Alcohol sale down in Nepalgunj, boosts in Indian towns

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BANKE, Aug 26 - There has been a direct impact on the Nepalese as well as Indian consumers visiting local market to buy or consume alcohol even ahead of the implementation of new alcohol policy.

Indian buyers who used to easily receive alcohol from every shop in Nepalgunj have stopped coming to buy alcohol here for the last one week.

On the contrary, Nepalese buyers have started crossing the border and going to the Indian markets to buy Indian alcohol.

Alcohol is not available in the Indian market at any time of the day. Similarly, it cannot be consumed at any time of the day. Moreover, it is costly and of sub-standard quality. Therefore, a large number of Indian consumers used to throng the market of Nepalgunj to buy better quality alcohol at cheaper rate.

Sushil Jayasabaru, owner of a local alcohol shop in Rupaidiha, the Indian town just across Nepalgunj, told The Kathmandu Post Sunday that the alcohol consumers who used to go to Nepalgunj were coming to his shop to buy or drink alcohol.

"Alcohol was available at a cheap price in Nepal. As alcohol was costlier in India, Indian customers used to go to Nepal. When they heard that action would be taken against alcohol consumers in Nepal, there is a crowd of alcohol consumers in my shop," he added. The rumour that members of All Nepal Women’s Association (Revolutionary) will take action against those who drink alcohol has reached different parts of India as far as Lucknow via Baharaich.

There is only one shop in Rupaidiha running with the permission of the government of India. As the number of alcohol consumers has suddenly increased in the shop both from India and Nepal, the shop owner has increased the price of alcohol by Rs 2 per bottle.

Preparations have been finalised to open up a new "English Alcohol" shop there in view of the increasing number of customers, according to an employee of the alcohol shop. Nepalese are visiting the only soft drink and beer selling shop in Rupaidiha.

Many people from Nepalgunj had visited Rupaidiha on Sunday for beer but they returned empty-handed because the shops remain closed on Sunday.

There has been a shortage of alcohol in Nepalgunj and about 250 restaurants have been affected after a large number of Maoist workers and All Nepal Women’s Association (Revolutionary) members destroyed alcohol and set fire to Shah Distillery, about 6 kilometres west of Nepalgunj last week, according to local Hotel Entrepreneurs Association.

People who used to produce alcohol at home have also stopped producing alcohol after the incident.

Patients suffer due to lack of surgical equipment

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GULMI (Tamghas), Aug 26 - Tamghas hospital, the only hospital in Gulmi district, has not been functioning effectively in the absence of necessary doctors and surgical equipment.

The hospital which was established 28 years ago has a 15-bed building constructed by the government. Apart from this, another 15-bed hospital building has been constructed along with an operation theatre by Gulmi-Arghakhanchi Rural Development Project (GARDEP) at the premises of the old building.

The hospital building was constructed along with the operation theatre at a cost of Rs 8.5 millions.

There is a provision of three doctors but there is only one doctor.

For years, people of this region are compelled to visit Palpa, Butwal and Kathmandu in Nepal and also as far as Gorakhpur in India even for minor surgery.

Now that the new building, equipped with operation theatre, has been constructed they were happy that their ordinary needs for operation will be met by the hospital, but they are again disappointed because the hospital has not been able to run the service due to lack of doctor and surgical equipment.

Dr Shyam Raj Upreti who has been working alone over the last one year says he is still compelled to refer patients to outside hospitals due to lack of surgical equipment.

If surgical equipment and surgeon were provided to the hospital local people as well as others from Arghakhanchi, Pyuthan and Baglung would benefit from this service, he added.

In addition, there is such a bureaucracy in the hospital which is engaged in an institutional manner in preventing the hospital from functioning smoothly and putting the hospital chief in a difficult position through various activities both inside and outside the hospital.

When asked in this regard Dr Upreti admitted this and said even

God may find it difficult to work here.

The practice of claiming travel and daily allowances without travelling and working in reality
had been institutionalised, an employee said on condition of anonymity.

If a patient dies in course of treatment, the hospital and the doctor will be at risk and therefore serious patients are referred to other hospitals.

PABSON to curtail facilities to students and teachers

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GULARIYA, Aug 26 - Private and Boarding Schools' Organisation Nepal (PABSON), Bardiya has decided to curtail some of the facilities enjoyed by the students and teachers from this month, a week after there was an agreement between the All Nepal Free Students Union (Revolutionary) and PABSON to reduce the school fees.

The organisation decided that students will not receive the facilities of light and fan.

One of three children from the same family admitted in the same school was exempted from paying fees, but now each of them should pay fees from this month.

