- All birds in the areas 3 kilometers from the Nepal-India border at Kakarbhitta to be culled
- Mechinagar Municipality-10 declared "Bird Flu Emergency Area"
- Traces of avian flu found in 6 out of 7 samples
- Power consumption in Singhadurbar, ministers´ quarters, PM´s residence to be reduced
- Koshi tower to be reconstructed within 15 days
[break] KATHMANDU, Jan 16: An emergency meeting of the cabinet Friday afternoon declared Mechinagar-10 of Jhapa district in eastern Nepal bird flu affected country. Also, the government decided to take immediate measures to tackle the prolonged load-shedding hours in the country.
Minister for Tourism Hisila Yami told journalists after the meeting that the government has decided to cull all birds in the areas three kilometers from the Nepal-India border at Kakarbhitta in Jhapa district in order to contain the spread of the avian flu.
The government has also decided to expedite surveillance in the areas 10 kilometers from the Kakarbhitta border, according to government spokesperson Krishna Bahadur Mahara. Mahara said the government has declared ward no. 10 of Mechinagar Municipality in Jhapa district as the "Bird Flu Emergency Area".
Traces of bird flu had been found in six out of seven samples of birds brought to Nepal from India.
Meanwhile, the government has decided to instruct the concerned authorities to reinstate the towers in Sunsari district along the Duhabi-Kataiya transmission line within 10 to 15 days, said Mahara, who is also the Minister for Information and Communications, while emerging from the cabinet meeting.
Five towers along the transmission line in Nepal and India had collapsed when Koshi river breached its embankment at West Kusaha in Sunsari district on August 18 last year.
After a bidding process, the government has recently assigned a construction company to build the towers. Nepal can import 90 MW from India once the towers are restored.
As other options to tackle the power crisis, the cabinet decided to bring the diesel plants in Hetauda and Biratnagar into operation in coordination with the private sectors and to provide fuel in subsidy to any firms interested in generating power using diesel plants, soon.
The ministers also came up with the conclusion to instruct authorities to minimize power consumption in Singhadurbar, the central secretariat, the prime minister´s official residence in Baluwatar, and ministers´ quarters at Pulchowk, among other public offices.
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