounced on a loose ball and laid on a clever cut-back.

In truth, a man down, the hapless Dutch never looked like catching the Czechs who were comfortable at the end, chalking up their fourth straight win over the Oranje in front of jubilant fans.

MONDAY, JUNE 28, 2021 | 07

AFP/RSS

Players of Switzerland take part in a training session at the Tre Fontane sports centre in Rome, on the eve of their European Championship 2020 round of 16 football match against France. The Swiss are hoping to end a run of three consecutive exits in the round of 16 at major tournaments.

Spain click into gear but Croatia test awaitsREUTERSCOPENHAGEN, JUNE 27

Spain have finally clicked into gear after a sloppy start at Euro 2020 but will face their sternest test yet in the last 16 from Croatia, led by a sensa-tional Luka Modric who keeps raging against the dying of the light.

The champagne football certainly flowed in Spain’s 5-0 win over Slovakia as coach Luis Enrique had promised after dull draws with Sweden and Poland but his side had the luck of facing an accommodating opponent and Croatia will not be so generous.

“In every sport they play, Croatians are always very competitive, they are lion-hearted and give everything for their country,” said Spain forward Dani Olmo, who spent five years at Croatia’s premier club Dinamo Zagreb.

“They really appreciate every objec-tive they achieve. They have proven themselves in this Euros and in other tournaments, they thrive in difficult situations. There’s no favourite in this fixture, it’s anyone’s game.”

Croatia will need the 2018 Ballon d’Or winner Modric at his best, as winger Ivan Perisic was ruled out of the clash and possibly the rest of the tournament after testing positive for Covid-19 and going into a 10-day isolation.

Perisic saved Croatia with his

equaliser in the 1-1 draw against Czech Republic and also scored late in the 3-1 win over Scotland, set up by a deadly corner from 35-year-old Modric.

Spain’s players know Modric all too well after nine magical seasons with Real Madrid although they will not be able to count on any inside informa-tion on the midfielder as Luis Enrique decided not to include any Real play-ers in his squad.

“He is their motor, the heartbeat of Croatia who conducts their orchestra. All their play goes through his feet,” Olmo added. “But Croatia is not just Modric.”

Olmo also said that unlike Sweden, Poland and Slovakia, Croatia are like-ly to come out and attack Spain and not just defend, which could play into their hands after struggling in their first two group games.

Olmo, who moved from Barcelona’s academy to Dinamo in 2015 before signing for Bundesliga outfit RB Leipzig in 2020, also revealed that the

Croatian federation had tried to get him to switch nationalities. “There was some interest and I have a lot of affection for Croatia, but it was always my dream to play for Spain,” he said.

Spain may benefit from a smoother pitch at Copenhagen’s Parken Stadium, after complaining about the surface at Seville’s La Cartuja. Being away from a sometimes impatient home crowd could also be a boon.

Spain were beaten 2-1 by Croatia in the Euro 2016 group stage and then hammered them 6-0 in the UEFA Nations League in 2018, only to lose 3-2 away from home two months later.

The 2018 World Cup runners-up Croatia will also be missing centre back Dejan Lovren through suspen-sion, with Duje Caleta-Car set to take his place.

Caleta-Car said Croatia must improve defensively after conceding in each of their three group matches.

“We’ve let in some soft goals as we haven’t been compact enough. Against Spain we have to keep it airtight in the midfield and at the back in order to close them down,” he told reporters on Saturday.

Midfielder Mateo Kovacic added: “They know we are a good team too so it should be a cracking encounter. Spain have phenomenal midfield play-ers, but we can match them in every department. We have to take the game to them.”

Ivan Perisic will miss the Spain game and possibly the rest of the Euro 2020.

Czech Republic stun Netherlands to reach quartersGoals from Holes and Schick after De Ligt was sent off in the 55th minute secure the Czechs a last eight clash against Denmark on July 3.

AP/RSS

Players of Czech Republic celebrate after Tomas Holes scored their first goal during the Euro 2020 round of 16 football match against Netherlands at the Ferenc Puskas stadium in Budapest, Hungary on Sunday.

Today’s Fixture

Croatia vs Spain19:45 NST, Monday

France vs Switzerland00:45 NST, Tuesday

Austria scare gives Italy welcome wake-up callREUTERSROME, JUNE 27

By the end of the night, it was all smiles in the Italy camp.

