Rice price reduced in Rolpa

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ROLPA, Aug 16 - The Food Management Committee, Rolpa has reduced the price of nearly two thousand quintals of rice transported to the district about two years ago.

"Rice was brought here about two or three years ago but even a little quantity of rice failed to reach the famine-stricken people in the district. Therefore the price has been reduced" said chairman of Food Management Committee and DDC official Amrit Bahadur Gharti.

"People in the remote villages are affected by famine on the one hand while rice is being dumped in the storehouse here on the other," Gharti said.

A total of 2,733 quintals of rice was in stock in this office to ward off the famine in this highly remote hilly district of Rolpa located in the mid-western region in the Fiscal Year 1999-2000, but only 545 quintals of rice was sold by the end of the Fiscal Year 2000-2001.

As the rice was not sold, the price has been adjusted three times. Initially, the price was fixed at Rs 1,700 per quintal, then Rs 1,400 per kilogram and now the price has been fixed at Rs 1,200 per quintal.

Although villages are affected by acute famine and they have sold even their poultry and cattle to buy foodgrain, people have a wrong notion that it is not good to use government goods. Therefore, famine is not felt here, said DDC vice-president and member of the Food Management Committee Dal Bir Pun.

Winter crops were badly affected by drought while the summer crops were damaged by excessive rainfall in the district last year.

The government rice costs Rs 12 per kilogram in the district headquarters but it costs Rs 20 to Rs 25 per kilogram in the villages. The main reason for not buying the government rice is the pressure from the Maoists. Many villagers say that the government facilities are getting out of their reach due to the Maoist insurgents.

Pathivara pilgrimage season begins

By Dharma Prasad Poudyal

PHUNGLING (Taplejung), Aug 16 - As the season of pilgrimage to the Himalayan region in Taplejung has begun, a large number of pilgrims from different parts of Nepal and India have started arriving here.

People from the western part of Nepal as well as from Morang, Jhapa, Ilam and Panchthar districts and also from India are seen heading to this district to have a darshan of Pathivara and other temples and monasteries take a dip in the holy ponds located in different high altitude areas of the district.

Pilgrims visit the monasteries in Olangchunggola and Lungchung, waterfall in Sawa and the pond of Timbuk after mid-August every year. There are many other holy sites which are visited by pilgrims on the occasion of Kushe Aunsi festival ( the day when people pay respect to their father) which falls on August 19 this year (the date varies according to lunar calendar). These sites are visited by both rural and urban dwellers.

It is important not only for the common people but also for the dhami jhankri who make a point to visit these pilgrimage sites every year making the visit of other pilgrims more attractive. Even the heavy and continued rain does not deter them from visiting Pathivara and other shrines and ponds.

Pathivara temple, located at an altitude of 3794 metres from the sea level has continued to attract pilgrims for centuries. It has a special significance. Both Hindus and Buddhists visit this temple alike. After alighting from the bus, people take the uphill road and reach top of the mountain, where the temple is located, on the next day.

It is also due to the power of Goddess Pathivara to fulfil the wishes of the devotees that the number of visitors has been increasing. Those who had no son have been blessed with a son and even the dumb has been able to speak after promising offerings to the temple, member of Pathivara Conservation Area Development Committee, Punya Poudel said.

Mukund Neupane, who had written a book on Pathivara, says Buddhists living in the vicinity go to the temple to light the lamp in accordance with their religious faith and tradition.

The breath-taking view of Kanchanjungha can be seen from close quarters in addition to the view of Darjeeling city in India.

There is a popular belief that those who are virtuous can easily reach Pathivara temple at the top of the mountain and those who are not virtuous find it difficult to climb the mountain.

Postmen familiarised with new house numbering

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KATHMANDU, Aug 16 - A training for the postmen of the capital city on the new addressing system, introduced by the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC ) was concluded here today.

The Postal Training Centre (PTC) trainer Krishna Gyawali said the new addressing system would help the postmen to get to the exact house in a short time, without wasting time searching for it.The four-day training was organised by Kathmandu Valley Mapping Programme (KVMP), the section of KMC that works for the new addressing system, and PTC for the 84 postmen presently working for delivering letters and other postal items in the municipality area.

