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Lawmakers have called on the government to be accountable to the Parliament and implement the directives given by the parliamentary committees. Taking part in a discussion on the evaluation and follow-up report on the implementation of National Concern and Coordination Committee's annual reports for the fiscal year 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22, they urged the government to be serious on implementing the reports brought by the parliamentary committees after intensive deliberation. Lawmaker Sonam Gyaljen Sherpa criticized the government for not being serious towards the directives and suggestions given by the committee to the government. Gopi Bahadur Sarki Achhami stressed on fully implementing the directives related to implementation of the federalism and finalizing the issue on fiscal federalism. Jayanti Devi Rai said the national pride projects were not giving the due returns commensurate with the investments made in them. Anita Devkota said many national pride projects were in limbo and there was lack of coordination at different structural levels. She complained that projects which were said to be completed in five years have not been completed even in 15 years. Khimlal Devkota alleged that the federal government has a mentality of centralization when it comes to making various legislations facilitating the provincial governments. Tulasa Kumari Dahal pointed out the lack of inter-ministry coordination in implementing the national pride projects. She wanted to know about the government's preparation in the face of increasing COVID-19 cases. Kamala Panta complained about the overly delay in the construction of Budhigandaki Project despite adequate budget. Devendra Dahal said the government has not even implemented 30 percent of the directives of the parliamentary committees. Ganga Kumari Belbase drew the attention of the government over the tardy progress in the construction of the Nijgadh Expressway. Madan Kumari Shah (Garima) called attention of the government to vigorously resolve the problems encountered in the construction of the national pride projects and also to pay attention to the quality of works. Bimala Rai Paudyal stressed on the need of improvement in the process and procedures of project construction. She said the 'track record' of the construction companies should be thoroughly evaluated before awarding them the contract for construction of projects. Jitendra Narayan Dev said the government is not taking the committee's directives seriously while Shekhar Kumar Singh urged the government for implementation of the directives of all the four committees of the National Assembly as they are to assist the government. He also called attention to the government over the renting out of the land belonging to the Pashupati Development Trust. Before this, the meeting unanimously approved a proposal seeking consideration over the evaluation and follow-up reports. Committee president Dil Kumari Rawal Thapa had presented the proposal in this connection.

Air pollution across the country including the Kathmandu Valley has gone rampant in the past few days, and the condition is expected to high remain for three more days. Wind and rainfall are unlikely in some days, thus resulting in the continuation of the atmospheric pollution, said the Meteorological Forecasting Division (MFD). A lack of rainfall and wildfires in most parts of the country in the past few days are blamed for air pollution, said Shankar Prasad Paudel, Spokesperson for the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology. Satellite pictures have showed that air pollution has increased in the Kathmandu Valley (Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur), Bara, Parsa and Chitwan districts in particular, he said, adding that the Valley witnessed air pollution due to failure for the wind flowing into and accumulated in the Valley from Bara, Parsa and Chitwan through the Bagmati corridor to blow elsewhere. The Department has urged people to take precautions and not to step outside home and to use facemasks and sunglasses. It will take some days for the clearance of air pollution, said meteorologist and disaster expert Dr Dharma Upreti. Air pollution increases risks of diseases like pressure, heart problems and cancer, said Paudel. As a result of air pollution, flights have also been affected. Domestic flights were affected on Sunday due to low visibility, according to the Tribhuvan International Airport Office. However, international flights are generally operating. The Kathmandu Valley has been ranked as the most polluted city in the world, according to the WHO with the Air Quality Index (AQI) reading above 200. Bhaktapur, and Patan of Lalitpur district were mostly polluted. Similarly, Kirtipur and Ratnapark in Kathmandu district, Madhyapur Thimi in Bhaktapur, Hetauda in Makawanpur and Dhankuta district were also among polluted cities with the AQI reading around 200. Air quality with AQI between 51 and 100 is considered to be normal, and air quality with AQI above is said to be unhealthy. Air quality with AQI above 300 is considered to be dangerous and detrimental. Generally, people with deteriorating health are prone to air quality with AQI above 50, and air quality with AQI above 100 is unhealthy to all.  

