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The body of legendary Swiss climber Ueli Steck, who died on Mount Everest, was cremated on Thursday at a Buddhist monastery that lies in the shadow of the world's highest peak. Steck -- one of the most feted mountaineers of his generation -- became the first fatality of this year's spring season on Everest when he fell from a ridge during an acclimatisation climb on Sunday. The climber's body was flown by helicopter on Thursday to the Tengboche Monastery that lies on the trail to the peaks that claimed his life. Steck's wife Nicole and close family members arrived with the body from Kathmandu for the Buddhist funeral ceremony, according to an AFP photographer at the scene. They had flown to Nepal earlier this week. Steck's body was carried from the helipad to the cremation site a few hundred metres from the monastery, which is surrounded by sheer Himalayan peaks including Everest's towering 8,848 metre summit. The family surrounded the funeral pyre as it was lit, and monks in flowing maroon robes offered prayers and played music. A number of climbers were expected to trek down from Everest base camp -- some 20 kilometres from Tengboche -- to attend the cremation, according to Nimesh Karki of Seven Summits, a trekking company that helped Steck organise his Everest attempt. It was unclear if any had arrived in time for the ceremony. A modest man   Steck was famed for his record speed ascents in the Alps, which earned him the nickname the "Swiss Machine" -- an epithet that he himself disliked. "He lived with it, but Ueli was very modest," Billi Bierling, a climber and journalist who is currently translating Steck's latest book from German to English, told AFP. "In a way he knew he was quite extraordinary, but on the other hand he thought that, 'If I can do it, everybody can'."  Steck was attempting to achieve another first this year by charting a rarely climbed route to summit both Everest and Lhotse, the world's fourth highest mountain, all without the use of supplemental oxygen. Steck was due to summit Everest via the West Ridge -- a route that has recorded more fatalities than summits -- before climbing Lhotse. The accomplished alpinist was on an acclimatisation run to Mount Nuptse, which shares a common ridge with Everest, when he slipped and fell more than 1,000 metres early on Sunday morning. During his more than two-decade long career, he scaled some of the world's most daunting peaks, often alone and without basic safety equipment such as fixed ropes or bottled oxygen. Tributes to Steck have poured in from the climbing community since his death. Most have lauded a career that saw him become one of the most prominent names in mountaineering, though he has also received some criticism in the Swiss press for a series of controversies that also stalked the climber. Steck made global headlines in 2013 when he and two other Western climbers came to blows with a group of Nepali guides on Everest. After the incident he swore he would never to return to Everest, but he was back in the Himalayas just months later to scale Mount Annapurna, the world's tenth highest, becoming the first mountaineer to complete a solo ascent of the 8,091 metre peak. Controversially, he offered no photographic proof of his accomplishment, saying an avalanche -- that nearly claimed his life -- had knocked his camera out of his hand.  Nevertheless, he was awarded the Piolet d'Or, mountaineering's top accolade, for the 2013 climb.

Nepalese people pull the chariot of Rato Machhindranath during the third day of the one-month-long festival, to pray for rain and good harvest in Lalipur, near Kathmandu.

As Nepal gears up for conducting local level elections after a hiatus of two decades, 21-year-old Ranju Darshana yesterday was the youngest candidate to file candidacy for the post of mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC). She was also the only female candidate to vie for the post of Kathmandu mayor after filing of nominations in 283 local units under 34 districts yesterday, Xinhua news agency reported.  Bibeksheel Nepali Party picked Darshana for the post, claiming her as the youngest mayor candidate in Nepal’s election history. She has been active in politics through this party for the last three years. Born in the capital and pursuing her bachelor’s degree in Development Studies, Ranju wants to make Kathmandu a liveable city and a metropolis in the true sense.  “Right now, Kathmandu is a metropolitan city only nominally. Our infrastructure is poor, the air that we are breathing is killing us, and there are cases of corruption. Addressing such issues, I am here to make Kathmandu the most beautiful city in the world,” Darshana said.  For mayor and deputy mayor of KMC, over a dozen of independent candidates and candidates from various political parties filed nominations. “I have been receiving overwhelming response from all quarters of society. People have seen me as a ray of hope, which has boosted my energy to step ahead. I am hopeful of my  victory,” Ranju said. Kishor Thapa, a former government secretary and an independent candidate for the mayor of Kathmandu, said: “My vision of Kathmandu is clean, secured and inclusive Kathmandu. I want to revive the historical glory of Kathmandu and want to make the city clean, green and open.”  The first phase of local elections will be held on May 14 while the second phase has been scheduled for June 14.  According to the election commission, around 5mn electors are eligible to cast their votes at 7,200 polling centres in the first phase of local elections.

The Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led government in Nepal yesterday received a major blow after one of the ruling coalition partners, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, decided to withdraw from the government over the impeachment motion against the chief justice. A meeting of the party central committee decided to pull out support following the impeachment motion registered in parliament against Chief Justice Sushila Karki by the two other ruling coalition parties – Nepali Congress and CPN (Maoist Centre) – on Sunday. There was no immediate reaction from the Prime Minister’s Office over the fate of the coalition of seven parties. “The decision to impeach Karki by the ruling Nepali Congress and Maoist Centre is an attack on the judiciary and our party does not support such a move,” the Rastriya Prajatantra Party said announcing its decision to leave the government. Nepal has seen hectic political developments following the decision to impeach the first woman chief justice, with Nepal’s Home Minister Bimalendra Nidhi quitting his post on Sunday following his reservation over the impeachment  decision. The Nepali Congress and CPN-Maoist Centre have accused Karki of interfering in the jurisdiction of the executive and failing to issue verdicts without being prejudiced.  A government decision to appoint a new police chief and a subsequent ruling by the Supreme Court led to a serious feud between the executive and judiciary, leading to the ruling party deciding to impeach the chief justice, causing uproar in Nepal. With just two weeks to go for the first phase of local level elections on May 14, the series of political incidents has put the fate of the polls in a limbo, with the resignation of the home minister adding to the quandary ahead of the polls. The home minister is in charge of overall security of the country.  Kamal Thapa, chairman of the RPP that decided to withdraw support yesterday, heads the local development ministry that is in charge of co-ordinating 477 local units. Amid the crisis, a meeting of the top Nepal army brass on Sunday night further fuelled the political uncertainties in Nepal. The emergency meeting called by army chief General Rajendra Chettri on Sunday assessed the latest political situation and decided to maintain extra vigil across the country.  Nepal is holding local level polls on May 14 and June 14. Major Madhes-based party, Rastriya Janata Party, has already declared it would not participate in the May 14 polls. Another party, Madhesi Janadhikar Foum that has 18 votes and is extending support to the government, has threatened to pull out its support on Tuesday, which would put the  government in a minority. MJF is all set to hold the party central committee meeting today to take a final call, and is likely to withdraw support to the government, said a leader. In the midst of this unprecedented political turmoil, Prime Minister Dahal said that elections on May 14 will take place at any cost.  The election commission has set Tuesday to file nominations for the first round of elections but the fast changing political situation has put a question mark on the fate of the  local polls.

The mountaineering community in Nepal paid tribute on Monday to Ueli Steck, the Swiss climber who died on Everest, describing him as an accomplished climber and a friend of the country. The 40-year-old climber slipped from a slope and fell to his death on Sunday while attempting to summit Everest via a rarely used route.  His body was flown to Kathmandu from the Everest region late on Sunday for an autopsy at a government-run hospital. Steck's family was travelling to Kathmandu and planned to bury him there because he loved the country and had many friends there, his spokesman Andreas Bantel said. "The family is infinitely sad," Bantel wrote on Facebook. Ang Tshering Sherpa, president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, who has known Steck since 2008, said the Swiss climber was "gregarious, quiet and energetic." "To me, he was a veteran climber, but he was also a friend. We used to meet almost every year on mountaineering conferences in Europe. Naturally, I feel very sad," Sherpa told DPA. Before flying to Lukla, the nearest airport to Everest, last month, Steck practised at Sherpa's climbing wall in Kathmandu's tourist district of Thamel. "He came at my office and practised on our climbing wall twice. He told me that he was leaving for Lukla the next day. So I presented him with silk scarves to wish him good luck," Sherpa said. Steck's plan was to climb the 8,848-metre Everest peak first, to camp overnight at above 8,000 metres, before continuing to the neighbouring Lhotse peak, Swiss media reported in late March.