"It was quite difficult for the postmen to locate the house and adresses. We ourselves were thinking about a way to revise the addressing system. We are happy KMC did it. The postal service is bound to benefit the most by the new system more than other institutions," he said.

Sitaram Thapa, a postman at the General Post Office for last 22 years said the new addressing system is more systematic. "It is a bit difficult to understand it for now but I hope it will be much easier in future."

In the first phase, the address number will be distributed to in the Central Sector of the capital city’s Ward - 1, 5, 11, 31 and 33 — the area stretching from Tundikhel to Dhobikhola. The core area is divided into six sectors — West, North Core, South Core, Central, North and West for the new addressing purpose.

This system distributes house numbers to the houses according to their distance in metres from the originating point of the street to the houses’ main entrance. The house on the right hand side gets even numbers and those of the left hand sides get odd number. The North South streets has its originating point on their South end and those of East West has it on their East end.

KVMP started collecting basic data around a year ago to provide the citizens with one uniform house numbering system all over the metropolis.

Loadshedding in Bardiya starting Friday

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GULARIYA, Aug 16 - Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) Gulariya branch is to enforce 45 minutes daily loadshedding from 7 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. starting August 17.

The decision was taken because of overload during the evening peak hour and causing repeated fuse burn-out problem to the 1.5 MVA Power Transformer in the 33/11 KV sub-station, according to the chief of the branch, Rajendra Mishra.He justified the need for loadshedding saying that power transformers can be damaged due to overload. The NEA branch informed that loadshedding will take place by rotation in Gulariya Feeder, Mainapokhar Feeder and Taratal Feeder sections.

It may be recalled here that power supply has been repeatedly disrupted in Bardiya for over the last one month. Loadshedding is likely to remain in force for a period of about one month, according to NEA sources.

However, it is reported that Rajapur area will not be affected by the loadshedding. Power is being supplied to Rajapur area from Lamaki sub-station and to Gulariya area from Kohalpur sub-station.

Vaccination against encephalitis in Dang from today

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DANG, Aug 16 - Health authorities have decided to start vaccination against Japanese encephalitis only after the disease claimed more than two dozens of people in various health centres and hospitals in this Mid-Western Terai region, sources here said Thursday.

The encephalitis had shown its preliminary symptoms in this region as soon as the monsoon arrived from the Bay of Bengal.

An all-party meeting, presided over by the Dang District Development Committee Chairman Bharat KC, decided to carry out vaccination programme in the district beginning August 19. Medical Superintendent at the District Public Health Office Dr. Shrawan Kumar Chaudhary informed that the Department of Health Service had recently provided 25,000 vials of encephalitis vaccines that would help inoculate about 50,000 children against the killer disease.

Chaudhary said that the vaccine would be given first to the children below 10 years of age. He added that the vaccines were not sufficient to vaccinate the total population of children in the district. It is estimated that there are over 1,25,000 children in this district alone.

The vaccine would be made available to children from the three primary health centres located in Ghorahi, the district headquarters, Tulsipur and Lamahi. The all-party meeting selected these centres keeping in mind the concentration of population.

Good maize crop harbingers adequate food in Rolpa

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ROLPA, Aug 16 - Farmers of this district are happy this year after their summer crops fared well.

Local people have been suffering food shortage and hunger for last few years due to poor harvest and insufficient foodgrain production.

"Maize output is good this year. If no natural calamity hits this crop in the near future, then there is a prospect of good harvest this year," said Hira Bahadur Budha of Gairigaon in western Rolpa.

Like Hira Bahadur, other farmers too are happy to find that the maize crop this year has been good in this remote hilly district. For the last few years, both summer and winter crops had suffered badly causing famine in the district.

Last year farmers in this upper Himalayan belt were unable to recover even the winter crop seeds, but this year they are optimistic that there will be no more famine in the village. However, they remain apprehensive of the possibility of sudden storms that could cause the crop to fail in the next two months.

According to District Agriculture Development Office, different crops are grown in 28,847 hectares of land in this district including both dry and wet fields. Although most of the area lacks irrigation facility, food crops growth is found to be good all over the district this year, according to the office.

Octogenarian SLC graduate felicitated

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KATHMANDU, Aug 16 - Widely known as ‘Writer Ba’, the 85 year old Bal Bahadur Karki passed in first division scoring 67 percentage in the School Living Certificate (SLC) BS 2057.

