NC to elect half of CWC members from meet

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KATHMANDU, Jan 12 - The Central Working Committee (CWC) of the governing Nepali Congress (NC) today endorsed a draft to amend the party Constitution that proposes electing half the members of this apex body.

In the past only five members from each of the development zones plus the party president were elected while the remaining members were nominated by the party president.

The draft also proposes to increase the number of CWC members to 37 from the present number of 31. It also proposes to form a co-ordination committee on all the five development zones including at least one woman General Convention member from each of the zones.

During the party’s 10 General Convention that begins in Pokhara next week, the 1,500 convention representatives will elect the president and the 18 CWC members.

Those members fielding the candidacy for CWC can be from any part of the country and all the convention representatives will cast their votes unlike in the past. Today’s meeting also rejected a call from Deuba camp that proposed electing CWC members on a regional basis.

Based on new provision, the top 18 names will be selected for CWC members.

This provision is expected to hit the anti-Girija Prasad Koirala camp that is led by Former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. Dueba camp who has a stronger influence in the Far West and Mid Western regions has been counting on electing their people on the strength of regional votes.

However, among the overall convention representatives, Koirala commands bigger influence, which would further minimize the chances of anti-Koirala camp gaining grounds in the party.

Deuba was not present at today’s meeting as he is touring the nation campaigning for the party elections. Deuba is contesting against Koirala for the coveted post of party president in the General Convention.

Last week, Deuba and rebelling NC lawmakers had filed a proposal of no confidence against Prime Minister Koirala in the NC parliamentary party but was unable to oust him from office he has held for the past nine months. 69 lawmakers out of 113 NC members in the House of Representatives had voted for Koirala.

Today’s meeting that begun at 8:30 am was adjourned at 12:30 and resumed at 3 p.m. again. The meeting concluded at 6 p.m. deciding that the next meeting will be held in Pokhara on January 18, a day before the General Convention opens.

During the same meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Ram Chandra Poudel also presented the draft of an Integrated Policy Paper. After debate and discussion on the paper, a sub committee comprising of Shaileja Acharya, Ram Chandra Poudel, Chiranjivi Wagle, Chakra Prasad Bastola, Narhari Acharya, Dr Ram Sharan Mahat and Mahesh Acharya was formed.

rnac to increase international flights

KATHMANDU, Jan 12 (RSS) - Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC), in the course of expansion of its international air service, is to increase weekly flights to Delhi from 12 to 14, to Bangalore from two to three, to Mumbai from three to four, to Bangkok from four to five, to Singapore from two to three, and to Hong Kong from three to four. the changes take effect from March 2001.

Likewise, the existing three flights a week from Kathmandu to Osaka via Shanghai have been changed to two direct flights a week and one more via Shanghai.

In accordance with its policy of making the national flag carrier competitive with other airlines that operate in the international sector and bringing in tourists by RNAC as far as possible, the corporation also plans to run two regular flights a week on Kathmandu-Riyadh-Kathmandu route from March.

The corporation is also planning to run two regular flights a week to Seoul, Republic of Korea via Shanghai.

Terai bandh largely peaceful

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KATHMANDU, Jan 12 - At least one policeman was injured while several other villagers were injured in a riot that broke out in Bara district during today’s dawn-to-dusk Terai shutdown called by Nepal Sadvawana Party (NSP). The Terai bandh, however, passed off largely peacefully except for sporadic incidents of riots in a few other places, reports reaching here said.

Raj Haran Yadav, a police constable was seriously injured in a riot that broke out in Parwanipur Bara, which lies 10 kilometers north of Birgunj, early today. Due to the incident vehicular movements along the highway leading to the capital city were disrupted throughout the day.

According to our Birgunj-based correspondent, locals of Parwanipur vandalized at least four vehicles running along the Birgunj-Pathlaiya highway. About one dozen local villagers sustained minor injuries as the police resorted to baton charging to calm down the angry demonstrators.

