Major works on Bagmati river cleaning completed

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Dec 31 - While several propaganda trumpeted by private parties to clean the environment of the Bagmati river has contributed little to the progress so far, a five year old government project seems to be on the verge of getting some concrete results.

Talking to the journalists, Chairman of Authorised Bagmati Area Sewage Construction/Improvement Project (ABASCP) said today, that two major tasks of the project -- constructions of a water treatment plant and a outlet tunnel to discharge the treated water--are to be completed soon. "The construction will be completed on schedule. The water of Bagmati will be clean after these two major tasks are complete," he said.

A high capacity water treatment plant is being constructed at a 100 ropani area on the Bagmati river bank near Guheshwori temple. The plant’s collection chamber collects sewage from 11 km long drains, which till now discharged directly into the holy river, before flowing on to the two oxidation chambers of 52 million litre capacity each.

Engineer Ram Dip Shah said that 70 per cent of the project has finished and it will be complete before monsoon. He added, "This projet will directly benefit the 7.4 million population. If each family pays Rs 150 per month for the management of their sewage from their home, the plant will be self-dependent."

The plant needs Rs 12 million each year, out of which 70 per cent will be spent as energy cost.

Similarly, Chinese company, Sandong International Technical and Economic Cooperation, has recently finished digging the tunnel portion a month ahead of schedule. The tunnel, costing Rs 89 million, is being constructed to carry out the treated water from the treatment plant to Tilganga, by-passing Aryaghat sacred portion of the river bank beside the temple of Pashupatinath. Poudel said, "This is the first tunnel dug using this kind of technique in Nepal."

According to him, lack of awareness among the locals, industries contaminating the river and lack of legal provisions to punish the wrongdoers are the main hurdles to the project.

Inviting the local communities and institutions to share and to participate in keeping the Bagmati clean, Poudel said, "It is impossible to revive the fortune of the contaminated river without the help from the locals and other institutions."

Around 68 industries and nearly two million people pour industrial effluent and human-waste directly into the holy river, which is the backbone of the civilization of the Kathmanduites and not just a river of religious, cultural and social importance.

Farmers lament low quality fertilizer in Morang, Sunsari

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MORANG, Dec 31 - Uma Kant Jha of Sorabhag VDC is worried because the wheat growing in his field are very thin and sparse this year and the yield is likely to be very low. The raseon; he had used the cheap fertiliser available at the market.

Last year he had used the chemical fertiliser received from Agricultural Inputs Corporation and his crop and the yield had been excellent.

"This year also I sowed the same quality seeds but I used the cheap quality fertiliser available in the market. Recently only I came to know that the chemical fertiliser sold openly in the market was of low quality," he said.

Similarly, Phatta Bahadur Karki of Bahuni VDC has also used the cheap quality fertiliser available at the market and he is also similarly worried, because his crop is also not growing lustily.

Most of the wheat and mustard-seed cultivation in Morang district are facing the similiar fate, due to extensive use of low quality chemical fertiliser sold in the open market.

The low quality chemical fertiliser is illegally imported everyday in Sunsari and Morang districts bordering India. Concerned authorities have failed to check the smuggling of low quality chemical fertiliser produced in India.

The Soil Test Centre, Jhumka, has confirmed that the chemical fertiliser produced in India and smuggled here is of low quality.

According to technician of the Soil Test Centre, Sunil Kumar Singh, good quality DAP chemical fertiliser should contain 18 percent nitrogen and 46 percent phosphorous, but the smuggled DAP contains 16 percent nitrogen and less than 22 percent phosphorous only.

Similarly, the smuggled Indian Urea and Potash are also found to be of low quality, according to the centre.

Although the responsibility of ensuring the sale of good quality chemical fertiliser in the country has been entrusted to District Agriculture Development Office, the office said it was unable to fulfil its responsibility due to lack of cooperation from the customs office and the district administration.

There is a new provision made this year which allows importers to import chemical fertiliser only after the importers furnish certificate of country of origin of fertiliser and a lab test report to the customs office.

