Maoists take Dashain break

KATHMANDU, Oct 3 (PR)- Maoists today declared that they would suspend attacks beginning tomorrow for five days of Dashain festival after they killed 22 policemen in separate raids in Dunai and Bhorletar last week.

"We have suspended our attacks from Fulpati to Dashami," a press statement signed by Prachanda, the general secretary of Communist Party (Maoist) said.

The underground party waging a guerrilla warfare for the last four and half years also said it would take active defensive actions against probable attacks from the government forces.

Phulpati today

KATHMANDU, Oct 4( RSS)-  The seventh day of the Bada Dashain festival is being observed today by placing "Phulpati" at "Dashain Ghars" throughout the kingdom in accordance with religious tradition.

The Phulpati  will be brought from Gorkha and placed at Jamal on the occasion of Bada Dashain and taken to the Dashain Ghar at Hanumandhoka where the idol of goddess Durga Bhavani is  enshrined. A procession comprising musical band, the guruju platoon, pancha baja, women carrying auspicious pitchers, cultural pageantry, an "Asaburja" team, military and police personnel and others will march from Hanumandhoka to Jamal to fetch the Phulpati.

The chairman and members of the Rajparishad Standing Committee will participate in the procession.

According to the tradition, the priests of the Dashain Ghar including six magars escort the Phulpati upto Jibanpur of Dhading district from where it will be escorted upto Jamal in Kathmandu, by six brahmans from Kathmandu district.

The Phulpati basically consists of auspicious items including sugarcane, banana plant, belpatra ( wood apple), pomegranate, ear of "Jayanti' rice and ginger plant.

IGP Kharel shunted aside, AIGP Rana takes charge
More heads could roll in continuing behind-the-scenes tussle

By Suman Pradhan

KATHMANDU, Oct 3 - Inspector General of Police Achyut Krishna Kharel was shunted aside Tuesday and a new police chief brought over to take charge, indicating that heads will continue to roll in the days after the police disasters in Dolpa and Lamjung districts.

Kharel, who has five more months to go before retiring, was sent Tuesday on a two month-long home leave. His position has been taken over by Additional Inspector General of Police Pradip Shumsher Rana, who has been appointed as the Acting IGP.

The chief of the police information centre at Police Headquarters told The Kathmandu Post late Tuesday that, according to police regulations, when someone is given an "acting" position, it cannot be withdrawn.

That means, Rana is certain to be confirmed as the full-fledged IGP in the near future, and Kharel will be sent on retirement.

Erstwhile IGP Kharel has now become the latest casualty in the behind-the-scenes tussle between the government and the police on one side and the Royal Nepal Army on the other. Relations between them tumbled to new lows last week after rebel Maoist guerrillas attacked Dunai in Dolpa district, killing 14 policemen and exposing deep flaws in the nation's security apparatus.

Asked to comment on his new role, Acting IGP, Rana, 53, said that he would work to improve relations with the army. "I will work for better coordination between the army and police," he said. "Our relations with the army has always been good. It will now be even better."

"The army is a very old institution. The police is much younger as an institution. We always consider the army as our elder brothers. We respect them, and expect them to love us, " Rana, who has been with the police force for 30 years and holds postgraduate degree in History and also a Bachelors' of Law degree, added.

The decision to move Kharel out was taken Tuesday by Deputy Prime Minister and newly appointed Home Minister Ram Chandra Poudel after an early morning cabinet meeting. Initially, Rana was only given the post of "officiating IGP", but later in the evening he was elevated by Poudel to "Acting IGP."

Police sources said that Kharel knew he was going, but not this soon.

Highly placed government sources say, Kharel will probably resign during the course of his two-month leave. Indications are also there that the Girija Prasad Koirala government is preparing the grounds to appoint Kharel as an ambassador most likely to Myanmar after his leave ends.

Kharel's was the latest head to roll in the aftermath of the police disasters in Dunai and Lamjung last week when a total of 22 policemen were killed in attacks by Maoist guerrillas.  Late last week, Home Minister Govinda Raj Joshi was forced out after he publicly blamed the Royal Nepal Army for not assisting the police in the Dunai incident and after.