Police fired three shells of tear gas into the air as dozens of NSP activists formed a human chain and barricaded the highway, according to Superintendent of Police Shyam Krishna Karmacharya. "The tear gas shells did help disperse the crowd, but after a while the crowd multiplied, and the demonstrators are still there," he said Thursday evening.

The commercial hub of Birgunj was completely shutdown during today’s bandh.

NSP, which represents the country’s Madhesiya communities dwelling in the southern plains, popularly called Terai, called today’s Terai bandh to protests against recent incidents of manhandling of the Madhesiya people in the hilly areas including Kathmandu Valley by anti-Hrithik demonstrators.

Last month, the demonstrators, mainly members of various student unions, burnt down effigies of Indian film star Hrithik Roshan and resorted to vandalism and destruction of properties owned by the Nepalis of Indian origin and Madhesiya community in the capital city. One group went on to damage NSP’s central office in Shantinagar in the capital city.

According to a statement issued late in the evening by the Home Ministry spokesman, demonstrators destroyed a jeep in Saptari district, a truck in Mahottari, a bus, a truck and a tanker in Parsa district, and three trucks in Nawalparasi district. The statement said that the police have arrested a total of 36 demonstrators - four in Jhapa, 17 in Morang, 11 in Sunsari and four in Nawalparasi district - involved in forcibly closing down shops and disrupting vehicular movements.

"We are investigating the matter," the statement said, adding: "Except for those involved in destroying public property, all the rest would be released by the evening."

Meanwhile, a NSP statement claimed that two of its activists, Sunil Kumar Yadav and Raju Yadav, were seriously injured in the Parwanipur incident.

According to our Mahottari correspondent, about 150 Nepalis have been stranded in India’s Bhithhamor area due to the transportation shutdown in the area. Demostrators had barricaded the Bhithhamor-Janakpur road with logs.

While the eastern Terai’s industrial city of Biratnagar was completely shutdown today, the impact was also felt in the townships of Jhapa, Sunsari, Rajbiraj, Siraha, Janakpurdham, Rautahat and Chitwan districts. The bandh call had little effects in the western Terai town of Bhairahawa.

Govt plans to scrap holidays

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KATHMANDU, Jan 12 - The Government is planning to scrap more than one dozen public holidays, a highly placed source at the Cabinet Secretariat said today.

According to the source, the government may slash Dashain holiday to 5 days from present 9 days.

Similarly, holidays on Gaijatra, Indrajatra, Rakchhyabandhan, Sri Krishnajanmastami, Sripanchami, Fagupurnima, Chaitedasain, Ramnavami are likely to be cut down, according to the source.

The government is yet to reach a final decision on the issue due to differences among the high level officials on whether the two-day week off in Kathmandu valley should be cut down to one day. The two-day week off was announced in the Kathmandu valley on experimental basis sixteen months ago.

Altogether public offices remain closed for more than 140 days a year, including long vacations on Dashain and Tihar, two major festivals observed in Nepal. Nepal has one of the highest number of public holidays in the world.

Govt suspends RNAC chief

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KATHMANDU, Jan 12 - The government has suspended the executive chairman of RNAC, the national carrier, on the recommendation of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA).

Highly reliable sources within RNAC said that executive chairman of the airline, Hari Bakta Shrestha, was suspended today by the Ministry for Tourism and Civil Aviation. He has been asked to report to the Ministry.

Sources say that Shrestha was shown the door on the recommendation of the CIAA which is investigating several aviation related deals he was involved in - chief among those is the recent RNAC lease of a Boeing B-767 aircraft from Lauda Air of Austria. The aircraft has been under RNAC operation since December 1, 2000.

The 18-month deal, controversial to begin with, was touted at US 3350 dollars for each flight hour for leasing the Lauda Air jet, but hidden costs had actually ballooned the price to about US 5000 dollars a flight hour, reliable sources said. Also, RNAC has not been able to fly the jet for the minimum guaranteed 300 flight hours a month despite shaving off hours from its own two B-757 jets.