Falicitating Writer Ba for his great achievement, amidst a function here today, Kesher Jung Rayamajhi, chairman of Standing Committee of Raj Parisad said, "Education is an engine, which helps personal development and growth." Congratulating Writer Ba, Rayamajhi said that our country still lacgs behind in education compared to other countries.

The programme was organised by Ranasur Karki Society, Solukhumbu district. Writer Ba who attempted 12 times to pass SLC, is also a social worker.

Speaking at the function, Bal Bahadur K.C., Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation said that Ba is a symbol of national pride and an example to all.

Now Writer Ba desires to continue further studies. "I want to study Arts and study Major English, Economics and Political Science." When asked what he will do after finishing his education, he says, "I am not sure, but let future decide on that."

"A person becomes old in age but not in his education, therefore for national development, education is very necessary in a developing country like Nepal," he says.

Writer Ba who never gets tired of working, studying or doing anything, wants to spread the light of education. "Government should provide better incentives for the development of education."

A donation of Rupees Five thousand made by Nimanuru Sherpa of Cho You Trek was handed over to writer Ba by Dr. Rayamajhi for his eye-check-up during the function.

Seema Karki, 20, second among 15 grandchildren expresses her happiness on his personal achievement.

Similarly, in another function held at Baneshwore, Pradeep Nepal, Politburo member of regional committee of Free Students Union (UML) falicitated him along with other students, who passed SLC in first division from Kathmandu constituency-1.

Compost kitchen waste, keep city clean

By Razen Manandhar

KATHMANDU, Aug 16 - Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) is keen to promote home disposal of domestically generated kitchen waste in the Capital city. And, to arouse interest among the city residents, it organised one-day composting training programme for the residents of Bishal Nagar area Ward-5, Wednesday.

Trainer Nabin Bikas Maharjan explained how the domestic waste can be turned into compost without spending much time and money, by storing it in simple ventilated unused boxes or containers.

Composting at domestic level helps reduce garbage, reduce garbage-generated pollution, keep streets clean of litter, discourages harmful chemicals in the yards and also earns some money.

"You can produce compost for your flower and kitchen garden by simply composting the organic garbage you produce in the kitchen," he said.

Soni Shrestha, the Community Liaison Officer of Katmandu Valley Mapping Programme (KVMP), said the training programme was held as s pilot project to support KVMP’s ‘Manage Domestic Garbage in Home’ programme at various Ward Offices.

KMVP has chosen Ward - 2, 5 and 6 to carry on various development schemes as pilot projects.

"We want to make Ward-5 a model area in the whole metropolis where the domestic garbage is managed by the locals themselves," she said.

Out of the total amount of garbage the metropolis produces, 70 percent is made of organic elements that can easily be turned into compost if managed propoerly, the KMC officials said.

Ward no. 5 member Ganesh Shrestha said the ward office was promoting private firms to collect garbage from door to door.

"This simple technique will help the locals increase fertility of the garden and keep the area clean without spending any money on it".

Uma Gautam, a 25 year-old housewife used to prepare compost in the yard in traditional way but once she learned the scientific method, the compost production has highly increased many fold. She had attended a one-day training programme earlier and she narrated her experience to the gathering today.

Several training programmes on composting were held in the locality two months ago but it was discontinued due to June 1 Royal Family massacre.

KMC is holding another demonstration meeting next Saturday at Maligaon, the Ward Office said.

NTV asked to air informative and social based programmes

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KATHMANDU, AUG 16 – Various speakers today stressed the need of government and other sponsors’ assistance in airing informative and other serious television programmes .

Speaking at a discussion programme organised by Martin Chautari on "The content of Aankhi Jhyal after Nepal Television went on satellite" many speakers pointed out that various informative programmes on NTV were not getting sponsors primarily due to preconcieved notions of the sponsor about the programmes.

Mohan Mainali, producer of the informative programme Aankhi Jhayal being aired fortnightly on NTV , criticized sponsors’ reluctance to support serious programmes. He also lambasted NTV for levying charges even on the serious social-based programmes in Nepali.

Another speaker Kiran Shrestha, Director of the Young Asia Television shared the difficulties of the producer of the serious programmes, requested the government to make conducive environment for the production of non- commercial programmes. Pratyoush Onta of Martin Chautari co-ordinated the programme.