Knowledgeable sources told The Kathmandu Post that Kharel was also shunted aside on the insistence of the army brass.   Government officials also indicated that some senior security officers, notably Home Secretary Padam Prasad Pokharel, could also be moved out soon.

Meanwhile, senior officers at Police Headquarters said that outgoing IGP Kharel came to his office early Tuesday as usual. He also worked for a couple of hours. But at about 11 a.m., the Home Ministry called to inform him that his "leave application" had been accepted.  Kharel then summoned top police officers and briefed them of the changes taking place. After that, he left for home, sources said.

Kharel has been a controversial figure in the Nepal Police's history. After a controversial tenure as police commander in Kathmandu Valley during the pro-democracy movement of 1990, Kharel moved quickly up the ranks, and was appointed IGP four years ago.

However, a little over a month after he was installed, then Home Minister Bam Dev Gautam transferred him out of the IGP office and appointed Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan as the new IGP. Kharel then went to court, won, and was re-installed as IGP after spending nine months in the wilderness.

•           Pradeep Samsher JB Rana was born in 1947 in Thapathali, Kathmandu.

•           Educational qualification : MA,BL (Mahendra Bidhyabushan)

•         Joined Police force as Inspector 1970, December

•         Has been Awarded Trisakti Patta III, Gorkha Dakshin Bahu III, Gorkha Dakshin Bahu IV, Subharajyabishek Padak, Prahari Dirgha Sewa Padak, Sewa Padak, Prahari Sewa Padak, Durgum Sewa Padak, Janmat Sangrah Padak, Gaddi Aarohan Rajat Mohatsav  Padak

•         Has also served as the Vice President of Nepal Police Sports Council, Advisor to the yearly Nepal Police publication Darpan, President of the United Nation Peace March, Founder of the Pradeep-Santa scholarship Revolving Fund and life member of the Nepal Karate Association and Biswa Hindu Ekata Mahasangh.

RNAC's 'new' jet is 12 years old
Airline sends over million dollars as advance

By Damakant Jayshi

KATHMANDU, Oct 3 - The Boeing 767 jet that Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation has agreed to lease from Austria's Lauda Air is more than 12 years old which, according to sources, is against RNAC's own regulations.

Hari Bhakta Shrestha, executive chairman of RNAC could not be reached for his comment despite several attempts. But sources in the RNAC board confirmed that the jet that is being leased from Lauda Air was manufactured in May, 1988.

Leasing such an old jet is against RNAC's own specifications. The airline has called repeated tenders for leasing a jet that is under 10 years old. Initially, the specification was for a jet no more than five years old, but that was changed early this year to 10 years.

The more than 12 year old Lauda Air jet is being acquired by RNAC at a cost of US 3350 dollars per flight hour. It is expected to begin service with Royal Nepal on December 1, 2000. The "wet lease" agreement is for 18 months.

RNAC bosses are meanwhile claiming that they got a widebody B-767 for under 3400 dollars an hour. However, they failed to mention how old the plane is. Even the supposedly cheap price of 3350 dollars a flight hour for the Lauda Air jet now appears to be costly if compared to the five year-old Ansett Boeing B-767 RNAC nearly leased early this year. That jet's final asking price was a mere 3400 dollars, and it was just five years old.

Meanwhile, despite such discrepancies, the government of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala is as anxious as RNAC bosses to get the leasing deal off the ground.

During today's Cabinet meeting, the Cabinet endorsed the deal and immediately ordered the Finance Ministry to release more than one million US dollars as advance payment to Lauda Air. The money has already been sent today to Lauda Air, airline sources say.

The Lauda Air jet is being promoted heavily by people close to the prime minister as well as a top local businessman who is acting as Lauda Air's local agent.

On another front, the disruption in the flight schedule of the state flag carrier would continue for a few days more due to the grounding of Boeing B-757.

"We are trying our best to maintain the normal flight schedule," said Mohan Khanal, director for External and Public Affairs at RNAC. "We are alternating between New Delhi and Calcutta and this will last till the grounded jet resumes service."

