15 trampled to death, 24 hurt in Nawalparasi fire

By Madhav Dhungana & Narayan Sharma

KUDIA, Nawalparasi, Feb 16 - At least 15 people were trampled to death and two dozen others injured when fire swept through a religion fair on Thursday night in the southwestern plains of the country, officials said Friday.

Thousands of Muslim pilgrims had gathered and were camping in plastic and jute sheds when suspected electric short circuit sparked fire at Kudia village, which lies about 20 kilometres from the district headquarters Parasi.

There has not been any confirmation on the cause of the fire but there has been claims that it started by flying sparks from cooking fires that quickly spread with strong breeze.

The fire spread rapidly through the campsite as people tried to run trampling the people. The dead in the stampede includes three children and nine women, said Chief District Officer Bishnu Raj Kusum.

The dead have been identified as 20 year old Sahaja Musalwan from Sidharthanagar municipality-9 and his 11 month old daughter Shahanatt Musalwan, 8 year old Fakhre Alam, Bal Mohammad Jagir,1 ½ , Sabira Khatoon, 27, Kudboonisha, 45, Khatoon Musalwan, 25 from Mahargunj in Uttar Pradesh India, Taisun Nisha, 30 from Ramgram municipality-4, Soni Dhami, 70, from Pashim Champaran, Bihar, India and a 3 month old child from Bagha in Uttar Pradesh, India.

Thousands of people both from Nepal and India had gathered at the annual Madar Baba Fair that began on Thursday. This is the first time that such an accident has occurred in this religious gathering.

CDO Kusum said the local administration has set up teams to provide relief to the people and the injured have been taken away by relatives and volunteers to be treated at the hospitals in the surrounding areas.

Indian experts leave for hydel sites

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KATHMANDU, Feb 16 - A team of Indian Water Resources officials who are in town to explore the possibility of setting up a medium sized hydel project left for the sites today.

The four-member team from the Central Water Commission of India had arrived in Kathmandu on Thursday for their week-long visit to Nepal.

According to Bishnu Bahadur Thapa, Deputy Director General at the Department of Electricity Development (DED), the team left for Butwal today enroute to the prospective site at Naumure.

The site is about two kilometre below the point where two rivers Jhimrukh and Modi confluence. After three days there, the same team is scheduled to head to make on site visit of Budhi Gandaki on the 19th.

This is the first time that any team from India has visited in connection with the project which is expected to be generating around 244 megawatts of electricity through a hydro plant.

Officials said this is only an initial study team that will be making an on-site survey of the sites before even beginning any talks on the projects.

"Their stand and views on the project will be clear only after they make the visits and sit down to talk with us," said one Nepali official. "At this point this is just an idea that is yet to mature."

The same official said that they should only be able to say anything around the 21st on how they two sides will move ahead with the proposed project.

If the Indian side does agree, then it will decide on file an application for a survey licence with the DED through a private company to develop and operate the project. The entire electricity will be for export to neighbouring Indian states.

The visit is a follow up and as agreed during secretarial level talks between the two countries.

Ever since the Nepalese government decided to open up the hydroelectricity market to allow private companies to develop and operate such projects, many multinational regional companies have expressed interest in such projects that would mainly export electricity to Indian states.

Recent study has shown that Nepal has the potentiality to produce 83,000 megawatts of power out of which 42,000 megawatts is feasible.

However, at present about 300 megawatts is produced even when there is high demand for power during the cold winter days creating a huge deficit in power supply. Worse, only 15 per cent to the total population have access to electricity.

Corruption suspected in Dadeldhura tree-felling

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KATHMANDU, Feb 16 - Even before the controversy over the sale of timber in Morang district has died down, another controversy about tree-felling in Dadeldhura district in far-western Nepal is likely to cause major headaches to the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation and the Department of Forests.

