Ambar Gurung bags Image Awards 2056

-By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Jan 16 - The media can be more effective in relaying suggestions from the country’s experts if the government widens its bureaucratic bottleneck, said President of the Nepali Congress Girija Prasad Koirala today.

“It is going to be beneficial to the government if its bureaucratic bottleneck is widened. Various experts then can present their visions through newspapers which make it easy for the government,” said Koirala speaking here at the 3rd Anniversary of Image Channel Pvt. Ltd.

Koirala said though the government’s policies in issues like economics, water resources, education, agriculture and so on are not defective, they have to be reviewed by experts as we enter the new millennium.

Veteran musician and singer Amber Gurung was awarded the Image Award  2056 at the occasion. He accepted the award with tearful eyes.

Music Maestro Gurung, 62, is one of the few in the country with knowledge over choir, jazz and symphony which is very popular in the west. Only last year, he had conducted a solo musical concert using choir probably for the first time in Nepal.

Similarly, Ram Krishna Dhakal was also awarded the Yuwa Sangeet Sadhak Award. Dhakal had swept all the three major awards he was nominated in at another musical award held yesterday.

Teacher claims of developing quake resistant technology

-By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Jan 16 - A former school headmaster here claims to have propounded “model earthquake resistant technology” which can save mankind from the devastating consequences of killer earthquakes.

Dhruba Bahadur Basnet, 55, a resident of Sankhamul, New Baneswor, claims that his “ECC (earthquakes control construction) model technology, if applied properly while constructing a house or other structures, can resist earthquakes measuring up to nine on richter scale.”

“This is the Lord Almighty’s gift for me on the occasion of the new millennium,” Basnet told this reporter Friday, when the nation was observing the 66th memorial day of the 1934 earthquake. “I am one hundred percent sure that this technology can save mankind from such disasters as earthquakes and floods in the new millennium.”

On January 14, 1934 an earthquake measuring eight-plus on the richter scale, hit Nepal. The ‘century’s biggest earthquake’ killed hundreds of people in Nepal and India’s Bihar state, and destroyed property worth hundreds of thousands of rupees.

The science graduate Basnet says his ECC model technology, propounded following his “over a decade-long extensive research”, is based on the “mass concentration principle of mathematics”.

Basnet says, while carrying out construction works according to ECC technology, foundations of a building or a dam or a bridge are further supported by iron pipes of varying thickness. Four to six such pipes are pushed deep into the earth’s surface, so that they support the weak points of a building’s foundation, where the weight of a structure tends to concentrate.

“The pillar, or the load bearing, system which we have been following these days, makes the building a block only and hence cannot minimize the effects of a strong tremor,” he says. “They are therefore the necessary conditions only and not the sufficient conditions. The sufficient condition is only the ECC model technology.”

“It is because it protects the building from sinking, cracking, bending, sliding and falling. This technology has many other advantages also. This can widely be used in all kinds of buildings big or small, tall or short. And even while constructing dams, bridges and towers.”

Asked whether he had experimentally proved his technology, Basnet said, “That’s what I am desperately waiting for. I am not rich enough to finance my experimental project. I need someone to help finance a project.” Basnet is currently associated with the Pacific Academy School, Sankhamul, where he teaches maths.

Campaign against proselytization

KATHMANDU, Jan 16 (PR)  - Hindu Volunteers Organisation today announced that it is going to launch cmpaign aainst proselytization.

Dr Kashi Nath Neupane, coordinator of the campaign said that after Pope’s visit to India the christian community in Nepal have accelerated their efforts to convert the religion of Hindus.

The organisers said that the government has not made any efforts to stop the conversion process despite attacks at Hindus and Buddhists by the Christian and Muslim community.

The organisation has been working to raise awareness amongst the locals in 150 schools located in the remote areas.

Mahendra Morang Campus shut down indefinitely by TU

-By a Post Reporter

MORANG, Jan 16 - The Tribhuvan University Registrar’s Office has indefinitely closed Mahendra Morang Multiple Campus of Biratnagar until further arrangements have been made offering no visible solution to the problems which have vitiated the academic environment of the campus for the last six months.

Academic activities have been badly affected at the campus for the last six months as a result of a conflict between campus chief Dr Upendra Koirala and University Teachers’ Association, Free Student Union and T.U. employees.  

As a result of the closure of the campus, examinations have also been postponed indefinitely.

The campus chief has been accused by the other three campus bodies of misappropriated campus property and endangering the very existence of these bodies. Dr Koirala has filed a defamation case with the district court against the campus teachers.

The three bodies of the campus, University Teachers’ Association campus unit, Free Student Union and T.U. Employees’ Association, which had formally urged the T.U. Vice-Chancellor four days ago to resolve the problems, have expressed vehement opposition against the TU decision to close down the campus.

They have urged the Tribhuvan University to call back the controversial campus chief who had given up academic exercises and was engaged in litigation against his own colleagues in the campus. They also demanded the institution of an enquiry commission to probe into the embezzlement charge against the campus chief after removing him from the post.

In a press communique, they have said that the university should prepare an atmosphere suitable for smooth functioning of the campus as the future of nearly 10 thousand students is at stake.

They have expressed their firm stand that they will never accept Koirala as their campus chief in view of his alleged activities.

Money won in legal battle donated

KATHMANDU, Jan 16 (PR) - A woman who won more than 700 thousand rupees in a legal battle donated the money to establish an organisation to help people fight against injustices.

Gyanu Thakurani, a resident of Kathmandu Metropolis, Ward No 10, handed over a cheque of Rs 7,61,608.40 to Citizen Concern Society, Nepal (CICOS) here today. The CICOS aims to produce conscious and industrious citizenry able to fight against a prevailing situation of legal injustice and atrocity.

According to a press release issued by CICOS at the programme organised here today, the NGO will fight cases on behalf of those seeking justice and serve as a “complaint box” on all issues related to the concerns of citizens.

Thakurani received the money as a compensation for her land which was encroached by Shiv Kumar Agrawal, a businessman. She won the case after 14 long years of court trial.   The members of the organisation include youths from various walks of life.

On the same occasion, Suresh Acharya, Chairman of Nepal Journalists’ Federation, announced that CICOS will institute an award for journalists writing on issues of concern to citizens. The award will be given to two journalists — male and female — annually.

Cold wave and thick fog hinder RNAC flights to hilly districts

-By a Post Reporter

BIRATNAGAR, Jan 16 - Many passengers have been stranded recently as the result of a cold wave and thick fog hindering flights from Biratnagar to different districts of eastern Nepal for the past nearly two weeks.

Air service, which is the only means of transportation in many hilly districts of eastern Nepal, has remained closed for the last 12 days. Biratnagar Airport officials told The Kathmandu Post on Sunday that RNAC, which is the only airline to serve in these hilly areas including Bhojpur, Sankhuwasabha, Okhaldhunga, Khotang and Taplejung districts, has been unable to run its flights.

Passengers have been thronging to Biratnagar Airport hoping that the flights to different destinations in eastern Nepal would resume soon but there is no certainty of service due to bad weather. The flight to Taplejung has not taken off from here for months.

It has been difficult to operate flights to these hilly districts because Biratnagar is covered with thick fog in the morning and before noon. Although the weather improves in Biratnagar in the afternoon, it worsens in the hilly districts in the meantime making it impossible to operate the air services. According to Biratnagar Airport officials, the ceiling fog does not go above 500 feet from the runway of Biratnagar these days due to the cold wave and thick fog whereas the ceiling fog, up to one thousand feet, should clear up for the flights to operate.