Landslides damage mule tracks in Rolpa

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ROLPA, Aug 28 - Mule tracks in different parts of the district have been damaged due to landslides triggered by heavy rainfall.

As the mule tracks have been damaged, foodgrain supply system has been disrupted since people from many VDCs come to the districat headquarters to buy foodgrain.

The Liwang-Chunwang mule track has been damaged at dozens of places including Kotgaon, Korchawang and Ghartigaon VDCs, hindering the transportation of foodgrain and other essential items to the people of the remote VDCs in the north of the district headquarters.

People living in dozens of VDCs located north-west of the headquarters, including the VDCs of Ghartigaon, Jinawang, Rake, Talawang, Haiwang, Pakhapani, Parchhawang, Bhawang and several other VDCs have been affected due to the disruption of road link.

Up to 45 metre long section of roads have been washed away by landslide at some places.

People coming to Liwang, headquarters of Rolpa district have been compelled to take a route passing from inside the forest.

Meanwhile, the number of people requesting for relief assistance following the damage caused to their field by landslide triggered by torrential rains is increasing in the district headquarters.

DDC president Amrit Bahadur Gharti said the DDC will consider the applications at the current meeting and decision will be made.

As repair works of the damaged section of the mule track were not initiated by Monday, transportation problem on the damaged roads and tracks is likely to persist for some time longer.

People seek evacuation to safety from Narayani river

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NAWALPARASI, Aug 28 - Residents of Nandapur village in Kolhuwa VDC-6 have demanded that they be evacuated to a safe place to protect them from being swept away by the Narayani river.

The water level of the Narayani river has been gradually rising due to incessant rains. There is a possibility that the village may be swept away by the flooded river at any time. Therefore, the 82 families living there have demanded that they be removed from there to a safe place.

The 82 families registered their application with the District Administration Office last week demanding that their lives and property be protected immediately.

Complaining that their demand was ignored by the administration even after a week and that the administration did not even care to pay an inspection visit to them, they again filed another application with the District Administration Office on Monday.

Chairman of ward No 6, Lal Bir Thapa, said the flood was likely to spill over to the village at any time and demanded that they should be temporarily resettled at a safe place because the danger was increasing.

The village is being eroded by the Narayani river from the east, west and south directions. Last year, 102 families of Dhajah and Shehari villages at ward Nos 3 and 4 of Narayani VDC had to be airlifted by helicopter as part of emergency rescue operation when the river entered these villages.

"Nothing can be done to protect life and property even if the river enters the village during the day time. What happens if the river swallows the village at midnight ?" ward member Babu Lal Mahato questioned.

People of Nandapur village have warned that they will start an agitation if no steps were taken immediately to protect their lives and property. A total of 481 people belonging to 82 families are living in the village.

It may be recalled that 72 families of the same village were evacuated at the initiative of the local VDC after they risked their lives from the floods of Narayani river on July 31. Since then, they have been living in camps erected at the fallow land of local Hattisar.

Similarly, about 172 families of ward Nos 3 and 4 of Narayani VDC and 28 families of Argyoul VDC, who were threatened by the flooded Narayani, are living in the forest area at Danda along the Mahendra Highway. They are temporarily resettled there by the concerned VDC 11 days ago.

Pilot’s widow yet to get insurance money

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KATHMANDU, Aug 28 – Although the Kathmandu District Court gave the verdict in her favour, Martina Joshi, the widow of late Captain J K Joshi who was killed in NECON Air crash two years ago, believes that she has only won the first round "in her battle to claim her legitimate insurance money".

Last Monday, the District Court ruled that Martina is the sole claimant of the entire life insurance amount of 30,000 US dollars that her late husband had left behind, rejecting her mother-in-law Indu Joshi’s contention that she was entitled to at least half the share.

Indu Joshi’s claim was based on the contention that her name is also mentioned in the claim form as one of the claimants. Martina believes the NECON Air top brass, relatives of Indu Joshi, were unduly favouring her mother-in-law. However, the Airlines Company Secretary Tulsi Karmacharya said they could not settle the claim and counter-claim as there are two names as claimants.

Now the District Court has ruled in Martina’s favour.

