Garment industry braces for another setback

By Bhaskar Sharma

KATHMANDU, July 5 - As if the present woes of the garment industry were not enough, the United States (US) government, at the request of its Bangladeshi counterpart, is contemplating granting free market access to Bangladeshi exports, all at Nepal’s unease.

Garment entrepreneurs here say the removal of tariff and quota barriers on garment exports from Bangladesh to the US markets, which is likely to be decided in the next three months, would mean a severe setback to the industry back home, which tops the list of foreign currency earners.

Nepali garments is already under pressure due to the passing of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) in November 2000, which allows duty-free and quota-free access to garments exports from around 33 Sub-Saharan African countries to US markets. Bangladesh had applied for the same facility after the US congress passed the African bill last year.

Since the demand for Nepali garments in the international markets is as a result of spillovers from the quota from the neighbouring countries like India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, free market facility for a close country like Bangladesh would kill the market for Nepali garments back home. In addition, garments produced back home, which is almost 25-30 per cent more expensive than the neighbouring countries, would be at a severe disadvantage in the US market.

"Once garments from Bangladesh gains free market facility to the US, Nepali garment industry, the prime foreign currency earner, will die out," says Kiran Saakha, Chief of the WTO cell at the Garment Association of Nepal. There are over 215 garment manufacturers in Nepal presently that employ over 50,000 workers and have total investments shooting above Rs 6 billion.

Garment entrepreneurs had repeatedly urged the government to pressure the US for granting the same facility as the Sub-Saharan African countries. However, no initiatives have been taken so far. The US had granted the facility to those African countries having per capita income of less than US $ 1500. Nepal’s per capita income hardly touches US $ 250, but is yet to avail to the facility granted by the US.

"If the garment industry is to be saved, the government must actively aim to obtain the same facilities as applied by Bangladesh," says Saakha. US importers presently pay an average of 20 per cent tariff on the import of garments from Nepal. If no duty is levied on Bangladeshi exports, the results would be disastrous for Nepal, says Saakha.

Nepali garment exports to the US, where over 85 per cent of the total Nepali garment exports is absorbed, has, in the meantime, declined by almost 8 per cent in the first six months of 2001 as compared to the corresponding period last year. In absolute terms, garment exports to the US in the January-June period in 2001 stood at US$ 92.03 million, down from the last year’s corresponding figures of US$ 99.77 million. The exports had grown by almost 18 per cent in 1999 and by over 30 per cent in 2000.

"For a sector that has grown persistently at a good rate, the latest slump in exports is depressing," says Chandi Raj Dhakal, Managing Director of Momento Apparels, the largest individual exporter of the country. "The government must address the problems plaguing the industry immediately."

Pressed by the present slump in demand, Garment Association of Nepal (GAN), about two weeks ago, had even submitted a report to the government assessing the impact of not just the AGOA, but also a similar facility likely to be received by the Caribbean countries under the banner of the Caribbean bill. "The government, however, is yet to respond to the association’s report," says Saakha.

If the government is serious in resolving the quandaries of the garment industry, it must begin by slashing down the various duties and taxes that it presently levies on the export sector, in addition to addressing the present problem of duty drawback and Value Added Tax refund, say entrepreneurs.

Bombs, duds mock ‘govt's tight security’

Post Report

KATHMANDU, July 5- Kathmandu Valley again woke up to a frenzy of security activity today as bomb disposal squads rushed to various places to defuse explosive devices supposedly planted by Maoist rebels.

Several areas of the Valley, including in Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur, were targetted by the rebels with ‘bombs’ hanging from utility poles. However, after hours of carefully trying to defuse the devices, police finally concluded that only a handful of the suspected bombs were actually explosives. The rest were duds stuffed with mud, soap bars, chunks of wood and gravel.

"Only five were explosives, the rest were fakes," said a Deputy Superintendent of Police requesting anonymity. However, another senior police officer said that even the loud explosion heard in at least one case in Patan was actually the sound of the bomb disposal squad’s using a gun to detonate a "fake" bomb, and not the explosive device itself.