But behind the beaming grin of Federico Chiesa or the relieved expression of manager Roberto Mancini was an awareness that their Euro 2020 last-16 clash with Austria was too close for comfort.

Few expected the Austrians to put up much of a fight against an Azzurri side that glided through the group stage, winning all three games without con-ceding a goal.

But Italy toiled to a 0-0 draw, and had VAR to thank for chalking off a Marko Arnautovic goal for offside in the second half before goals from substitutes Chiesa and Matteo Pessina earned a 2-1 win in extra time.

It may not have been a vintage Italian perfor-mance, but it continued their remarkable run under Mancini. Italy set a new national record of 31 match-es unbeaten, stretching back to September 2018, while clocking up a record 12th consecutive victory. They finally conceded a goal after 1,168 minutes (19 hours, 28 minutes) at the death, but goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma still surpassed Dino Zoff ’s previous Italian clean sheet

record of 1,143 minutes.Italy’s subdued perfor-

mance did not stem the enthusiasm that has grown in the country since they opened Euro 2020 with a 3-0 thumping of Turkey in Rome.

Gazzetta dello Sport’s front page proclaimed the team “Lions of Italy”, while Corriere dello Sport issued a plea to the players: “Don’t wake us up!” But beyond the hype, there is a belief that Italy’s fright may prove helpful for the rest of the tournament.

“Wins like this help a team to grow, to find more self-assurance, to be aware of their abilities. This was an exam, and we passed it,” former Premier League-winning Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri told Gazzetta dello Sport.

The sentiment was shared inside the squad.

“We knew that it was not easy. We did well to never give up, especially in the dif-ficult moments. This will help us be better when we face our next matches,” Donnarumma said.

Mancini even went as far as to say he thought the Austrians were provided a tougher test than they will get in the next round against one of the tournament favourites.

Time will tell, but for now Italy go on with more belief than ever after showing they can win the hard way.

Bruno Petkovic (Croatia)The Dinamo Zagreb forward Bruno Petkovic scored 14 goals for his club last season. It is his playing style that makes him key for club and country. He loves to involve his fellow offen-sive players in attack and isn’t just a regulation goalscorer. Petkovic uses his strength to good effect and is good in hold-up plays. Petkovic is central to the way Croatia play in the final third.

Players to Watch

Sergio Busquets (Spain)The La Roja captain missed the first two group games against Sweden and Poland due to positive Covid-19 test—both of which ended in draws. But the return of the Barcelona defensive midfielder has brought balance to a team that lacked leadership and struggled with poor finishes and a shaky defence as the team have found scoring touch again.

Italy 2-1 AustriaNetherlands 0-2 Czech Republic

Results

MONDAY, JUNE 28, 2021 | 08

CULTURE & LIFESTYLE

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JOCELYN NOVECK

I

t’s intriguing to imagine Liam Neeson’s management team, contemplating his next film. Perhaps “Uber Express”? Maybe “Lyfted Up”?

There’s just something symbiot-ic about Neeson and vehicles—not only cars, but planes (‘Non-Stop’), suburban commuter trains (‘The Commuter’), even snowploughs (‘Cold Pursuit’).

And now in ‘The Ice Road,’ this durable action hero improbably pushing 70 is at the wheel of a big ol’ truck—not your normal truck, but a 65,000-pound rig. And not on regular roads, of course. On ice roads, meaning frozen lakes or oceans, where the spring thaw brings treacherous conditions and

one wrong move sends you straight into the freezing abyss.

Luckily, Neeson has a way of lending his rough-hewn dignity to even the most perfunctory of plots—because this one, it must be said, is perfunctory. All you need to understand are three ele-ments: Good guys, bad guys—no subtlety here—and the fact that ice is very slippery, very cold, and has a tendency to melt in sun-shine. Got it?

In this latest instalment of the Neeson vehicular canon, written and directed by Jonathan Hensleigh, Neeson is Mike McCann, a long-haul trucker who’s also the caretaker of his brother, Gurty, a war veteran suf-fering from PTSD. Mike can’t man-age to hold onto a job very long—he’s had 11 jobs in eight years, and we watch him get fired from his latest after he decks a guy making fun of his brother’s war-induced aphasia. But his luck may be about to change.