On Sunday, the RA's Kathmandu-Calcutta-Kathmandu flight was cancelled and yesterday both the Kathmandu-New Delhi-Kathmandu flights did not take off.

"One of the spare engines for the bird-hit jet will reach us in a day or two, after which our services will be back to normal," said Khanal.  

"Once the engine is brought in it is seven to eight hours' work after which the plane would be able to fly," added Khanal. The engines are with the Gemeco, a Chinese company, under maintenance contract.

A bird-hit damaged one of the engines of an RNAC  on Friday, grounding the aircraft. The mishap has also thrown the carrier's scheduled flights haywire.

Melamchi donors upbeat about project

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Oct 3 - The donors funding the multi-million dollar Melamchi Drinking Water Supply Project may start sanctioning the loans from early 2001. Officials and donor representatives who held review meeting this week today said the outcomes were very much fruitful.

"The outcomes of the review and discussions have been very positive," Dinesh Chandra Pyakurel, Executive Director of Melamchi Water Supply Development Board told reporters Tuesday.

"Understandings have been reached amongst the financing partners including the government of Nepal on the project's features, financing, implementation arrangements, donor coordination, policy issues and so on."

"It is now expected that ADB will present to its Board for consideration of approval a loan amounting to US $ 120 million in December this year. This will be followed by approval from other donors for financing their respective commitments," he added.

Scheduled to be completed in 2006, the US $ 430-plus million project will divert 170 million litres of drinking water (mld) daily to Kathmandu Valley whose over 1.5 million population suffer from acute scarcity of drinking water every summer. The project has been granted top priority by the government. 

Representatives of almost all the donor agencies--Asian Development Bank (ADB), Norwegian development agency, NORAD, Swedish development agency, SIDA, World Bank (WB) and Japanese Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC) --who converged in the capital last week were part of the project's appraisal mission.

"We have made a lot of progress," ADB's Resident Representative to Nepal, Richard Vokes said shedding light on the outcomes of the meet. "The joint mission has gone very well...Now Nepal must ensure efficient and effective use of the Melamchi water."

ADB has committed to provide US $ 120 million, NORAD and SIDA US $ 25 million each (total US 50 million), Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) US $ 14 million (which will be channelled through ADB), World Bank "US $ 150 plus US $ 65 million" and JBIC US $ 52 million for the project.

The government of Nepal is investing 25 percent of the total cost - US $ 110 million - in the project.

Nepal is receiving the assistance provided by NORAD as grant, SIDA as mixed credit - meaning half grant half loan - and all the rest as soft loan.

Melamchi project was chosen as the best long-term alternative amongst the 22 alternatives studied since 1988 on technical, social, environmental and economic grounds, to ease the Valley's chronic water shortage.

RNA also responsible for internal security: Acharya

By Gunaraj Luitel

KATHMANDU, Oct 3 - National Defence Council's (NDC) meeting today has dispel the misunderstanding between Home and Defence ministries eventhough there were no hints of immediate mobilisation of army against Maoist rebels.

According to reliable sources, the past agreement between the government and the army on the arms sale to police by the army will be implemented and a close coordination between the two forces will be maintained.

Royal Nepal Army (RNA) has assured to cooperate with the democratic institutions, the sources said. Today's NDC meeting has opened doors for the army's role in maintaining internal security.

Newly appointed Defence Minister Mahesh Acharya today said that the RNA is also responsible for internal security hinting that the government is seriously considering the use of RNA to crush the Maoist insurgency. 

On the first day as Defence Minister, Acharya told The Kathmandu Post that the ministry was seriously watching the situation of internal security.

"The army is serious about national security and should be serious on that matter," Acharya said after assuming office. Minister Acharya as the Defence minister will now be part of the three-member National Defence Council that has the power to recommend use of Army. The other two members are the prime minister and the Commander in Chief.

Acharya, who has been serving as the Finance Minister under Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala for the past six months, was given the additional portfolio of Defence on Monday.

He is the first minister under the successive Nepali Congress governments to hold the portfolio. In the past, the prime minister has kept the Defence Ministry. It was only during the brief tenures of CPN-UML and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, that a separate Defence Minister other than the PM was appointed.

