Stage set for leadership battle

By Binaj Gurubacharya

POKHARA, Jan 17 The cavalry has arrived and the battle is all set to begin. Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and his rivals in the party — Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and Sher Bahadur Deuba — flew into town today, two days before the 10th General Convention of the ruling Nepali Congress (NC).

Bhattarai and Deuba, who arrived 10 minutes before Koirala at the airport waited for the Prime Minister and then emerged out of the airport to a huge waiting crowd that waived the red-white NC flag and presented the VIPs with bouquets and garlands. On Friday, the 1,477 Convention members of the party will begin the meet that will elect the party president and half the members of the Central Working Committee (CWC).

Koirala and Deuba are contesting for the party president as their supporters in the party gear up to contest for the positions in the CWC, the apex body in the party. Koirala denied reports that he or his supporters would form a panel of candidates to contest the 18 seats in CWC. "In this situation it would not be appropriate or right to form a panel," Koirala told reporters refusing to elaborate.

The CWC last week had endorsed a proposal to amend the party’s Constitution that would allow half the CWC members to be elected while the other half will be nominated by the party president. In the past, only five CWC members were elected while majority of them were nominated.

Deuba would not comment clearly on the panel issue either. "I can’t say anything right now. However, I will decide only after consulting with my colleagues," Deuba said. "I fully support the provision to elect the 18 CWC members."

NC General Secretary Sushil Koirala, close associate of the prime minister, has denied that there would be panels formed but the NC central office here is abuzz with talks of these "informal panels" that have been nicknamed panels of the 20th and 21st century. Another close Koirala aide Finance Minister Mahesh Acharya, too said he did not believe there would be such a panel established.

"If there are such panels formed it could lead to accident in the party," Speaker of the House of Representatives, Taranath Ranabhat said. However, it is no big secret that both sides have begun to spread their wings among the voters to get their people to the CWC.

"Panels are being secretly formed. These types of panels have always been formed even since the grass root level election in the party and it should be no surprise to see it here too," Shailaja Acharya said.

Acharya today called a press conference on the banks of Phewa Lake and said she would plea at Thursday’s CWC meet to reconsider the proposal to elect half the CWC members before it goes to vote on the same day.

Though both Koirala and Deuba have supported the provision to elect half the CWC members, there has been some open protest against the provision. Following the CWC meet on Thursday morning, this apex body will be dissolved and a new one elected by the General Convention during its four days of meetings.

"This Convention is a route to transfer the reign of the party to the younger generation," Koirala said. Asked if there would be some sort of consensus in the party during the election for the party president, Koirala refused to comment and pointed towards Deuba.

"He (Koirala) has already given me his blessings to lead the younger generation," Deuba replied.

Deuba has the backing of Bhattarai, Koirala’s long time party colleague now turned foe. "My full support is for Deuba. I have told Girijababu that we should not contest the election and that the leadership in the party needs to be transferred to the younger generation," Bhattarai said.

Transporters demand probe on fuel adulteration

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KATHMANDU, Jan 17 - Transport entrepreneurs today called on the government to investigate what they termed ‘widespread petroleum adulteration’ and strictly implement existing pollution standards, and announced a series of protest programmes aimed at pressing the government to revoke its November 10 decision.

The government on November 10 decided to ban all vehicles older than 20 years and all three-wheelers with two-stroke engines from the Valley beginning mid-November 2001 (Mangsir 1, 2058 BS). Also, the government announced that none of the diesel-run three wheelers, popularly called Vikram tempos, banned from the Valley last year will be allowed to run in the municipal areas of the country from mid-July 2001 (Shrawan 1, 2058).

"Government investigations have shown that there is at least 60 per cent adulteration in petroleum products - especially petrol - distributed by the state-owned monopoly, Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC)," said Bhairav Man Shrestha, Chairman of the City Transport Entrepreneurs Association. "If the government really wants to reduce pollution in the city it should first check widespread adulteration of the petroleum products that is sells, and strictly implement existing pollution standards."

At a press conference organized here today by the Federation of Nepalese Transport Entrepreneurs (FNTE), the umbrella body of the country’s transport entrepreneurs, FNTE executives also said that they would voluntarily dispose of their vehicles if the said demands were met.