A methane accident causes a diamond mine to explode up in remote Manitoba, Canada, killing eight miners and trapping 26. There’s a 30-hour oxygen window, but rescuers first need a wellhead. The only way to get the wellhead to the mine is by truck.

But this is April, when the ice roads leading to the mine are melt-ing. No trucker would attempt such a suicidal mission.

Well, almost no trucker.Mike responds to an alert from

Jim Goldenrod, organiser of the impossible rescue, offering his driving skills (yes, Neeson still has a special set of skills) and brother Gurty (Marcus Thomas) as an ace mechanic. The duo is soon hired, joined on the mission by Goldenrod himself (Laurence Fishburne, sadly underused here) and Tantoo (Amber Midthunder), a feisty young driver for whom the job is more personal than finan-cial—her brother’s trapped in the mine.

There’s one more passenger in the three-rig convoy: an insurance guy from the company that runs the mine, apparently needed for his actuarial skills (Benjamin Walker, whose considerable acting talents aren’t really mined here, if you’ll excuse the pun).

In a film that’s big on great scen-ery but skimps on character devel-opment and backstory, we know from the outset who the good guys are—especially Mike and Gurty. We also know soon enough who the bad guys are; they’re cartoon-ish as can be. As for the ice, well,

there’s lots, and it gets thinner and thinner—which one could say of the plot if one wanted to grab low-hanging fruit off the tree of potential puns.

More low-hanging fruit is offered in the lyrics of the Johnny Cash song on the country-infused soundtrack: “All I do is drive, drive, drive,” it goes (sung by Jason Isbell here). “Try to stay alive.” And while you might be thinking back to these lyrics as you watch Neeson’s Mike do just that—drive, drive, drive—you might also focus on the “alive” part.

That’s because Neeson’s dura-bility as an action hero seems more remarkable as the years go on. Yes, he’s older and brittler and paler here, and there’s not even a hint of a love interest—unless you count Mike’s believable love for his brother, the only developed relationship in the script. But, just like Mike, he gets the job done, and he’s the reason to watch this.

— Associated Press

BETH HARRISLOS ANGELES

T

he Daytime Emmys turned into a love let-ter to Alex Trebek, honouring the beloved ‘Jeopardy!’ host and the show seven months

after his death.Trebek won as game show host

and “Jeopardy!” earned game show honours on Friday night.

ABC’s ‘General Hospital’ claimed four trophies, including best drama. Maurice Benard took lead actor honours for the third time as Sonny Corinthos.

Jacqueline MacInnes Wood of CBS’ ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’ won as lead actress, adding to her trophy from two years ago for her role as Steffy Forrester.

It was a family affair, with the children of Trebek and Larry King accepting on their late father’s behalf.

Trebek’s son, Matt, and daugh-ter, Emily, stood behind the host’s podium on the quiz show’s set. Trebek died of pancreatic cancer in November at age 80.

“For as long as we can remember, he was always so proud to be a part of ‘Jeopardy!’, to work on a show that was based on knowledge, risk and the chal-lenge—people had to think,” Trebek’s son said. “He loved every bit of it.”

Emily added, “He was always excited to go to work, even during

his battle with cancer. He was so fortunate that he was able to do what he loved, and we know that he not once took it for granted.”

It was Trebek’s third straight victory and sixth overall in the category. He was nominated for a record 32 times during his career.

Executive producer Mike Richards dedicated the best game show trophy to Trebek, who host-ed for 37 years.

“He was more than just a game show host, he was a legend, a towering figure,” Richards said in pre-taped remarks. “He believed that ‘Jeopardy!’ was more than just a game show. He loved it because it stood for facts, competi-tion, and the celebration of intelli-gence.”

Kelly Clarkson’s eponymous talk show earned two trophies. The singer was honoured as host,

beating out daytime newcomer Drew Barrymore, among others, and the show won in the entertain-ment talk category.

Trebek was remembered in a special tribute segment, along with Regis Philbin and King. Philbin died last July at age 88. Among those honouring Trebek in taped comments were US first lady Jill Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“I got to talk with him a few years ago, and he expressed to me how proud he was to be a Canadian,” Trudeau said. “I had to tell him that all Canadians are incredibly proud that he’s one of us as well.”

King, who died in January at age 87, won as an informative talk show host for his eponymous show on Ora TV. His sons, Chance and Cannon, accepted.