A team of Nepal Army, which has joined a mountain cleanup campaign, has scaled the Annapurna I. The team led by Captain Suman Pandey reached atop the tenth highest mountain (8,091 meters) in the world at 8:55 am today, according to the Directorate of Public Relations and Information, Nepal Army. The mountaineering team, who conquered the mountain, included Lance Corporal Man Singh Chaudhary, army men Nabaraj Rana and Gyanendra Dangi and five Sherpa guides led by Tshering Jangbu Sherpa. A mountain cleanup campaign on an annual basis is underway under the leadership of the Nepal Army. It aims to conserve the biodiversity and ecology; it has been said. As part of the campaign, a cleanup drive is going on in mountains including Mount Everest, Lhotse, Baruntse and Annapurna. Meanwhile, a 13-member team led by Lieutenant Colonel Kishor Adhikari, who set out to tidy up Mount Everest and Lhotse, has reached the Second Base Camp, it has been said. Similarly, a team that has set out to clean up Baruntse is reaching the Base Camp. This year, it aims to collect around 35 tons of garbage from Mount Everest, Lhotse, Annapurna and Baruntse.

Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) Chairman Rajendra Lingden said the bill to amend the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act, 2071 BS was not in favor of victims. At a press conference organized at Taplejung headquarters, Fungling, today, he said the bill has only addressed the issues of key sides of the conflict. The bill is an attempt to free the rebel side only, he said, it has relegated the conflict survivors to the back-burner. "The conflict had not only involved the rebel side and state side. General public who did not associate themselves with either side were the most affected victims. But they had come across the biggest loss and damage", Lingden added. However, the present bill has not inserted any measures to dispense justice to the most-affected people, he commented. On another note, RPP Chair Lingden ruled out the need of three tiers of the governments in the name of federalism. If the local level is empowered and province scrapped, it would reduce financial burden and also bail the country out of economic crisis, he asserted.  

Domestic flights have been affected due to adverse weather. Flights to Pokhara, Bharatpur, Tumlingtar among the destinations were hampered due to poor visibility, the Tribhuvan International Airport Office said. TIA Office spokesperson Teknath Sitaula said flights have been completely affected in three domestic destinations including Pokhara. Flights to Simara opened some minutes back. The flights to Pokhara, Bharatpur and Tumlingtar have not opened yet. Although flights could not be conducted to three destinations until now, they were operated to some destinations with the clearing up of the weather. The TIA Office said 115 flights have been scheduled towards the domestic sector today. The flights have been affected due to the increased air pollution at various places of the country including in Kathmandu for the past three days. Air flights to Pokhara were affected on Friday and Saturday as well. Sitaula said although the flights towards the international sector were generally affected in the morning, they are taking place regularly now. An aircraft of the Qatar Airways had to hold for about two hours as it made a mis-approach.

Air pollution has swelled throughout the country due to the wildfires taking place at various places since some days. The Department of Environment said atmospheric pollution has increased across the country including in the Kathmandu Valley due to the bush fires, leading to unhealthy air in Nepal for the past few days. According to the Department, the air pollution measurement stations in the Kathmandu Valley have indicated the polluted air even at present. It is said Kathmandu is in the second position among the world's polluted cities. Kathmandu's air quality index (AQI) measured at 9.30 am today showed that the federal capital is in second place among the world's polluted cities in terms of AQI. People with health vulnerabilities are at risk when the AQI is more than 50 and it is hazardous to all people when it is more than 100. Kathmandu's AQI is 192 at present. Chiang Mai city in Thailand is said to be in the first position in the list of pollution index. Its AQI is 222. Similarly, India's Delhi is in third place, Dhaka of Bangladesh in fourth place, Kolkata of India in fifth place in terms of the highest AQI. Air with measurement of AQI from 51 to 100 is considered normal while the air with AQI above this is considered unhealthy. AQI above 300 is highly hazardous, it is said.  

A 73-year-old woman from Kanchanpur, who was infected with coronavirus, died in the course of treatment at the Seti Provincial Hospital in Dhangadhi. The woman suffering from heart disease was admitted to the ICU of the hospital's Covid ward six days ago after the result of the PCR test was positive, said Mekharaj Upadhyay, the information officer of the provincial hospital. It may be noted that the infection rate of corona virus has started to rise in Sudurpaschim Province for the past few weeks. According to the statistics of Directorate of Health Dipayal, 223 people have been found to be infected in the province in the last 11 days.  

A youth from Kalagaon in Dogdakedar rural municipality-8 has been found murdered. Basudev Joshi (37) was found murdered near his house at 8:00 pm on Saturday, Inspector Yogesh Khatri, spokesperson at the District Police Office, Baitadi said. He was reportedly killed by using a sharp weapon. An investigation has been launched into the incident, police said.