An FNTE press release issued today lists its 13-point demands which, among others, insist that the task of petroleum distribution be handed over to private enterprises, import of new vehicles be stopped, and most importantly that the November 10 decision be revoked. FNTE is scheduled to formally hand over the demands to the Prime Minister tomorrow.

FNTE today announced that it will hold publicity programmes from January 17 to 24, stage a protest rally in the Valley on January 26, a one-hour-long chakka jam in the Valley from 9 to 10 a.m. on February 6, and a two-hour-long chakka jam in the Valley from 3 to 5 p.m. on February 11.

As part of its third phase protest programme, the entrepreneurs threatened to stage a day-long chakka jam in the Valley on February 16, a western-Nepal (west of the Narayani river) bandh on February 26, and an eastern Nepal (east of the Narayani river) bandh

Describing the government decision as "unilateral and impractical", FNTE General Secretary Bishnu Siwakoti said: "The government should not discourage poor entrepreneurs like us under the pretext of reducing pollution in the city. If it really wants to curb pollution it should improve the quality of petroleum products and take other measures that are more effective and practical."

According to data made available by the Ministry of Population and Environment (MOPE), about 1,200 vehicles owned by both private individuals and the government will have to leave the Valley when the ban comes into effect.

NSP warns of people’s movement

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KATHMANDU, Jan 17 - The Nepal Sadbhavana Party (NSP) has warned that it will launch "a people’s movement in the Terai" unless its demands are fulfilled by the second week of February.

The NSP has demanded that the Government form a high-level judicial enquiry committee to investigate the violence against people of Madhesi origin last week of December, 2000.

The party demands that the results of the enquiry into the incident in which one man was killed and the NSP’s central office torched, be made public, according to a party press statement issued Wednesday.

The meeting also requested the government for compensation for property damaged during the violence.

The party also warned of raising the issue at an international level, the press statement said.

Participants at the meeting also paid tribute to Khushilal Yadav, who was killed in Rajbiraj by police fire on December 31, whilst demonstrating peacefully against the violence. The party, in the press statement, thanked the people for extending their support to the Madhesh bandh called by the party on January 12.

The press statement said that the party decided to hold a Madhesi Chariot Rally from Mechi in the east to Mahakali in the west in aid of Madhesi unity in the near future.

Earlier, locally-formed people’s action committee, headed by NSP lawmaker Mrigendra Kumar Singh Yadav, refused to cooperate with the government’s probe committee, led by former home secretary Bhojraj Pokharel Monday.

Pyakurel new NBA president

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KATHMANDU, Jan 17 - The progressive candidate Sindhu Nath Pyakurel has won the coveted post of the President of the Nepal Bar Association (NBA), by a margin of 164 votes against his rival, by raking 2,132 votes in the election held last Saturday.

After the last counts were finalised, Pyakurel was able to defeat the democratic candidate Basanta Ram Bhandari who secured 1,968 votes.

The progressive groups were able to garner majority seats as they secured nine out of 17 seats. Alongwith the post of President, the progressive group were also able to grab the post of four vice-presidents, one secretary and three members, while the democrats took away the treasurer and six member seats.

Pyakurel entered legal profession thirty years ago and became Senior Advocate 10 years back.

Talking to reporters, Pyakurel said that he would seek help from concerned stakeholders and would give in his best efforts to make the bar a more professional organisation. He even said that he would investigate the irregularities going on in the bar and put an end to them. "The bar will have regular interaction with the bench to remove the distortions in the judiciary," said Pyakurel.

Those elected from the progressive group for the Vice-Presidents from the four developmental regions are Chudamani Acharya, Bhumi Kharel, Ram Prasad Ghimire and Govinda Prasad Sharma. Prayag Datta Bhatta, who had kept himself away from both the groups, was elected unopposed from the Far Western region for the post of vice-president.

For the post of Secretary, Satish Krishna Kharel from the progressive was elected while Babu Raja Joshi from the democrat group was elected for the post of treasurer.

Those elected as members include Milan Kumar Rai, Sapana Pradhan Malla and Ek Raj Bhandari from the progressive group while Yadu Nath Khanal, Surendra Kumar Mahato, Sunil Kumar Pokharel, Babu Ram Giri, Sushila Regmi and Bijaya Prasad Mishra from the democratic group.

