Govt bent on depot closure

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, April 17 - At a time when remote mid western villages begin to face food shortages leading to the spread of diseases, government officials today said reversing the decision to close down food depots would mean going against the agreement between the government and Asian Development Bank (ADB).

"We are compelled to honor the agreement between the government and ADB at a time when the process of receiving loan has begun," Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Supplies Ram Kumar Shrestha said today.

Shrestha was answering queries raised by members of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) today which had asked the government to review its decision to close down 41 of the 77 depots of the Nepal Food Corporation (NFC) based on loan conditions set by ADB and a hastily prepared report.

Based on the report that was rushed through, the government closed these depots on Dec. 31 last year. Many of these depots are in remote mountainous areas that are hit by food shortages every spring and in some areas lead to spread of diseases claiming hundreds of lives every year.

PAC members said that there was no mention in the agreement that said these depots had to be closed down. "The agreement says there has to be structural changes in NFC ... when does this translate to closure of depots in remote parts of the country," asked CPN-UML’s Ishwor Pokhrel.

Pokhrel said controlling corruption and overstaffing and developing self dependency by decreasing the subsidy on food grains were the points raised by ADB in the agreement.

Shrestha admitted that there was no mention of the closure of depots in the agreement but during follow up reports and review, ADB has repeatedly asked the government on why there was delay in closing these depots.

Officials in the past have admitted that pressure from the Finance Ministry to complete the report by July 1999 had made them rush through the report without having time to consider the geographical and economical factors of the areas where the depots were being shut down.

And failure to submit the report within the specified time would have meant delay or possible loss of the loan assistance from ADB. ADB had pledged to grant a loan assistant of US$ 50 million for the second agriculture program but had set conditions that the number of depots and employees of the corporation needs to be cut down under the reforms program.

NFC General Manager Beni Bahadur Rawal said the government had not directed the corporation to reopen the closed food depots. However, documents showed that the government had asked the ministry to take action after PAC had directed for reviewing the decision and take such actions only after doing proper homework.

Compensation hiked

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, April 17 - The government has decided to increase the compensation amount by 50 percent paid to the families of police personnel killed on active duty.

The cabinet today endorsed a proposal to increase the compensation amount to Rs. 750,000 for the families of those killed after the new government assumed power last month.

The move is an attempt to boost the morale of police who have been target of series of Maoist attacks in many parts of the country.

Before this, the families received Rs. 500,000. The families of those killed before this endorsement will also received additional Rs. 200,000.

In addition, the next of kin will receive full salary being drawn by the deceased for the next 10 years. And if a police personnel is injured to a point where he or she will be unable to join active duty, that person will continue to draw full salary for the next 10 years.

The children of the personnel killed will also receive money who will be categorized according to their grade in school or college.

Each child in primary school will receive Rs. 10,000 per annum, while a child in secondary school will receive Rs. 12,000, Rs. 14,000 for a child in higher secondary level, Rs. 16,000 for the student in certificate level of college, Rs. 18,000 for student in Diploma level and Rs. 20,000 in Degree level.

Similarly, the striking forces in Maoist-hit areas will also receive additional allowance. Each personnel in the striking forces in Rukum, Rolpa, Jajarkot, Salyan, Kalikot and Achham will receive Rs. 2,000 each month as allowance while their colleagues in the remaining insurgency hit areas will receive Rs. 1,500 per month.

Others stationed in police stations or district headquarters in these areas will receive Rs. 1,000 as allowance. Civil service personnel killed in these areas on duty will also receive compensation at par with the police personnel.

Families of civilians killed by the Maoist rebels will also receive Rs. 150,000 which is up from Rs. 100,000. Since the rebels began their violent campaign four years back, nearly 1,300 people have been killed.

Cabinet dissolves three committees

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, April 17 - The cabinet meeting today dissolved three committees formed by previous governments saying these bodies were constituted in haste and failed to deliver the avowed goals.

During the meeting today, the cabinet dissolved the Youth Self-employment Programme (YSP), the Youth Mobilization Committee headed by former parliamentarian Hom Raj Dahal and the Employment Promotion Committee headed by former minister Amar Raj Kaini.

