Consumers may face LPG shortage again

By Bhaskar Sharma

KATHMANDU, April 21- Hardly two months after the end of the protracted four- month long Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) shortage, the consumers are poised for yet another LPG crunch due to workers’ strike in India.

Though it will be the over hundred thousand families, which depends upon the LPG as the cooking fuel, that will bear most of the heat, over 1,000 gas-powered vehicles will also be affected by the already worsening gas shortage.

Even officials at the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC), the monopolist importers of the LPG gas, conceded that the LPG supply is short of demand currently. However, they made a "customary" claim that the shortage will not be a long one.

"It is true that the market is facing some strain in LPG supply presently. However, the shortage would be for a short time," said Rudra Bahadur Khadka, Deputy Managing Director of NOC, talking to The Kathmandu Post today.

According to Khadka, about 3,000 tons of LPG would be imported this month. However, dealers say such import is unlikely to calm down the shortage since the current monthly demand stands at around 3,700 tons.

The latest short supply in LPG is as a result of thAe ongoing ‘go-slow’ strike by workers of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the sole supplier of LPG to Nepal, informed Khadka.

Although the Indian refining stations have not completely closed down, workers have reduced the supply of LPG substantially.

The major problem, however, is the ongoing technical problems at the Barauni refining station, partly caused by a fire that broke out at the station almost two weeks back. Barauni supplies a major chunk of LPG to Nepal. Of the 3,700 tons of LPG imported last month, 3,500 tons came from Barauni alone.

Confronted by such problems in Barauni, NOC recently reached an agreement with IOC for the immediate supply of 1000 tons of LPG from the Mathura refilling station. However, Mathura being far away than Barauni, the supply will start arriving Kathmandu only after Sunday. NOC says it will make further imports from Mathura.

"Mathura used to supply only 200 tons of LPG till last month. Since we are demanding a sudden rise in supply from Mathura it will not be able to adjust to our demand quickly," said Khadka.

"If LPG supply remains at the present rate, the market will face shortage more crippling than the last one," said Ashok Singh, Marketing Manager of HP Gas.

Dealers say that the LPG crunch will intensify if the IOC workers continue with their strike and technical problems at Barauni prolongs. And consumers are vexed at the latest LPG shortage. "We had to put our cylinder in queue Friday after we ran out of the cooking gas. And we stand at the 103rd position," lamented Rakesh Shrestha from Chhauni.

Bigwigs defy CIAA order of returning government vehicles

By Surendra Phuyal

KATHMANDU, April 21 - Despite warnings of legal action from the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), bigwigs misusing the government-owned vehicles have not returned the vehicles they have borrowed. At least 70 vehicles owned by various state-owned corporations, departments and projects under them have been taken away mainly by politicians, including former Prime Ministers, it has been revealed.

Three days have passed since CIAA officials leaked its "special" task force’s forthcoming move to a private sector media, but not a single bigwig has cared to return the vehicles they borrowed from the state long time ago, official sources said today.

"We are thinking about impounding the vehicles from the street itself before initiating legal action against the lenders and borrowers," a highly placed CIAA official had told the Kantipur daily Thursday. However, a concerned government official told The Kathmandu Post Saturday that "none of our (gone) vehicles was returned till Friday...That might happen in the days to come, if at all."

Officials at the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), Nepal Telecommunication Corporation (NTC), Department of Roads (DOR), Department of Irrigation (DOI), Department of Forest and a number of other departments are keeping their fingers crossed hoping that their "gone" vehicles will come back soon.

As many as 70 automobiles - most of them utility sport jeeps, cars - owned by a string of state-owned corporations, departments and donor-funded projects under them are known to have been taken away by bigwigs. A few of the vehicles were borrowed as early as 12 years ago. Those misusing the state-owned vehicles mainly are influential politicians, and their kith and kin.

Of them, 15 automobiles belong to NEA, half-a-dozen belong to NTC, another eight or ten belong to DOR, another ten belong to Department of Irrigation, and the rest belong to various other government offices and donor-funded projects under them.

SLC - a test of cheating skills

Post Report

MALANGWA, April 21 - If you think examination is a test of ones ability and knowledge, give it a second thought. A government official, who is involved as an invigilator in various examination centres in Malangwa district, says it is rather a "test of cheating skills".

The officials’ frustration is understandable. Not only the students are involved in this "cheating practice" but also the teachers, guardians and even the invigilators are an accomplice to the act. And Malangwa is not alone. In almost all the districts in the terai the practice of cheating is rampant.

What was unique about Malangwa is that on Tuesday, while the exam on Mathematics was going on, guardians and relatives of examinees chanted slogans against the Chief District Officer (CDO). The only fault of the CDO was that he had stayed in one of the examination centres for long and tried to check exam irregularities.

Police had to resort to blank fire twice to disperse the crowd that had gathered outside the examination hall to assist the examinees answer questions.

