The blasts occurred in the north, center and the outskirts of the city on Sunday afternoon. While the first two blasts occurred one after the other in just a few minutes, the third one was set off several hours later and injured two persons involved in the blasts.

According to a police official, a Maoist splinter group is currently being suspected for the attacks as the groups’ supporters were arrested by authorities. The same suspect was responsible for the February 2019 bombing that killed one person in February 2019.

However, no one has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Police said that crude explosive devices may have been used to trigger the blasts.

The blasts killed four people and injured seven others. As per police officials, three out of the four deceased died on the spot, while the fourth one died in the hospital.

“I heard a big noise and rushed to the spot to find the walls of a house had developed cracks due to the impact of the blast,” said a student Govind Bhandari.

Home Ministry Issues ‘High Alert’

In view of the deadly #Kathmandubombings, the Home Ministry has directed all law enforcement centers, all District Administration Offices and security organizations to be on high alert, in an emergency meeting presided by Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa.

Security forces have been asked to tighten security and have already sealed the locations of the blasts. Investigations are currently underway.

The post #NepalHighAlert: Triple Blast Rocks Kathmandu on Peaceful Sunday appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

According to the Department of Immigration (DoI) rules, any foreign citizen will have to renew tourist visa within 150 days grace period. Failing to do so will subject them to deportation by the Nepal Government.

The offender will also have to pay a fine of USD 3 per day along with additional fine of NPR 50,000. The offenders registered so far belong to more than 24 countries, says DoI.

Some of them were found working without employment permits and some engaged in religious conversion.

According to DoI, thousands of Chinese and Bangladeshi nationals were suspected of living illegally.

Towards this end, immigration authorities are working with the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, district administration offices, police and tourism entrepreneurs to monitor the activity of foreigners visiting Nepal.

To address the growing illegal activity by foreigners, the Foreign Nationals Monitoring Directives has recently called for central-level monitoring and regulation committee led by DoI Director General and special committee at the district-level.

Besides, DoI is also working on establishment of the state-of-the-art desks with biometric and IRIS recognition technology at Tribhuvan International Airport, to keep track of foreign tourists arriving and departing from the country.

Hope the new system will help the Nepali authorities keep a close watch on foreign nationals visiting Nepal and avoid their misdeeds while living in the country.

The post Nepal Deports 54 Foreign Tourists in 3 Months appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

In view of the global insurance & rescue firms’ serious note on halting their services, the government decided to bar all local agents of those firms from getting involved in tourism search & rescue operations.

A high-level government panel investigating the issue announced a 15-point Mountaineering and Trekking Search and Rescue Guidelines that proposes a special police force under the Nepal Tourism Board to support mountaineering activities in place of agents.

“The guidelines aim to curb fraudulent activities while conducting search and rescue of tourists, especially foreign trekkers and mountaineers visiting high mountain areas,” says Dandu Raj Ghimire, Director General at the Department of Tourism, Nepal.

According to Ghimire, the proposed guidelines will soon come into force after rounds of consultations with all the related stakeholders.

“None of the agents will be allowed to conduct search and rescue of tourists on behalf of international companies,” he adds.

Under the new guidelines:

• A special rescue and search unit under Nepali police will offer 24/7 support in managing necessary resources, along with helicopter services and high-altitude rescues
• The special unit can also invite private helicopter companies to bid for rescue services that they want to offer tourists in high mountains
• The unit holds authority to mobilize police or army choppers in the absence of private helicopters
• The police welfare fund will be instantly utilized to conduct search & rescue, and will be reimbursed once the payment is made by the insurance companies
• A special monitoring committee under the Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Home Affairs will take care of arrangements from fixing prices to validating documents

“Minister, secretary and representatives from different companies are scheduled to meet to finalize the guidelines,” Ghimire said in a statement.

Ghimire expressed hope the new guidelines will put an end to malpractices such a fake insurance claims concerning tourists visiting Nepal.

Also Read: Nepal Tourism Insurance Scam: Global Insurers Warn, Demand Stern Action

The post Nepal Tourism Insurance Scam: Govt Proposes Special Rescue Unit appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

The Ministry of Home Affairs enforced the ‘Foreign Citizens Monitoring Guideline’ to ensure strict monitoring of foreigners and their activities in the country.

Ensuring compliance to visa rules and curbing illegal activities are two of the key objectives of the new guidelines.

A Three-tier Monitoring
With special mechanisms across three different levels, the new regulation proposes to maintain national security and protection of boundaries, among others on top priority.

Under the guidelines, the monitoring activity will be conducted under three tiers: District Monitoring Committees, Central Monitoring Directives Committee and Monitoring & Implementation Committee.

District Monitoring Committee: Headed by Chief District Officers, this committee will foresee monitoring activities across the district levels with the support of National Investigation Department, Police & Armed Police Force, Tourism, Labor and Immigration offices.

Central Monitoring Directives Committee (CMDC): Headed by the Home Secretary, the Committee comprises of Joint Secretaries from different ministries including Home, Foreign Affairs, Labor & Employment and Tourism along with key officials from Nepal Police, Armed Police Force, Immigration and National Investigation departments.

Monitoring and Implementation Committee: Headed by the Director General of Immigration Department and its members along with officials from Tourism Board, among other departments, this committee will keep a close watch on illegal entry points and foreigners’ hiding zones.

Crime Control Information Mechanism: Reporting to CMDC, this special mechanism will have complete information about every foreign visitor including their places of visit, activities and duration of stay, among other key aspects.

Regulatory, Need of the Hour
The latest decision is coming in the backdrop of issues reported over misuse of visa services and local laws among foreigners.

According to the government, some of the foreign visitors on tourist visas were reportedly found to have taken up employment in the local NGOs and opened their own businesses, locally.

As the immigration officials say, there was a poor monitoring of foreign visits to the country due to lack of relevant directives and monitoring mechanisms in place.

They are hopeful that the new directives will facilitate ways for strict monitoring and special security checks upon suspicion of any illegal activity.

Under the new directives, every individual or hotels or resorts hosting foreigners will have to provide all the relevant information to the respective committees, and the immigration officers can ride any place upon suspicion, say the officials.

The new regulation calls for an immediate arrest of any foreigner misusing visa services or overstaying locally.

The post Now, Foreigners Visiting Nepal Under Close Watch! appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

The Government of Nepal has come up with a special policy to ensure fairness in relief measures being taken to support flood victims.

With a new one-door policy, the government aims to restrict NGOs and individuals from offering direct support to the victims without coordination with the authorities.

The Natural Disaster and Rescue Committee (NDRC) led by the Minister for Home Affairs Janardan Sharma directed authorities to ensure that cash or any other relief material is distributed under the supervision of government authorities.

“There are chances of uneven distribution if it is not channelized through the government authorities,” said Minister Sharma in a meeting held to form a Relief Collection Coordination Committee.

The Committee formed under the Joint Secretary Kedar Neupane will be responsible for managing relief measures. Anyone willing to donate funds will have to deposit into the Prime Minister Disaster Relief Fund, informed the Ministry.

This decision by the government to keep track of relief measures was taken in view of the challenges witnessed during the relief distribution activities at the time of 2015 earthquake, where the collected funds were distributed to selected areas and remote villages left with no support.

The post #NepalFloods2017: Government’s One-Door Policy to Check Relief Measures appeared first on Nepali Sansar.