July 22 - Despite the repeated disturbances in vehicular movement and Terai unrest, Nepal enjoyed a trade surplus with Bangladesh through the Mechi customs during the fiscal year 2006\07.

Statistics of Mechi customs show that the country recorded a surplus in trade worth Rs 299.8 million during the year. In 2005/06, Nepal had suffered a trade deficit of Rs 0.57 with Bangladesh.

Moreover, officials said that bilateral trade of the country with Bangladesh via the Fulbari-Banglaband transit route reached Rs 755.1 million in the fiscal year.

Customs data show that Nepal exported goods worth Rs 527.41 million to Bangladesh and imported merchandize worth Rs 227.6 million during the period.

“It is encouraging to realize Nepal enjoying a sound volume of trade surplus with Bangladesh, which has put economic development at a high priority,” Vijaya Dalmiya, president of Mechi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) said.

Talking to the Post, he said that the entrepreneurs in the country should put in more effort to widen the bilateral trade bracket in the days to come.

Sewantak Pokharel, a customs officer, attributed the rise in the volume of export to increased exports of yellow lentils to Bangladesh during the period.

Beside lentil, Nepal also exported peas, leather, infant food, animal feed, wooden furniture, flour, herbal medicines, seed, plastic bottles, lids and caps of bottles, tyres for four-wheelers and machinery parts, among others.

On the other hand, the country imported glass, raw cotton and garment along with sugar, soft drinks, medicine, vitamin, woolen carpet, chocolate and biscuits from Bangladesh.

“Bilateral trade has caught the upward trend, but the lack of physical infrastructure along the Banglabanda transit point still continues to gnaw traders,” said Bimal Acharya, a customs agent.

Bumpy roads leading to Banglabanda from Fulbari along with the compulsion to load and unload goods in the open air have mainly deterred bilateral trade over the past ten years.

Nepali trucks do not have access to well-equipped Bangladeshi go-downs, located just half a kilometer on the other side of the border.

“We are also subjected to ill-treatment and hassled by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF),” complained another customs agent.

KAKADBHITTA, July 22 - Despite the repeated disturbances in vehicular movement and Terai unrest, Nepal enjoyed a trade surplus with Bangladesh through the Mechi customs during the fiscal year 2006\07.
Statistics of Mechi customs show that the country recorded a surplus in trade worth Rs 299.8 million during the year. In 2005/06, Nepal had suffered a trade deficit of Rs 0.57 with Bangladesh.

Moreover, officials said that bilateral trade of the country with Bangladesh via the Fulbari-Banglaband transit route reached Rs 755.1 million in the fiscal year.

Customs data show that Nepal exported goods worth Rs 527.41 million to Bangladesh and imported merchandize worth Rs 227.6 million during the period.

“It is encouraging to realize Nepal enjoying a sound volume of trade surplus with Bangladesh, which has put economic development at a high priority,” Vijaya Dalmiya, president of Mechi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) said.

Talking to the Post, he said that the entrepreneurs in the country should put in more effort to widen the bilateral trade bracket in the days to come.

Sewantak Pokharel, a customs officer, attributed the rise in the volume of export to increased exports of yellow lentils to Bangladesh during the period.

Beside lentil, Nepal also exported peas, leather, infant food, animal feed, wooden furniture, flour, herbal medicines, seed, plastic bottles, lids and caps of bottles, tyres for four-wheelers and machinery parts, among others.

On the other hand, the country imported glass, raw cotton and garment along with sugar, soft drinks, medicine, vitamin, woolen carpet, chocolate and biscuits from Bangladesh.

“Bilateral trade has caught the upward trend, but the lack of physical infrastructure along the Banglabanda transit point still continues to gnaw traders,” said Bimal Acharya, a customs agent.

Bumpy roads leading to Banglabanda from Fulbari along with the compulsion to load and unload goods in the open air have mainly deterred bilateral trade over the past ten years.

Nepali trucks do not have access to well-equipped Bangladeshi go-downs, located just half a kilometer on the other side of the border.

“We are also subjected to ill-treatment and hassled by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF),” complained another customs agent.

Strike affects life in Butwal

Rupandehi, July 14: Normal life in Butwal has been affected since two days due to a series of protests and strikes sparked by the death of a lecturer Navaraj Acharya in a road accident.
The Butwal Multiple Campus unit of the Tribhuvan University Teachers’ Association (TUTA) and the students, demanding compensation to the victim’s family and punishment to the truck driver, have threatened to shut Rupandehi indefinitely unless their demands are met.
The Butwal area police office said Acharya was killed in a road accident at Galla Mandi two days ago when his motorcycle (Lu 4 Pa 718) collided with a truck. The TUTA members and students have claimed that the truck driver reversed his vehicle and ran over Acharya with the intention of killing him.
Incharge of the area police communications cell, Prem Chand, said that the truck entrepreneurs have agreed to provide reasonable compensation to the victim’s family, but the family is claiming a huge amount as a compensation due to which consensus is yet to evolve. The strike in Butwal has affected movement on the Mahendra highway and Siddhartha Highway. The bandh organisers also vandalised some and trucks last evening.

Lady ‘raped’

Rajbiraj, July 14: A young woman, of Ramailodanda in Basaha VDC, was allegedly raped by operator of the Anukul Clinic, Nirmal Chandra Bose, yesterday.
Sub-inspector at the Fattehpur area police office, Ratna Poudel, said the woman lodged a complaint at the police office, saying Bose remove her clothes for a check-up.
The woman said Bose overpowered and raped her there. Locals caught Bose after the woman called for help. They tarred Bose’s face and paraded him around town and handed him over to the police. Police said Bose, identifying himself as a doctor, had been staying in Fattehpur for 10 years and running the clinic. Bose is in police custody.