Refugee impasse will be resolved soon, says Bhutan’s envoy

By Damakant Jayshi

KATHMANDU, Dec 2 - Bhutan’s ambassador to Nepal Dago Tsering today said that the vexed refugee issue will be settled in the near future and expressed hope that the process of reconciliation could begin at the 10th ministerial-level talks slated for late December.

"I feel the imbroglio could head towards settlement in the ministerial talks," Tsering told The Kathmandu Post, at a felicitation function for former Indian Prime Minister I K Gujral organised by Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Shital Niwas today. "It is with this frame of mind our delegation is coming to Nepal."

Tsering’s comment comes in the wake recently unveiled US proposal to find a solution to the decade-long Bhutanese refugee impasse. A high-level US delegation comprising Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Karl Inderfurth and Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration of the US State Department Ms Julia V. Taft are currently in Nepal.

At a press conference on Friday, the US delegation disclosed that they have come with a new proposal to resolve the refugee deadlock, which Nepal is said to have agreed. The delegation is leaving for Bhutan on December 4 with the same proposal.

A close to one hundred thousand Bhutanese refugees are languishing in eastern Nepal since 1990. When the refugee exodus to Nepal started, Tsering was Bhutan’s Home Minister.

"If two brothers meet for a resolution, I don’t see why a problem cannot be solved. Even if there is disagreement over some issue, we can still stay together," said the envoy. "We have to find a viable solution."

When asked what would be Bhutan’s response if there was a proposal for mediation from India or US, Tsering initially said that Nepal and Bhutan themselves were capable of finding a solution. However, he added that if the proposal for third party mediation had to be considered, the joint ministerial meeting would take the decision on the issue.

On the US proposal on steps to be taken for the resolution of the problem, the ambassador said that he is yet to study it. Diplomatic circle in the capital believes that Bhutan will now be under tremendous pressure to abandon its delaying tactics, especially with US spotlight on the refugee imbroglio.

Tsering pointed out that "political instability in Nepal" was the major cause for the delay in settling the dispute. It is not the unwillingness on the part of either side that has blocked the settlement; it is only a matter of right atmosphere, he said.

A highly placed source at the Foreign Ministry, dismissed Tsering’s argument and said "it has been Bhutan’s common excuse since long to blame Nepal for the deadlock." However, he too expressed the hope for an amicable solution this time around. "The whole world has now come around to our view on the refugee issue and we hope that Bhutan too will do the same."

Patients suffer as hospital strike continues

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Dec 2 - As usual, it was the patients who are suffering as the paramedics at various government hospitals continued their strike even today, blaming the government of not being serious of their demand to reinstate their "Risk Compensation Allowance".

The technical workers of the Radiology and the Pathology Department of Bir Hospital, Kanti Child Hospital, Teku Hospital, Maternity Hospital and Bhaktapur Hospital have suspended all the services except "emergency" from Friday.

The patients are compelled to seek service at the private nursing homes, despite their expensive services. A patient Ram Bhakta Shahi who reached a private clinic for "blood test" at Dillibazar said, "the doctor says no further treatment can occur without the blood test. There is no option but go to private clinics though it’s expensive."

The technical staff of the various hospitals say that if their demand is not met on time, they will be forced to close down even the "Emergency Departments".

"Government instead of becoming serious over our demands has issued a notice that no strike should occur," said one Bir Hospital worker. "We are ready to face all sorts of challenges".

It is not just new patients who are suffering. Those admitted in the hospital are also forced to leave their hopital beds for "various tests".

Government had formed a committee to decide on the "workers allowance" under the chairmanship of National Planning Commission Member Dr Shankar Sharma. The committee is also to look after the present tormoil.

The committee is discussing on the issue but no decision has been reached regarding the allowance, said Bir Hospital Director Ram Prasad Shrestha. "This issue is neither within our control nor the Ministry," said Shrestha.

The paramedics are preparing for the nation wide strike. "We are preparing for the nation wide strike and the government is acting ridiculous by turning a deaf ear to our demands," said Shanta Lal Shrestha, Chairman of Nepal Radiologist’s Society.

Meanwhile Secretary of Ministry of Health Padam Prasad Pokharel said that such a move of hospital workers is "impractical" and "legal actions" can be taken against the workers.

Voluntary retirement scheme draws low response

By Kiran Bhandari

KATHMANDU, Dec 2 - The government’s proposal to lure the civil servants by giving a lumpsum if they opt for voluntary retirement has not been taken by the civil servants as expected.

The government on September 4 announced that civil servants seeking voluntary retirement could apply for the same within a month as per the government policy enunciated in this year’s budget. The turn over has been only one-fourth of the government’s estimation.

The government had expected that more than 10,000 government employees would opt for such retirement. However, only 2,616 employees applied for the retirement till the last date for application.

So high was the government’s estimation that it had convinced the donor agencies to provide the heavy amount needed to give to those 10,000 employees at once.

