Cabinet shake-up likely today

-By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Jan 17 Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai is considering adding some members to his cabinet, and upgrading the level of some junior ministers, sources close to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said Monday.

The septuagenarian prime minister was originally slated to announce the cabinet expansion today, but the plan has been put off momentarily since he has yet to discuss it with Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala, sources said.

The cabinet announcement, however, could be made as early as tomorrow, sources add.

Bhattarai has already offered former Speaker and Nepali Congress Central Working Committee member Ram Chandra Paudel the position of Deputy Prime Minister. He also discussed giving Paudel the Home Ministry, officials close to the PMO said.

Meanwhile, Bhattarai is also considering upgrading the level of some assistant ministers to state ministers, sources said.

However, the cabinet expansion also has its detractors. Former minister and CWC member Jayprakash Anand Gupta told The Kathmandu Post that the proposed expansion “is against the spirit of the compromise reached between the party president and the prime minister. At this time, there is no good enough reason for expansion.”

The two leaders last month agreed to a compromise which defused the tension between them. At the time, Koirala had demanded that Bhattarai step down. However, the compromise gave the prime minister some more months to continue in office, at least upto the end of the winter parliamentary session, sources said at the time.

Cargo vanishes from customs godown

-By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Jan 17 - A cargo consignment carrying “artificial stones” worth around Rs 1.2 million disappeared from a Kathmandu Airport Customs godown on Thursday, according to the Customs Office.

Sushma Trading Concern that imported the 6.5-kilo cargo has stated in the invoice that the consignment carried “coloured glass stones” worth US$ 650. Unconfirmed reports, however, say the consignment had precious stones worth as much as Rs 180 million.

There have been incidents in the past when expensive goods have been undervalued by the Customs declaring them as “inexpensive items.”

The report prepared last year by the Joint Parliamentary Committee formed to investigate revenue leakages had cited a case where the Customs office cleared 500 pieces of original Swiss watches as duplicate and cheap Q&Q watches.  

According to Sher Jung Dhoj Karki, chief customs officer, the lost goods were kept in godown-2 of Nepal Transit and Warehousing Corporation (NTWC) at Sinamangal. Two of the Customs godowns -- godown-2 and 3 -- are located in the premises of the NTWC. He said the loss was discovered only when the Customs Office handed over the box to the importer.

Karki said the cargo that contained artificial gems had been lying in the godown for three months because the office suspected the goods were worth more than what was stated in the invoice. “Upon checking it at three places -- Department of Mines, RONAST and Small and Cottage Industries -- the goods were found to be worth around Rs 1-1.2 million,” he said.

He added the office will now send a letter to the NTWC seeking clarification “as the responsibility of the goods kept in godowns 2 and 3 lies with the corporation which houses it”.

Branch Chief of the NTWC Biplav Katuwal said they heard about the disappearance of the goods from the Customs Office about 30 minutes after the box was handed over to them.

“The Customs took away the box after inspecting it thoroughly,” he said. “The box was not tampered with and we returned it in the same condition we had received it.”

The box had arrived at the godown on October 23 from Thailand. “The Customs first took away the goods four days after it arrived but sent it back to the godown after a few hours saying that the goods had to be checked,” said Katuwal. “They took it back again on January 13.”

Katuwal said Sushma Trading Company had been paying Rs 15,000 for a similar cargo earlier. “Maybe they smelled something this time. That’s why they sent it for testing,” he said. He also added that the affected party has not yet filed a complaint at the office.

When contacted to comment, Sabitri Rajbhandari, Chief Customs Administrator, described the incident as “a minor incident” and added investigation was on. She, however, refused to divulge any details.

Pac directs government to review NFC depot issue

-By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Jan 17 - Parliament’s Public Account Committee (PAC) today directed the government to “reconsider” its decision to nullify 67 units of Nepal Food Corporation (NFC) including food depots, zonal and district offices. 

PAC today summoned the Ministers for Finance and Supplies to “clarify” their positions on disbanding the food depots and other related offices. The government, on Dec 31, had announced that it would remove the NFC’s units.

Finance Minister Mahesh Acharya said the NFC’s units were being slashed for “sustenance.” “Expectedly, the government cannot subsidize NFC forever,” said Acharya. “It had to get rid of the subsidies so as to compete with the private sector in an open market.”

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has urged the government to “enhance” NFC’s capability for its sustenance. ADB is assisting the government with a loan worth 50 million US dollars for agricultural reforms under the 20-year Agriculture Prospective Programme (APP).

Minster for Supplies Prakash Man Singh said though the food depots were cancelled, the government has taken necessary measures to “meet the gap.”

During the current fiscal year the Ministry set up 10 Food Security Stores at various parts of the country with 40,000 tonnes of food. Similarly, 2500 tonnes has been allocated as the emergency supplies in case of chronic food shortage.

