Maoists intensify patrolling in Musikot

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MUSIKOT (RUKUM), Dec 11 - Maoists have intensified their patrolling in far-off areas of this mid western hilly district. The police force from the area remain withdrawn since last year,.

Meanwhile, a fresh batch of Royal Nepal Army personnel have been posted near to the District Development Committee office at the district headquarters here, for security reasons.

Chetra Prasad Neupane, the Chief District Officer, of the district known to be one of the Maoist hotbed, admits that the activities of the rebels have shot-up ever since the far-off smaller police stations were removed.

According to the locals, armed Maoists in groups of seven to fifteen keep patrolling an allotted area which they call as "adhar ilaka" (base camp). They also frisk all new comers to the villages and keep track of all their activities.

Even on Sunday, when this reporter was attending a program organized by District Animal Health Camp in Daha, Shakha VDC-1, about one hour’s walk from the district head quarters, armed rebels were seen constantly keeping vigil in the village.

Stolen statue re-installed

DOLPA, Dec 11 (PR)- The statue of Bala Tripura Sundari stolen from the temple located at Tripurakot VDC-1 has been re-installed on Sunday.

The thief of the statue was arrested in Rukum district along with necessary evidence. Lakpa Chhiring Thokpa, resident of Solukhumbu district has been produced before the court and he has been remanded into custody.The statue was airlifted Dunai.

Thousands of devotees accompanied the statue as it was taken to the temple for re-installation yesterday.

As the statue was stolen three times before and it was found later, the temple priests said arrangement will be made for guarding the temple from now onwards.

Peaceful struggle against poverty stressed

KATHMANDU, Dec. 11(RSS)- Chairman of the Raj Parishad Standing Committee Dr Keshar Jung Rayamajhi has stressed the need for a peaceful struggle in the country against poverty and illiteracy.

Addressing the concluding function of a peace march organised by the Nepal Forum for Non-Violence here today, Dr Rayamajhi underlined the need for maintaining peace in the country first in the context of Nepal raising its voice for the maintenance of peace in the international arena.

He also pointed out that all should imbibe the three-fold Buddhist philosophy of peace, non-violence and compassion.

At the programme, former assistant minister Tilak Bahadur Negi, president of the federation Yug Prasad Dhamala, president of the Reporters’ Club Rishi Dhamala, president of Charumati Vihar Palsang Lama and president of the Jain Swetambar Terapanthi assembly Bimal Singh Surana also expressed their views.

The peace march which started from Charumati Vihar at Chabahil passed through Pashupati, Gaushala, Purano Baneshwar and Dilli Bazaar and concluded upon reaching Jain Mandir.

Sal logs smuggling on the rise

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DHANGADHI, Dec 11 - Smuggling of sal logs from the supposedly protected area of the Terai-Churia mountain in Kailali district is on the rise, locals said.

Locals found a large number of sal tree logs worth more than Rs one million in the lush forest at Chaumala VDC-3. Two wood-cutters were arrested after locals alerted forest officials.

Locals suspect that such large-scale log smuggling would be impossible without the involvement of forest officials.

"We are guarding the logs so that the smugglers cannot steal them," a local, Prem Chand, from Chaumala said. Locals have also demanded that the fallen tress be shifted to a safer place to protect them from theft. District forest officials, however, expressed their inability to do so, citing a lack of transportation resources.

Puwakhola hydel not to generate targetted power

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ILAM, Dec 11 - The Puwakhola hydro-electricity project, which has recently started generating power for commercial purposes, will not be able to generate electricity as expected in the dry season due to shortage of water.

The shortage of water will result not only from the water shortage in the dry season but also because water from different points upstream is directed to farmers’ field reducing the flow of water in the river.

The Nepal Electricity Authority has recently named the project "Ilam Hydro-electricity Centre". Chief of the centre Ram Kumar Yadav admitted that power generation by the project will be affected in the dry season in the months of Chaitra, Baishakh and Jestha ( mid-March to mid-May).

There are two turbines of 3.1 megawatt capacity each in the 6.2 megawatt power project and only one turbine will be able to operate throughout the dry season due to the shortage of water, according to the chief of the centre.

On the other hand, the project, which cost about Rs one billion, has been found to be faulty and constructed under pressure from some quarters, claim experts.

Noted ecologist Dr Govind Shah, speaking at a programme organised recently by an organisation named Pro-public, pointed out that the JICA which conducted the feasibility study of the project had nowhere mentioned in its report that the project could be executed.

He said, " There are faults in the very design of the project. JICA has not said the project should be undertaken. It has only said that it has carried out the feasibility study. It has been mentioned that the project can generate 20 to 25 megawatts of power but the project was undertaken under pressure from some quarters. Therefore, these problems have been encountered."

A total of 2500 litres of water per second is required to operate the two turbines, but in the dry season only 1100 to 1300 litres of water are available per second, he said.

Dr Shah also said that the soil where the penstock pipe has been installed is weak, putting the whole structure at risk.

"The area where the penstock pipe has been installed has caved in 70 centimetres in 10 years, at the rate of 7 centimetres a year." Dr Shah said.