YSP was formed just a few weeks back. The April 11 cabinet meeting had decided to annul the appointment of the member secretaries of all 75 districts of the committee stating that since the youth self-employment programme itself has to be reviewed, the appointment of member secretaries for the programme has been cancelled.

The cabinet decided to dissolve the committee headed by Nabindra Raj Joshi as the program was moved without proper planning and research.

The call made for training provided to unemployment youths drew over 60,000 applications and pledged were made to provide Rs. 100,000 to each of these youths as loans. However there was no mention of how and where the government headed by Krishna Prasad Bhattarai intended to conduct the training or come up with the loan amount.

The government had announced to initiate youth Self-employment Programme, in the current Fiscal year. However, due to the lack of clear responsibility and authority, the programme was finally handed over to the Ministry of Labour after a span of about seven months.

The Ministry of Labour on February 24 had announced to provide self-employment training to 18,000 unemployed youths by the end of the fiscal year.

The Employment Promotion Committee headed by former minister Amar Raj Kaini was dissolved as it had not produced any results in its three years of existence, said a senior cabinet member.

The same minister said the Youth Mobilization Committee headed by former parliamentarian Hom Raj Dahal was scrapped as it resembled the programs brought during the Panchayati regime that led to youths better known as Mandales being mobilized to control the general public.

The committees formed for welfare of homeless squatters will also be dissolved. New committees will be formed based on report from the Ministry of Land Reforms in the districts that are genuinely effected by the problem.

US embassy refutes allegations on Furey

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, April 17 - Responding to allegations against the US Ambassador-designate Thomas Furey, US Embassy today said US Government was aware that the Fureys had taken a Nepali child in their home for four months and that "they subsequently decided not to proceed to finalize the adoption process."

"The matter was known to the US government during the process of considering Mr Furey’s nomination," said an American Center press statement. "The circumstances were carefully and thoroughly investigated. American officials and others who were in Nepal at the time were consulted, and there was no suggestion that Mr Furey acted illegally or on any basis other than personal concerns, which included the welfare of the child." Furey was last posted in the US Embassy in Kathmandu in the early 80s.

There are allegations that the Fureys abandoned the Nepali child due to its "dark skin colour". The Fureys handed back the child to the foster home due to its dark skin colour, according to Robert Cardinalli, an American national who then worked for Kathmandu’s World Bank office. Cardinalli, who now occupies a senior position at USAID office in Cairo, has appealed to the US Senator, Jesse Helms, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to block the appointment.

An American couple have sent an e-mail to The Kathmandu Post from Saudi Arabia making similar allegations (April 18, Letter to the Editor) against the Fureys.

The Foreign Relations Committee is currently considering Furey’s appointment.

In his letter to Senator Helms, Cardinalli claims that Furey’s parents, who visited them in Kathmandu, threatened to disown them if they returned to the US with the "black thing."

On April 11 and 17, The Kathmandu Post carried two news reports on the adoption controversy, recording both public outrage over Furey’s alleged misconduct and the 1982 incident, primarily attributing the story to Cardinalli.

"The Kathmandu Post articles contain a number of allegations said to be contained in a letter from an individual to the Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee," the American Center statement today said.

Of the assertions of the fact in the article, only one is true: In July 1982, an adoption agency run by the Government of Nepal placed a child in the foster care of Mr and Mrs Furey. The child was in their home for a period of four (not six) months in the late 1982.

No documents were signed when Mr and Mrs Furey took the child into their foster care.

They subsequently decided not to proceed to finalize the adoption process. The child was then placed in the foster care of another family.

In particular, there is no basis for charges that Mr Furey’s actions in this matter were based on ‘racism’. In our view, the use of that word in the headline of the article is thoroughly unfair and completely unwarranted and unsubstantiated since it is nowhere mentioned in association with Mr Furey’s names in the text of the article.

The false allegations regarding Mr Furey’s family members are particularly egregious, since the individuals accused are deceased and unable to defend themselves against these allegations.

