Fire at noodles unit destroys property worth Rs 30 million

By a Post Reporter

LALITPUR, Jan 19 - A fire that suddenly erupted inside the Sainbu Bhainsepati-based Wai Wai Noodles Factory this afternoon needed seven fire engines, two water tankers, and nearly four hour long struggle from the fire fighters to finally extinguish it.

The actual cause of the fire is not known, but according to the District Police Office, Patan’s preliminary speculations, a short circuit could have caused the fire.

All the six fire engines from the Valley’s three cities--Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan--one owned by Nepal Police, and the factory’s two water tankers had to be mobilized to bring the blaze under control, officials with the District Police Office, Lalitpur, who rushed to the site to fight fire said.

Though no one was harmed by the fire, it has gutted property worth 30 million rupees, according to the police officials. The damaged properties include, huge amount of instant noodles and a machine used in printing and packing.

The fire fighters and police personnel involved in the fire control operation kept fighting the fire from 11:20 till 3:00 pm. "The fire in the pack print cartoon (machine), which turned out to be highly inflammable, may have delayed the operation," the officials said.

Nine Nepalese deported from UAE Eleven detained at London airport

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Jan 19 Nine of the 20 Nepalis who left the country last week were deported from Abu Dhabi airport, United Arab Emirates (UAE), while remaining 11 are still in police custody at London airport, an immigration official disclosed here today.

Two of the nine deported from Abu Dhabi airport, meanwhile, have been known to be genuine passport holders, Director General at Immigration Department, Sushil Jung Bahadur Rana told The Kathmandu Post Wednesday.

They arrived here on Monday and are currently awaiting court hearings, he added.

Immigration officials at Abu Dhabi airport had arrested the nine on charges of holding fake passports as they were boarding another aircraft. Photographs in their passports appear to have been replaced by foreign employment agents here, Rana said.

The foreign employment seekers do not even know the real name of the employment agent who helped them get their passports issued.

While the 11 arrested in London left the country on a Gulf Air flight Thursday, those deported from Abu Dhabi left the country two days later, on Saturday.

Those entangled in London airport are reportedly seeking political asylum with the British government. While the British immigration department is known to have fined Gulf Air with Sterling Pounds 22,000 (2,000 pounds each multiplied for 11 person) for bringing in 11 fake passport holders.

Investigations are on as to how the fake passports holders slipped in from Tribhuvan International Airport, despite tight security, Director General Rana said, vowing that strictest actions would be taken against those involved in the irregularity.

NUPTA flays campus closure

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Jan 19 - Nepal University Progressive Teacher’s Association (NUPTA) today alleged the decision of Tribhuvan University (TU) Registrar Office to close down Mahendra Morang Adarsha Multiple Campus as "prejudiced".

"The Registrar Office defied the decision of the TU Assembly, the apex body of the University by closing the Multiple Campus at Biratnagar," said the newly elected President of the Association Chiranjeevi Sharma. He was addressing a press meet organised by NUPTA.

According to NUPTA, the meeting of TU Assembly on January 14 authorised the Campus Chief to close the campus for indefinite period if necessary. "The Registrar has pilfered the power of the Campus chief and violated the rules and regulations of TU," said Sharma. The Campus is indefinitely closed since Jan 16.

NUPTA also claimed that its recently concluded National Conference was "controversy-free".

The 5th National conference of the Leftist Association from Jan 9-11 came under fire from its members affiliated to CPN-ML and underground CPN (Maoist) who allege the Conference bestowed association’s monopoly to UML by electing only the UML supporters to its Central Working Committee.

"There may be some alteration in the committee and differences within the Association but this does not mean that the Association is divided," said Sharma.

Fuller promises decent shelter to all by 2005

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Jan 19 - Millard Fuller, who has helped build homes for 85 thousand families worldwide, declared here today he has dreams of providing a decent shelter to every Nepali family.

And don’t dismiss his vision as just another foreign bluff. Decorated with Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honour accorded to a civilian in the United States, Fuller today inaugurated 111th Nepali home in Nayagaon near Pokhara.

"We intend to build hundreds and thousands of these in the future in Nepal," he told reporters here today on his return from Pokhara. "It’s a great irony that in a place of such great natural beauty, people don’t have minimal shelter facilities."

Founder and president of Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), Fuller said how the organization makes progress in Nepal in future will depend largely on the kind of local support the it gets. Habitat Nepal plans to build 300 houses by the end of 2000 and 1500 by the year 2005.

Habitat has completed 53 houses in Tikapur, Kailali; 30 in Nayagaon, Kaski; and 28 in Dibbyanagar, Chitwan.

On an average, Habitat provides an interest-free loan of Rs 80 thousand to a single family while the recipient makes contribution - mostly in terms of labour - to the tune of Rs 22 thousand. The family then makes a monthly payment of Rs 800 over a 10-year period to repay the loan.

Nepal doesn’t have a single loan defaulter yet, according to Gunja Bahadur Tamang, chairman of the Nepal’s IFHI executive body. Borrowers are selected from people in the low-income group (with monthly income between Rs 2,500-4,500) by the local family selection committees. The borrower, however, needs to own land. In some countries, the government has allocated HFHI the land required to develop the low-cost housing.

"We hope the government provides land to build houses for those who don’t have the land," Fuller said, explaining that HFHI was ready to get into such a venture in Nepal too.

HFHI officials said their organization has a worldwide reputation and that it was not involved in proselytizing in Nepal. "The local partners like us are given a free hand," Prabha Basnet, former secretary at the Ministry of Women & Social Welfare told this reporter. Basnet is the Resource Development Coordinator with Habitat’s Nepal programme.

Habitat volunteers have built homes together with more than 70 thousand families in some 1,300 US cities and 65 other countries. It is one of the top 20 house builders in the US and the largest among the non-profit organizations.