The ministry does not even have a separate building and the offices is housed in the prime minister's office building. The National Security Council office for the moment has been converted into the ministry.

All party meet continues...

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Oct 3 - The main political parties continued discussion on mobilizing the Royal Nepal Army against the Maoist rebels today but failed to reach a concrete decision.

Today's meeting attended by Deputy Prime Minister Ram Chandra Poudel, CPN-UML Central member Jhal Nath Khanal and Rastriya Prajatantra Party Chairman Surya Bahadur Thapa among others discussed the issue for two hours.

However, the government taking cautious approach had not set any agenda and had called the meeting to discuss what they termed as "current issues concerning the nation."

Though it was no secret, the government had initiated the meeting through the Speaker of the House of Representatives Taranath Ranabhat to seek support for the mobilization of army against the Maoists, the agenda of the meeting was not fixed somewhat irking the CPN-UML participants.

"There was no concrete agenda fixed for the meeting. The situation of security in the country is not good and the ruling party has failed to present its stand on dealing with the situation," Khanal told reporters after the meeting.

However, the government side appeared optimistic despite failing to sell their idea completely and gain full consensus from the opposition.

"It did not appear like the views of the opposition parties was too far apart from that of the government," Mahesh Acharya, who assumed the Defense Ministry today said. "The opposition leaders did give useful suggestions and pointed out the weaknesses too."

When asked about the discussion on use of army against the rebels, Defence Minister Acharya said it was the responsibility of the government to ensure security and it was not just the case of one government agency but rather mobilizing all the agencies for the job.

Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Poudel refused to comment and left the meeting earlier than the rest. "We analyzed the present situation," he said.

This was continuation of the meeting that was held on Sunday and attended by Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and senior Nepali Congress leader Krishna Prasad Bhattarai.

Though Koirala was expected to give his views on today's meeting, he did not attend the meeting.

The army has been in the middle of a controversy after former Home Minister Govind Raj Joshi resigned last Friday accusing the soldiers of not cooperating with the police in the wake of the Maoist raid in Dunai, Dolpa district, last week. Fourteen policemen were killed and 11 abducted by the rebels in the carnage.

 Joshi specifically said that the army had failed to provide modern weapons to the police even after taking millions of rupees from the state coffer.

Two days after the Dunai raid, rebels also attacked a police post in Bhorletar, Lamjung, killing eight policemen.

Since the Maoist rebels began their campaign, they have killed at least 231 policemen and lost 979 of their own fighters and supporters, according to government figures. During the insurgency, 249 civilians have been either killed by the rebels or caught in the clash between the guerrillas and the police.

Valley might soon be listed as endangered heritage site

By Razen Manandhar

KATHMANDU, Oct 3 - The recent visit of World Heritage Committee (WHC) officials left the indication that Kathmandu Valley would soon be in the list of endangered World Heritage Sites, conservation experts here said.

Keshab Raj Jha, the ex-ambassador to France and permanent delegate of Nepal to United Nation's Science, Education and Culture Organisation (UNESCO) said that the mission was not here, as it was considered, to negotiate but "only to console us before the real punch comes". 

He said, "No matter what a handsome treatment the government and local officials offered to the delegates, only the announcement is awaited to be legalised".

Jha added,"I'm very much disappointed. WHC should not take such a step without Nepal's concordance or having applied to include the site in the list."

The visit of WHC officials was the result of Nepal's negligence toward conservation of the seven monument zones -- Swoyambhu, Pashupatinath, Bouddha, Changu Narayan and the historic palaces of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur -- which were enlisted as World Heritage Sites in 1979.

Right from 1993, WHC reminded Nepal of the deteriorating monuments. First, there was a 16-point notice and after five years, a joint mission of UNESCO handed Nepal another 55-point recommendation in 1998.

Since Nepal's performance was unsatisfactory, WHC decided last year to send this mission for soliciting a political commitment from the head of the state down to local mayors. It was understood that the mission's report in the coming session of WHC in Crains, Australia would determinate the fate of the Kathmandu Valley -- whether or not to put it on the infamous list of endangered monuments.