It has been learnt that CIAA took particular exception to the tampering of records of the Lauda Air deal, specifically the bank guarantee documents. The anti-corruption body has also found irregularities concerning a navigation equipment agreement in which Shrestha was involved during his days as director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal. This deal is also being investigated by CIAA.

Shrestha is the latest in a long line of RNAC bosses who have made ignominious exits. His predecessors in the last several years, and there have been many, were either sacked or suspended or transferred back to the Ministry - all of them for being involved in some or the other controversial aircraft leasing deal.

Interim order on Indian self-certified vehicle

By Pramod Poudel

KATHMANDU, Jan 12 - The Supreme Court today issued an interim order to the government not to import Indian vehicles based on self-certification until further discussion in the court within the next fortnight.

The order issued by a division bench of justices Kedar Nath Upadhyaya and Top Bahadur Singh has also asked the government lawyers to present themselves before the court within 15 days, until which the interim order has been issued.

The Supreme Court (SC) order comes in response to a writ petition seeking the cancellation of the government decision to import Indian manufactured vehicles based on self-certification.

"The circular issued from the Minister for State of Ministry of Population and Environment (MOPE) to the Custom Department on November 23, last year that the certificate of Conformity of Production (COP) can be provided by the Indian manufacturing company itself, is against the Nepal Vehicle Standard Emission Norms-2056 (BS)," the writ had stated.

"The certificate of COP can only be provided by the government affiliated independent agencies. In no way, the company itself can certify such COP," the writ had argued.

According to Nepal Vehicle Standard Emission Norms there should be both "Type Approval" and "Conformity of Production". However, the Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala during his India visit last year had signed an agreement with the Indian government allowing the import of Indian vehicles merely on "type approval". Later MOPE had issued a circular that COP can be provided by the manufacturing company itself.

The writ had stated that there was risk of low quality vehicles being imported from India merely on self-certification basis. Those vehicles manufactured in India and unable to obtain COP certificate could be dumped into Nepal if the government decision is not changed, the writ had stated.

SC in its order has also asked the Custom Department to furnish details to the court as to how many vehicles have already been imported based on "self-certification" but without "COP" certification.

Advocates Prakash Mani Sharma and Bhoj Raj Aiyer of PRO-PUBLIC, Bimal Aryal of Martin Chautari and Amod Kumar Pokharel of Leaders Nepal had filed the writ petition on December 26.

Challenging the concession of Prime Miniser to India to allow the import of such vehicles, a writ petition was filed on September 21 for which SC had issued a "show cause" notice then. A fresh writ had to be filed since the government announced that the manufacturing company itself could provide COP certificate.

Pokhara finding tough to attract tourists

By Hari Bahadur Thapa & Gangadhar Parajuli

POKHARA, Jan 12 - Tourism entrepreneurs in the beautiful city of Pokhara are disheartened by the decreasing number of tourists and the ever-decreasing length of their stays.

To their dismay, Indians, who were believed to be non-seasonal and looked upon as "all-season" clients by the entrepreneurs, have started cancelling their hotel reservations.

"The tourism business in Pokhara is experiencing a major slowdown and it is becoming hard to attract tourists," says Sundar Kumar Shrestha, president of the Hotel Association of Pokhara. The bandhs (general strikes), the tussle over service charge between the hotel owners and workers, and the commotion created by Hrithik Roshan’s rumoured statement are fuelling the slowdown, Shrestha says.

This is an off-season for tourists from countries other than India and it was mostly Indians who used to fill the seasonal downturn in this lake-side city. Nationally, Indian tourists count for 35 per cent of tourist visits annually.

Pokhara is a major attraction for Indian honeymooners, who according to hotel owners here, spend lavishly. Bargaining on rates is rare among such tourists. These kind of couples’ confidence in Nepal as a safe and attractive tourist destination seems to have severely eroded in the post-IC 814 hijacking period.

The situation was further exacerbated by the anti-Hritik riots that ruled the Kathmandu streets for two days.