Convention politics cost RNAC boss his job

By Suman Pradhan

KATHMANDU, Jan 17 - The abrupt sacking this week of RNAC executive chairman Hari Bhakta Shrestha on the surface may appear to be a justifiable decision on the part of the government. After all, Shrestha has been under investigation for controversial aviation-related deals by the government’s anti-corruption watchdog agency from his days as the chief of the Civil Aviation Authority.

But his sacking, and eventual replacement yesterday by Rajesh Raj Dali, erstwhile airport manager of Tribhuvan International Airport, has more to do with political expediency than the government’s new found enthusiasm for rooting out corruption.

It has been known for quite some time now that Shrestha was involved from early on to discard all norms of a fair bidding process and hand over the lucrative deal to Lauda Air, represented as it were, by one of Kathmandu’s biggest trading houses with rock-solid connections to RNAC management and politicians.

Anyone who has gone through the documents concerning the Lauda Air lease can point out several discrepancies inherent in the deal. Even so, the government of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala fought tooth and nail with everybody - the press, the opposition, even parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) - to defend the deal. When the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) was eventually drawn into the case, it was already deep into investigating other past deals where Shrestha had had a role.

In this backdrop, the sudden sacking of Shrestha comes as a surprise. More than Shrestha’s removal itself., it is the timing of the government action that raises questions. Could it be that Shrestha has been sacrificed for political expediency just ahead of the crucial Nepali Congress general convention in Pokhara, which is starting this Friday?

There are many inside and outside government, and in aviation circles, who believe that to be the case. The argument is plausible, given the political heat Lauda Air generated in the run up to the Congress general convention, where, by some coincidence, the rival camp within the Congress drew up plans to make the controversial deal a hot issue.

Nepali Congress rebel leader Sher Bahadur Deuba, political parties, and PAC, all have claimed the hands of political higher ups in the tainted aircraft leasing agreement. Deuba, while justifying his candidacy against Koirala for the Congress presidency, has also gone as far as to accuse the Prime Minister for being directly involved in the controversial deal.

Deuba has flogged the issue for all its worth, and it is beginning to show within the party’s rank and files. Besides, going into the convention with a heavy load hanging around his neck by way of the Lauda Air accusations would have been disastrous for Prime Minister Koirala. Political calculations demanded that heads should roll. But whose head should it be?

With the CIAA and PAC already investigating the controversial lease, there would have been no one else but Shrestha to serve as the perfect fall guy, say sources. In one stroke, the government silenced its critics on the Lauda Air deal, and won Koirala another day to face his rivals in Pokhara.

There are those who also say that the CIAA’s recommendations, which the government purportedly followed in sacking Shrestha, also does not hold much argument. If the Koirala government was really serious about CIAA directives, it would not have hired Shrestha for the top RNAC job in the first place, since he was already under scrutiny for navigation equipment deals done by him while heading the Civil Aviation Authority.

In any case, Shrestha deserved the sacking for his involvement in the Lauda Air case, say sources. But his sacking ought to be just the beginning of a serious accounting. There are many others even higher up who clandestinely benefited from the Lauda Air jet lease deal, and who now should be brought to book.

‘PM, tourism minister should step down’

By Pramod Poudel

KATHMANDU, Jan 17 - The leaders of the opposition parties today stressed that the Prime Minister and the Tourism Minister should step down to pave way to facilitate the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) to investigate regarding the controversial Lauda Air deal.

"Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and the Tourism Minister Tarinee Datta Chataut should step down from their present position to facilitate the Lauda Air deal investigations so as the evidence is not dissipitated," said parliamentary Public Accounts Committee Chairman Subash Nemwang. He said that it was one of the agenda discussed at opposition parties meet held at the CPN-UML Parliamentary office at Singha Durbar on Wednesday.

Last Monday, CIAA had suspended RNAC Chairman Shrestha on the ground that the evidences might not remain intact if Shrestha continued to remain in position.

"CIAA can not suspend the Prime Minister but to facilitate fair investigation, we, leaders of the major opposition parties decided that both the Prime Minister and the tourism minister should step down," said Nemwang.

