Gastro claims six children

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MORANG, Aug 7 - At least six children died of diarrhoea and dysentery in the last week at a remote village of Pathivara in Sankhuwasabha district.

Babita Gurung, Rita Gurung, Padam Kumari Parajuli, Krishna BK, Nirmala Parajuli, and Kanchha Gurung succumbed to diarrhoea-dysentery-related epidemic, Dr Laxmi Prasad Yadav, District Hospital said.

All the six children died on their way to hospital from their remote village. They were unable to reach the hospital even after travelling two days on foot, Dr Yadav said.

However, a team of health officials sent off to the village by the District Health Office has been treating around 300 patients suffering from the epidemic. But the team has arrived to the village very late unable to save the lives of six children, said the report dispatched here.

The Chief District Officer (CDO), Netra Prasad Sharma said due to the remoteness of the village, no further reports has come to the office.

Even as the team of health officials arrived at the village on Thursday, the locals fear that the death toll will rise.

Maoists destroy police post in Tanahu

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DAMAULI, Aug 7 - Underground Maoist rebels on Monday night set a police post on fire at Bais Janghare village of the Purkot VDC, police here said.

There were five unarmed policemen when the rebels attacked the post. This is the third time that the rebels have destroyed police posts in the district after the much hyped cease-fire was announced by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba two weeks ago.

Eyewitness said that the rebels doused the post with kerosene and set it on fire. The unarmed policemen went to the post five days ago. Locals said that all the policemen were locked up in a nearby house before they destroyed it.

Meanwhile, our reporter from Chitwan said that the rebels forced nine elected members including the vice-chairman of the Devghat VDC in Tanahun to resign from their respective posts on Monday.

Sources said that the rebels brought all the nine representatives at the VDC office and compelled them to tender their resignations before the VDC Chairman, Shiva Raj Poudel.

The rebels also forced VDC Chairman Poudel after their resignations but he immediately refused to do so. Poudel said that the rebels then locked up the office and fled the scene. One of the VDC ward members said that he and other eight representatives were forced to quit their job assigned by law for five years. Fresh local election is going to be held next year.

Sources also said that the rebels warned the VDC secretary not to carry out any other jobs than demographic registrations of the people from the VDC.

Our reporter from Parbat said that a 15-year-old boy sustained serious injuries on Monday after he played with an unexploded hand-made bomb, reportedly left behind by Maoist rebels at Karkineta VDC-5, about three weeks ago, locals said.

Satish Shrestha of the VDC was injured after he tried to examine the socket bomb at his home. Shrestha is receiving treatment at Pokhara hospital. He had found the bomb from the rubble of the destroyed police post, locals said.

Around 35 policemen from the district headquarters searched out his house after the incident on Monday.

The rebels had destroyed the Karkineta-based police outpost about one month ago and distributed all the goods of the post to the locals.

Refugees prohibited to leave camp for jobs

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MORANG, Aug 7 - Locals living close to the Sanischare-based Bhutanese refugee camp have been prohibited to leave the camp for jobs over the last one week, a report received here said.

Locals said that they were forced to take such a harsh step as the refugees sold their labour at cheaper prices badly affecting the job opportunities of the daily-waged labourers.

The VDC officials said that as a result of the move, the refugees have stopped even visiting the local markets for fear of their safety.

A member of Joint Committee of the House Wire, Painters and Plumbers, Om Upreti, said that they resorted to sanction such a ban on the refugees after they lost their jobs in the locality.

It may be recalled that the refugees in the camp are provided with fixed ration and other facilities by the international donor agencies and they need not work outside the camp for their survival.

Around 100,000 Bhutanese refugees are living in misery in seven different camps in eastern plain districts of Jhapa and Morang since they were evicted by the Druk government under its ethnic cleansing policy about a decade ago.

Before the refugees were prohibited from leaving the camp, around 2,000 youths used to work outside the camp as cheap labourers in different sectors.

Earlier, the local people had also collectively asked the local administration not to permit the refugees to work outside the camp, and the administration did so. However, the refugees had been ignoring official instructions until the locals initiated this step.

A local, Kumar Chamling, said that the refugees were given asylum in Nepal on humanitarian grounds and they should abide by the international norms. "The refugees have no right to interfere with our job opportunities which is already competitive," Chamling said.

Phone,power services out of order in Rautahat

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RAUTAHAT, Aug 7 - People in this district face problems due to the irregularity of telephone service and electricity supply.

The telephone service goes out of order almost daily. Locals complain that the telecommunications office does not rectify the faults for weeks no matter whether they are minor or major ones.

Generally, the telephone service in Gaur and Chandranigahapur repeatedly go out of order. Employees and businessmen are compelled to go to Bairgania in India to make the telephone call.

The telephone operates for two days a week in Gaur, according to a resident.

The telecommunications employees do not repair the telephone lines even when they go out of order repeatedly. Customers complain that they are compelled to go elsewhere to make a call despite the fact that they own a telephone line.

Similarly, electricity supply is also very irregular and it is disrupted daily. Customers complain that they can hardly use electricity for more than 15 days a month.

Businessman Ajay Kumar Shah says the negligence of the NEA has crossed all limits which is responsible for lack of power supply. Irregularity in power supply has cost the NEA hundreds of thousands of rupees, NEA Gaur branch chief Surya Nath Yadav admits.