Hotel owners here lay a large chunk of the blame for their slowing business on Zee TV for its adverse publicity against Nepal and the situation in the country. "Zee TV publicised both the hijacking and the Hritik episodes in a very negative light," say the hotel owners adding, "and we are the victims, as its fall-out is on our heads."

Fulbari, the first-ever five-star hotel resort, is also facing trouble due to plummeting tourist numbers. "Hotel bookings by Indian tourists have ceased and even those who had confirmed bookings are now cancelling," Bijay Subba, front office manager at the hotel, says. According to Subba, this time last year the hotel was booked by Indians up until April, which is not the case this year. It is not just the Indian, but also the number of Japanese tourists that has fallen this year.

More than 60 per cent of tourists coming to Pokhara take a long trek to the Annapurna range and others choose the shorter routes of Panchase and Sarangkot, which are located a few kilometres hike away. A new trekking route called "New Millennium Trek" starting from Tanahun and winding up in Pokhara through Shyangja has recently been identified.

Chief at the Tourism Office in Pokhara, Padam Bahadur KC, blames the tourism entrepreneurs for failing to identify any new sites for the tourists and their inability to promote the beauty of Pokhara. "The tourism industry is in disarray due to lack of publicity and an inability to tap into the potential that Pokhara has to attract the tourists," says KC.

KC warns that it might be too long a haul before Pokhara’s tourism industry recoups from its slumber and starts humming again. "India cancelled its flights for five months after the hijacking and now it is our internal conflict that is damaging the industry," he says.

The "unhealthy competition" between tourism entrepreneurs is also hampering the business, say the hoteliers here. According to the Pokhara Tourism Office, the total number of tourist hotels and lodges stands at 348 with total beds numbering 8,891.

On top of this, garbage mis-management in Pokhara is further worsening the situation. A total 143,000 tourists entered Pokhara in 2000, according to records.

Nepal Bar Association catches election fever

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KATHMANDU, Jan 12 - Both the democratic and the progressive candidates for the nation-wide election of the Nepal Bar Association (NBA) to be held on January 13, pledge to armour the bar from the influences of politics.

Though these leaders promise to isolate the bar from any influence of politics, their candidacy is not devoid of link with such groups. The democratic candidates have link with the congress and progressive with the left groups.

Basanta Ram Bhandary is contesting from the democratic legal practitioners group while Sindhu Nath Pyakurel is contesting from the progressive group for the coveted post of the NBA President.

Both the leaders expressed their confidence of their winning the election, but each expressed that they would co-operate with the winning party to keep working towards strengthening the bar.

According to NBA election officer Sitaram Adhikari, there are 5,320 voters all over the country who will vote on Saturday. The votes will be cast in 14 booths. The 13 voting centres will be the Appellate Courts (except that of Dipayal and Jumla) and one centre at NBA central office. Currently seventy districts have bar associations.

The voters comprised of senior advocates, advocates, pleaders and agents. Many legal experts argue that even pleaders and agents are entitled to the same voting rights as that of senior advocates and advocates which is not fair. It is the Bar Council Act that gives the equal voting rights.

"Effective measures will be taken to make the Bar Association more professional. We will make progressive move to achieve this even if we have to amend the Bar Council Act," said Pyakurel.

Stressing upon the need for transparency in the functioning of the judicial council, candidate Bhandary said, "There should be transparency in the appointment of judges." He added, "The bureaucratic style of promotion should be removed in the judiciary. Appointment should be done on a competitive basis." Bhandary further said "We legal practitioners should come together to remove the distortions in the judiciary."

Current president of the Bar Association, Harihar Dahal, who is stepping down after completing his three year tenure said that, he and his team had struggled to bring about reforms in the judiciary. "We initiated a regular dialogue between the bar and the bench," said Dahal. "We also introduced legal aid programme in 13 districts, but due to lack of resources we could not extend it to other parts of the country. We hope to see the new group moving ahead with such programmes," Dahal further said.

"Whoever wins should be vigilant about the challenges of the judiciary. The Bar should also play a role to make lawyers globally competitive at a time when many multi-national companies are pouring in the country," Dahal added.