Whatever the case, from early morning today, police and army teams rushed to more than a half dozen sites throughout the Valley to defuse the explosives after panicky residents called for help. Most of the supposed bombs were hung from electricity poles beneath a red banner which had anti-King and anti-Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala slogans written on them. In Patan, the rebels had also hung effigies of the monarch and the prime minister.

The "bombs" were placed near the Ashok Cinema Hall and Shree Chandi Higher Secondary school at Patan. In Kathmandu, they were placed at Balaju and Nepaltar, and at Sano Thimi at Bhaktapur.

According to a top police officer, all the real bombs were defused safely before 12 noon. Eyewitnesses at Chandi School say that the bomb were exploded by the Army and police after cordoning the area.

Locals said that police resorted to lathi-charge to dispel the frenzied crowd which had gathered to witness the high voltage drama at Patan.

The latest development is one more instance of trying to strike terror in the hearts of Kathmandu residents, police said. The rebels have intensified their terror tactic within the Valley in recent days, planting bombs and also launching raids on isolated police posts in western Nepal. Only yesterday, a powerful explosion rocked Baluwatar.

In response, the government has tightened security inside the Valley, putting more policeman on the streets, especially at night. But the heightened security presence has not detered the rebels from sowing confusion, mocking the government’s attempt.

The terror-tactics by the Maoists may be designed to take advantage of the confusing situation since the June 1 Royal killings, but it is also helping to alienate the public from them. Some Kathmandu residents today condemned the rebels saying the explosives could someday kill some innocent people. "It is yet more ironic to see that bombs have been planted at the proximity of schools on the eve of Teacher’s Day when students are supposed to worship their mentors", one resident of Patan said.

Meanwhile, rebels have also used similar tactic in various parts of the country, planting explosive devices in villages and towns across Nepal, according to dispatches filed by our reporters. However, no casualty has been reported in any of the incidences.

According to reports, Maoists planted bombs in Nawalparasi, and attacked a vehicle with petrol bombs in Inaruwa. They also destroyed an abandoned police post in Syangja.

Army Chief asked to rush back home

KATHMANDU, July 5 (PR)– Chief of Army Staff General Prajwalla Shumsher J.B Rana, who is presently in the United Kingdom for an official visit, has been asked to cut short his trip and return home immediately.

Gen. Rana has been ordered to rush back home in view of the deteriorating security situation in Kathmandu, sources in the Royal Nepal Army said today.

According to the military sources, the army has been "seriously following" the rising activities of the Maoist rebels within the Valley in recent days. "However, our job will be just to assist the police and increase security cordons in sensitive areas," the official said.

General Rana had left with his wife, Sindhu Rajya Laxmi Devi Rana, on a weeklong visit to London on July 1. However, no further details could be available on why General Rana was asked to cut short his visit despite the fact that he is returning within the next few days anyway.

Gen. Rana was invited to the UK by admiral Sir Michael Boyce, the Chief of Defence Staff, UK. Staff Officer Colonel Gaurav Shumsher J.B Rana and the General’s ADC, Captain Trilochan Bahadur Malla, are accompanying General Rana on the visit.

Lieutenant General Durganath Aryal is presently looking after the affairs of the RNA Chief of Army Staff.

Abducted policemen remain untraced

Post Report

BANKE, July 5 - The whereabouts of all the 34 policemen, including a child and a woman, abducted by the Maoist rebels from the Kusum-based police outpost in Banke district and Bhingri Village in Rolpa district on Tuesday night still remain unknown, security officials said today.

Kusum, a tiny rural market nestled on the busy East-West highway, located about 70 km east of Nepalgunj, the Banke district headquarters, still remains tense following the Maoist attack to the police outpost two days ago.

One police constable and a 12-year-old destitute girl were shot dead in a fierce gunfight on the fateful night. The rebels also looted a large cache of arms and ammunition after forcing the 40 policemen to surrender.

Locals said that the rebels also searched around 100 houses in the vicinity after blowing up the police station.