Presently, there are 27 properties included on the list of World Heritage in Danger, out of the total 630 monuments orldwide.

Chief Research Officer of Department of Archaeology (DoA) Chandra P Tripathi said nothing could be said before the formal announcement to be made in December. However, our representative will strongly protest such blemishing decision, if made, he said.

Still, he admitted that due to lack of coordination among the bodies concerned, the implementation of laws to protect ancient monuments was poor.

The mission remained tight-lipped during their five-day visit. Later, at a press meet last Thursday, the president of WHC Abdelaziz Touri appreciated the degree of awareness among the citizens but he warned Nepal of "serious loss of the authentic urban fabric" indicating rapid and haphazard urbanization which is against the norm of world heritage site.

In addition, they showed the benefits if Kathmandu would be included in the endangered list, arguing that it would open door to further technical assistance.

Kathmandu's Acting Mayor said that the delegates were here only for formality. He said, "Instead of demanding our commitment, they tried to convince us that they were not going to delist the Kathmandu Valley and being enrolled in the endangered list would draw assistance from the international concerned agencies."

He was specially annoyed that before receiving the delegates, the government bodies did not coordinate to present the whole country's voice to the mission.

Asking for anonymity, a DOA official said, "Some board members in WHC are trying to slap the endangered list on Nepal and make way for drawing international donations in the name of conservation to this third world country."

Till September 2000, a total of US dollars 240,374 has been provided as international assistance. Out of which US dollars 62,601 (26 percent) has been 'utilised' to undertake UNESCO expert missions to the Kathmandu Valley.

"This circumstance itself is an insult for the whole nation," said Cultural expert Satya Mohan Joshi. "We can't expect better future where the officials spend much of their time flying in foreign countries than taking the situation seriously."

Raju Rokka, the manager of Kathmadu Valley Preservation Trust, an INGO presently renovating ancient monuments, went to the extent of approving the WHC's probable step. He said, "The site should be kept in the endangered list for several years so as to teach the government officials a lesson."

On the other hand, Architect Dr Sudarshan Raj Tiwari said that WHC would not place Kathmandu Valley on the list before 2004. "They might include it but not immediately," he said.

Environmentalists sceptical about new dump site

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Oct 3 - Okharpauwa, which lies about 20 kilometers west of the capital city, is not an ideal dump site to manage the Valley's solid waste, an environmental expert said here today.

"Okharpauwa is neither geologically advantageous nor economically viable to establish a new dump site," Bhusan Tuladhar, Solid Waste Consultant of Kathmandu Valley Mapping Project of Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) told The Kathmandu Post Tuesday.

"If authorities really want a permanent solution to the capital's garbage problem all they need to do is: provide us with ten hectres of land. We have a proposal whereby a private company will manage about 300 tons of solid waste every day."

Tuladhar was speaking at a programme organized here to mark the beginning of "Nepal-Colorado Environmental Exchange Programme" organised by Save the Environment Foundation (SEF).

He also said that the Okharpauwa site would not only increase the cost of managing the solid waste but also pose other "serious environmental hazards".

His comments came two weeks after Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Local Development Ram Chandra Poudel announced that the government has chosen Okharpauwa as an ideal site for the long-term solution of the Valley's perennial garbage problem.

"The proposal we are suggesting doesn't cost the government anything," said Tuladhar. Besides helping to solve the garbage problem, it (the proposal) aims to produce 22,000 tons of high quality organic fertilizers every year."

Currently the solid waste is being dumped alongside the "holy banks" of the "sacred" Bagmati river near Guheshwori, which lies barely 500 meters away from Tribhuvan International Airport. The government move, say environmentalists, has led to birds colliding against the aircraft flying in and out of the country's only international airport.

So far the airport has recorded three incidents of collision in the last two months.

Dr Sunil Pradhan of Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital said that government should enforce proper rules and regulations and a very effective mechanism to monitor the disposal of hospital wastes.

Shedding light on the exchange programme, Nick Langton, Representative of the Asia Foundation said that the programme aims to develop strategies for improving solid and hazardous waste management in Kathmandu Valley.