Nepal's first female chief justice has been suspended after the government filed a motion to impeach her, triggering protests within the fragile ruling coalition. The two main parties in the coalition accused Sushila Karki of interference after the Supreme Court last month overturned the government's choice for chief of police. "We have decided to impeach Chief Justice Sushila Karki... after she visibly started taking sides in cases," Min Biswakarma, a member of the ruling coalition who proposed the motion, told AFP on Monday. Hours later, Deputy Prime Minister Bimalendra Nidhi resigned in protest. One of the smaller coalition parties has also threatened to quit the government. Karki's supporters say she has taken a strong stance against corruption during her year-long tenure as head of the supreme court. A committee will now be established to investigate the allegations of bias, after which parliament will vote on whether to impeach her. But the process is unlikely to get that far as she is due to retire in June when she turns 65. The government had appointed Jaya Bahadur Chand as police chief, but the court ruled that the highest-ranking officer Navaraj Silwal should take the top job. Nepal has a history of political interference in key civil appointments such as the head of police. The Himalayan country has had nine governments since the end of the civil war in 2006, with each successive administration seeking to fill key positions with their loyalists. Political analyst Lok Raj Baral said the coalition government was held together only by the desire of its constituent parties to stay in power. "There is constant bargaining (within the parties) for them to strengthen their position," he told AFP, describing the impeachment of the chief justice as another attempt to remove any obstacles. Local elections are due later this month, followed by provincial and then national elections by the end of the year.  The parties that make up the current coalition are expected to perform badly as disillusionment mounts with the constant political bickering and slow pace of change. 

Swiss climber Ueli Steck, one of the most feted mountaineers of his generation and famed for his speed ascents of iconic Alpine routes, died on Mount Everest yesterday, officials said. “Today morning, he had an accident on the Nuptse wall and died. It seems he slipped,” Ang Tsering Sherpa, head of the Nepal Mountaineering  Association, said. Steck, 40, was on Everest to acclimatise before attempting in May to summit the world’s tallest peak followed by neighbouring Lhotse, connecting a series of ridges to design a never before climbed route. Everest and neighbouring peak Nuptse share a common ridge, which is where Steck slipped and fell, according to a government official. “He skidded off about 1,000m from (Mt Nuptse) camp two early morning on Sunday. Other climbers ascending Everest saw him and asked for his rescue,” said Dinesh Bhattarai, director general at the department of  tourism. Steck was climbing alone when he died. His partner, Tenji Sherpa, had sustained severe frostbite earlier and was recovering at a lower camp.  His body was recovered by Nepali guides and flown by helicopter to Kathmandu. The accomplished alpinist sought to pioneer new routes throughout his career, earning the nickname “the Swiss Machine” for his record solo ascents in the Alps. He was attempting to achieve another first this year by charting a rarely climbed route to summit both Everest and Lhotse, the world’s fourth highest mountain, all without the use of supplemental  oxygen. Steck was due to summit Everest via the West Ridge – a route that has recorded more fatalities than summits – before climbing Lhotse. In a video recorded in early April and posted on YouTube, Steck said he would judge the attempt a success regardless of whether he reached the top – as long as he returned alive. Mingma Sherpa, the first Nepali to summit all 14 of the world’s peaks above 8,000m, said the accident – the first fatality of this year’s spring climbing season on Everest – underscored the unpredictability of mountaineering. “It is very sad news, he is a very experienced climber,” he said of Steck’s death.  “Things can be so unpredictable in the mountains and it can be challenging even for the most seasoned climbers.” Tributes poured in for Steck on social media, with British climber Kenton Cool – who has scaled Everest 12 times – describing him as “a true  inspiration to all”.  “A man that showed us all what was possible in the mountains and beyond,” Cool tweeted. Steck made global headlines in 2013 when he and two other Western climbers came to blows with a group of furious Nepali guides on Everest. The brawl shocked the mountaineering community, causing a damaging rift between Western climbers and the often lowly-paid Nepali guides who are essential for commercial expeditions to the crowded summit.  An angry Steck swore never to return to Everest, telling a Swiss website that his “trust (was) gone”. But he was back in the Himalayas only months later, this time to scale Mount Annapurna, the world’s 10th highest peak, via its steep Southface wall, becoming the first mountaineer to complete a solo ascent of the 8,091m (26,545ft) peak. Controversially, he offered no photographic proof of his accomplishment, saying an avalanche knocked his camera out of his hand.  Nevertheless, he was awarded the Piolet d’Or, mountaineering’s top  accolade, for the 2013 climb. Born in the town of Langnau im Emmental near the Swiss capital Bern in October 1976, Steck was a devoted climber by the age of 12. As an 18-year-old, he climbed Mont Blanc’s Eiger massif, an achievement that attracted attention and later sponsors, setting him on a course to become a  professional climber. He soon became one of the most prominent names in mountaineering after scaling some of the world’s most daunting peaks, often alone and without basic safety equipment such as fixed ropes or bottled oxygen. But, in an interview with AFP nearly two years before his death, Steck said he was never inspired by a quest for fame or records. “Personal pleasure alone dictates my approach,” he said. He said that he never wanted climbing to become a “business” and was content when his income exceeded what he previously made as a carpenter. Steck was however attacked by some in the mountaineering world for resisting the use of GPS to track his movements or refusing to record photographic evidence of his achievements, criticism that he dismissed as “jealousy”.