Police reinforcement despatched to the clash site managed to reach the spot almost 10 hours after the incident. Police officials said that they could not arrived earlier due to communication disruptions.

Likewise, the position of 21 recruits, who were kidnapped by the rebels from Bhingri village of the Maoist insurgency hit Rolpa district, also remained unclear, according to the Rolpa District Police Office (DPO) in Libang, the district headquarters.

The recruits were heading towards Nepalgunj by bus for a training course at the Mid-Western Region Police Training Centre after being selected to the police service from this underdeveloped hilly district a few weeks ago.

Officials at the Rolpa DPO said more than 75 police personnel had been mobilised, this morning, from the Bhingri and Sulichaur-based area police posts to comb the area for locating the abducted recruits.

‘Govt financial help crosses Rs 100m’

KATHMANDU, July 5 (PR)- The amount of financial assistance granted by the government to individual persons during the first 10 months of this fiscal year has reached Rs. 100,073,876 according a statement issued by the Home Ministry.

The Ministry in the statement has named dozens of names ranging from former Chief Justice Biswonath Upadhaya to people who have been compensated or relief provided due to the attacks by Maoist rebels.

The amount ranges from few thousand rupees to as much half a million depending on the nature of the relief sought like relocation or even medical treatment or the individual seeking the fund.

Sanctioning of such amounts need the approval of the Cabinet and is released by the Finance Ministry.

Nepal Sadbhawana Party Chairman Gajendra Narayan Singh was stated to have taken the money a few times amounting to Rs. 230,000. Even the Finance Minister in March had taken 600 Sterling Pounds for treatment of his eyes in London, United Kingdom.

Former Assistance Minster Mohammed Aftab Alam has been given Rs. 1.5 million in August last year but no reason was stated for the amount given. Alam has remained a controversial figure and was once forced to resign for allegedly kidnapping and beating opposition supporter.

Postal service erratic, needs sweeping reforms

By Utpal Raj Misra

KATHMANDU, July 5 - Hetty Maclise, a British national is yet to receive her registered mail that contained her pension cheque for the month of June posted from England.

Maclise, a painter, had always received her cheque on time for the last 5 months of her stay in Nepal. This time when she sent someone to inquire about the delay the post officials did not give definite answers nor were they very polite, said Maclise.

It seems Maclise is not the only one who is anxiously waiting for her mail. The Post Office has accumulated stacks of undelivered mails gathering dust because of the 11 consecutive-day closure following the Narayanhity Royal Palace carnage of June 1.

When inquired, Shree Dhar Gautam, Chief Postmaster at the General Post Office confidently claimed that the post office had already cleared the backlog of registered mails. "There were piles of mail stacked at the office due to the closure but now we have cleared all the registered mail and within a week we will clear all the remaining backlog as well," Gautam said.

However, an official in charge of clearing the backlog of mail said that it could take another 2 weeks before the job would be completed. "We still have some registered letters to sort out," he confirmed.

Gautam says that it is not always fair to blame the post office for mails not reaching their destination as in many cases the senders don’t write correct and/or complete mailing address. "Moreover Kathmandu does not have a good addressing system, I hope things get better after the municipality finishes changing the addresses," he added.

Over the years Nepal Post Office has also built a notorious reputation of disappearing cash and money orders from within the sealed envelopes and packages, the key reason behind it losing its creditability.

Although the Chief Postmaster claimed that the number of such cases has reduced considerably in the last four years, he admitted that some mail still disappear. "Now we have a checking system that prevents the postal staff from opening the sealed envelopes but still some letters are opened and money lost."

Another complaint by the consumers is that the staff at the post office are very rude and don’t take complaints seriously. In the past also there have been complaints of postal staff passing the buck from one to another and harassing the complainers by making them go from one room to another.

Gautam defended his office saying that the problem was never bad as it was made to sound by the people. "Here people make a mountain out of a molehill without understanding the issues, it has been very difficult for us to build our image from what it was in the past and I understand it will take some time to gain total credibility."

Gautam claimed that some staff members found guilty of stealing have been sacked and legal action taken against them. He added that it was extremely difficult to eradicate this "illness", as it was really hard for a staff to stop stealing once they get into the habit of doing it.