In fresh directives issued today, parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) ordered the Ministry and the DoF to freeze its earlier decision to allow a certain contractor to cut more trees in Dadeldhura district. It also ordered that the collection of pine wood by two parties be halted immediately.

The genesis behind the directives is the usual suspicion of corruption in high places, this time within the Ministry of Forests and the DoF. In its order today, PAC also instructed the Ministry to furnish reasons by February 20 for the permission of collecting the trees granted to the parties. It also summoned the secretary at the Ministry Rabi Bahadur Bista for an explanation in PAC on February 23.

The latest suspected corruption case in timber sales began last year. At the time the Ministry had granted a contractor Ram Hari Sharma to cut trees in Dadeldhura district. Sharma cut most of the trees, and asked that some more trees be allowed to be cut down. This is when the problem started.

In a letter (6 DoF 1/14/ 057-58 No. 236) dated February 2, 2001 the Department of Forests (DoF) instructed the district forest office, Dadeldhura, to allow the contractor to cut "the remaining 201 trees" in Jogbuda Road as per the decision (of Secretary, MoFSC) of November 29, 2000. As a supporting argument, the DoF quotes a secretary-level decision of February 22 last year that had extended the contract with Sharma for another three months and which enabled him to cut 139 trees.

The tenor of the letter, in possession with The Kathmandu Post, is highly apologetic in favour of contractor Sharma and is heavily loaded in the defence of his claim. The DoF document says that the contractor had been unable to cut 340 trees out of the 2526(approved by the then Minister of State Mohammed Aftab Alam). Sharma later got an extension of the contract and cut 139 trees. Now, the DoF has reminded the Dadeldhura office that the November 29 decision has given another 3-month extension and he be allowed to cut the remaining 201 trees.

All this seems perfectly within the norms if a letter from District Forest Office is ignored. The district forest office, in the letter dated Jan 2, 2001, had flatly expressed its inability to follow the instruction of both the Ministry and the DoF to give another second - extension to contractor Sharma.

The district office said that in the area specified by the first extension given last year, "no more trees are left to be cut".

It goes on to express its fear that the contractor would most likely cut the trees in the area that he is not allowed to. In that event, warned the forest office, if the decision of the Ministry and DoF is implemented, the involved top-level officers "will be liable to be punished". It adds that there is no possibility of following the secretary-level instruction to add another extension since the previous was a "one-time one".

In fact, it recommended a field inspection by the Chief District Officer. However, ignoring the district forest office’s objections, the DoF has asked it to implement the order of November 29, allowing Sharma a free hand to cut the trees.

This, naturally, has given rise to the suspicion of involvement of kickbacks in the contract worth millions of rupees. And it is here that PAC stepped in. In today’s directive, PAC ordered the Ministry to freeze the authority it gave Sharma to cut more trees. It also asked that the collection of loth salla (pine tree) by Machchhapuchchhre Herbal Pvt Ltd and one Dr Sand Kumar Dhungel be halted immediately.

When The Kathmandu Post inquired about the matter, Secretary Bista washed his hands off the whole murky business, saying the Ministry was a policy-making entity and the actual implementer was the DoF. However, he claimed that no irregularity was involved in the deal as the "documents show there are trees". When asked whether the Ministry or the department cared to make a survey whether any trees were left, Bista expressed his ignorance. He insisted that the contractor was yet to get all the trees that he was allowed to take.

"Since Dadeldhura office said that there are no more trees, the chapter is closed," said Bista, adding, "Our decision is unchanged." When asked about the "decision", Bista pointed to the Director General at the DoF, Dibyadev Bhatta, saying all the related files are with him. He also "could not say" the present situation in the case. He suggested asking the DG. However, despite several attempts, DG Bhatta could not be reached for his comments.

PM meets oppn leaders to break House impasse

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KATHMANDU, Feb 16 – A day after opposition parties forced the Speaker to adjourn the House session, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala today personally met leaders of the Opposition parties, and embarked upon a new campaign to bring an end to the continuing disruption in the House of Representatives.