"Students here believe that they must copy and cheat answers and the guardians think that it is their duty to help their children in examination halls by hook or crook," CDO Devkota said. Among the districts he had visited, education system in Rautahat and Sarlahi was quite undisciplined, added Devkota.

The district administration along with the officials from District Education Office, has arrested and kept in custody a number of invigilators involved in assisting the students adopt unfair means during exams. On Tuesday five such teachers were arrested from Brahmapuri centre alone.

A teacher who was writing answers on a piece of paper outside the examination hall using carbon papers in Sukepokhari centre told The Kathmandu Post, " If I don’t do this, students and guardians will not allow me to live in this village."

Ranigunj VDC chairman Chudamani Timilsina, who was present at the examination centre to help his ward argued that since the education imparted by the teachers in local schools is so weak, students appearing in exams need help from outside. "Teacher do not teach properly in schools so we must help our children during exams," he argued.

To discourage copying answers inside the examination halls, this year the Examination Controller Office distributed two different sets of question papers to the examinees. But some of the invigilators say this practice has further worried the guardians and parents bringing more of them in the examination centre to help their children.

The local teachers say irregularities in SLC exams here has increased also because of the growing trend of the influential people in the capital sending their incompetent children to appear in the SLC examination from the terai districts. " Such students come here through unfair channel and contribute in spoiling the examinations environment," Sudarshan Marhatta, a local teacher-and-invigilator says.

CPN-UML founding day today

KATHMANDU, April 21 (RSS) - The 53rd founding day of the Communist Party of Nepal is being celebrated across the country Sunday.

On the occasion, CPN-UML General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal issuing a press release, said it is only because of the vibrant, decisive role of the Nepal Communist Party which has been incessantly fighting for the past five decades for the sake of democracy, nationalism and people’s livelihood that the 1990 popular movement became successful.

Following the successful restoration of democracy in the country, the CPN-UML’s role has become decisive, he further said.

Stating that new challenges are emerging for the Communist Party in Nepal, Nepal noted that ultra leftist thinking in the name of Maoists, terrorist activities and incidents of violence and killings have emerged as a deterrent to the natural and proper development of the communist movement.

The CPN-UML leader also spoke of the need to wage a battle against ultra-leftist movement on both ideological and political fronts.

Protesting oppn against ISDP talks

Post Report

KATHMANDU, April 21 - The six left political parties including the main opposition CPN-UML today declared that they would not sit-in for talks proposed in accordance with the Integrated Security and Defence Package (ISDP) programs, recently brought about by the government.

"Since there is no relevance of talks in accordance of the so called ISDP, the six left parties have decided to stay away from any talks," states a press release signed by all the top leaders of the six protesting left parties.

The release also added that the future programs of the left parties would be announced following a parties’ national meeting on Sunday.

This announcement comes at a time when the government has already made public its plans to deploy army in the Maoist affected western districts to ensure peace in accordance with the ISDP programs.

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala in his speech a week back had appealed to all the political parties to support the package.

Although the left parties have always been against the package this is the first time that they have publicly announced that they will not be supporting it.

Chandra Kumari recovers from her trauma

By Binaj Gurubacharya

KATHMANDU, April 21 - Since rescued from a mental asylum in South Korea last year, Chandra Kumari Gurung has been living at her home in the foothills of Mt. Annapurna recovering from the trauma.

Though there was nothing wrong with her and she was in perfect psychological state, she was forced to live in a mental institute for over six years until she was released in April last year.

Now, human rights groups backed by the Nature Trail, the organization that picked up her case and helped rescue her, are suing the Korean government and seeking ample compensation for the loss of wages and the trauma that she faced during her time at the institute.

"We first came to know about the case from one of our members who is a Nepali. We were very angry at that she was forced to live in a mental asylum despite being in perfect health," said Sung-Kak Choi, co-director of Nature Trail: For the Beauty of this Earth.

They are suing the government for compensation amounting to US$ 65,000 (Rs. 4.8 million) for lost wages for the six years.

Doctors at the institute failed to diagnose that she was okay and the whole episode was just a mistake. Since landing in South Korea in 1990, she had been slaving away at a textile factory and never had much of a chance to pick on the Korean language.

She was just one of the thousands of immigrants workers who leave their homes with their dreams and fly to foreign countries in search of better paying jobs hoping to change their lives for the better.

Her whole life changed on the night of Nov. 21, 1993, when a quarrel in a restaurant landed her in the police station. The police failing to understand what she was saying presumed she was mentally unstable and turned her over to the mental asylum.

She probably would have remained there if it had not been for another Nepali man living in Korea, KP Sitaula, who told the case to Nature Trail, an environmental organisation working for the better of the world.

It was during a press conference called for the media to meet Pushkar Shah, the Nepali cyclist who is peddling around the world, that the organization announced about the case.

Pressured from media coverage, Chandra Kumari was finally released by the authorities and her father was also flown to South Korea with the help of Nepalis living there for the reunion.