Likewise, NFC annually supplies some 1500 tones of food grains to the remote sectors of the country. Government also provides 9000 tones annually as transportation subsidy for the remote depots of NFC.

There seems to be a consensus across the political lines in PAC that the government’s decision to cancel the depots was a poor one and that it should be reconsidered immediately.

Deputy leader of the main opposition party K P Sharma Oli flayed the government decision to remove food depots as “baseless”. “It is based on a report which itself is superficial,” he said.

Oli said the report prepared by Secretary of Ministry of Supplies Padam Kumar Acharya itself accepts that the report is prepared without enough field study and based on second sources.

Krishna Prasad Sitaula of the ruling Nepali Congress (NC) warned if the government does not reconsider its decision there are high chances that the people living in remote areas may die of starvation. “Moreover, such situations may foster popular disenchantment and provide firepower to Maoist insurgency,” said Sitaula.

Another NC lawmaker N P Saud said PAC’s request to the government to reconsider its decision was based on a humanitarian ground. “I see no ground for differences amongst any sides on this humanitarian issue,” said Saud. “Government should take it in that very spirit and immediately review its decision, rather than taking it as a prestige issue.”

As winter sets in, Manang hamlet turns into a ghost town

-By Raghunath Lamichhane

CHAAME, Manang, Jan 17 -This ramshackle village on the Himalayan highlands serves as the district headquarters of Manang, Nepal’s most sparsely populated district. But it gets even sparser during the bitter winter when the locals migrate to warmer grounds below to escape the cold Himalayan winds and snow. Chaame, as a result, is taking on its annual look: it’s turning into a ghost town with barely 100 people still here.

With the village and surrounding hills already covered with 4-5 inches of “snow”, villagers have begun to descend to the lowlands. Locals say, the present “snow” (frost) in the hills is only an early warning before the real winter sets in, and life is cut off for months.

“Wait for a few more days and you’ll see what real snow looks like,” say residents of Chaame and Humde, who are heading to the low lands of Lamjung, Pokhara and Kathmandu.

According to Tsering Gurung, a local resident, there will be only around 50 civil servants here sooner or later who are compelled to stay back due to their duties. Meanwhile extreme snowfall in Manang, known as the district beyond the mountains, is forcing all locals to move to lower grounds.

“Even the Mananges (the natives of Manang) who are now owners of expensive buildings at Besi Sahar and Kathmandu, migrate to other villages exchanging flour for jeembu (dried herb used to add flavour in food) and sewing-needles,” says Pasang Dorje, a resident of Koto. The living standards of around 90 percent of Mananges here is believed to have improved after King Mahendra announced tax exemption to uplift those residing in the remote parts of the country.

There has only been one case filed at the District Court in Manang this year. Only a single person appears at the Chief District Office every 4-5 days to get his citizenship certificate or passport made. Among others, even the police station looks hushed without much work to be done.

“Court and police officials need not file many cases as most of the disputes are settled within the villages,” says Chief District Officer Shanker Prasad Koirala.

Specific budget is also not allocated in 12 of the district’s VDCs. Major decisions made by local Aama Samuha, a community level women’s group, are taken after it is ratified by its major office at Kathmandu. Various incidents at the local level are also solved by them. No one has been jailed since the last four years, says Jailor Padam Lamichhane.

There are around 5,300 people in the district and three high schools. One of the schools even has three teachers teaching three students. Apart from that, the roads look deserted without tourists and most of the hotels have closed down. “Only two tourists arrived here in the last three days,” complains Nima Gurung of Trekker Inn Guest House at Dudh Pokhari. The hotel business booms only during October.

“A Kilogram of sugar costs Rs. 50, an egg costs Rs. 15 and a pack of noodles Rs. 25 during winter. Even the meat prices of buffalo, chicken, and mutton are all the same,” says Kamala of Hotel Pisang. “How can we remain in this expensive place?”

Among the few staying back this winter, Ganga Man Shrestha of Potala Guest House plans to spend his time by the fireplace and sell liquor made from apples, jeembu and timur (a variety of herbal spice).

Meanwhile, civil servants staying behind claim they are the ones really suffering.

“Everybody has already left escaping the forthcoming calamity and ultimately we have to stay back and look after the place,” say civil servants. However, many civil servants do not apply for leave throughout the year and choose to take long vacations during the winter.

Even though some civil servants have stayed back to run their offices, they seem unaware of various information such as the budget of the district and individual VDCs, priority sector of the district and even working hours of various officials and political parties. The problem seems to arise when none of the top officials are present here. Many have hardly even heard of the VDC Secretary.

There is no Nepal Television in Manang. Even the transmission of radio is not frequent while the newspapers arrive here ten days later.