The 19th session of the Parliament formally started last Friday, but has remained disrupted with all Opposition party lawmakers demanding resignation of the PM Koirala over his alleged involvement in the Lauda-RNAC deal. Speaker Taranath Ranabhat yesterday adjourned the house till Monday.

According to highly placed political party sources, PM Koirala "invited" the main Opposition CPN(UML) leaders, KP Oli, Bharat Mohan Adhikari, Jhalanath Khanal and Yuwaraj Gyawali at his residence in Baluwatar. Deputy Prime Minister Ram Chandra Poudel, Defense Minister Mahesh Acharya, Sports and Education Minister Amod Prasad Upadhyay and Local Development Minister Govinda Raj Joshi accompanied Koirala.

"We stuck to our stance and made it clear that the House can convene only after he resigns, but he asked us to stop House disruptions and called for regular proceedings," UML central committee member Oli said of the talks held at the PM’s official residence.

According to him, PM will be meeting the main Opposition Party leader Madhav Kumar Nepal Saturday.

Earlier on the day, PM Koirala is understood to have met Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) Chairman and former prime minister Surya Bahadur Thapa at the latter’s residence.

"But only personal matters were discussed," RPP Vice Chairman, Rabindra Nath Sharma, told The Kathmandu Post Friday evening. The talks were held between 8 to 9 a.m.

Sharma summed up the outcome of the talks thus: "PM Koirala stressed unification of all the political forces for the consolidation of parliamentary democracy. But RPP head Thapa expressed his concerns over the country’s deteriorating situation and pointed out that a bold decision is required to find a way out."

Also on the day, DPM Poudel had brief one-to-one talks with RPP’s Sharma at the Parliament premises. The outcome could not be known. And again, Poudel held closed-door talks at his office with RPP General Secretary Pashupati SJB Rana, Nepal Sadbhavana Party leader Hridyesh Tripathi, Speaker of the House of Representatives Tara Nath Ranabhat and National Assembly Chairman, Mohammad Mohasin.

DPM Poudel called the meet a "congenial beginning to resolving the deadlock". But it remains to be seen whether the impasse would be resolved before the House convenes on Monday after one more National Democracy Day break.

Sadbhavana to take out goodwill ‘yatra’

KATHMANDU, Feb 16 (PR) - Leaving behind the brouhaha in the parliament over the demand for the Prime Minister’s resignation, Nepal Sadbhavana Party lawmakers have decided to embark on a 18-day unity and goodwill rath yatra from Sunday, the Democracy Day.

The journey will kick off from Bhadrapur, Jhapa in eastern Nepal on February 18 and will culminate in Mahendranagar in the west. The team is scheduled to address a public meeting daily in each of the 18 districts.

Speaking to The Kathmandu Post, Hridyesh Tripathi, General Secretary of the party, said the decision to conduct the yatra was taken much before the present stand-off in the parliament. "We are embarking on the unity and goodwill mission to heal the wounds that were caused due to the violence during anti-Hrithik Roshan protests in the capital and in other parts of the country," said Tripathi, giving reasons for the yatra.

PAC summons minister on SAF Games ‘irregularities’

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KATHMANDU, Feb 16 – The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) today sent a letter summoning the Minister for Education and Sports Amod Prasad Upadhyay and the Secretary Khagendra Basnyat to clarify the Ministry’s stand on the follow up action on a report on the "irregularities" concerning financial deals in organising the 8th SAF Games in Kathmandu last year.

The Ministry formed a four-member committee formed on December 2, 1999 after the news about the irregularities in the financial aspects in the advertisements, logo and sponsorship money surfaced. The committee, comprising Joint Secretary Dilip Kumar Bista, Under Secretaries Jhamak Prasad Sharma and Dipak Subedi and Section Officer Prem Raj Joshi, was supposed to submit its report within 15 days. Although it could not meet the deadline, the committee found several irregularities in the deal.

