They make livelihood by collecting gold

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DAMAULI, Oct 14 - The family members of Harka Bahadur Bote are busy washing and sieving sand to collect gold on the bank of the Trishuli river to pay loan incurred by them for celebrating Dashain festival.

Their task began on the day of "Kojagrat Purnima" ( the day when the Dashain festival is over).To wash and sieve sand and collect gold is their traditional profession.

He obtained Rs 3 thousand as loan and celebrated happily the festival with his family members and relatives. Now he is worried as to how he could pay back the loan.

Like him, the people of 22 Bote families of Kumaltari in Byas Municipality, about 5 kilometres from the district headquarters, have been celebrating the festival every year no matter however difficult the financial situation is. They easily get loan because of their good credibility to pay loan.

"There is no difficulty in getting loan. The only difficulty is how to pay it back", Mangal Bahadur Bote told The Kathmandu Post before leaving for the river bank to collect gold.

The people of Bote community have no other means other than this to pay the loan obtained by them at high interest rates. They have also to manage family expenses round the year from collecting gold.

There are two categories of Botes - Pani Bote and Pakhe Bote. It is only the Pani Botes who sieve the sand and collect gold. They also work as labourers after the season for collecting gold is over because sieving gold is no more a profitable venture. Pakhe Botes earn their livelihood by fishing and live in Baireni, Patan, Sisaghat and Thuga Bisouni of Tanahun district while Pani Botes live only in Kumaltari.

Pani Botes are worried because they find it more difficult day by day to earn sufficient gold to meet their expenses round the year despite their hard work.

"In the past, one family could earn as much as 20 to 30 thousand rupees from this work, but these days one family can hardly collect gold worth 9 to 10 thousand rupees," Jit Bahadur Bote said.

Plenty of gold is found in the year when there is plenty of rainfall because the river brings plenty of debris of landslide. Unfortunately,there was no excessive rainfall over the last few years.

Pani Botes spend four months on the banks of Kali Gandaki and Trishuli rivers in trying to collect gold."We observe our Tihar festival on the bank of the river, only some of us return home for Tihar festival. We observe this festival in our tents on the bank of the river in our own way," Ait Bahadur Bote said.

Pani Botes are working hard to pay back their loan with the income of two months’ work and save some money for the rest of the year with the income of the other two months. As there was relatively good rainfall this year, they expect better income.

Police stations being removed

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CHAUTARA, Sindhupalchowk, Oct 14 - Despite the government’s pledge to re-establish the already removed police stations from the Maoist hot-beds, existing police stations are being removed to safer places instead of executing its own decision.

A total of 10 police stations have so far been removed from the Maoist strongholds over the last couple of years after the insurgents intensified their raids at the stations. The role of the police has confined only to the busy highway and district headquarters, locals said.

Four police stations at Thokarpa, Phulapang Katti, Piskar and Sukute in the eastern part, three at Gumba, Kalleri and Kubinde in the central part and three at Taramarang, Manekharka and Tipeni in the western part of the district have been removed so far. All these areas are believed to be the Maoist strongholds.

Maoist rebels have burned down five police stations, killing four policemen in this northern district alone over the last four-and a half-years of People’s War.

A police official said although the government has dispatched circular to its local administration ensuring district headquarters’ security after the Sept 25 Dunai carnage, required reinforcement is yet to be added here.

Locals said that policemen remain out of the existing stations at night out of fear of the rebels. "We have to go elsewhere to avoid possible attacks by the rebels," said a police.

Chief District Officer (CDO) Bhanu Bhakta Pokharel said he was thinking of re-establishing police stations with additional reinforcement.

"Police stations will not be re-established without doing proper homework as some of the stations are situated in strategically insecure locations," CDO Pokahrel said.

Maoist influence intensified across the district following the removal of security forces from the rebel-strongholds, particularly after the third general election last year.

‘Use of army unfortunate’

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GULARIYA, Bardiya, Oct 14 - General Secretary of Communist Party of Nepal Marxist-Leninist (CPN--ML) Bamdev Gautam today said that government’s decision to mobilise army to quell the Maoist problem could be an "unfortunate event" for the government.

"If the Maoists can loot guns raiding police stations with the help of home-made guns, they can raid the army platoons also," former home minster Gautam said here addressing the party’s fourth district convention.

He questioned, "Can the King’s Crown stop the Maoist movement in case the army itself is defeated?" He pointed out that the Maoists also have to come to negotiation giving up the violence and terror as there was no other option left than dialogues for both the government and the rebels.

General Secretary Gautam went to the extent of saying that if the Nepali army fails to curb the insurgency, Indian force would interfere in Nepal and all the Nepalese would become guerrillas then.

Independent leftist leader Padma Ratna Tuladhar said that as a Human right activist, he could never support the Maoist-violence even though they are "honest communist force of the country."

