India gifts ambulances and buses to Nepal on R-Day
27 Jan 2016 6:12 AM IST
India on Tuesday gifted 40 ambulances and eight buses to different organisations in Nepal on the occasion of its 67th Republic Day.
Celebrating the day with the Nepali counterpart, India’s Ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae handed over keys of 33 ambulances and six buses to different charitable organisations and schools during a function held inside the Indian Embassy premises.
The remaining seven ambulances and two buses were gifted by the Consulate General of India in Birgunj to different organisations.
The function was attended by over 2,500 people including diplomats, journalists, social activists, business community leaders and government staff.
The ambassador also gifted books to 52 libraries, schools and training institutes of Nepal.
The widows and dependents of Ex-servicemen and disabled Ex-servicemen were handed over cash incentives and blankets by the Ambassador.
Ambassador Rae after hoisting the Indian national flag read out President Pranab Mukherjee’s address, which stressed that India on Tuesday is a rising power fast emerging as a global leader in science, technology, innovation and start ups and whose economic success is the envy of the world.
On the occasion, students of Kendriya Vidyalaya and Modern Indian School presented different songs. Nepal Army band also presented melodious music enthralling the audience.
Will not visit India until blockade is lifted: Nepal PM
Raising a question-mark over his visit to India next month, Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli on Tuesday said it will not be appropriate for him to visit New Delhi as long as a blockade of the Nepal-India border continues. A now more than five-month-old snti-Constitution protest by Madhesis in the southern Nepali Terai has led to a blockading of a major portion of the 1,868-m open border that the landlocked Himalayan nation has with its southern neighbour. Most of the 41 transit and customs points along the southern portion of this open border have been besieged by the Madhesi protestors who are demanding, among others, a redrawing of the boundaries of the provinces in Nepal as proposed in the new Constitution
promulgated on September 20 last year; and representation in Parliament on the basis of population. Significantly, the Nepal Terai has almost 51 percent of the country’s population and yet gets only one-third of seats in Parliament. The Madhesis also seek proportional representation in government jobs and restoration of rights granted to them in the interim constitution of 2007 which the new charter has snatched away. An India visit by Oli, the first foreign tour by him after assuming the office, is likely to take place in late February with preparations apace, according to reports in the Nepali media.
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