The report notes a complaint that all the papers it had asked for were not made available. Among the discrepancies that the committee found were that out of the total ticket collection of Rs 15,107,777 that S. P. Nepal Enterprises (SPNE) was to pay, it paid only Rs 1.5 million rupees.

The contract period for the payment was mid-October 1999.

The then SAF Games Organising Committee (SGOC) Member Secretary Binod Shankar Palikhe, observed the report, had not submitted documents relating to sponsorship, advertisement and logo details. Mahesh Bista, the SGOC treasurer too refused to hand over financial details, saying that he was not responsible.

Although the number of seats were reduced, the number of tickets were printed in excess of them. Although the SPNE had committed paying more than Rs 15.1 million at the time of submitting its bid, the agreement with it was made for only Rs 7,531,250. The fate of the margin is still not clear. Another grey area was on the sale of school kits. No financial details have been submitted yet.

The report also mentions Bhaskarraj Rajkarnikar for pocketing unauthorized 7.5 per cent commission as sponsor consultant on the advertisements in electronic media.

The report concludes that Palikhe be asked to submit details and that he went beyond his authority in appointing Rajkarnikar and giving him the consultant fees, among others.

Practical approach sought on citizenship issue

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KATHMANDU, Feb 16 - Former prime minister and President of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Surya Bahadur Thapa, today terming the present Citizenship Bill as unconstitutional, said that strong and practical approach must be taken immediately to solve the citizenship issue.

"More practical approach should be taken to solve the citizenship problem as it will have a far reaching consequences. There is the danger that the problem might not remain a mere domestic issue," warned Thapa. He said that the Sixth Amendment Bill for the Citizenship Act - 2020 (BS) will not solve the issue of citizenship but generate more problems.

Speaking at an interaction programme organised by the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) on "Citizenship Problem and its Solution", Thapa further said, "Our party is drafting a private citizenship bill as we see that the Sixth Amendment Citizenship Bill will be aggravating more problems."

The Citizenship Bill was ratified by the parliament last summer as a finance bill and forwarded to the King for the royal seal on mid January this year. The King since then has been discussing about the issue with various political parties.

According to a source the King will very soon consult the Supreme Court (SC) regarding the controversial Citizenship Bill.

At the same programme, advocate Keshav Bhattarai said that the clause three of the Citizenship Bill which states that citizenship could be acquired both through "descent and birth" is the most debatable one. Leaders and intellects argue that it is this point that could help foreigners to obtain the Nepali citizenship easily.

RPP leader Prakash Chandra Lohani said that the current Citizenship Bill has no provision to address those who are really denied from citizenship though they have a genuine claim. He further pondered how the Nepali Congress government bring such bill which violates the constitutional provisions.

Renowned sociologist Dr Harka Gurung said that the problem of citizenship is just a problem of the Terai-belt, but is also a national problem with far-reaching implications.

Citing a news published in 1982 in The Economic Times of India, Dr Gurung said that the article claimed that Nepal is very liberal in its citizenship policy. "According to the news that had carried the 1980 data of the Foreign Ministry of India, 62.8 per cent of the 3.8 million people of Indian origin in Nepal had obtained the citizenship. However of the 450 Indians in Bangladesh and 120 in Maldives, not a single person could obtain the citizenship of those countries," said Dr Gurung.

Whereabouts of villagers not known due to snowfall

By Jaya Bahadur Rokaya

SIMIKOT, Humla, Feb 16 – Nothing is known about the hundreds of villagers of Limi Village Development Committee (VDC) of this north-western frontier district since the district saw season’s first snowfall in December. The reason: heavy snowfall.

Village Chief and others, remained trapped in the district headquarters here, have started to worry about his folks living under harsh weather conditions. And, it has already been two months. The VDC is a six-day trek from Simikot, the district headquarters.