In spite of all the weakness and faults in the working system, Gautam is confident that the Post Office is doing a commendable job and still holds the trust of people. Moreover, he has plans to improve the existing system by bringing some changes and building more improved infrastructure.

"The post office has considerably increased its revenue collection over the last two years, so that there is enough fund to spend on our betterment," said Gautam. He said he was sure that the Nepal Postal Service would be at par with other courier services within five years if the government give the green signal to go ahead with the proposed improvement plans.

About the complains, similar to that of Maclise, Gautam said, "If the letter has proper name and address written on it then there is no question of any registered letter getting lost," adding that he will look at the individual matters if official complaints are lodged.

RPP floats 7-point agenda

Post Report

KATHMANDU, July 5 - Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) today floated a seven point agenda in addition to the 14-point national consensus agenda announced by Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala to overcome the present challenges faced by the nation.

Issuing a press release signed by the party spokesperson Kamal Thapa, the RPP said that "Our party leaders held discussions today with the representatives of the Prime Minister in which we presented seven-point agenda in addition to Koirala’s 14-point one."

The release said that the RPP has taken the move made by Prime Minister Koirala to seek national consensus by announcing the 14-point agenda "positively". RPP had indicated some time back the need for minimum understanding and agreement among all political forces to solve the existing problems and challenges faced by the nation, the release said.

According to the release, the seven-point agenda put forward by RPP includes - working plan to solve the Maoist problem; basic guidelines for the national security and foreign policy; ensuring the electoral system as representative of the essence of the majority people and which is cost-effective, forming an interim government before every general elections.

Others include, formulating code of conduct related to the political parties, making arrangement of electing Upper House representatives on the basis of demographic proportions of indigenous and Terai people, making arrangements to run the government owned media freely and fairly.

"The Nepali Congress should be ready to make all the sacrifice, if required, in the process of building national consensus," the release said.

Nepali Congressmen present during the dialogue were Minister for Local Development Govinda Raj Joshi, party spokesperson Narahari Acharya and Education Minister Amod Prasad Upadhyaya and from RPP was represented by its vice-president Prakash Chandra Lohani and Thapa among others.

Recession evident in Thamel with no tourist around

By Tashi D. Thinley

KATHMANDU, July 5 - Pick any travel guide or magazine on Nepal, and the writer is bound to center all most all happenings around Kathmandu to Thamel, which for years has remained the liveliest spot to be in the usually dull life of the Capital city.

But a stroll or a drive through Thamel at night has a different look these days. The life of Kathmandu’s centre of nightlife, contrary to its reputation, bears a look no different from any other city streets which get deserted much earlier than usual.

There used to be a time when at 10 p.m. Thamel would begin to wake to rock the night away. Many bars, discos and party places remained open sometime even through dawn.

All that now seems like history.

With the steady wane in the number of tourists visiting Nepal, the country’s most strategic place of tourist attraction, has been adversely affected. And the next time you visit Thamel, you might find that your favorite restaurant or hang out spot has gone out of business and downed its shutters forever.

The place where once tourists swarmed and business thrived, has fewer tourists and business has never been this bad. None would have ever imagined that Thamel, place renowned for its restaurants, affordable hotels and lively atmosphere, would ever pass through such a phase where business entrepreneurs are bearing nothing but the loss.

With few tourists and high rent, more than 12 restaurants have already closed and around 30 per cent of the jewelry and souvenir shops too have called quits. As a result, a number of small grocery shops have also been forced out of business.

President of the Restaurant and Bar Association of Nepal (REBAN) Tejendra Shrestha says, "10-12 restaurants have already closed in Thamel while another 40 are awaiting the "upcoming tourist season" after which they will decide whether to close or not ".

Many of the restaurant owners in Thamel expressed deep concern over the failure of the once prosperous business. Many say that it is all the unfortunate incidents that led to negative business impact. All happened so fast ... one right after another.