Fuller founded Habitat with his wife Linda in 1976. The organization is now cited as an important leader in the battle against poverty in the US and abroad. In September 1996, President Bill Clinton awarded Fuller the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honour. According to Clinton, Habitat is the most successful continuous community service project in the US which has "revolutionized lives of thousands."

NC hydro talks inconclusive

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Jan 19 - The Hydro-power Committee of the ruling Nepali Congress (NC) that met today to work on the preparation of the DPR (Detailed Project Report) for Pancheswor Multipurpose Project failed to reach any conclusion.

The meeting which was chaired by the former Minister of Water Resources and the coordinator of the committee Laxman Prasad Ghimire, however, attributed the delay in preparing the DPR to the disagreement over the source of Mahakali river and the distribution of water.

"The meeting discussed about forming a Mahakali River Commission to work on the sharing of water as per the Mahakali Treaty," said Ghimire.

The Mahakali Treaty was signed in February 12, 1996 by the then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. The letter exchanged with the Mahakali Treaty had decided to finalise a DPR within six months of the date of entry into force of the treaty.

The finalisation of the DPR reached a deadlock two years back when India demanded prior consumptive rights over water of Lower Sarada Canal, 160 kilometres south from the border. The Nepali side has not agreed to the demand.

The meeting also reviewed the progress made so far but did not take any decision due to the absence of the Minister of Water Resources.

Ghimire said the committee will meet again next week. "The next meeting will take decision on the problems and the terms of the treaty," he said. "We will also discuss with hydropower experts from outside the party and take decision together with the Parliamentary Monitoring Joint Committee," he said.

Amidst Kiratis revelling in festival

By Suman Pradhan

LARAMBA, Ilam, Jan 19 They came by the thousands, from nearby hills and far away mountains, even far afar from Sikkim, India. They came to celebrate a time-honoured religious festival of the Kirant community.

Thousands of Kiranti women, children and men gathered today in this small hamlet in the inner parts of Ilam district to kick off three days of festivities known as "Yakwasewa Maha Astayagnya".

The festival, the local priests said, was observed in honour of the Lord Kiranteshwar as well as to pray with God for a good harvest and also welcome the spring season.

"This festival is mainly to welcome the spring season and to pray with God for a good harvest because, as you can see, most of the people here are poor farmers who depend on a good harvest for their living," said Atmananda Lingden, the high priest of the Kiranteshwar temple.

Part of Bajho VDC in Ilam district, the old village of Laramba serves as a religio-cultural focal point for the Kirants, attracting thousands of them each year thanks mainly to its temple and the high priest.

The temple and its high priest Lingden, who is credited with reviving the festival, are known throughout the Kirant diaspora, who largely remain in the eastern hills of Nepal but are also spread far and wide.

But at no time in a year, except perhaps during early December when there’s a bigger festival here, does Laramba attract more pilgrims than today when the annual Yakwasewa festival begins. The village today, as a result, was in a festive mood. The temple, perched atop a small mound, was thronged with devotees largely made up of rural peasantry dressed in colourful clothes.

A small field just beneath, which serves as a playground for children, had been meticulously cleaned and festooned with colourful paper cuttings. A couple of loudspeakers blared religious songs and verses nearby.

And a few musicians with traditional dhols, madals, cymbals and flutes rubbed shoulders with a small group of young men, obviously steeped in modern music, for they carried with them western-style drums and electric guitars plugged to car batteries.

In a village where there’s no electricity and telephone, and where the nearest health centre, police post and motorable road is a half day’s walk away, the electric guitars stood out. There is a public secondary school though, funded largely by donations from local households who donate Rs 40 annually to the school.

Just across the field, beyond all the hustle and bustle of devotees, lay hastily erected small huts with plastic sheets for roof. These were built only a few days ago to house devotees from afar. Many had come from nearby villages, but some had walked for days to make it to the festival.

"We walked for four days to get here," said Sukmaya Khewa from a village in Tehrathum district who trekked to Laramba with her young daughter and husband. "We came to participate in our religion, in our culture."

Some, like 22 year old Kalpana Kerung came from the town of Rabangla in Sikkim, tagged along with her parents and sister. "This is my first time in this village and I’m thrilled to participate in my own culture," she said in fluent English.

The festive atmosphere was also partly to welcome Girija Prasad Koirala, the Nepali Congress president and former prime minister whom high priest Lingden had invited to inaugurate the festival.

"It makes us feel honoured to have such a high official of the country participate in our festival," said Rana Hanglimbu, a 55 year old from Sunsari district. "It sends a message of inclusion to all of us. Nepal after all is made of various communities, and everyone ought to feel a sense of inclusion."

All the local leaders, including those from the powerful Kirant Religion and Literature Upliftment Organisation (KRLUO), who spoke during the inaugural ceremony, hammered the same message of inclusion, harmony and peace. NC leader Dipak Prakash Banskota, who came along with Koirala, also delivered the same message.

When it came time for Koirala to speak, he also dwelt on the same theme. "I have my own beliefs on religion, but from what I know all religions have the same message: everyone should be happy and live peacefully."

"There are so many cultures, religions and languages. These all make up Nepal, our nation. It is not the hills and mountains and plains that is Nepal but it is its people. This is our soul. We are of the belief that all cultures and religions should be able to be prosper in this nation," the NC president said.

Towards the end, Koirala couldn’t refrain from injecting some political discourse into his speech. He spoke again on Maoist violence, as he has done often in the past, and said, "there cannot be any benefit from violence and murder."

"Violence only makes the nation weaker which creates opportunities for foreigners and other forces to take advantage," he said. With that, the inaugural ended and the people of Laramba went back to their annual festivities.