The Prime Minister earlier had promised PAC that effective actions would be taken against those found involved in the Lauda Air irregularities. "How can any action be taken when the Prime Minister himself is involved in the irregularities," said Nemwang.

CIAA on January 16 had interrogated the Minister Chataut for four hours regarding the irregularities. The minister should again be present before the CIAA for clarification on January 24 once the scheduled 10th conference of the Nepali Congress in Pokhara concludes. CIAA has hinted that it would even interrogate the Prime Minister and the other senior political leaders.

According to Nemwang, CPN-UML leaders Madhav Kumar Nepal, Bharat Mohan Adhikari and including himself, Rastriya Prajatantra Party leader Pashupati Shumsere Rana, Sanyukta Jan Morcha leader Lilamani Pokharel, and Nepal Sadvawana Party leader Hrideyesh Tripathi were present while Nepal Labour and Peasants Party and the CPN (Masal) had cued their approval.

According to Nemwang, the opposition parties leader acknowledged the need to take the Lauda Air issue as the main agenda in the coming winter session of the parliament. "We will bring a stay motion against the Prime Minister," said Nemwang. "PAC, during its investigation had already found the involvement of the cabinet secretariat in the controversial Air deal, which shows the tractable involvement of the Prime Minister," said Nemwang.

The meeting also condemned the government trying to rule the country through ordinances.

Hospital wastes, serious health hazard: Report

By Razen Manandhar

KATHMANDU, Jan 17  The growing number of hospitals and nursing homes in the capital have, ironically, resulted in the increased threat to public health with the practice of unsystematic disposal of medical waste, experts here say.

A recent survey report says that there are 62 healthcare institutions, excluding small health centres and clinics, with a total number of 3905 beds, in the valley which generates 1312 kgs of infectious medical and clinical waste every day.

Body parts, body fluids, foetuses, animal carcasses and other waste materials produced by such health centres are hazardous and need special disposal treatment. But, most of the institutions dump it haphazardly in and around the Valley, raising public health concerns.

Environment and Public Health Organisation (ENPHO) has recently produced a draft report, which was the result of two-month long survey of 45 healthcare institutions - 13 public hospitals, 23 private healthcare institutions, 8 polyclinics and pathological labs and one drug manufacturing company – within the Kathmandu Valley. The report was submitted to Kathmandu Valley Mapping Programme (KVMP) of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC).

It says that Infectious Disease Hospital Teku, TB Hospital, Mental Hospital, Central Veterinary Hospital, Siddhartha Hospital, Kathmandu Medical College, Himalaya Hospital, Tilganga Eye Hospital, Everest Nursing Home, HM Hospital don’t have waste storage facilities.

Team leader Dr Roshan Raj Shrestha said that the survey was done by a dozen research-assistants and students of environment sciences, who visited the sites, inspected and analysed the result.

And even among those, whose storage facilities are more or less proper, still don’t followed proper waste separation practice, thus multiplying the possible hazards, the report says.

It says most of the hospitals and nursing homes usually dispose their waste in the roadside containers, and at times burn and bury it in their institution premises. "Only six among the 61 institutions manage their waste independently."

It states that 80 to 85 per cent of the waste is usually non-hazardous in nature but when it is dumped with the hazardous clinical waste, the whole volume becomes contaminated.

The survey discovers that out of the total Bir Hospital waste collected everyday, 72 percent is general waste, which is mixed with other hazardous waste such as needle, ampoules, infectious waste, saline bottle and sharp materials. The accumulated waste becomes a headache for city’s waste management authority.

The report also states, "Waste segregation reduces the costs and also protects public health."

The report further warns that most of the institutions supposed to provide health services are located in crowded residential areas of the city and their mismanaged disposal practices in turn can cause a disastrous effect on the local dwellers.

"To add to this, even those that burn (wastes) also do not have proper incinerators, open burning produces bad fumes, again causing a bigger threat to the residents around such healthcare institutions," it states.

The acting director of National Dental Hospital Dr Sushil Koirala, who raised a campaign to manage clinical waste four years ago, said, "The medical practitioners who are the responsible people in producing medical waste must be made aware of the significance of such special treatment. The practitioners need proper training and also preventive measure to save them from the risk of being infected."