Opening the inaugural session of the convention, CPN-ML Chairperson Sahana Pradhan accused the government of failing to maintain law and security in the country.

Swing-playing scuffle cost dearly

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SYANGJA, Oct 14 - Five people were seriously injured in a scuffle that took place between the youths of two villages of Syangja as they had assembled to enjoy a swing at local Saldada during the Dashain festival.

The injured people are undergoing treatment in Western Regional Hospital, Pokhara.

According to an eyewitness Bishnu Prasad Bhandari, resident of Oraste VDC-6, a group of youths including some Indian Gorkha Army "Lahure" who had returned home to celebrate the Dashain festival were singing and dancing playing cassettes on their radios near the place where people were enjoying the swing on the day of Vijaya Dashami. Some youths of Oraste who were under the spell of alcohol started quarrelling with them for singing and dancing. The people of Saldada tied two people, Ganga Gurung and Bouwa Gurung of Oraste with a rope and detained them in a room all through the night and released them in the morning.

On their release, they went home and a large number of youths from Oraste Khudi and Ghopte came to attack the people of Saldada the next evening with sticks, khukuri, axe and scythe. The two sides clashed with around 400 to 500 people on the side of Oraste and 700 to 800 people on the side of Saldada.

A total of 80 people sustained injuries, 36 people on the side of Oraste and 44 people on the side of Saldada. Of them, Lok Bahadur Manandhar of Saldada and Binod Gurung, Ganga Gurung, Bharat Gurung and Hadikhole Kanchha of Oraste were injured seriously in the scuffle.

A team of 10 police led by an Inspector arrived at the scene on the next day.However, the situation was still tense and it was difficult to pacify the crowd.

The wounded were taken to Pokhara. With the efforts of local seniors and police, the matter was discussed and it was agreed that people of Oraste had overreacted. They admitted and agreed to pay 47 thousand rupees as compensation to Lok Bahadur Manandhar who was seriously injured.

As there was an unconfirmed report later that Lok Bahadur had died in the hospital. The youths of both sides have fled from their villages. However, the dispute has been settled with the arbitration of the police.

Maoist impostors extort villagers

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PALPA, Tansen, Oct 14 - A group of fake-Maoists forcefully realised money from the neighbouring villages of Tansen municipality, the district headquarters, in the name of Maoists during the Dasain festival, locals here said.

A 43-year-old man from Bandipokhara VDC said, they forced him to give them a hefty amount. But he refused to mention the impostors and the amount he handed them.

Another milk-man from the same VDC said they demanded seven thousand rupees from his mother at midnight. He said,"Two people dropped in my house and warned us not to move from our bed. They snatched my mother’s goldring even after she gave them Rs 1,700"

According to the victims, the fake-Maoists handed them printed receipts of "Nepal Communist Party (Maoists)." An employee at the District Administration Office said they took away Rs seven thousand handing him the printed receipt. Asked if he was aware of the growing incidents of deceptions, Chief District Officer Janardan Nepali said he was facing difficulty to take actions against those as no victims were willing to inform about their appearance.

A temple trembles Ramkala Khadka

KATHMANDU, Oct 14-It is hard to believe in the modern times that a temple trembles because of the wrath of a snake god. But there is no lack of believers and the crowd thronging the temple of Dachhinkali at Lokanthali, Bhaktapur is a testimony to it.

Majority of the visitors believed the temple shook. "Yes,the temple is really shaking," said Bir Bahadur Bhattarai, who came from Chabahil after he heard the rumour of the shaking temple.

But there were also people who believed that it was just an illusion. Said Madhav GC, a surveyor,"Those people who come here after hearing the rumour of the shaking temple will certainly find it shaking because their psychology has already been conditioned."

People with scientific bend of mind guess there might be some physical cause for the shaking of the temple. Says Rudra Adhikari, an engineer,"I have observed from all four sides of the temple and I find it shaking." He guessed that some movement due to natural gases beneath the surface of the temple might be the cause.

The temple was established in 1903, and the idol of the goddess was brought from Baranasi, India by Balika Prasad Mishra, whose descendants have settled in the vicinity of the temple.

Curiously enough, a devotee also started trembling following a darshan of the goddess of the temple. Dev Laxmi Rajthala of Dadhikot started trembling after she reached the temple. During fits she said that the temple shook because of the anger of Naag Devata or the serpent god who also shared the same temple.

"Sacrificial drops of blood on the Naag Devata, during the Navaratri has made him angry," devotees attending to Rajathala quoted her as saying. Rajthala further prophesied that the temple would not stop shaking until two lost lion statues were relpaced outside the temple gate.

Everybody does not believe that the temple is shaking due the wrath of the snake god. " We are going to investigate why this temple is shaking, said Kedar Khadka, a member of ward no 16, Madhyapur Thimi Municipality. "We are going to call scientists from RONAST and archaeologists from the Department of Archaeology," he said.