What is also true is that the decision was fundamentally a personal one for Mr and Mrs Furey. Some Americans and others who were in Nepal at the time had strong opinions about the matter. Many supported the Fureys, others considered what they did to be mistaken. But neither the Nepalese government nor Mr Furey’s superiors at the time raised any question about the actions he took.

"Eighteen years later, this matter should be put at rest. Mr Furey is eminently qualified to be the US Ambassador to Nepal. He has enjoyed a successful career as on officer of the US government and, most importantly, loves Nepal and its people. If confirmed by the Senate, he will be an excellent representative of the United States Government and people to the Kingdom of Nepal."

Peace finally pervades during Bisket Jatra

By Subina Shrestha

BHAKTAPUR, April 17 - For the first time in years, Bisket Jatra finished in record time. And without any violence.

With a tug-of-war going on between the people on both sides of the chariot, and thousands more thronged, as the years before, today marked the last day of the eight-year festival. Everyone feared it could turn bloody. But with the mobilisation of 350 police personnel, 850 volunteers from all the municipal wards and the involvement of political parties and local organizations peace prevailed for a change this year.

"It was 30 years ago that the first fight broke out during the festival," says Shyam Dhaubadel, a resident of Bhaktapur who now runs a restaurant at Nyatapola Square at the centre of the medieval city.

According to locals, in 1970, the leaders of the two sides of the chariot placed a bet on who would win and wrestled to decide. Just when one party was on the verge of clinching a win, the other party started flinging stones. A violent fight broke out. "The tradition of fighting has continued since," says Dhaubadel.

Each year, the chariot of Bhairab is pulled from Lakolachen to Nyatapola. Hell breaks loose when the rival sides try to take to Kywechen (lower house) and Chwechen (upper house). Each year, police have been forced to use tear-gas to disperse the crowd. Locals claim that last year the festival ended at 2 o’clock in the morning when the crowd went berserk and police personnel had to pull the chariot themselves. Today, it ended within an hour, without any untoward incident.

The multiple legends associated with the festival suggest plenty of bloodshed. It is said that Bishwanath (Lord Shiva) from Kashi, India had come to observe the festival of goddess Ajima, disguised as a commoner, when the then Malla King found out the arrival of the Lord. He then ordered his army to bring the God.

Bishwanath, who was a head taller than the crowd, was spotted. The king’s men pleaded with him to come to the palace and he refused. The tantriks then decided to trap him. As they circled him, Bishwanath started to sink into the ground and when just the head remained, the tantriks chopped his head off.

From then onwards, Bishwanath stayed and the festival of Bhairab (common name for Bishwanath) along with that of Ajima were held together.

Over the past 30 years, the only other time that peace prevailed was in 1991. "The joy of democracy and freedom overruled everything else then," says Roshan Maiya Suwal, chairperson of ward No 9. "It was the best ever festival," she claims.

People claim this year has been as good. "We used to run for shelter on this day," says Kisan Devi, 65. She and her friend, 70-year-old Nanu Maiya are happy that the local administration has been able to do a good job.

But some are still a little sore about the accident that claimed three lives just a few days ago. On April 13, on the day of Nepali New Year, the pole, supposed to symbolise Shiva, broke claiming the lives. "Gods were angry with us," says 75-year-old Kumar Khaitu. However, even he was thrilled with the turn of events today.

"We had a meeting with all political parties and decided to make this festival peaceful and enjoyable," says Dhruba Narayan Libi, chairperson of ward No 11.

3 yrs old raped

BHAIRAHAWA, April 17 (PR)- Police here arrested a teenager for raping a three year old girl. According to the District Police Office Rupandehi, Gopal Gurung, 17, of Dipnagar, Butwal was arrested on Saturday. Police said Gurung went to the room where the child was sleeping with an excuse to watch TV and raped her on Friday. The child’s mother was at her neighbours place.

Medical test showed that the girl had been raped. Police said they found traces of semen on the girls private parts as well as the bed sheet she was sleeping on.

Likewise, police here arrested Ram Prasad Dhakal, 30, of Butwal on Friday for raping a six-year old girl.