However, low quality chemical fertiliser is being imported against this provision, through the customs office and sub-customs office, P.L. Shah, Crop Extension Officer told The Kathmandu Post.

According to Dharma Raj Shakya, Chief of Agriculture Inputs Corporation, Zonal Office, Biratnagar, the sale of good quality chemical fertiliser is very low because of the availability of cheap quality fertiliser in the market. In the past, 5 to 6 truckloads of fertiliser was sold daily, but this year the sale has remained less than 100 bags a day.

The quality fertiliser is imported from Japan, China, USA and Kuwait and import licences have been issued to Dugar Group, NB International, National Trading and Agriculture Inputs Corporation.

Others who have not received import licence, smuggle chemical fertiliser from India or import it by paying customs duty without showing the certificate of country of origin. "If they import chemical fertiliser by paying customs duty, how can we stop them?" say customs sources.

Girl missing for two and a half months

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KATHMANDU, Dec 31 - After failing to find their young daughter, missing for two and a half months, parents of Dharma Laxmi Maharjan have approached the media to help trace her.

Gyan Bahadur Maharjan, 54, today told the reporters that his daughter went out with her friend Mamata Maharjan on October 16 and has not come back.

He informed the police after three weeks only because of social reasons. He said, "At first, we thought that she might have eloped, but since she failed to call us even after a lapse of such a long time, we became suspicious of the possibility of her being sold".

He claimed that it was Sanjaya Shrestha, Nepali Congress Ilaka Committee chairman, who dissuaded them from reporting the matter to the police. Whereas Shreshta, who was also present in the programme, refuted ever making such comment.

According to her last escort, Mamta Maharjan, the two went to watch movie with two bus conductors but came back home separately from the cinema hall.

Mamata identified the conductor named Birkhe in a photograph,and as the search for the conductors began, he was also found missing. The police suspect Birkhe’s involvement in the case.

Leaders should establish a system of succession: Dr Mahat

With a strong academic background and international exposure Dr Ram Sharan Mahat has established himself as one of the think-tanks in the ruling Nepali Congress.

Though he is among the signatory of the current no-trust proposal against Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, he is seen as a moderate in the NC and has played crucial roles in the past to patch up intra-party feuds.

He says that he is still against the practice of choosing parliamentary leader through "head-counts." Mahat strongly feels that the party leaders establish a system in the Nepali Congress so that the coming generations can ascend to leadership given the capability and not by "tika lagaune" practice.

Ameet Dhakal and Meena Kaini of The Kathmandu Post talked to Dr Mahat on wide-ranging issues, particularly the current imbroglio within NC. Here are the excerpts :

The Kathmandu Post - Why should Girija Prasad Koirala be removed from office at this point of time?

Dr Ram Sharan Mahat - Basically, I am not personally against the Prime Minister. We cannot let head-counting be the basis of democratic exercise and remove Prime Minister from office in every six months. This is not a good tradition.

But, it started in the name of democratic exercise. Kisunji was ousted using a similar weapon. I did not favour that personally. I do not favour this one too.

But it is more of protest against the Prime Minister’s working style. Protest for the failure of the government.

TKP - What are Koirala’s strong or weak points? Why has he failed to deliver?

RSM - He (Koirala) has tremendous qualities as a leader but weaknesses as well. I have worked closely with him on various occasions.

He has the decisive power. If he is convinced about certain things he can take decision immediately. In economic reforms we had a say before the mid-term elections and we had made some sweeping reforms then. I was one of the key players and whatever progress we are now making in the economic realm is all because of the steps we took during the first three years of Girija Prasad Koirala’s government. That quality he has includes energy, stamina and dynamism for the party’s organisation.

But recent weaknesses in him is, he seems to be prisoner of indecision. During the recent imbroglio in August we reached an agreement whereby four point

resolution was made. He did not take any decision on that front. And irregularity over the active membership and during the party’s local election was massive.

