Workers cleaning below the statue of late King Prithivi Narayan Shah on Tuesday in preparation for Prithivi Jayanti and National Unity Day.

DFID warns to withdraw hand from privatization

By Ameet Dhakal

KATHMANDU, Jan 9 – The Department for International Development (DFID), the British government’s international development agency and a major donor in Nepal’s privatization project, has warned the government to withdraw its assistance from the project if the government fails to show clear commitment to the privatization process.

According to a highly-placed government official, the British development agency has refused to renew the project for next year citing the government’s inept handling of the privatization process. DFID’s three-year old privatization assistance project expired on December 31. The source said, DFID has for now, extended the project for only one more month ending January 31 as a "warning sign" of exit.

"If the government fails to assure the British of its renewed commitment to privatization, they would retreat from the project sending a negative message to the donor community," said the official.

The DFID Office in Kathmandu confirmed that it has renewed the project for one month only. Chris Jackson, Economic Advisor at DFID, who oversees the privatization program said, "Further support will depend on clear government commitment in implementation of its privatization policy."

According to the official, DFID’s frustration is basically linked to the slow pace of the privatization process. In 1997, while negotiating technical assistance with DFID, the government had identified a list of seven Public Enterprises (PEs) as potential candidates to go into private hands by the end of 2001. However, only one PE – the National Tea and Development Board - has been privatized so far. Worse still, the cabinet has yet to sanction the privatization of other PEs.

"We understand that the list of seven State-Owned Enterprises that are potential candidates for privatization has been agreed by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Industry, but is yet to be sanctioned by the cabinet," said Jackson.

Privatization of non-performing PEs has featured as one of the major agendas of Nepal’s economic reform and has been tied up by number of bilateral and multilateral donor agencies to their lending. The World Bank in its Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) prepared for 1999-2001 has categorically tied up the bank’s lending with privatization. Privatization of at least seven PEs, including tangible progress in the hand-over of Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC) and Nepal Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) to private operator, are among the major conditionalities for Nepal to qualify for the Bank’s high-case loan scenario. CAS, which for the first time tied up the Bank’s loan to performance said Nepal could get anything from zero to US$ 400 million depending upon the pace of economic reform.

DFID’s move has come at a time when Nepal is preparing to enter into Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF), the International Monetary Fund-sponsored reform program. DFID’s possible withdrawal could send a wrong message at this critical juncture to International Monetary Fund, says an official of a leading multilateral donor agency in Kathmandu.

Privatization has remained a messy business since the then Nepali Congress government initiated an ambitious reform program in 1992. During the last eight years, 16 PEs have been given off into private hands but not without controversy. And the remaining over three dozen PEs continue to fare hopelessly in their business. According to a report published by Ministry of Finance, the government has invested Rs 19.73 billion rupees in shares of PEs and Rs 33.82 billion in loan to PEs till 1998.

Out of the investment in shares, the government has received returns of only 0.24 per cent. And the average returns for PEs on capital investment is just 0.55 per cent, according to the report

PAC summons bank officials for clarification

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KATHMANDU, Jan 9 - The parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) investigating the handing over of management of two government-owned banks today decided to seek further clarification on the case.

Finance Secretary Bimal Nath Koirala, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) Governor Dipendra Purush Dhakal, Chairman of Nepal Bank Limited (NBL) and Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB) have been asked to be present on Friday’s meeting to answer queries on the case.

PAC is investigating the government’s decision to hand over the management of RBB and NBL and had sought proposals from private parties. The call was answered by 41 proposals out of which eight have been shortlisted.

These officials have already been summoned and questioned once already but PAC meeting today decided to asked them to come again.

"There are still some important questions that are yet to be answered," said PAC Chairman Subash Nemwang.

Questions were being raised about the move by the government and the opposition parties had been accusing the government of trying to eventually sell out these two banks.

The contract once finalized will allow the private party to run the management of these two banks for the next two years with provision for one year extension.

NRB which was established 62 years ago and RBB 35 years ago are the oldest commercial banks which handled most banking until the country opened the doors for foreign collaboration banks just few years ago after adopting a liberal economic policy.