Dr Chhatra Amatya, the director of Planning and Foreign Aid Division at Department of Health Services said that the report is useful to both government bodies as well as non governmental organisations. She said, "The healthcare institutions are showing lukewarm response to this very sensitive issue because individual efforts have not been so affective."

Bhusan Tuladhar, an environment expert of KVMP said that KMC has plans to establish a composting plant to manage organic waste but the medical waste can hinder manufacture of manure. "So we have to do something urgently to manage general garbage also," he said.

Opposition parties warn against NC split

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KATHMANDU, Jan 17 – As the ruling Nepali Congress (NC) party leaders braced for the party’s tenth general convention, leaders of various opposition parties today warned them against splitting the party.

Speaking at a face-to-face programme organized here Wednesday by the Reporters’ Club, leaders of the Main Opposition CPN-UML, UML’s breakaway faction CPN-ML, and Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) expressed their wishes for the success of the 10th General Convention of the NC.

With its leaders sharply divided over a number of issues including party leadership, the Convention is due to start in the picturesque lake town of Pokhara Friday.

The leaders were also quick to flay Prime Minister and NC President Girija Prasad Koirala for a number of controversies surrounding the government, including controversial RNAC-Lauda Air deal.

Bharat Mohan Adhikari of the CPN-UML said, "It is indeed very sad that the Prime Minister is attending the convention with the Lauda Air’s corruption charges hanging on his neck."

"If the chairman of RNAC could be suspended on grounds that he may conceal evidences, then why not the Prime Minister and other concerned ministers?" he said, demanding action against all those involved.

Devi Prasad Ojha of CPM-ML wished success for the Convention and said,"None of the democratic parties can benefit from the split. The rise in Maoist activities to some extent is the result of the split in CPN-UML." UML split three years ago.

Pasupati SJB Rana, general secretary of Rastriya Prajatantra Party(RPP) said that the Pokhara convention is a good time for NC leaders to have introspection.

He said, "At the 9th convention, NC President Koirala vowed to eliminate poverty, unemployment, corruption by the new millennium, but all said and done. Moreover, there is growing insecurity in the country."

Independent left leader Nilamber Acharya said that it is high time the party started lessening the cracks created on the "moral and political spheres".

He added, "Looking at the history of NC one cannot expect a major change from this meet. NC leaders are very good at giving lectures but they lack enthusiasm to revolutionize their own moral standard."

No reason to open fire, says House committee

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BANKE, Jan 17 - The Parliamentary Foreign Affairs and Human Rights Committee said today that there was no reason to open fire inside the jail, Sunday.

The four-member committee, led by committee chairman, Som Prasad Pandey, came to the conclusion after acquiring information about Sunday’s firing from the police, eyewitnesses, jail authorities and the prisoners. The police fire killed two jail inmates when the prisoners chanted slogans pressing the jail authority to fulfil their 15-points demand.

"Police should not have opened fire inside the prison unless the inmates attempted to break the jail," committee chairman Pandey told the reporters after acquiring first hand information from concerned people.

Chief District Officer, Shyam Prasad Mainali, had ordered to fire in the air only, the enquiry team quoted the CDO as saying.

The people who died in the police firing were found to have shot on the head and shoulder. Eyewitness claimed that police opened fire pointing at the jail inmates.

The Foreign Affairs and Human Rights Committee members quoted Superintendent of Police, Arun Singh, as saying that the policemen just followed the CDO’s directives. More than 30 prisoners were injured during the four-hour long police fire. The jail inmates told the enquiry team that some of the prisoners were kept in hand-cuffs and chains in the cells. They also revealed that the injured were not provided with any medical treatment.

Committee chairman Pandey said that his team would submit its report within 10 days.

Meanwhile, the government has formed a one-man enquiry committee under Joint-Secretary Subarnalal Shrestha from the Special Police Department. However, the parliamentary team doubted that the one-man probe would come up with any substantial facts of the Sunday’s police firing.

DMCC begins land distribution to ex-kamaiyas

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DHANGADI, Jan 17- The District Monitoring and Co-ordination Committee (DMCC) here, has finally started distributing land to the ex-Kamaiyas living in various make-shift camps across the district, giving in to the continuous pressure put by the ex-Kamaiyas and the local NGOs.