The ill-fated aircraft, piloted by late Capt Joshi crashed near Thankot while flying from Pokhara to Kathmandu on September 1999. All the 15 people on board the aircraft were killed in the crash.

"The NECON Air top brass was not exactly neutral. They were favouring my mother-in-law knowing full well that I was the sole beneficiary of the insured sum," says Martina Joshi, adding that she had to run from pillar to post to get justice.

The chairman and managing director of NECON Air Deep Mani Rajbhandari did not return calls despite several attempts made by The Kathmandu Post.

When contacted, Karmacharya refuted Martina’s allegations of harassment. "It is not true; we are only trying to abide by law," adding the airlines could not make the settlements in the light of two claims.

It is here the court came into the picture. When pointed out the District Court verdict, Karmacharya said that NECON Air would settle the account as per the court’s "final" instruction. "We have still not received any intimation. If the late captain’s mother does not appeal, then the court has to give us the instruction to give the insured sum to Martina," said Karmacharya.

Police arrest man who killed six of his own family

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DAMAULI, Tanahun, Aug 28 - Police have finally caught Chuda Bahadur Kumal, who had remained at large after hacking six of his family members to death at his home on the eve of Teej eight days ago, at Mahante Hatiya village of Purkot VDC-8 Tuesday morning.

He has been brought to the District Police Office for taking legal actions.

He was apprehended while he was returning to his village. Some of the locals had caught him and manhandled him before handing him over to the police.

Kumal had killed his wife Murali, mother Khuiti, 53, daughter, Ranjita, 6, aunt Kali, 84, and two other distant cousins - Dal Bahadur Kumal, 23, and Abhisekh Kumal, 10, on the eve of Teej at his own home over a minor dispute.

The accused had also seriously wounded another next-door-neighbour boy. He showed no signs of repentance over the homicide.

Talking roughly to The Kathmandu Post at the police custody, Kumal said , "I happened to hack all of them to death at the courtyard after my wife beat up my daughter, Ranjita, and rebuked me for not letting her go her maternal home during Teej. At that time I was intoxicated."

"I, suddenly, lost all my conscience and killed my family members," he said

When asked about the reason for the family massacre, he behaved very rudely and declined to answer the questions.

He said that he was returned home from Gorakhpur, India, just to meet his another daughter.

Mother-in-law feared attack by murderous son-in-law

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LAMJUNG, Aug 28 - Jaumaya, mother-in-law of the man who killed six members of his family including his wife is not only bewailing the untimely death of her daughter but also obsessed with constant fear that her ruthless son-in-law might kill her any time.

He is reported to have said that his anger will not subside without killing his brother who survived his assault on life, his two daughters and the mother-in-law.

Jaumaya, resident of Chakratirtha VDC-1 in Lamjung district had been waiting for her daughter to arrive on the day of the ‘teej’ the day daughters visit their parental home and is fed lavishly. She had prepared many delicacies suitable for the occasion to feed her daughter.

Her daughter had promised that she would come by herself and had asked her not to send anyone to escort her.

When her daughter did not arrive, Jaumaya did not eat anything that evening and passed the whole night thinking and fearing for her well-being and safety. The next morning when she heard of her daughter’s murder by the first telephone call received at Tinpiple she fell unconscious, her husband Dol Raj told The Kathmandu Post.

Her daughter Murali was married 15 years ago to Chuda Bahadur Kumal who had started beating her even before one month of their married life had been completed. She was not allowed to be content and happy even for a single day of her married life. Jaumaya remembers her premonition," I will not die a natural death... I will die from his hand, I don’t know when. But I cannot leave him for the sake of my daughters."

She recollects an incident when she had once accompanied her daughter to her husband’s house. Her son-in-law started beating her daughter with firewood in her presence. She tried to fend but she was also hit by him on her left arm.

She had even come to live with her parents after a severe beating, but a week ago he had come to take her home promising that he would never beat her again.

"My daughter’s face never brightened and we never saw her smile during any festival she came to visit us. Her life was always between hammer and the anvil," she sobbed uncontrollably, with tears gushing down her eyes.

She can now heave a sigh of relief as the murderer son-in-law was apprehended by the police Tuesday. He had remained at large for nearly a week after murdering his family in cold blood.