In another case of irregularities reviewed by the committee, it has asked the government to update on the status of the case involving the irregularities in the construction of the second phase of Mahakali Irrigation Project.

The Ministry of Water Resources had proposed that the government pay Rs. 77.3 million as compensation to the Korean contractor Koneco Pvt. Ltd. over three years after completion of the project.

The company presenting a 20-point claim sheet had asked for Rs. 143.3 million as compensation on the project that began in 1995 with a grant loan from World Bank at the cost of Rs. 645 million.

The company had written to International Court of Arbitrator making the claim over three years after the irrigation project had been completed.

PAC asked the government to go ahead with arbitration instead of settling the deal out of court and paying off the millions of rupees.

"Besides updating the status we want to know if the government has prepared solid grounds for the case," Nemwang said.

In another case involving the illegal construction of structures on the perimeters of Ranipokhari and City Hall, the committee has asked the government to take action against all those involved in the case.

PAC had blocked the construction of shopping malls on the perimeters of Ranipokhari and another one at City Hall adjoining the bus park.

NTC temporarily halts mobile phone distribution

By Ram Sharan Sedhai

KATHMANDU, Jan 9 - Nepal Telecommunications Corporation (NTC) has stopped the distribution of additional mobile phones throughout the nation due to network congestion.

According to high level NTC officials, the distribution of the additional cellular mobile phones will be stopped for a week to allow NTC to expand the network to accommodate additional users.

"We have stopped the distribution of cellular mobile phone for a week in order to maintain the quality of the facility," said Madhusudan Karmacharya, spokesman of NTC today. "Users have not been notified of this as it can be done without affecting the functioning of the cell phone."

Karmacharya said that the distribution of new mobile phones had been stopped to minimize the chances of "call dropping" - a term that technicians use to denote network overload.

NTC had established a network for 10,000 cellular mobile phone connections in four cities of Nepal to be distributed within two years. But it has already distributed 11,897 cellular mobile phones in Kathmandu, Pokhara, Birgunj and Biratnagar - towns where the service is available. That has exhausted NTC’s present capacity, resulting in poor reception and congestion in network in recent times.

In keeping with the complaints of the users and to meet the rising demand for new cell phone connections, the Corporation has recently strengthened the network with additional capacity of 10,000 connections.

Meanwhile, NTC is also changing ways of how it collects fees from customers. Responding to overwhelming customer complaints, the Corporation is re-introducing monthly fee collection for local calls, instead of the three-monthly collection. The new tariff collection schedule will begin from next week.

On another front, NTC said that disrupted trunk telephone services to the western regions will resume from 7 p.m. tonight. The circuit has been disrupted for the past four days due to technical problems.

Spokesman Karmacharya said that a team of technicians was already in Tulsipur, Dang to repair a repeater station located at Rajapur. Repairs are expected to be completed by this evening.

"We have sent a team of technicians and they are expected to complete the repairs by this evening. We have been passing long distance call tariffs through an alternative regional satellite and it is working well", he said. There has been no telephone traffic obstruction in any other areas, he added.

CIAA to probe smuggling case

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KATHMANDU, Jan 9 - The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) will investigate the case of Sunil Maskay, who had tried to smuggle Rs 12.1 million (IC notes in 500 denomination) to Singapore more than two years ago. He will now undergo trial in custody, as the Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed his writ of habeas corpus.

A division bench comprising justices Hari Prasad Sharma and Arvind Nath Acharya issued the order. This is said to be the first case in which CIAA, the constitutional anti-corruption body, hired private lawyers. CIAA was one of the respondents in the writ of habeas corpus.

Maskay’s brother Sanjeev Maskay had filed the writ petition on behalf of his brother on December 25 after Special Police arrested his brother on December 23.

The Maskays had argued in the writ that it was not illegal to carry the 500 denomination Indian Currency notes. According to the writ, the Revenue Investigation Department released Maskay on bail and later the bail was waived after the Attorney General pronounced that there was no need to proceed further with the case as carrying Indian currency of 500 denomination was not against the law.

"Re-arresting on the same case is against the law, after the Revenue Investigation Department (RID), the concerned investigating agency, taking advice from the Attorney General had already declared that the case would not be proceeded further and had returned the bail amount as well, for which a writ of habeas corpus should be issued," the petition had argued.