He has failed to live up to the agreements and understandings reached within the party time and again. He kept on delaying all the decision that needed to be made then.

And what we want now is, the leaders should establish a system. These two people (Koirala and K P Bhattarai) are at the last stage of their political career. Till now the party is working only in their leadership. There should be a system which guides the party’s organisation after the two leaders are no more active in politics.

Whom to make the successor, or by what system the successor should be chosen? There needs to be a system and they have to build that up.

There are ambitious and capable leaders within the party - Sher Bahadur with proven track record, (Deputy PM) Ram Chandraji who is in line, and (General Secretary) Sushilji. They all have good records but where do they fit in once the two leaders become no more active in party affairs? They should think about that.

Not everything is decided by elections. Lots of things can be done through compromise and consensus. They should facilitate the line for successors.

Now it is up to Girija Babu to judge for himself and decide what kind of legacy he wants to leave for the coming generations. Both of the leaders should think about all this and the consequences, and naturally much of the burden would be upon Girija Babu as he is the party president and the Prime Minister. It is up to Koirala to judge if it is nice to hold both the positions himself, and then decide accordingly.

TKP - Do you think that Koirala is trying to establish some particular people within Congress or a certain faction to hold the party’s grip? Is it for this reason that massive irregularity was reported in the party’s elections?

RSM - I do not want to say that the whole irregularity occurred on direction from party’s leadership. But the leadership at central level have approved all the recommendations that came from the districts without double checking the facts. The district chairman would obviously send the names of those people who support them, so this has led to a point where they cannot let others in the party to come up.

But there have been irregularities and it has made significant differences in some of the districts.

TKP - What could be the judicious process to resolve this?

RSM - They should have formed an independent body which can look after all issues and disputes concerning active membership.

TKP - Congress has ruled for much of the past ten years. But there is widespread discontentment among people. Could the Congress not have done something more rewarding to people during these years?

RSM - Yes. Congress could have done lots. We have not been able to make achievements as was expected of us or as we could have. But that does not mean no achievements were made, but they became negligible in front of people’s expectations.

Corruption has become rampant, there is no such thing as rule of law and everything has been politicised. The capable people are on the streets and politicians are running everything, which has caused the disenchantment.

TKP - Why has the government failed to control corruption?

RSM - That is true. Our efforts to control corruption have been a failure both because of the government’s inability to arrest and penalise the corrupts and also because the enforcement agencies are in an almost defunct state. The judiciary also could have done something on this part.

None of the successive governments have taken any stern actions against corruption. We have failed by not being bold enough to take actions. Like in the Lauda Air deal why are we unable to arrest the corrupts and penalise them?

TKP - Changing the subject now, what do you think about the Maoist insurgency and if it could ever be solved?

RSM - Maoists are not clear about what they want. They are running to make the country a Maoist state at a time when the whole world is adopting democracy. Democracy is undoubtedly the best system in the world and Nepal cannot do without it.

They say that they want to come to dialogue but put the most inconsiderable demands. They are talking about dialogue, which is more of a tactic to buy time. It is likely that they will escalate violence. The support that they are getting in the villages is more out of fear.

TKP - What are the things on the economic front where Nepal can potentially capitalise on?

RSM - We should try to see from where the country can benefit. Hydro-power has a great potential and we have to explore markets since India is our only market till now. Without assurances of larger and safer markets, long-term investments will never come.

Tourism is our another asset, where we can really exploit our unmatched beauty and make it more commercial.

TKP - Despite all the potentials, why are we always failing in implementation? Who should be held responsible for this?

RSM - Commitment is the most essential factor and it should come from people. There has to be will to bring a change and make a difference.

An exemplary work by a few people with genuine commitment for change will definitely make a difference. Somebody has to kick start the whole process for positive change.

TKP - Are you for making an alliance of like-minded people to do the same?

RSM - There is no need for a squad as such and anybody with compassion for change can do it. I am not going to wait for the leaders to do it for us.