A man carries a giant Nepalese national flag during the Rato Machhindranath chariot festival in Lalitpur yesterday.

The Nepal government yesterday filed an impeachment motion against Chief Justice Sushila Karki, leading to the automatic suspension of the first woman to hold the top legal post. A total 249 lawmakers from the ruling Nepali Congress and CPN-Maoist Centre have accused Karki of interfering in the jurisdiction of the executive and failing to issue verdicts without being prejudiced. The recent dispute between the government and the Supreme Court over the appointment of the police chief is believed to have been the  tipping point. However, apparently protesting the decision which came a fortnight before the crucial local body elections, Deputy Prime Minister Bimalendra Nidhi announced his resignation. Nidhi, who holds the key Home portfolio, leads the Nepali Congress (NC), the largest constituent of the  current ruling coalition.  Attorney General Raman Shrestha said it was necessary to impeach C J Karki for she tampered with the work performance evaluation of the inspectors general of police candidates during the recent controversy over the promotion of Nepal police chief. Karki, who is slated to retire this month, has also been accused of breaching the sanctity of the court and separation of power, propping up groups and nepotism in the court, failed to execute fair justice and putting unnecessary pressure in the court and his fellow colleagues, among others. As soon as Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led government appointed Jay Bahadur Chand as the new police chief, his competitor Nawaraj Silwal had knocked the door of the Supreme Court claiming he was senior. Later, the court ruled that Silwal be appointed as per merit and seniority. After the dispute, the government had appointed Prakash Aryal as the new IGP of Nepal police. Silwal again moved the court last week and fearing that the court, which is due to deliver its verdict today, may rule in favour of Silwal, the two ruling parties decided to register  the impeachment motion.  Meanwhile, with Nidhi’s quitting, questions have risen over the fate of Nepal’s local elections on May 14 and June 14. Nidhi, who was leading the party in the Dahal-led government, was dissatisfied since long due to protocol-related issues with his party boss, Sher  Bahadur Deuba, and PM Dahal. “The appointment of the police chief comes under my ministry. I was not aware about the impeachment motion registered in parliament,” he said, adding that the impeachment motion is related to the IGP’s appointment and “I am not consulted”. Nidhi said he has serious reservations over the move to register the impeachment motion against C J Karki without his knowledge.

* Ueli Steck falls to death in Everest region * Steck, 40, was a veteran climber * Fall took place near Western Ridge's Camp Two An experienced Swiss climber died on Sunday after he fell in the Everest region of Nepal during preparations to climb the world's highest mountain, the first to perish in the current climbing season, officials said. Ueli Steck, 40, died after falling to the foot of Mount Nuptse, a smaller peak in the area, said Mingma Sherpa of the Seven Summits Treks company that organised Steck's expedition. Steck was in the area acclimatising ahead of a bid to climb Everest through the less-climbed West Ridge route and traverse to Lhotse, the world's fourth highest peak - at 8,516 metres (27,940 feet) in May. "His body has been retrieved and is being brought to Kathmandu," Sherpa told Reuters. Kamal Prasad Parajuli, an official with Nepal's Department of Tourism, confirmed Steck died while climbing Nuptse and that he had planned to attempt an Everest ascent. He said Steck, who climbed Everest in 2012, "slipped and fell 1,000 metres" in the Western Cwm along the normal route to Everest. The incident took place near the route's Camp Two, which is located at an altitude of 6,400 metres (21,000 feet), Parajuli said. A veteran climber of Mount Annapurna in western Nepal, the world's tenth highest mountain, and several other 8,000 metre peaks, Steck had won several awards for his mountaineering feats. Along with two other European climbers, Steck was involved in a brawl with sherpa guides over fixing ropes in 2013. The altercation, which forced the climbers off the mountain, drew international headlines. Last year, Steck and a German climber discovered the bodies of two famed American climbers, Alex Lowe and David Bridges, who were swept away in 1999 by an avalanche during their attempt to scale the world's 14th highest peak, Shishapangma. Hundreds of climbers gather at Everest base camp during the March-May climbing season as they prepare to climb the 8,850 metre (29,035 feet) Everest summit. 

Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has admitted to technical glitches in holding the May 14 polls in two phases and sought support from other political parties over the issue. In an all-party meeting on Friday, Dahal, the opposition and other parties lend support in passing the constitution amendment bill tabled earlier. Detailing out the technical difficulties, the prime minister said that on May 29 they have to bring the budget as per the constitutional provision as he expressed confusion over what to do about it since the first phase of election is on May 14 and second a month after on June 14. “Should we hold the first phase election on May 14 and go for the second? Then again a question arises over what to do with the vote counting? Should we commence the two-phase elections and go for the vote counting for this political agreement is needed. On the three issues of amendment proposal, holding election and budget I request all the parties to cooperate,” said the prime minister. The main opposition Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) is against the holding of the election in two phases, claiming that presentation of budget between the two phases would influence the voters. Leader of other parties, both the ruling and the opposition, suggested Prime Minister Dahal to organise single-phase poll and bring the budget after the completion of polls. The government is bound by the constitutional provision to bring the budget on May 29, which will collide with the second phase election which is slated for June 14. Law Minister Ajay Shankar Nayak yesterday claimed that the newly proposed amendment bill will be endorsed by the opposition. In an interaction in Kathmandu, Nayak said issues of delineation and amendment are for resolving the present political deadlock in the country. “In the absence of the State Council, we should have the provision that will fortify us with the rights to make the demarcation of the states through this Legislature Parliament and it is being improved. We have formed seven states through this assembly. Is there anyone who hasn’t understood this? If it is the matter of national interest and the issue of delineation, is there any need of making the objection? Which study has made this finding? I opine that their objection over it is wrong and they should not do it,” Nayak said.  The government has tabled a new amendment proposal with some revisions over it after the agitating parties made an objection over it. Though the government has tabled the amendment proposal, the formal discussion over it is yet to be started. Nayak also informed that the formal discussion over the amendment bill will get started from parliamentary meeting scheduled to be held today.

A Taiwanese man rescued after spending 47 days trapped under a waterfall at an altitude of 3,600 metres in central Nepal has raised questions about trekking safety in the country. Liang Sheng Yueh, who turned 22 on Friday, was hiking with his girlfriend Liu Chen Chun on March 11 when they slipped on snow and fell into a cave under a waterfall. The two were reportedly travelling unaccompanied by any experienced locals on a route toward the Ganesh Himal mountains, known for its treacherous terrain and sparse population. After losing contact with their children, the parents of the two contracted the Asian Trekking agency on March 26 to conduct a search and rescue. "For 4-5 days they ate the food they carried with them and they managed to survive only on water and salt until they were discovered by the search team," a statement issued the agency said.  Liu died three days prior to the arrival of rescuers on Wednesday.  Her body is in a mortuary in Tribhuwan University Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu. Liang is recovering in hospital. Thukten Sherpa, the executive director of Asian Trekking, recounted his team's efforts to retrace the couple steps. He said in the statement that after several failed attempts to find them, the rescue team spotted vultures hovering over a deep ravine and then noticed items of clothing. The tourists had lost their way in a snowstorm and were trying to find a village when the accident took place, the agency said. "Why did the government allow the two tourists to trek in such a difficult route without a guide?" asked the chairman of Himalayan Rescue Association, D B Koirala. Following a devastating earthquake in 2015, the government introduced a policy of not allowing a trek without a porter or a guide.  "It is clear that the provision wasn't strictly enforced," said Koirala. In addition, there is a lack of official and dependable weather information for trekkers and climbers. Experts also blame climate change for the increasing frequency of weather-induced accidents. Since 2011, there have been repeated mishaps on major trekking trails.  In April 2014, following the deaths of 16 Sherpa guides in an avalanche, Everest was shut down for climbing for that season. The same year, a blizzard took lives of 39 trekkers in the popular Annapurna region in the west of Nepal.  The earthquake of April 2015 took lives of 17 climbers in the Everest region.