Similarly, schools which have rented buildings will now run in two shifts - grades from nursery to five in the day time and grades six to ten in the morning. This will help them save some money as they have to pay rent for fewer buildings, PABSON member Nirmal Upadhyaya told The Kathmandu Post.

As the schools have reduced fees teachers will lose 30 percent of their salary and allowance and some teachers will be retired from this month, according to PABSON Bardiya. Thus, about 20 to 30 teachers are going to lose their job and become unemployed from this month.

According to the agreement between the students union and PABSON, monthly fees will be reduced by 15 to 30 percent. It was also agreed that facilities and fees for computer, library and sports will also be removed. The examination fee will be lowered by the same percentage as monthly fees and all the private boarding schools will be closed from the next session. Members of PABSON have said they were compelled to take these measures otherwise they would be unable to run the schools in the current session after the fee structure determined four years ago was reduced at the above rate.

Many hotels in Sauraha closed

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SAURAHA (Chitwan), Aug 26 - Persistent rain and flood over the last few months coupled with the unfavourable situation due to various factors in the country have led to the closure of a large number of hotels in Sauraha area.

Even those hotels which are open have to be content with a very limited number of tourists in their hotels due to continuous decline in tourist arrivals.

The continuous rain and floods, deteriorating law and order situation and the massacre in the royal palace in June are mainly responsible for the steep decline in tourist arrival. The result is that most of the hotels, including minor and major ones, are about to collapse causing a wastage of the vast investment made in them.

Most of the hotels are unable to meet even the administrative cost. Consequently, about half of the employees have been sent on leave while the wage workers are without job. The few hotels which are now in operation have been forced to give greater discount in their food and lodging charges in view of the low number of tourists.

"Most of the hotels here have closed down their businesses. Those which are running have maintained a very small number of employees only to take care of the hotels. The situation has further worsened after a ban on alcohol. Tourists who have come for entertainment are simply upset, a hotel entrepreneur, Ramchandra Adhikari complained.

Executive member of Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN), Dip Mainali, said there has been a decline in the number of tourists due to the bad image of Nepal at the international level. Ninety percent of the hotels have been closed because hotels in Sauraha depend largely on foreign tourists.

" The ban on alcohol alone has been responsible to reduce sale by nearly 50 percent. If this situation continues, it will surely have a serious impact on the government revenue", he added.

It may be noted here that hotels operating under the Royal Chitwan National Park are paying an annual revenue of around Rs 40 millions.

Last year, the hotels in Sauraha had paid a revenue of nearly Rs 500,000 for elephant ride alone, but this year they have collected only Rs 140,000, said chairman of Sauraha Hotel and Community Development Committee, Giridhari Chaudhari.

In addition to the minor level to five-star hotels, even the ‘gift’ shops and local tourist guides are badly affected by the arrival of scant tourists.

Secretary of Nature Guide Association, Sauraha, Hari Tamang, said more than half of the tourist guides had left their job and were engaged in agricultural activities.

"Previously, we used to easily earn up to Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 per month, but now it is difficult to earn even Rs 1,000 per month," he added.

"We used to sell up to Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 per day, but now the daily transaction does not exceed Rs 2,000 per day, a gift shop owner said.

Currently, there are about 52 hotels, 10 restaurants, half a dozen ‘gift’ shops and more than 100 tourist guides in Sauraha.

According to Royal Chitwan National Park Office, the number of tourists who entered Sauraha in the four months of Baisakh to Shravan (mid-April to mid-August) this year was 14,650 as against 18,766 during the same period last year with the number declining steadily in recent months. Tourist arrival continues to fall in this month also.

To clean city of garbage KMC staff stoop to the streets

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KATHMANDU, Aug 26 - For hundreds of Kathmandu Metropolitan City staff, the Sunday morning resembled a festival — many of the cleaning staff were seen with brooms in one hand and mobile phones in another — showing their solidarity to keep the capital city clean.

Over two hundred officers and staff, with brooms, shovels, and trolleys, launched cleaning campaign at Sundhara and cleaned the Ward-22 city streets for once with fun, sincerity and responsibility.

Deputy Mayor Bidur Mainali, Environment Department Chief Shanta Ram Pokhrel and Ward-22 Chairman Hari Krishna Dangol were seen exceptionally active in the mass. But, the mayor Keshav Sthapit, who often speaks about implementing solid waste management scheme in Kathmandu was conspicuous by his absence.

Senior staff from the departments of Revenue, Social Welfare, Store, Administration, Finance including several ward chairmen were seen picking up garbage from the street corners and loading it on the refuse truck.