Now exactly a year later, members of this organization trekked to her village near Ghandruk, on the famous Annapurna trekking route to visit the woman they helped rescue.

"When we first saw her at the mental institute in Korea she did not have any expression and all she had was terror and fear reflect in her face ... now she was smiling and was very happy. She was finally at a place where she belonged," said Sang-Myung Jeong, the director of Nature Trail.

It was just not Chandra Kumari who rejoiced the visit, but the whole Kimche village celebrated with feasts and festivities. A local boy even played a flute to welcome the visitors.

Ironically it may sound but it was an environmental group that came to the rescue and managed to safely return Chandra Kumari back to her home.

PM in Biratnagar

Post Report

MORNAG, April 21 - Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala arrived this afternoon at his home town Biratnagar from the capital city of Kathmandu to spend two-day holiday, according to Nepali Congress Morang District Chairman, Ashok Koirala.

NC Morang District Chairman Koirala told the media persons that he had no formal programmes during his sojourn at his home town and added, he merely arrived here for a complete rest.

Unlike the previous public announcements, PM Koirala landed at the Biratnagar airport without any of his companions.

Chief District Officer, Binod Gyawali, and security organs were informed about his arrival about half an hour before he landed and a handful of his family members were present to welcome him at the airport, a police officer told The Kathmandu Post.

The security personnel for PM Koirala’s residence prevented the local reporters from visiting the PM as per his "strict instructions."

This is the first time that the prime minister has arrived here alone from the capital and has refused to meet with reporters and his party cadre.

Ministers hint at army mobilisation

Post Report

DHANGADHI, April 21- At a time when the nation is in dilemma over whether or not to mobilize the army, Finance Minister Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat in his strong words said we should deal the problem of Maoists insurgency with guns while keeping the door for dialogues open.

"There the rebels are killing innocent civilians and policemen by forming platoon, regiment and battalion and here we keep sitting urging them to come for the dialogue," Minister Mahat said, addressing a programme organized by the ruling Nepali Congress.

At the programme he slammed the political parties against the mobilization of the army. " Every political party feels the need to mobilize the army but I don’t understand why protests are being made over it," said Mahat.

Meanwhile, addressing the national meet of Federation of Nepal Transport Entrepreneurs, Surendra Prasad Chaudhari, Minister for Science and Technology said army mobilization is indispensable in order to quell the insurgency.

"How long we are going to tolerate the killings? The government cannot remain a mute spectator any longer," said Chaudhari, hinting at the army mobilization.

ISDP chief appointed

KATHMANDU, April 21 (PR)- His Majesty’s Government has decided to appoint Major General Pyarajung Thapa in the post of Lieutenant General, who will take charge of looking after the government’s recent decision to implement Integrated Security and Defense Package (ISDP) in seven Maoist-hit districts.

During the implementation of the program, the troops under Thapa will carry out psychological operation and, cordon and search operation in the Maoist-hit districts.

According to military sources, Brigadier General Balananda Sharma, the Military Training Director, will be appointed to the vacant post of Major General.

Chief of Army Staff Prajjwal SJB Rana is scheduled to formally designate Thapa on Monday.

Interim order on Nepal issued

KATHMANDU, April 21 - The Supreme Court on Friday issued an interim order to the government to refrain from its decision of relieving Usha Nepal, the then Joint Secretary of Home Ministry.

Nepal had filed a writ petition at the Supreme Court arguing that the government had forced her into retirement stating that she reached 58 years of age. She had argued that the government’s decision was against the law as she had yet another year to reach 58.

The single bench justice issued such an order to be reconsidered after the respondents file their written response.

4 electrocuted in Tanahun

Post Report

DAMAULI, April 21- At least four people were killed and 19 others seriously injured due to electric short-circuit caused by a shock wave of lightning at remote south-eastern Kota VDC on Monday, police here said.

Three of the dead are from the same family. The site of the incident is located about 25 km away from here, the district headquarters.

Condition of one of the injured, Rum Kumari Rana, is reported to be very critical and she has been rushed to the Bharatpur Hospital for treatment. Others who sustained minor injuries have not received any treatment so far.

Those killed from the same family have been identified as Prem Bahadur Thapa, 45, his wife Chunisara 35, and their daughter Parimaya, 13. Another neighbour, Hari Kala Ale, 65, also succumbed to the natural disaster.

The rest of the five children of the Thapa family, including a one and half months old baby, who survived the electric shock, have been orphaned, according to VDC Chairman Aas Bahadur Gurung.

Chairman of the 35 kilowatts micro-hydro power plant at Chherang, Sher Bahadur Malla, said that the plant was shut down that day following the stormy weather but the transmission lines jolted each other and electricity waves spread in the houses of Paruk village, inhabited by poor community.

Chief District Officer, Khumraj Punjali, expressed his ignorance about the incident until Saturday and said that a team of medics would be dispatched to the area soon. Locals said that they were reluctant of informing even the local police station fearing unnecessary legal procedures.