The government had estimated that each employee at the time of retirement would get around Rs 500,000 and persuaded the donor agencies to provide the money. According to Yuvaraj Bhusal, joint secretary at Budget Division at the Ministry of Finance, donor agencies including the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and World Bank have agreed to provide the money.

A government official said that the remarkable rise in the salary for the civil servants made by this year’s budget could be a reason why they are not seeking retirement. He also pointed that the two conditions put forward by the government acted as a hindrance for them to apply for retirement.

According to the notice issued by Ministry of General Administration on September, any civil servant completing 20 years of service and 50 years of age were eligible for voluntary retirement.

Government officials said that the targeted group’s application for retirement was, in fact, the lowest. "The number of application is very less than we expected," said Mukunda Prasad Aryal, secretary at the Ministry of General Administration. "The group that we wanted to go in for retirement, has in fact not applied at all." He, however, did not clarify on which group’s retirement the government was looking forward to.

The government has adopted a policy of cutting down the number of lower level staffs like peon, driver, watchman and others who comprise one-third of the total government employees and taking such manpower from private companies in contract basis.

"The package was brought so that those employees whose work was not really productive would get a good amount of money so that they could invest it into something more productive," said Aryal.

Peons seem to be opting for the retirement the most. A total of 740 peons have applied for the retirement and only 20 deputy accountants have applied for the same, the lowest of all posts.

Only 92 gazetted officers have applied for the retirement.

"Only those people who are confident that they would get a job once out of government service have applied for the retirement," said Aryal.

The government officials looking into the applications have demanded that the government give continuity to the posts even after sending the employees for retirement. "This package has been brought to annul the posts," said Aryal adding "there is no sense in just keeping the posts."

The package was brought as per the recommendation of Administrative Reform Commission, which suggested that the number of employees which currently stands at 103,000 be reduced to 77,000. The government plans to reduce the number to 85,000 by the end of next year.

CPN-ML slips into trouble as convention nears

By Binaj Gurubacharya

KATHMANDU, Dec 2 - Little could Bam Dev Gautam have imagined that his reason for splitting from the CPN-UML to form his own party CPN-ML would some day boomerang on him. Already a faction in Gautam’s party, who call themselves the minority voice, is rebelling and accusing him of ruling the party "with an iron fist". Accusing CPN-UML leaders of suppressing the minority voice in the party and conspiring to wipe them out, Gautam and his fellow comrades had split from the party to form CPN-ML three years back.

Now Gautam, who is the general secretary of the breakaway CPN-ML is facing rebellion from within his party and at least one central figure has already opted to join the mother party and another is threatening that the party leader should change his ways if he wants to head off an accident. "If the mistakes that have been made in the CPN-ML is not rectified soon this party could also face the fate of CPN-UML," said Chandra Prakash Mainali, a politburo member, who is at the centre of the debate at the moment.

"There are bigger and stronger reasons in CPN-ML to split at the moment compared to the situation when CPN-UML split into two parties," Mainali said.

Mainali has been at loggerheads with Gautam over the fourth General Conference scheduled for next week in Kathmandu. He is demanding the dates for meeting be postponed so that the proposal document presented by him and three others could also be reviewed and discussed by the party members before they head to the capital for the Conference. During the 13th Central Committee meeting, it was decided that besides the document presented by Gautam, any other similar proposals would also be reviewed and discussed. However, the 14th Central Committee meeting which concluded last week decided that only Gautam would present the proposal for discussion. "This went against the democratic principle we believe in and if this tendency to rule with an iron fist continues, there could easily be an unfortunate accident in the party," Mainali warned. "If the party leadership can’t manage the present situation then activists like myself would be forced to chose a different course ... a lesson needs to be learnt from the CPN-UML split episode."

Gautam for now has softened his stand and the politburo has decided to allow the document proposals of Mainali and others to be discussed. However, since the copies were just shipped today when party members are already preparing to head out for next week’s meet, they are demanding alternatives such as additional time for the members to study the proposals and that the proposals should be put to the vote only during the party’s General Convention. However, as the indications come so far, Gautam is unlikely to yield to the demand.

Will this eventually lead CPN-ML to split? "The party is not going to split and any report in this regard is all rumour. There have been differences in views but it will be resolved through discussion," said Kiran Gurung, Central Secretary of the party. Gautam is now blaming a "foreign hand" for the internal squabble in his party. "The Indian Embassy here is spending lots of money to disrupt the meeting and it is also using CPN-UML for the same," Gautam told a gathering Friday.

Is it then possible that Mainali may rejoin CPN-UML? "I have more differences with CPN-UML than any other party. CPN-UML is fast becoming a Communist force but it is also fast degenerating from communist ideologies," Mainali said.

Instead, Mainali said he was a victim of the conspiracy by the other side in the party that was preparing to rejoin the mother party.