The writ had stated that no law then prevented one from carrying Rs 500 denomination Indian Currency. "Only the 2057-58 budget announcement had banned on the flow of such currency from Shrawan 1 this year. But, prior to this there was no restriction to carry such currency. And, it is on this basis that the Attorney General had withdrawn the case," the writ stated.

Advocates Prakash Osti and Balram KC had pleaded from the CIAA side and Advocate Bal Krishna Neupane from the petitioner’s side.

Indian delegates to pay site visit

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KATHMANDU, Jan 9 - A delegation of Indian Water Resources officials left here today for western Nepal where they are due to pay a site visit to Rapti river and the areas likely to be affected by the India-built Laxmanpur barrage and its left afflux bund.

According to a source at the Department of Irrigation, a decision on what flood control measures should be taken in southern part of Banke district would be taken after the team completes its site visit. The ten-member delegation arrived here late last week.

The team is scheduled to return here this weekend. Consequently, they will sit for a round table discussion with Nepali irrigation officials and chalk out actual flood control measures to be taken in the cultivated and populated areas adjoining the controversial afflux bund, the source said.

India completed the construction works of the 13-km-long afflux bund of the Laxmanpur barrage - built over Rapti river near the Nepal-India border - last year. This gave rise to fears that the construction could result in massive inundation and flooding in several villages along the snow-fed river.

A flashflood in Rapti river last monsoon inundated parts of Holia Village Development Committee (VDC) in Banke district, and displaced dozens of families. India agreed to taking flood control measures in the area during Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s India visit in early August.

Innocent lives squander away inside the nation’s jails

By Pragya Ghimire

KATHMANDU, Jan 9 - Ashmin, Raju and  Samjhana Lama, all  below eight years of age, have been living in a congested women’s cell of the Central Jail along with their mother for last six months.

Their mother Sun Maya Lama has been implicated for human trafficking but is yet to be convicted by the court. She does not even know for how long she will have to remain in jail.

The children are not aware of the alleged crime committed by their mother. But they do know that there is something wrong. "My mom did something wrong," says Raju Lama. Convicted of nothing but the wrongdoing of their mother, these children are wasting time in jail, time which they should be spending at school. They have only been out of jail three times - twice during jail transfers.

Ashmin, Sun Maya’s second son hopes that one day someone will come to take him away from the jail. He aspires to become a teacher and earn enough money to be able to look after his mother and educate his brothers.

The conditions in which they live are appalling. Generally, the children have to share a room with seven other women inmates. At times, one room may have up to 12 inmates’ children sleeping under the beds.

According to Ganga Laxmi, another cell inmate, a child is given Rs 5.50 and 150 grams of rice per day, which she says is not in the least sufficient. "They hardly get anything to eat apart from what is given to them, so the children suffer from malnutrition and are victims of various other diseases, " says Ganga Laxmi.

Sun Maya says that she is worried about the future of her children. "They get neither proper education nor food and the living conditions here are so miserable," laments Sun Maya.

It is not just the mothers who bring their children to the jail, but also some of the fathers. The greatest worry of all is how the children will adjust in society and lead their lives once they are old enough to leave the prison.

Psychologist, Dr.Janamotari Singh stresses the need of counselling for both parents and children, "to enable them to adjust properly to society once they are out of jail."

President of the Child Workers in Nepal Concerned Centre (CWIN), Gauri Pradhan says, "Keeping children in the prison with the adults is against the Principal of Juvenile Justice. One would be depriving them of their fundamental rights by doing so".

The children may react negatively to society because they will find it hard to adapt and socialise in the outside world when they come out of confinement. The children may also suffer from psychological problems due to the claustrophobic conditions in the jail, Pradhan adds.

He adds that before keeping a child in jail, the government should conduct a validity check to ensure that the children have no one to look after them. All fingers point to the government, and its inability to construct accommodation to shelter such children.

Bikram Lama, a prisoner in the male cell of the same jail for four and a half years, keeps his five year old son Suresh Lama with him in the jail. He says, "I am forced to keep my only son here because his mother left him. When he turns 14 I’ll have no option other than to let him go to the streets as he won’t be allowed to stay here."

