Passport abusers made public

By Gunaraj Luintel

KATHMANDU, May 12 - The government today decided to take action against those who misuse red (diplomatic) passports and make public the report on those who’ve misused it. The decision was taken by the Cabinet meeting on Thursday.

According to a source at the Home Ministry, this decision was taken by the previous government also. The then government had also sent the report to the Parliament Secretariat.

"We had sent two reports (prepared by the Probe Committee and the Judicial Commission) to the Police Headquarters to take action against the culprits as per the then Cabinet decision," the Home Ministry source told The Kathmandu Post.

Chief of Crime Investigation Branch, Police Headquarters, Additional Inspector General of Police, Pradip Shumsher JB Rana, however, denies having received such a report. "We haven’t received such report," he said.

The then government had formed a Probe Committee to investigate the misuse of red passport by the ministers and sitting Members of Parliament under the convenorship of then Special Secretary Srikant Regmi. The Committee had recommended forming a Judicial Commission to further investigate the matter after it found evidences of such misuse.

As per the recommendation of the Committee, the Commission was formed under the chairmanship of former Justice Prachanda Raj Anil. Jhalendra Prasad Chhatkuli was later appointed the chairman after Anil resigned.

The decision to take action and make the report public was taken by the government a few days after the Commission submitted its report. The report shows the involvement of then MPs of ruling Nepali Congress, main opposition CPN-UML, Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) and CPN-ML.

Those who misused their passports had applied for visa for them and their kins to countries like Canada, USA, United Kingdom under fake invitations.

According to the report, 13 MPs misused their passports. Those who misusued their passports were: Man Bahadur Bishwokarma (nominated by the King), Dev Shankar Poudel of CPN-UML, Hem Raj Rai and Hikmat Bahadur Shahi of CPN-ML, Dipak Jung Shah, Chakra Bahadur Shahi, Bhakta Bahadur Rokaya, Moti Prasad Pahadi, Naresh Bahadur Singh, Yagya Prasad Acharya, Hasta Bahadur Malla and Ram Chandra Adhikari of NC and Jyotendra Mohan Choudhari of RPP.

According to the Committee report, Ministry of Foreign Affairs has so far issued 8,000 red passports. Four hundred and eighty-one red passports were missing when the Regmi Committee was at work.

The Passport Act-2024 and its first amendment makes it mandatory for the users of red passport holders to return their passport upon their return.

Royal couple grace yagyan

JANAKPUR, May 12 (PR)- His Majesty King Birendra and Her Majesty Queen Aishwarya participated in the Sitaram Naam Jap Mahayagya here today.

Their Majesties also granted audience to Chatti Baba on the occasion. Chatti Baba presented His Majesty a silver bow on the occasion.

Their Majesties also inspected the 1008 Kirtikunj constructed for the (Vedic pyre) havan. The havan will continue till May 18. This is the second visit of Their Majesties to Dhanusha Dham.

PM promises HRC soon

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, May 12 - Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala today said that the government would complete both tasks of forming the Human Rights Commission and appointing the new Chief Commissioner at Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) before His Majesty King addresses parliament’s budget session.

The House session is slated to begin Monday.

"We will complete both of these tasks before His Majesty King addresses the House session," Koirala said while responding to a query on what the government was doing towards forming the HR Commission in a programme organized here Friday by Editors Society.

According to him, an informal meeting of the constitutional council and recommendation committee for the HR commission was slated for today, "but could not take place due to the absence of (the main opposition CPN-UML leader) Madhav Kumar Nepal".

While the recommendation committee for the HR commission has Prime Minister, main opposition leader and Chief Justice as its members, the constitutional council has the speakers of both upper and lower house as its members in addition to the former’s three.

PM Koirala also said that he would in no way mobilize the army to quell the over four-year-old Maoist insurgency, dismissing speculations that the government might mobilize army to combat the Maoist insurgency in the name of activating National Defence Council.

"Army is the last resort...I won’t mobilize army at any cost to combat Maoist insurgency," Koirala who is also the Defence Minister said. He, however, added that the government was working towards stationing Royal Nepal Army personnel in the country’s all 75 districts, in view of national security "in case of a natural disaster or calamity and so on".

"We still haven’t have any army personnel in some 20-22 districts. We will station them there. But they will not disturb people in any way; all they will do is that fly from over the people’s houses," he added.

Asked whether or not his government will push the women’s property rights bill in the upcoming parliament session, Koirala, said that "he was committed to empower women."

While reiterating that the consensus-seeking committee headed by former prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuwa has kept its door open for dialogues with the Maoists, Koirala said that "a special paramilitary unit under Nepal police--and not army--will be mobilized to combat insurgency."

How tourism stands crippled timelessly

By Damakant Jayshi

KATHMANDU, May 12 - With some foresight, the hard times could have been easily avoided. A lot has already been written on how the closure of Indian Airlines operation in Nepal since the IC-814 hijacking crippled the tourism industry, the country’s economic mainstay.