Earlier, in his paper on "Benefits and effects of the project", Professor Yuddha Prasad Baidya said about 80 hectares of land below the project site has been deprived of irrigation facility after the project used all the water from the river.

Kirats celebrate Udhouli amid fanfare

KATHMANDU, Dec 11(PR) - People belonging to Kirat ethnic group, today, gathered at the Capital’s Open Air Theatre to celebrate their most important festival Udhouli. The Kiratis are the original inhabitants of eastern Nepal.

The Kiratis celebrate this festival on the full moon day of December and celebrated with equal importance is the other festival called Ubhauli on the full moon day of May. They celebrated it by dancing in circles with the accompaniment of their typical music. The Kiratis participating in the dance were from four sub-ethnic groups - Rai, Limbu, Yakkha and Sunuwar.

According to Raj Bahadur Rai, Secretary General of Kirat Rai Yayokkha (Kirat Rai Association), Udhouli is the festival to worship the nature (tree, plants, rivers, sky, stones and forefathers). Since the Kiratis do not have Gods as others do, they primarily worship the nature as their God. Their religion is also known as Kirat.

There are nearly 2 million Kirat inhabitants living in the eastern districts - Sunsari, Ilam, Solukhumbu, Okhaldhunga, Khotang, Sankhuwasabha, Panchthar, Taplejung, Ramechhap and Sindhupalchowk - of Nepal. The population is topped by Rai with almost 0.6 million population and trailed by the least populated Yakkha with about 60,000 people, Raj Bahadur said.

According to the national census of 1991, there are almost one million Kiratis in Nepal. However, Raj Bahadur said that the census could not accurately entail them.

The group dance, for the Kiratis living in the Capital, was first initiated 20 years ago from Shankar Dev Campus. And, it is being organised regularly in the Open Air Theatre since 1989, Raj Bahadur said.

The Yayokkha has demanded with the government to include these two days as public holiday for the Kiratis.

Police destroy marijuana

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MAHOTTARI, Dec 11 - Police engaged in wiping out marijuana crops across this district have been working for the last 15 days with no extra incentives or allowances.

ASI Padam Lama said that the effort of continuously cutting down marijuana has made many of them ill, but they cannot take respite from their work. The local people do not extend their cooperation at all, he added.

Police staff stationed outside the district headquarters are all under instruction to go to farmers field and destroy their marijuana crop, although many of them are suffering as a result.

In contact with the marijuana plant all day long, police personnel complain of headaches and colds, chapped skin and loss of appetite.

Despite this they are accused of being biased. Farmers have alleged that members of the police staff destroy certain marijuana crops, while they overlook crops belonging to wealthy farmers on receipt of bribes.

Police admit that this charge is partially true. Some kind farmers provide them with refreshments as they work in the fields and request them to save their crop. On condition of anonymity, one police official said "It is during these moments that we are moved more by human compassion than our duty and we cannot destroy their marijuana plants."

Police claim that marijuana crop grown on 140 bighas out of the total one thousand bighas has been destroyed so far in this district. They claim that it is impossible for them to wipe out the entire marijuana crop in the district even over a six-month period.

Regarding the charge levelled against the police that they overlook marijuana crops of farmers in many villages, police admitted that they have yet to destroy the crop in many VDCs but they rejected the charge that they had received bribes.

"Our first target was Laxminiya VDC in this area. After we finish our work here we will continue our work in other VDCs," Police Inspector in Gaushala Ilaka Police Office Dinesh Chapagain said.

However, police personnel engaged in destroying the marijuana crop in the district admit that work had slackened to a great extent and that the campaign will be unable to completely eradicate marijuana from this area if other methods are not employed.

SP Hari Bahadur Thapa said this was only a police reformatory programme aimed at eradicating marijuana.

Ex-Kamaiyas get ID cards

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GULARIYA, Dec 11 -A total of 1,200 recently-liberated Kamaiyas (bonded-labourers) have been distributed with Kamaiya identity cards in 12 VDCs,according to the Land Reforms Office in Bardia.

Officiating Chief of the Land Reforms Office, Poshan Pokharel, said that a total of 3,155 Kamaiyas have been officially recorded so far. It is estimated that a total of 6,949 homeless ex-Kamaiyas are living across the district.

Likewise, 2,200 ex-Kamaiyas have had their photographs taken and 18 surveyors have been sent to 31 VDCs to keep records of the homeless bonded-labourers.

The government started keeping records of the bonded-labourers after their emancipation from the clutches of age-old system, practised across five mid and far-western Terai districts, was announced on July 17.

The ex-Kamaiyas have demanded that the government provide them 10 katthas of land for rehabilitation and vocational skills and education for their survival following their liberation from the bonded-labour system.

Meanwhile, a report from Dhangadhi said that a large number of ex-Kamaiyas staged a sit-in campaign, blocking the busiest East-West Highway at Attariya and Lamki bazaars, demanding immediate rehabilitation and employment.

Passengers travelling on the highway were stranded due to the road blockade which lasted hours.

The District Monitoring and Coordination Committee which has the sole responsibility of dealing with the ex-Kamaiyas reiterated that the Committee would start distributing land to the homeless people. Ex-bonded-labourers accused the government of dawdling in resolving the long-drawn-out issue.