A Taiwanese trekker is recovering in hospital after rescuers found him and his dead girlfriend on a mountainside in Nepal where they were stranded for 47 days, surviving on only water and salt after their food ran out. Liu Chen-chun, 18, died just three days before the rescue team located the couple in northwest Nepal, but her boyfriend managed to survive despite losing 30kg during the ordeal. A severely malnourished Liang Sheng-yueh, 20, was being treated in hospital in Kathmandu, where he was airlifted after being rescued from the remote region. Rescuers said the pair followed a river downstream in the hope of finding a village after getting lost. But they became stuck when they reached the edge of a waterfall and were unable climb back up. “They had a drop of about 100m on one side and a steep uphill on the other. They were trapped,” said Madhav Basnet who found them. Speaking haltingly and in broken English as he sipped hot soup, Liang told AFP on Wednesday it had been “very cold” on the mountain, and difficult to sleep. Basnet said that it was snowing heavily in the region when the couple reached the cliff and they had to shelter under a rock because they couldn’t put up their tent on the uneven ground. They survived on potatoes and noodles until their food ran out, leaving them with nothing more than salt and water. Rescuers headed to the isolated area after they saw crows hovering above and found them lying down. “The area was so deep and narrow that it was impossible for a helicopter to land,” Basnet said. The team used a long line to airlift them out and bring them to Kathmandu. Doctors treating Liang said that as well as his extreme weight loss, maggots had infested his right leg, but that he was recovering and regaining strength. The families of the trekkers alerted authorities when they didn’t get in touch as scheduled on March 10. Liang’s father travelled to Nepal after the couple went missing and chartered a helicopter to search for them. Chou Chiang-chieh, a friend of the pair, said they were biking from India to Nepal on a “dream adventure”. “She (Lui) fought to survive in the Himalayas for so long and I am really sad she didn’t make it, it’s such a pity, she’s like a family to me,” said Chou. Another high school friend posted a tribute to Liu, remembering her as a “happy child” always seeking new places to go. “I believe you will also live well on the other side,” Corn Huang, who said she lived with Liu for a year during high school, posted on Facebook. The couple had been hiking at about 3,000m without a guide. Tour operators have been pushing for guides to be mandatory if trekkers go above a certain altitude to ensure their safety, said Ang Tsering Sherpa, the head of Nepal’s mountaineering association. “Even popular routes can be tricky to navigate for new trekkers if there is snow or any other disturbances,” he told AFP. In 2014, a snowstorm killed about 40 people in the popular Annapurna circuit, with many blaming the high toll on the lack of information for solo trekkers. About 30% of some 100,000 trekkers who visit Nepal every year do so without a registered guide, according to the Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal. Association president Chandra Prasad Risal said accidents could be avoided if guides were used. “We hope this serves as a wake-up call to authorities,” he said.

Nepalese schoolchildren take part in a candle lighting memorial for the victims of the April 25, 2015 earthquake in Kathmandu, as the country marks two year anniversary a deadly earthquake struck the Himalayan nation. More than 700 heritage sites damaged in the disaster which killed nearly 9,000 people and destroyed half a million homes.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday discussed India-Nepal ties with his Nepalese counterpart Pushpa Kamal Dahal over telephone. “The prime ministers discussed recent developments in India-Nepal relations, including the recently concluded highly successful state visit of Nepalese President Bidhya Devi Bhandari to India,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.  Bhandari was in India from April 17 to 21 in what was her first foreign visit abroad after assuming office in October 2015. “Dahal spoke about the ongoing efforts of his government to take all stakeholders on board in the constitution implementation process,” the PMO statement said.  “Dahal also spoke about Nepal holding the first local elections in nearly 20 years and requested for India’s assistance in this connection.”  According to the statement, Modi conveyed the good wishes of the people and government of India to Nepal in its national efforts to achieve peace, stability and socio-economic  transformation. He assured Dahal that India will extend all possible assistance for local elections.  “The two prime ministers reiterated their commitment to advance multi-faceted India-Nepal co-operative ties for the benefit of the two peoples,” it said.