“This last season was a testa-ment to his love for broadcasting,” Chance King said. “As much as he is gone, he is with us in our hearts forever.”

Marla Adams and Max Gail won supporting actor trophies.

Adams plays Dina Mergeron on CBS’ ‘The Young and the Restless.’ The 82-year-old actor accepted at home with the Emmy statue on a table behind her. ‘Y&R’ also won the best writing category.

Gail appeared on stage while socially distanced because of the coronavirus pandemic to accept for his role as Mike Corbin on ‘General Hospital.’ It was the 78-year-old actor’s second trophy in the supporting category, having won in 2019. ‘GH’ also won direct-ing honours.

‘Red Table Talk,’ featuring Jada Pinkett Smith, her daughter, Willow, and her mother, Adrienne Banfield-Norris, won for the informative talk show.

Sheryl Underwood of ‘The Talk’ hosted the show.

—Associated Press

REUTERSSYDNEY

W

ading through a moonlit pond on Au s t r a l i a ’ s east coast talking to

frogs makes Michael Mahony feel like a kid again.

The 70-year-old biology profes-sor and conservationist at Australia’s University of Newcastle has mastered imitating and understanding the shrills, croaks and whistles of frogs.

“Sometimes you forget to work because, you know, you just want to talk to the frogs for a while and it’s sort of good fun,” Mahony told Reuters from a pond in Cooranbong, New South Wales.

He is thrilled every time they call back, but fears frogs are increasingly at risk of going silent.

Australia has about 240 frog spe-cies, but around 30 percent of them are threatened by climate change, water pollution, habitat loss, the chytrid fungus, and in a variety of other ways. Globally frogs are the most threatened of all vertebrates, Mahony said.

Over his career, Mahony has described 15 new species of frogs. He has also seen some wiped out.

“Probably the saddest part of my career is that as a young person, I discovered a frog and within two years of it being discovered that frog went extinct,” Mahony said.

“So very early in my career, I

became aware just how vulnerable some of our frogs were. We need to be looking at our habitats and ask-ing what is wrong.”

Beyond working to preserve amphibian habitats across Australia, Mahony has helped to develop a cryopreservation meth-od to help bring frogs back from the edge of extinction by “bank-ing” genetic material.

“What we’ve done in the face of the problems of catastrophic loss of species is to establish the first genome bank for Australian frogs,” he said.

Mahony also contributed with other scientists to a study by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) that found nearly three billion Australian animals were killed or displaced by bushfires in 2019 and 2020, including 51 million frogs.

Mahony’s passion for conserva-tion has also rubbed off on his students. One of them, Simon Clulow, named a newly discovered frog “Mahony’s Toadlet” in his honour in 2016.

Some students have taken up his technique of calling and talk-ing to frogs as well.

“I’ve never been into yelling at them to find out where they are,” University of Newcastle doctoral student and frog researcher Samantha Wallace said.

“But it definitely does work, so it does pay back, especially when you’re trying to find some of these species that are really amongst the undergrowth and they’re not really obvious.”

Liam Neeson’s back, fighting on thin ice—literally

Neeson has a way of lending his rough-hewn dignity to even the most perfunctory of plots.

Neeson’s durability as an action hero seems more remarkable as the years go on.

The Ice Road

Liam Neeson, Amber Midthunder, Laurence

Fishburne Goldenrod, Benjamin Walker

Director: Jonathan Hensleigh

Produced by: Bart Rosenblatt; Shivani Rawat

Frog whisperer: Australian scientist speaks to frogs,

fears their silenceA biology professor and conservationist at Australia’s University of Newcastle has mastered imitating and

understanding the croaks and whistles of frogs.

Professor Michael Mahony holds a Green and Golden Bell Frog as a PhD candidate and research assistant Rebecca Sceto looks on inside a laboratory at the University of Newcastle, Australia.

Daytime Emmys salute late TV icons Alex Trebek, Larry KingThe award ceremony was a family affair, with the children of Trebek and Larry King accepting honours on their late father’s behalf.

Alex Trebek, the beloved host was nominated for a record 32 times during his career.

AP/RSS

Matt Trebek, left, and Emily Trebek, children of the late Alex Trebek, accept the award for outstanding game show host for ‘Jeopardy!’ on his behalf during the 48th Daytime Emmy Awards.

AP/R

SS

REUT

ERS