There’s been almost a seven percent drop in the over-all tourist arrivals since the Christmas-eve hijacking, while thousands of Indian tourists - who comprise one-third of tourist arrivals - have stayed out. Now that the flights are slated to resume soon, Nepal may very well bury the worst phase, without taking any lesson from the Indian Airlines fiasco.

"They (India tourists) are definitely missing out on the opportunity to holiday in Nepal this summer at a price much lower than the ones offered in, say Maldives, or Singapore," says Prashant Singh, Director, Finance & Administration at Nepal Tourism Board. "But it’s Nepal that’s missing out on the tourism earnings." Hotels have very poor occupancies, too.

All this could have been easily avoided.

What many people - including the private sector entrepreneurs who have gone gung-ho over Indian Airlines’ decision to shut down Kathmandu flights - have chosen to ignore is a simple fact: Royal Nepal Airlines, and its regulating authority, Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), haven’t quite fulfilled their responsibility.

CAAN, in particular, and the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation (MOTCA) have a lot of answering to do.

Under an air-service accord, Nepal and India are supposed to share 12000 air seats equally between themselves. With the IA ban, all of India’s 6000 seats are currently lying vacant. RNAC, CAAN and the MOTCA should have always taken measures to utilize these underutilized seats.

Worse, Nepal utilizes only a half of its 6000 air-seats.

With just three international jets to cater to all its international flights, RNAC uses 3,040 seats while Necon is using 240 through its Patna operation.

Who then is to be blamed for the chronic air-seat shortfall - the government officials or the airlines?

CAAN, the authority that is responsible for policy formulations and planning of the civil aviation, doesn’t have a great track record.

In Falgun 2052 (February/March 1996), CAAN issued licence to two private airlines - Air Nepal International (then Nepal Airways) and Alpine Air - to operate in Nepal-India sector.

But neither has started its international operation yet.

When this reporter asked Director General, CAAN, Nagendra Prasad Ghimire what CAAN had done about this inordinate delay, he said, "Deadline given to them is already over and we have referred the issue to the MOTCA and the matter is under consideration now." He was vague on the time-frame.

"Necon Air has been granted 610 seats and the rest have been allocated to Air Nepal International and Alpine Air. Necon Air is using 240 seats/week," he says.

Asked if the 1390 seats given to Air Nepal International and Alpine Air could now be transferred to some willing airlines, Ghimire says, "Most of the private airlines have travel agent’s mentality, that is, of pocketing commission by arranging business between two parties. What we look for is technical competence. CAAN is always positive to facilitate the airlines if they are committed in their business."

Buddha Air, which now wants to serve Indian sector, faces a technical glitch. Buddha Air’s US-built Beech 1900 D has been certified by CAAN’s Indian counterpart to operate beyond the national border but CAAN hasn’t given the 18-seat aircraft the green signal yet.

"Buddha Air was not the applicant when we issued public notice seeking proposal from interested companies /individuals for international operation four years ago," Ghimire said, adding CAAN was now considering a policy review.

"We are competent," says Rupesh Joshi, Buddha Air’s Marketing Manager. "We can start flights to Patna, Varanasi and Lucknow within a month of getting the green signal from CAAN. We are seeking to utilize 20 percent of the still-vacant seats." Between January to March following the Indian Airlines hijack, tourism industry in Nepal suffered a whopping loss of Rs 700 million. "We are still suffering a red of Rs 7.8 million per day," says Madhav P. Shrestha, Executive Director, Hotel Association Nepal (HAN).

Indian tourists are known to be big-time spenders. Hotels - both big and small - are the worst sufferers, bearing 50 percent of the loss, claims Shrestha.

The loss is due not only due to the absence of high-end Indian tourists who travel by air but also because many foreigners come to Nepal via India.

When quacks go on to play medical doctors

By a Post Reporter

SARLAHI, May 12 - Despite widespread practice by quack practitioners here which has often led to wrong medical prescription and even death of patients at times, no control measure has been taken by the government, locals complain.

It was in April 15 that 55 year old Laxmi Devi Pasawan from Musaili VDC, seeking relief from headache, succumbed to the injection given by Parwej Alam. In April 12, 25-year-old Ranju Devi from Brahmapuri VDC had gone to Ram Pratap Shah after labour pains. The medicine given to her by Shah killed her instantly, before her baby was even born.

Relatives of victims have charged the fake medical practitioners of homicide with the District Administration Office. But, Police Inspector Yuvraj Pandey says, the lack of evidence has thwarted prosecutions, leave alone conviction. The "doctors" often flee into neighbouring India once a case is filed.

Medical practitioners have not been able to do anything against the fake practitioners. "They conveniently run clinics and pharmacies and play with the lives of innocent villagers," says Assistant Health Worker of Sarlahi Hospital, Nemi Chanda Mahoto.