Nepal marked the second anniversary of a devastating quake yesterday with rebuilding finally under way, but thousands of survivors still living in flimsy shelters have been told they can never return home. Experts say the 2015 earthquake, which killed nearly 9,000 people, has heightened the risk of natural disasters in parts of the Himalayan country already prone to landslides, particularly during the annual monsoon rains. Around 2,500 families still living in temporary shelters now face permanent resettlement because authorities say the villages where they used to live are not safe. Among them is Subi Maya Tamang, who lost her home and her three-year-old granddaughter when their village of Haku was swept away in a massive landslide triggered by the 7.8-magnitude quake. For two years Tamang and her family have lived in a makeshift shelter built on rented land alongside 100 families a day’s walk from their wrecked homes. Their tin and tarpaulin shelters offer little protection from the harsh winters in this remote Himalayan district to the north of Kathmandu. The 48-year-old recalls how rocks and mud rained down on her village, killing over 50  people. “It took everything. There is nothing there, all swept away by a landslide,” she said. “There is no road. There is no house to live in, or land to farm if we go back.” But Tamang is one of the lucky ones – hers is the first village for which Nepal’s National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) has earmarked land. The NRA, a government agency administering the $4.1bn pledged by donors to rebuild after the earthquake, recently completed a survey to identify areas at risk from landslides. It now plans to resettle the community in the new location – although it is not clear when the rebuilding will  actually start. “They will be not just be given land,” said NRA official Dhurba Sharma, insisting the agency was working on the resettlement plan “with priority”. “The vision is to develop settlements that are equipped with infrastructure, have schools for the children and offer livelihood options to residents.” Survivors whose homes were destroyed have been told they will get a 300,000 rupee ($3,000) grant to rebuild. But many are growing impatient.Birbal Tamang, a 64-year-old farmer whose house and cattle were swept away in the landslide, said he was counting days until he could start rebuilding his house. “Technicians came with equipment and told us that our village is very dangerous,” he said. “They have said they will give us land, but we don’t know when we will get it. Perhaps I will grow old waiting.”

Kathmandu-based Nepal International Development Partners Group (IDPG) has expressed concern over the slow pace of reconstruction work in Nepal since the earthquake of 2015 and urged the government and the stakeholders concerned to expedite the process. In a statement on the eve of the second anniversary of the deadly earthquake, the group said on Monday that although some progress had been made, there were people and communities who were yet to receive help and for whom the process of reconstruction had not moved fast enough. “We understand and share their frustrations and realise that these processes will need to move faster,” it said. The IDPG is the apex platform of international development partners present in Nepal who meet to exchange views and information about all aspects of development co-operation and to co-ordinate joint efforts. Many international donors, including India and China, had pledged over $4.1bn immediately after the quake for the reconstruction of various private and public houses, monuments, schools, buildings and health facilities, among others. But due to slow progress, Nepal has not been able to fully utilise the amount pledged from the donors. Nearly 9,000 people had died and thousands of private and public buildings were completely destroyed in the quake. But even after two years, thousands of people are still living in makeshift  structures. “After much preparatory work... the reconstruction work has gained momentum,” the group said, adding that now greater efforts were needed to expand this momentum. The Nepal government had formed a National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) to execute various reconstruction works in Nepal. The NRA also admitted slow pace of work. “Only 40% damaged houses were rebuilt in two years. Slow progress has been reported even on rebuilding health facilities,” NRA Chief Executive Govinda Raj Pokhrel said in a press conference in  Kathmandu on Monday. “We will have fund crunch of another $3-4bn for completion of the reconstruction job. Now in rural areas, some communities are getting back on their feet and taking ownership of the task of reconstruction,” the group said. “The time ahead will not be easy, but working collectively, it is possible to overcome the trauma and to build back better,” the IDPG added.

Nepal on Tuesday marked the second anniversary of a devastating earthquake that killed 9,000 people and made a million homeless. While the government, which has been criticised for the slow pace of rebuilding, did not officially hold any event on Tuesday, communities held memorial services in Kathmandu and several parts of the country. At Kathmandu's Durbar Square, a United Nations World Heritage site where the quake left centuries-old temples and monuments in ruins and killed over 100 people, locals remembered the victims. Around 500 people gathered in the square and vowed to rebuild Kasthamandap Temple, a seventh century temple after which the Nepalese capital was named.  Local priests organised a ceremony of worship to try to ensure the success of the rebuilding campaign. Ganapati Lal Shrestha, a spokesman for the community groups, said they were against government rules which allow the lowest bidders to rebuild the heritage site. "It's not only our heritage, but also our pride and history. The Kasthamandap Temple withstood many earthquakes before, but collapsed in 2015 because of poor maintenance. We want to take it into our hands so that we can preserve it for posterity," he told DPA. More than 700 temples, monuments and traditional structures were damaged or destroyed in the quake, which wounded 22,000 people.

