77 peons for Birgunj Metro office

By a Post Reporter

BIRGUNJ, Feb 17 - No government office has more than five peons, yet Birgunj Sub-Metropolitan City office has provisions for 77.

According to Birgunj Sub-Metropolitan Office, 63 peons already work there with 14 more proposed despite that the Parsa District Administration Office, the most important in the district, keeps only four.

The number of peons apparently increased as each new mayor made additional political appointments. However, board member of the sub-metropolitan city office Narendra Shah says the office does not need so many peons.

Another board member Bir Lal Shah claims about 20 to 25 peons would be sufficient for the office. Since Mayor Bimal Sreevastav appointed his servants as peons, office funds are being wasted, he added.

Of the total number of peons, 59 are permanent staff and cannot be removed from office. Employees say the 14 proposed peons are unnecessary. Seventy-five percent of the peons pass their time lazing in the sun, one employee said on condition of anonymity.

The appointment of employees has continued over the last three years until the mayor and deputy mayor achieved harmonious relations. When relations soured and the majority was with the deputy mayor, 60 employees were dismissed.

There are in all 781 employees in Birgunj Sub-Metropolitan City Office of whom 60 have been forced to retire. The sixth city council, held about a month ago, directed the office to dismiss the unnecessary employees, executive officer Sudhir Kumar Shah said.

He added that the office pays 2.2 to 2.3 million rupees in employee salaries every month.

Fourteen of the 24 board members hold the view that the proposed 32 employees should not be employed along with the 74 temporary employees who have been working for several years. There is a provision stating the office can appoint temporary staff for only six months.

Bista WCPA vice chairman

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Feb 17 - For the first time, a Nepali has been elected as the Vice-Chairperson at the World Commission on Protected Areas(WCPA), according to a press release issued by IUCN, World Conservation Union.

Secretary at the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation Rabi Bahadur Bista, who has remained an active member of the World Commission on Protected Area (WCPA) for many years is the first Nepali to be elected to the position.

WCPA is a union fighting for the protection of conserved area by preserving dry and wet land and has around 900 members worldwide. The South Asian Regional Conference of WCPA is scheduled to be held in Nepal this year, according to the release.

Children enter KG at 11 here

By a Post Reporter

SYANGJA, Feb 17 -Children of Thado Khoriya village in Dhapuk Shimal VDC in Syangja district are forced to attend infant’s class at the age of 11.

Since their village is in the middle of a forest and one child was mauled by a leopard some years ago, guardians have decided that their children will not go to school until age 11. Children have the option of attending two schools but both are an hour’s walk away.

Hence 24-year-old Ait Singh Gurung who was himself deprived of an education says it would be very good for the children if a primary school was opened in the village itself.

Ait Singh wanted to join the British army, but his illiteracy prevented it. He wants to ensure that children of his village are not deprived of educational opportunities. Thado Khoriya is a Gurung village with about 50 children of school age. The economy is backward because there are no sufficient means of income. There are only a few "lahure" in the village. Traditional farming and livestock raising are the only means of livelihood.

The UNDP is sensitive to the difficult situation of the hard-working villagers. It has been running a poverty alleviation programme for the last two years providing them with necessary skills in the villagers’ interests. The programme has helped the village in the areas of compulsory savings, livestock raising, cash crops and other agricultural products. An informal education programme was launched to increase literacy among villagers besides various other programmes related with income-generation, awareness, education, health and development. They are also preparing to open a primary school in the village.

District Education Officer Jivan Sharma Poudel says he is ready to provide necessary assistance to establish the school in view of the villagers’s ardent desire to open it and the lack of educational opportunities for local children.

The villagers have established an organisation named "Saubhagya Rural Development Organisation" and saved 14 thousand rupees with their compulsory savings scheme. Chairman of the organisation Ait Singh Gurung says they will use the fund to help establish the school.