"I can return home only in April," says a disturbed Limi VDC Chairman, Sunam Palden Lama. "As the entire youth from our village have migrated elsewhere for seasonal employment, it is the elderly people and children left behind who have to take care of themselves and look after their cattle."

Another reason why he is anxious is: "If in case anyone falls sick, nobody will be there to help them out or rescue for treatment."

Chairman Lama, who arrived here last December to take part in the District Council meeting, adds, "There is no option left than to approach the local shaman if one falls sick."

The 18,000-foot high snow-covered mountains - Nyalu and Nara – needs to be crossed to reach the impoverished VDC connected to the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China. The government officials have no knowledge about what is happening to the VDC people as it lies on the other plank of the Himalayas.

Unless the snow starts melting in March and April, a journey to the northwestern corner of the country seems hazardous.

He said that people from his VDC could travel to Kathmandu within four days from his VDC via Tibetan plateau if the government builds a road from the Nepal-Tibet border. The Chinese government, however, has already built link-roads even to the western part of Tibet, popularly known as the roof of the world.

He also blamed the government for not showing any interest to the local development. Lama added that nobody has so far passed the primary level of education from his VDC. The only existence of the government at the locality was a police station, which has also remained closed for the last two years.

Apart from the geographical constraint, one of the major problems facing by the locals is the unavailability of pasture land for their cattle within the Nepali territory.

After the Tibetan authorities barred the Nepali shepherds from entering their pasture lands, locals have started abandoning their traditional cattle rearing occupation.

‘59 pc farmers use pesticides’ 

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KATHMANDU, Feb 16 - Fifty-nine per cent farmers in Nepal use pesticides and most cases only after pest attack. Likewise, 21 per cent use them just before the harvest, while 39 per cent use them in appropriate time.

This was stated in a report released here Friday. The report, commissioned by the Department of Crop Protection, also states that around 52 per cent of the farmers in Nepal are ignorant of pesticides’ impact on environment.

"Nepal is currently utilizing only 142 gram pesticides per hectare," the report says, "which is significantly low as compared to other countries. However, the easy availability of pesticides in the market and the rapid privatization has the potential to fuel over use and misuse of pesticides, and adverse impact on the environment and ecological equilibrium."

According to the WHO (World Health Organization), Nepali farmers make maximum use of pesticide called Organophosphate that falls under poisonous category and has been largely misused. The report strongly recommends that the sale and purchase of such toxic and environmentally hazardous chemicals should be regulated by the concerned district authorities, and only through authorized agents. Equally important, a subsequent approval from the Pesticide Control Department should be made mandatory.

Occasionally, the illiterate farmers have also been found using such banned pesticides as Aldrin and DDT. The pesticides that are banned in Nepal are, Chlorodane, DDT, Dieldrin, Endrin, Aldrin, Heptachlor, Mirex, Toxaphene, BHC, Lindane, Phosphamidon, and Organo-Mercury Fungicides.

"People are continuously using highly toxic chemicals that are not tested," said senior journalist Bhairav Risal of the Nepal Forum for Environmental Journalists (NEFEJ). "Most of these pesticides are not regulated or registered. "

Besides, the growing stock of pesticides could pose negative impacts on environment. According to the report, as much as 62 metric tones of pesticide stock are currently available in the country, even though the Crop Protection Directorate is said to be in the process of collecting the exact data.

Nepal imported 56 metric tones of pesticides in the fiscal year 1997/1998.

Government officials said at the seminar that they are committed to curbing the environmental threats emanating from abuse, overuse and misuse of such harmful and banned pesticides, and pointed out the need of coordinated and concerte efforts from all sectors.

"`Agro-Ecologically Suitable Technology’ as a policy matter will be followed in the future so as to comply with international regulations on pesticide control and environment-friendly development program envisioned by the government of Nepal," said Bhakta Raj Palikhe, Director of the Department of Pesticide Registration and Crop Protection.