According to Medical Official Dr. Sailesh Kumar Jha, compounders start practising as doctors in villagers and in Terai. And majority of the fake doctors are from neighbouring Indian state of Bihar.

For fake doctors, the district is haven. They even voice out their competence here. "So what if I have studied up to the 10th? I have all the experience I need and patients trust me more than they do to recall doctors," says Ramesh Kumar Shrivastav, a quack who runs a clinic. Another such "doctor" who has studied only up to the eighth grade, has all the alphabets, from A to Z in the sign board. He claims to be a health assistant.

It was last September that six such quacks were caught by the police with the help of a local NGO, Helping Society. But the then CDO Ananda Raj Pokhrel set them free after giving them minor punishments.

Dev Bharat Shil, an Indian citizen "practising medicine" says, "even the CDO’s father cannot harm me."

Officials are not sure on the legal aspect of charging them. According to Lok Bahadur Karki, senior assistant at the DAO, the charges are slapped under Section 11 of the Corruption Control Act.

However, Gorni Chandra Bhattarai, assistant advocate of the district court says that provisions for penalty has been included in Health Enterprise Council Act and regulations and not under Corruption Control Act.

CDO Staneshwor Devkota has committed to take action but activists are not convinced. "The CDO before him had also made similar commitments," laments Jagannath Singh from Helping Society.

Adventure show closes; prizes given away

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, May 12 - The 10th Raid Gualoises Trans-Himalayan 2000, a 827-km multidisciplinary race, formally came to an end today with participants and officials alike returning here from the more than a week long vertical action-packed journey.

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala formally closed the event amid a colourful ceremony held at Birendra International Convention Centre, Friday evening. Foreign Minister Chakra Prasad Bastola, French ambassador to Nepal, Michel Lummaux also attended the function. President of Red Gauloises-France, Patrik Brignoli gave away prize to winning teams. He awarded Finland’s Nokia Adventure team with cash prize worth US $ 30,000, France’s Intersport team with US $ 20,000, and France’s Ertips Solomon with US $ 10,000.

Nokia Adventure, Intersport, Ertips Solomon, Solomon Landrover (USA) and GTM Groupe Pizzorno (France) finished first, second, third, fourth and fifth place on May 6.

Of the 69 teams that competed the race, 45 teams successfully finished at the historic Terai town of Janakpur, 300-plus km south-east of here, even as members of the other 18 teams completed the race despite being disqualified. Members of the remaining 6 teams abandoned the race half-way. A documentary featuring the main highlights of the adventure- and fun-filled race -- trekking, horseriding, mountainbiking, white water rafting, kayaking, canoeing, canyoneering sessions through the vertical rugged trans-Himalayan route -- was showed today.

Divided into 69 groups, some 500 participants from 15 countries participated in the 827-km action-packed event that started from Tibetan Autonomous Region of China’s Shegar Dzong, 450 km south of Lhasa.

Besides local media personnel, 120 journalists from around the world covered the event. Nepal’s state-owned Nepal TV, Euro Sport International Channel, ABC of the US, NHK of Japan, and other international TV channels beamed the megaevent to an international audience each day. The event was webcast live on the Internet (www. raid-gauloises.com).

Euro Sport International shot a three-hour documentary on the adventure program to telecast in different European countries. Raid Gauloises also worked on a separate documentary on trekking, horseriding, mountainbiking, white water rafting, kayaking, canoeing and canyoneering sessions.

Missing woman traced in prison

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, May 12 - A human rights organisation INSEC today said Laxmi Mudbari, Central Member of All Nepal Women’s Association (ANWA)-Revolutionary is in Bhojpur prison and has expressed fear that she has been tortured.

In a press release issued today INSEC has said the District Administration had earlier denied that Mudbari was arrested but Chief District Officer Deshiram Piya said she was in police custody.

"Deputy Superintendent of Police Birendra Babu Shrestha, however, denied it," states the press release. The whereabouts of Mudbari was unknown till now.

Amnesty International (AI) London had recently expressed concern over the life of Mudbari who was arrested from Biratnagar in January. Mudbari was arrested under the Public Offence Act on January 31, 2000 when she went to a programme organised by the ANWA (Revolutionary) at Ram Janaki Mandir in Biratnagar.

Three die from poisonous mushroom

By a Post Reporter

PALPA, May 12 - Three people of the same family died here at Ward-4 of Pokhara VDC yesterday after they consumed poisonous mushroom.

The six people who had consumed the mushroom that grows in the Monsoon season were taken to the Mission Hospital at Tansen district after they fell sick. Three of them died while undergoing treatment at the hospital.

The dead were identified as Balisara Rana Magar, Jagkumari Rana Magar and Ratna Bahadur Magar of ages 84, 40 and 41 respectively.

The sick, Jog Bahadur Rana Magar, Kamal Rana Magar, and Bhim Bahadur Rana Magar are under treatment at the Mission Hospital, according to the Hospital Administration.