The Committee started distribution of land to the ex-Kamaiyas at additional three Village Development Committees (VDC) here, today after distributing 5 kattha of land each to the 62 families of ex-kamaiyas at different wards of Joshipur VDC,last week.

More than 65 thousand families of Kamaiyas were freed in Kailali alone when the Kamaiya system was abolished on 17th July last year. From among them, 2700 families have been living till now in various make-shift camps across the district.

Similarly, land selection program has started in Bainiya VDC today. According to Maheshwore Neupane, Member Secretary of the DMCC and a Land Reform official, land selection and distribution program would be over in Thapapur and Pratapur by Thursday. "After that we will start similar programs in Khailad, Geta and Pathraiya VDC," he said.

The district committee has followed the policy of rehabilitating the ex-Kamaiyas in the same locality from where they were displaced although the Centre Committee has not specified any procedure in the process.

Neupane said that the land selection and distribution was being done after deciding on a meeting which included officials from every VDCs, representatives of different political parties, farmers, ex-Kamaiyas and representatives of different NGOs.

The process of selecting and distributing land is not simple as it sounds. In Kailali 90 per cent of the Government owned land is being used by somebody in one way or the other and the committee has not been given the rights to distribute forest land. Previously an attempt made by the committee to rehabilitate 170 families of ex-kamaiyas in Dhangadi-11 Jugeda failed, because the locals protested the move and even manhandled the ex-kamaiyas.

Moreover, the ex-kamaiyas and the political parties are pressing the committee to distribute at least 10 katthas of land to one family against the Government’s direction to distribute only five katthas.

But as the process is going on, Kamaiya Movement Mobilisation Committee, a grouping of 11 different NGOs has declared that it will on its will start distributing forest land to the ex-kamaiyas from Thursday. The Committee accuses the Government of delaying in the distribution process.

Tilak Chaudhary a member of the committee said that it had been decided upon to distribute land to the ex-kamaiyas from Dhudhejhari, Pakhaphata, Baskota, Manehara and Sankarpur forest areas.

However, Narendra Raj Paudel, the Chief District Officer (CDO) is confident that the ex-kamaiyas will return to the camps and to lands allotted to them by the government even if they are provoked and taken elsewhere by some people.

Meanwhile, the numbers of people registering themselves as ex-kamaiyas have increased considerably in all the VDCs in the district. Some people have also been trying to resister fake names after the Government decided to allot land and give Rs 5000 for house building purpose to the ex-kamaiyas.

CDO Poudel however, says that preferences will only be given to the 2700 families who were initially registered and to whom identity cards have been distributed.

NHRC team to visit Maoist hot beds

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LALITPUR, Jan 17 - A team from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) will visit four Maoist-hit districts in the western part of the country, to assess the overall impact of the "People’s War" initiated by the CPN-Maoist party at the end of this month, said NHRC members here today.

According to Sushil Pyakurel, an NHRC member, the team will visit Jajarkot, Rolpa, Rukum and Salyan, the districts most affected by the five-year old insurgency. "We will not only monitor the right to life situation (cases of absolute violence), but will also assess every human rights’ aspect, including the right to education and the right to health," said Pyakurel.

We will see if there was access to the Polio vaccines according to the government’s commitment, added Pyakurel.

Prior to the visit, the NHRC had already consulted with mainstream political parties, advocates and high-ranking government officials.

"Regarding the Maoist issue, the government is confused and hasn’t accorded it top priority," said another NHRC-member, Kapil Shrestha. "The government still does not consider it a national problem."

After the visit, the Commission will try to create a conducive environment for dialogue, the members said. "We, at least, can make the warring parties loyal to the human rights’ provisions by bringing them to the dialogue-table," Shrestha said.

The team of ten will be divided into two sub-teams. One sub-team led by Shrestha will visit Rolpa and Salyan and the other, jointly led by Pyakurel and Gauri Shankar Lal Das will visit Jajarkot and Rukum.

The Maoists have already announced that they have established a "People’s Government" in Jajarkot and Rukum, challenging the central government.