Jailor at the central jail, Rudra Nath Basyal says there are around 100 children below the age of 14 in several prisons across Nepal, 28 of them at the Central jail alone - 12 in the women’s cell, 16 in the male cell and 6 at Bhadragol Jail. "The Government has not allocated any budget specifically for the welfare and overall development of children," says Basyal.

At present they do not even get access to proper medical facilities and the daily allowance that they receive doesn’t even meet their basic needs.

Ganga Laxmi also commented that most of the women in the jail earn extra money by sewing, knitting and thread spinning from which they earn around Rs 100-200 in a month. But, at times when they have to take their children to hospitals or make frequent rounds of courts, they are forced to take loans from the police personals or from one another as the money they earn is not sufficient.

It’s a tough life for children inside the Central Jail.

Proper analysis on insurgency news stressed

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KATHMANDU, Jan 9 - Experts today said that the Maoist insurgency related news should be analytical and be able to create an atmosphere of peace between the government and the Maoists.

"The news related to the insurgency should be published only after proper analysis," said Tirtha Prasad Gyawali, Programme Director of South Asia Partnership-Nepal. Since both the police and the Maoists are engaged in violence, the news should so published that both parties eschew violence, he said.

Gyawali further added, that the role of civil society and the government should be well defined in maintaining peace and order in the country. He was speaking at a programme on Maoist Movement and Roles and responsibilities of Media organised by Institute of Human Rights Communications Nepal (IHRICON).

Speaking on the occasion, president of Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ), Suresh Acharya, said though the news has in a way encouraged the insurgency and some bureaucrats have made irresponsible statements by blaming the media for "felicitating" the insurgency.

Former speaker of House of Representatives and human rights activist, Daman Nath Dhungana, said there is no history of open society in Nepal. "None of the governments have shown responsibility towards the state and the people," Dhungana said. He also suggested that the media should not publish or broadcast provocative news, just because it was received from high-level sources. Dhungana also hinted the potential danger to Nepali democracy.

"One of the main reasons behind the increase in human rights violations, after the restoration of democracy, is because the governments decline to penalise the culprits," said Kapil Shrestha, member of National Human Rights Commission. This tradition has hurt both Maoists and the government equally.

On the occasion, Deputy Inspector General of Police Rajendra Bahadur Singh said altogether 1,513 persons were killed in the insurgency, since it was initiated five years ago. Among the dead are 251 policemen, 999 Maoists and 263 civilians. Moreover, out of 5,943 Maoists arrested, 1,656 were prosecuted while the rest were released, DIG Singh informed.

On the occasion, editor of Kantipur Daily, Yubaraj Ghimire, and editor of Nepal Samacharpatra Daily, Kapil Kafley answered queries made by journalists and other people present.

Deuba warns further polarisation

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BIRATNAGAR, Jan 9 - Former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba today said that polarisation within the ruling Nepali Congress (NC) party would not cease and warned that more problems would surface if Koirala fails to give up one of the two positions he is holding.

"I have initiated my campaign against Koirala since he has pushed the country and party backwards," Deuba reiterated his stand while talking to journalists on his arrival here today. "I will not give up my struggle until Koirala gives up either of the two posts (premiership and party presidency)."

Deuba arrived here today as part of his party election campaign ahead of the 10th general convention of the country’s oldest and largest political party. The meet is scheduled to be held in Pokhara between 19 and 22 January.

"Koirala leadership has become a burden to the nation and to the people," he said, and continued, "Only if he gives up either of the posts, would he continue to hold our respect."

Deuba also blamed Koirala for igniting the controversy within the party by "dramatically side-lining the no-confidence motion" brought up by 56 lawmakers, including himself, early this week.

He said, "Our fight is against Koirala’s attitude to make the party his family property and crushing his opponents mercilessly. We will continue our fight until Koirala steps down from his post and makes the party more democratic."

Deuba, along with other dissident leaders like Bijay Kumar Gachchhedar, Khum Bahadur Khadka and Hom Nath Dahal were scheduled to meet their party workers here Tuesday.