"This is really like being the local representative of KMC," Chiniya Man Bajracharya, the Ward-30 chairman, said while trying to heave a shovel from the pile of garbage at Sundhara.

The mass cleaned the streets along Sundhara, Khichapokhari, New Road, Pako, Purano Bhansar, Dharmapath, Bhugol Park and then New Road Peepal Bot.

The local people’s participation in the cleaning programme however, was almost nil. The locals enjoyed ogling at the scene but nobody came forward to give a helping hand or to join the KMC staff. They chose to remain as mere spectators in the programme that aimed to draw the local people’s participation.

"KMC alone cannot clean the city. This programme is only to raise awareness among the locals," said Pokhrel of Environment Department.

Even the "young social workers" of the local youth clubs did not join. Sankata Club, Khichapokhari Youth Club, Sadharan Club, Twaachen Pariwar Club and Dharmabhakta Youth Club charge money for allowing the people to park their vehicles in the street in the ward.

The locals litter the streets by throwing domestic wastes, the shop owners spread commodities on the footpaths and some residents even leave building materials and equipment on the streets.

Shyam Chitrakar, the chairman of Solid Waste Management Committee said such locals should be punished for putting hurdles in the KMC’s routine cleaning programme.

Bidur Mainali said intelligent residents of the capital city should react positively to the efforts of the metropolitan office in keeping city clean.

He said, "I hope the locals will make a habit of managing the waste by themselves at least when they see hundreds of KMC staff coming in front of their houses and showing them the way to do it."

But his wish was not fulfilled. One of the locals threw a packet of domestic waste in front of his eyes on the street at Pako as the cleaning team passed by.

KMC started placing garbage bins in New Road area from the first week of July this year that helped the metropolitan office to manage the city litter to some extent.

KMC spends around Rs 80 millions annually to regulate 350 tonnes of garbage Kathmandu produces daily and spends almost 10 percent of its total budget to manage it. But, the result has been hardly satisfactory.

The KMC officials blame lack of the people’s participation for the failure of managing the solid waste in the city with high population growth.

In November last year, KMC had planned to levy garbage tax on the locals but it did not materialise due to lack of proper homework in the KMC office and co-operation by the locals.

Proposed hydro-projects likely to affect millions

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KATHMANDU, Aug 26 – Thousands of people will be affected and thousands other rendered homeless if the 114 high dam projects currently under study in Nepal are not managed properly causing problems beyond present comprehension, said Dr Annanda Mohan Bhattarai.

Dr. Bhattarai was speaking today at a talk programme organized by Nepal Bar Council on a book Displacement and Rehabilitation in Nepal, Law, Policy and Practice written by Dr. Bhattarai.

Ten million people are likely to be displaced by projects every year and the total number of such displaced people could exceed the total number of refugees in the world. At present, there are very few laws regarding rehabilitation especially in South Asia, he added.

Dr Bhattarai further said state displaces the project affected people arbitrarily and at the same time the fruit of the project is denied to them. While providing compensation the definition of "just" becomes most debatable. Development is not a need-based theory but a right-based concept which provides an opportunity to the people to decide about their development.

When asked by the lawyers Dr Bhattarai disclosed that involuntary displacement not only infringes people’s right to property but also violates their Human Rights. If rehabilitation is not managed properly , the 114 high dam projects may create acute problems in the whole Terai and Chure range of Nepal, Bhattarai said.

Speaking on the occasion advocate Harihar Dahal said it is the routine business of the Bar Council to apprise the lawyer about the new and developing academic reports.

Deuba felicitates distinguished personalities

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KATHMANDU, Aug 26 – Distinguished personalities from various fields — media, art and culture, among others — were honoured with ‘Nepal Samman-2058’ by the Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba at a function held in the Capital today.

Speaking on the occasion Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba said, "People of Nepal want peace and prosperity and Maoists should be sincere towards the sentiments of Nepali people".

PM further said, "The country has to retain constitutional monarchy. The demise of the late king has proved how much we love the king and monarchy".

Among those felicitated today include Dr Dilli Raman Regmi, Dr Swami Prapannacharya, artist Lain Singh Bangdel, writer Bhawani Ghimire, journalist Harihar Birahi.

Speaking on behalf of felicitated personalities, Dr Upendra Devkota, Senior Neurosurgeon expressed his gratefulness to the organising committee for inspiring him at a time when government has failed to recognise the services and contribution of various personalities.

"The aim of the function is to felicitate different personalities who have in one way or other contributed to the society and nation as a whole", said, Gopal Sharma, General Secretary of Everest Foundation, the organiser.