Beginning with the highjacking of the IC 814 flight out of Kathmandu in December 1999 to the anti-Hrithik rioting a year later followed by numerous political bandhs and now the June 1 Royal Palace massacre, and the bad publicity in the international media made tourists to flee to other destinations.

"Many of my friends who owned shops like mine closed their shops and have left for Jaipur, India, saying that they will return only if the situation in the country improves," says Shahil Imran, proprietor of Rajasthani Curio and Handicraft shop at Thamel.

According to the National Tourism Board, during the first five months of the current year alone, 156,000 tourists visited the country. However in the month of June, due to the Royal carnage, the arrivals slumped from 23,000 tourists a year ago to 10,238.

"With daily surprise packages like the bandhs and riots breaking in the country, there are literally no tourists, so how can we possibly run a restaurant or a hotel at a big loss", said Dorji Tsering, owner of G’s Terrace Restaurant and Bar at Thamel, which has temporarily closed for two months.

Besides restaurants and souvenir stores, bookstores and trekking goods stores have also led to take the brunt of the recession in the business and many are taking of just the recovery break.

According to the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN), tourism industry alone contributes roughly 24 per cent of the total foreign currency earning in the country and its stakes at GDP is around four per cent.

Oppn continue to seek PM’s ouster

Post Report

KATHMANDU, July 5 - The opposition parties continued to focus on Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s resignation during the ongoing debate over the government’s program and policies even when the PM has already pledged to step down.

"It is shameful for the Prime Minister who has already been cautioned by the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) in a corruption case to continue remaining in power," said Bharat Mohan Adhikari, a central member of the main opposition CPN-UML.

CIAA while investigating the infamous Lauda Air scam had cautioned the PM since the decision to lease the jetliner for the state-owned Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation was endorsed by the Cabinet and the PM is morally responsible for all acts of the Cabinet.

"This is the last opportunity for the Prime Minister to voluntarily step down since both the sides (CPN-UML and Nepali Congress) have already reached the much sought consensus ... if he misses this chance then it would be his biggest loss," Adhikari said.

Adhikari said that besides the Lauda Air scandal, there was many other reasons why the Prime Minister should step down and the June 1 Royal Palace massacre being the latest in the series of reasons.

He said the government’s programs and policies was nothing more than useless document and the failure of the government to include the pledges and the 14-point agenda presented by the Prime Minister has made a mockery of the Parliament.

"If the government was to sincerely implement all the pledges it has made so far then it would have been a big relief to the people," said Chiranjivi Wagle of the ruling Nepali Congress (NC).

Wagle, who is from the rebelling faction in NC, said that the situation of security in the country is crucial and the government has failed to clearly state what it intended to do to deal with the Maoists insurgency.

"All that has been mentioned in the policy document is rather traditional and old stuff that has already been repeated several times in the past. The government needs to clearly state how it plans to move ahead to deal with the Maoist situation," Wagle said.

Ram Chandra Raya of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party said the nation was like an orphan and the multiparty democracy has been held as a hostage. "Both the ruling and opposition parties need to create an atmosphere for consensus and for this even if the Prime Ministers has to resign then he should not hesitate to do that at all," Raya said.

Pari Thapa of National People’s Front accused the government of presenting the new policies and agenda to save the Prime Minister from being forced out of office. "Before the Prime Minister seeks a national consensus he should have consulted with the opposition parties about his move, Thapa said.

Meanwhile, the Parliament has set up a Special Rights Committee to deal with complaints lodged by lawmakers over violation of their rights.

The committee has Ananda Dhungana, Govinda Bahadur Shah, Gopalman Shrestha, Ramesh Lekhak and Shiva Humagain from NC, Birodh Khatiwada and Subash Nemwang from CPN-UML, Prakash Chandra Lohani from RPP and Mrigendra Singh Yadav from Nepal Sadbhawana Party.

The committee will deal with complains like the one filed by lawmakers Lilamani Pokhrel and Narayanman Bijukchche who had said their rights and immunity as a member of Parliament had been violated when they were illegally detained by police and barred from holding a peaceful protests during a mass rally at Lalitpur.