On the other hand, NEA has not shown any interest to stop people in different areas such as Bishrampaur, Dumariya, Santpur, Judibela and Ghamaura from illegally using electricity. They tap electricity directly from the transmission line with the help of a hook and use electricity for lighting their homes and running mills.

The problem of irregular supply of electricity will not be resolved unless employees of the NEA visit every village and take action against those who are involved in stealing electricity, a local body representative, Binod Ghimire said.

Insufficient budget weakens conservation efforts

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DANG, Aug 7 - A 20-years long study has found that the annual soil erosion on the sub-watershed area only of this district amounts to more than 2,000 tons of soil per hectare. This has been established from the data collected in the district since the year 2039 BS (1982/ 83).

However, the rate of conservation including areas under tree plantation, on an average, is less than 100 hectares per year.

According to Tulsipur District Soil Conservation Office, soil erosion is caused by 167 rivers and rivulets spread all over the district. Soil conservation activities are underway at four select pilot sub-watershed areas.

The Soil Conservation Office has given conservation cover over 2,000 hectares of land since its establishment 20 years ago. The activities include the conservation of roads, upland areas, cropland, reclamation of damaged land and conservation of productivity of soil.

The highest share of soil erosion in this district is done by Rapti and Babai Rivers. Even without taking into account the soil erosion caused by these two major rivers, the per sub-watershed soil erosion rate in the study zone still stands at 14 tons per hectares.

The rate comes to 2,300 tons per hectares per year when all the 167 rivers and rivulets of the district are taken into account.

The annual rate of soil erosion further rises and exceeds 5,000 tons per hectare if the damages caused by the major rivers like Rapti and Babai are also taken into account.

Officiating chief of Soil Conservation Office Narayan Gaire said that nearly one million rupees earmarked for this district every year is far insufficient if the rate of soil conservation effort is considered.

Although thousands of bighas of land are washed away by Rapti and Babai alone every year, 60 percent of the total district budget is spent in the sub-watershed area, whereas 40 percent of the budget is spent in the areas which are considered soil-erosion sensitive, Gaire informed.

Gaire says it is not possible to control soil erosion caused by Rapti and Babai rivers without any watershed management project. Of the nearly 167 rivers and rivulets in the district, only four rivers namely Kaudiya-Sonpur, Upallo Babai, Patriphalne Khola and Tuikhola, have been developed as sub-watershed project.

Nearly 4,000 families benefit from this project but this accounts for just 5 percent of the 76,000 families in Dang district. More than 1,000 families are affected by the floods and soil erosion in the district every year.

The district has received Rs 27,600,000 over the last 20 years to control soil erosion and the percentage of benefited families figures at less than 5 percent.

Ten suspension bridges constructed in one year

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LAMJUNG, Aug 7 - Ten suspension bridges were constructed during the fiscal year 2000-2001 in different parts of the district at the initiative of the Community Development Centre.

The bridges were constructed with the financial assistance provided by Lamjung District Development Committee and local Village Development Committee. The construction materials were provided by the group - Bridge Building at the Local Level (BBLL) and local villagers contributed through voluntary labour, Programme Officer of the Community Development Centre Krishna Raj Oliya told The Kathmandu Post, Tuesday.

The bridges has minimum length 30 metres and with the longest at 124 metres, according to Oliya. More than 1.6 million rupees was spent in addition to the materials for the construction provided by the BBLL and voluntary labour contributed by the local people.

Dang district reeling under widespread tree felling

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BELA (Dang), Aug 7 - Scattered incidents of forest encroachment over the last few years has now taken an organised form in Dang district.

Those involved in forest encroachment are not just cultivating the land, but are also actively engaged in assisting the timber smugglers by helping to wilt and dry standing trees in a planned way so that they can be fell as dried trees.

The practice is prevalent in most of the forests of Dang district and more acute in the national forest area of Gurung Khola, Bela VDC-3, about 50 kilometres east of the district headquarters.

More than 200 people have illegally occupied and resettled in this thick Dang district national forest since last three years.The Gurung Khola national forest area has virtually become an exhibition ground for the largest numbers of dried trees.

Trees have been felled illegally on the pretext of cutting down trees with the permission of the forest department, but in reality they cut down trees indiscriminately.

Ranger of Ilaka forest Office Gadhawa, Bhubaneswor Chaudhari, said he had informed the district office about the encroachment of the forest. However, officiating chief of District Forest Office, Gyanendra Mishra, said the number of illegal resettlers was not as high as reported and that there was no illegal felling of trees.

"Only 15 to 20 people have resettled there as illegally," he added.

Although Mishra denied allowing felling of dried trees, anyone who visits the area can see the stumps of green trees felled recently and the wilted leaves are still intact on the branches.

Local resident Ram Bahadur Magar told the visiting journalists that the trees were cut down by the timber contractors recently. According to local residents, more than 150 trees have been cut down in Ayargaira, Hattikhal Chira, Koirale Khuti and Ranakhuti area.

Departmental action was taken against Area Ranger Umesh Prasad Yadav and Assistant Forest Officer Hem Raj Bista after their involvement was found in felling trees which had not been hammered.

The forest destruction is so widespread that even the Maoist workers have decreed a ban on timber export.

The current contractor and the Maoist area in-charge have come to the understanding that the contractor will export the timber according to his contract only and will not be allowed to cut down any trees after the contract is over.