The day after Nepal was struck by a devastating earthquake, Samrat Basnet opened his doors to the wounded as hospitals overwhelmed with thousands of victims had to send away those without life-threatening injuries. Two years on Basnet is still caring for a handful of the 22,000 Nepalis injured in the disaster, many left with preventable disabilities after slipping through the cracks of a woeful healthcare system. With just seven health workers for every 10,000 people, Nepal was grossly ill-equipped when the massive 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck on April 25, 2015, levelling whole villages and killing 9,000.  Small, impromptu clinics like Basnet’s picked up the slack. As patients were discharged from hospitals to clear beds, Basnet tended to their injuries on mattresses in his cramped office in Kathmandu. But the hospital engineer never imagined he would still be their carer two years on. “There are hundreds of times I thought I could have stopped this, I could have gone back to my normal life,” he said. “But when I see these patients, I cannot do that.” After the earthquake, a seemingly endless stream of injured poured into Kathmandu needing treatment. Once patched up, the hospitals sent the injured away. Many had nowhere to go or were sent back to damaged homes where they could not receive necessary follow up care. “In the districts, there was not any rehabilitation or surgery facilities, so the people who required rehabilitation didn’t get it,” said Sunil Pokhrel, a physiotherapist with the charity Handicap International. “That’s why they have developed the stiffness of the joint, infections in the wounds.” There is a lack of data on the number of people who have been left permanently disabled by the earthquake, but some estimates say it could be as high as 3,000. A report released last year by the United Nations Development Programme said a significant proportion of disabilities in Nepal were preventable, caused by avoidable complications and a lack of follow-up care like physiotherapy. Krishna Hari Pudasani, 28, used to work as a trekking guide but today is paralysed, bedridden by tetanus from a small cut to his ankle. “I am feeling very bad, because he used to work hard and earn and now he is in this condition,” said Pudasani’s father Lilanath, as he fed his son via a feeding tube. Basnet’s first patient was a woman he found in an alleyway with severe head injuries.  She had been patched up at a hospital then discharged but needed ongoing care, so Basnet brought her home where he had medical equipment on hand. Soon overwhelmed doctors and nurses were on the phone, asking if he could take a few more. Within a few days, every room in Basnet’s office was full as he tended to around 25 patients. Today he still cares for six people injured in the earthquake, most of whom have required repeated follow up surgeries.  Basnet ferries them to the hospitals for appointments and his team of five nurses and one physiotherapist provide the post-surgical care they otherwise would not receive. “They (the hospitals) have to discharge them as soon as possible, as soon as they are operated on, within two, three days. This is the problem of our healthcare system,” Basnet said. The World Health Organisation recommends a minimum of 34.5 skilled healthcare professionals per 10,000 people - nearly five times the number available in impoverished Nepal. The shortage almost robbed Sarita Tamang of her ability to walk and care for herself after her right hip was crushed in the earthquake. She lay trapped for hours under the rubble of a collapsed wall that killed her husband and for months relied on crutches to walk and her son-in-law to help her use the toilet. Tamang’s mother, as she watched her daughter struggle to walk, wondered if she would have been better off meeting her husband’s fate. But after months of physiotherapy in a tented clinic run by Handicap International in Chautara, a town 107km (66 miles) east of the earthquake’s epicentre, Tamang now walks unaided with a barely detectable limp. The 32-year-old still needs one final surgery to remove a metal rod in her leg before she can put the disaster behind her for good. “Then it will be better, like it was before,” she said.

The Nepal government will hold local body elections in two phases - on May 14 and June 14 in different parts of the country, a government spokesman said yesterday. A Cabinet meeting decided to hold the first round of elections in provinces of numbers 3, 4 and 6 and second round of elections in provinces of numbers 1, 2, 5 and 7 on May 14 and June 14, respectively. “Local body elections will be held in two phases,” government spokesman Surendra Kumar Karki said, adding that this has generated a new hope among the people, ending a long political impasse. Elections will be held in altogether 744 local units of Nepal that include four metropolitan cities, 13 sub-metropolitan cities, 246 municipal and 481 village councils, according to the election  commission. A month earlier, the government had said that the local body elections would be held in a single phase only on May 14. However, the government decided to hold elections in two phases after the disgruntled Madhes-based ethnic parties recently agreed to participate in the local body elections who have been protesting against the government to seek amendments in the  constitution. A new deal was struck between the government and the Madhes-based ethnic parties on Saturday ensuring their participation in the local body elections. According to the spokesman, the government will soon forward a revised constitution amendment bill in parliament for its approval in order to address demands raised by the Madhes-based ethnic parties. The local body elections should have been held in every five years in Nepal. Due to political instability, they have been halted since May 1997. A large amount of government budget goes to local level but due to the lack of accountable and elected bodies, the money is said to be often  misused. It is mandatory for Nepal to hold three-tier election - local, provincial, centre, within January next year under the new constitutional provisions.