Few days back, CPN-UML General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal stated that the move by his party to announce Gautam and others as "corrupt" was a mistake indicating that they were turning soft on Gautam.

Gautam too told reporters recently that there has been talk of a reunion between the two groups but nothing concrete has developed yet.

Though CPN-ML secured over six per cent of the total votes and qualified to be recognised as a national party, it failed to win even a single seat in the House of Representatives, the Lower House of Parliament. When the CPN-ML split away from CPN-UML they had over 35 lawmakers with them.

A 200 yrs old spout gasps for its existence

By Razen Manandhar

KATHMANDU, Dec 2 - Water spout of Tin Dhara and temple of Baneshwor, comprising a 200-year-old monument zone with social and religious importance, lying unnoticed beside Kings Way in the capital for years, has been facing encroachment from all sides.

"The whole area behind the water spout of Tin Dhara was open green field when I first came here 18 years ago. God knows how people built houses on this sacred place devoted to Lord Shiva," said Saraswati Phuyal Chhetri, 72, the caretaker of the nearby Radha Krishna temple.

Guthi Sansthan(GS), the owner of the temple and the surrounding area instead of renovating the dilapidated temple, tried to lease the area 13 months ago for construction of a modern shopping complex. Fortunately, the shopping complex construction plan failed to materialize after an Appellate Court in the Kathmandu Vally intervened.

The court issued a notice on 10 May to stop building shopping complex after local people filed a case against Guthi Sansthan.

Surendra Shrestha, who took initiative to legally protest the GS’s plan to lease the historic site said,"Nobody came forward to renovate the area when it turned into an open drainage. Then, the government body showed interest -- not to conserve it but to make money out of our heritage." Shrestha’s father had started a Bhajanmandali or hymn singing group in the temple area in 1977.

Students of Tin Dhara Sanskrit Hostel also played a role to save the zone from turning into a shopping complex. Chairman of Student Working Group Shiva Hari Bhatta said that the students are still ready to protest if any such steps are to be taken again.

GS, after being defeated in the ambitious project, just forgot about the existence of the spout and the temple and now what remains is only deserted ruins.

Officials at the Department of Archaeology (DoA) said that the Ministry of Youth Sports and Culture wrote a letter to the ministry in early December 1999 asking to stop the leasing process.

However, owners of the surrounding buildings have encroached the temple area from three sides and the road in front of it was widened in 1988, further confining the area. More than the temple, the spout is in a deplorable condition. Concrete buildings were erected around the zone some 8 to 10 years ago and due to this, the spouts also have gone dry. The houses are built so close to the spout that one can hardly reach the spout area. Moreover, the residents throw waste in the spout area which has literally turned it into a dumping site.

When asked about the surrounding buildings which have encroached the temple area, KMC Ward No 1 Chairman Yogendra Kumar Shrestha said he had to give permission for the building construction because the owners had even acquired permission from the Royal Palace for the constructions.

On the other hand, the Chairman of GS, Shyam Raj Dhungel said that the GS decided to lease the area to generate income and to protect the land. "Actually, we wanted to lease the area so that it would be safe from further encroachments. But people misunderstood our project."

According to the stone inscription at the temple, the temple was constructed in 1793 by Dittha Laxmi Narayan of Nyatatole, Kathmandu. At the same time, he constructed three water spouts, a rest house and a pond near the temple. He also set up a guthi for income resource for the temple by allocating 42 ropanis of land so that daily rituals would continue for ages.

Drastic change in education system needed : PM

Post Report

BIRATNAGAR, Dec 2 - The Prime Minister and Chancellor of Eastern University, Girija Prasad Koirala, today said that a drastic change was needed in education system to save Nepal’s hard currency from being drained out of the country in the name of technical education.

PM Koirala made this remark while laying foundation stones for the university at Inderpur Village Development Committee (VDC), which lies about 35 km north-east of here.

Skilled human resources had to be imported for the country’s development works because of unavailability of the same at home, said Koirala.

However, he expressed the hope that the manpower to be produced from the long-dreamed university would substitute the imported skilled human resources.

Addressing the gathering, Koirala also reiterated to reinstate the scraped Arun III hydro electric project soon.

The Minister for Education, Amod Prasad Upadhyaya, viewed that the Eastern University was being opened in accordance with the concept of establishing multiple universities in the country.

Upadhyaya promised that the government would soon introduce technical and vocational education system at higher level studies.

The university was established in 1995 under the Eastern University Act, 1993.

The government has allocated a total of 805 bighas of land in Inderpur, Sunderpur and Mriguliya VDCs. Of the total land, 400 bighas of land have been allocated for jungle, 100 bighas for agriculture forestry, another 100 bighas for herbal farming and the rest of the land (205 bighas) have been kept aside for the university buildings.

The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Dhrubha Narayan Lal, said that more than Rs 2.5 billion would be invested for developing necessary infrastructure of the university within the coming 10 years.