WHO for slashing hearing-aid prices

KATHMANDU, July 18 (PR) - World Health Organisation (WHO) set up a task force to help find ways to slash hearing-aid prices in developing countries.

WHO says the current cost of hearing-aid in developing countries ranges from US $ 200 to US $ 500 and it wants to see them cut down to US $ 10-20 per hearing aid to put them within reach of the poor.

"At least 250 million people globally have hearing loss and two-third of them live in developing countries and hearing loss is one of the most neglected disabilities," said Dr. Andrew Smith, WHO medical officer responsible for the UN agency’s deafness campaign.

He also said that hearing problems in developing countries are often worse than in the industrialised world because basic medical problems cannot be easily treated.

"Middle-ear infection , from which many children suffer, can cause long-term hearing loss if not treated. Meningitis which is particularly common in South Africa is another problem."

Headmaster quits citing poor SLC results

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MANTHALI, July 18- Headmaster, Sitaram Acharya of Sarada Sanskrit Secondary School at Manthali, Ramechhap tendered his resignation when none of his students who appeared their SLC examinations in April passed the exams.

According to Madhav Prasad Timilsina, District Education Officer (DEO), Acharya filed a letter of resignation to the DEO on Wednesday stating that he was quitting his job as headmaster after his school recorded a nil in the SLC results.

A report from Ramechhap district also stated that no single student from 12 schools in the district has pulled through the SLC examinations conducted in April this year.

KMC pilot projects at five wards

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KATHMANDU, July 18 - Kathmandu Metropolitan City is conducting pilot projects at five wards to see the effect of its Municipal Investment Programme (MIP), officials said.

"These projects continuing in ward levels will indicate the possibility of implementing the MIP in other wards," said Kishore Manandhar, the senior town planner of Kathmandu Valley Mapping Programme (KVMP) said.

From the MIP, ward No. 20 is improving its drainage in Ramghat, along the Bishnumati area. And brick-paving is going on in Gwachhemo Galli behind Basantapur of ward No. 23, stone-paving is almost complete in Wotu of ward No 24 and a traditional house called "Hyumata House" of Hyumata is being rebuilt, the officials said.

For this ward-level programmes, KVMP donates Rs 200,000 to each of the wards and the ward chairman invests this amount in any local development project of his choice or that falls in the priority list.

Manandhar said that the MIP would accelerate local level development because the central board cannot always take care of them though they are equally important for the locals and the local representatives.

At the same time, it would regulate the haphazard development works going on in different wards by the initiation of the ward chairman alone.

"To do any construction or other similar works in the ward, the chairman must correspond with the Public Works Department of KMC and it must be in the position to reply on the independent development works carried out by the ward chairman," he said.

The basis of the MIP method is the Integrated Action Plan (IAP) that was started in all 35 wards of the capital city in August 2000.

IAP collected required ward data and developed guidelines for the infrastructure of the metropolis in short time with an active participation of the locals, who identified the local problems and also suggested solutions in various ward-level meetings.

KVMP officials said the result of IAP in forming the new fiscal year.

"IAP is a very efficient method of drawing infrastructure of local development in developing countries like Nepal where everything is changing in high speed and planning for long-term strategies would be meaningless," said Manandhar of KVMP.

90 pc projects under MPs’ fund incomplete

By Narayan Sharma

NAWALPARASI, July 18 - Only 11 of the total 137 projects selected for the last fiscal year by different Members of Parliament (MP) and financed by the MPs’ constituency development fund have been completed in Nawalparasi district.

There are four constituencies and there were seven Members of Parliament including members of both the Houses. However, the terms of two Upper House members Rabindra Nath Sharma and Shanta Manabi expired by the end of June.

Shanta Manabi of CPN (UML) gave Rs 200,000 to construct district party office of the CPN (UML). The building was later renamed as "Manmohan Memorial Academy" but since the land occupied by the building belongs to CPN (UML), and not the academy, the audit has not approved the account. None of the 8 projects selected by Manabi has been completed.

Rabindra Nath Sharma had selected 52 projects but none of them is complete. A total of Rs 367,000 has been dispersed for the projects.

Similarly, Mohan Sharma Chapagain who is a nominated member of the Upper House has given Rs 145,000 to a club in Agyauli VDC. A training centre and an auditorium have been constructed with the amount but since the land where the buildings have been constructed belongs to someone else, the audit has not approved the account.

In the same way, most of the Members of Parliament have selected minor projects in general and they are also incomplete. Such projects include school buildings, foot trails, temples and shrines.

MP Damodar Bastakoti has selected 16 projects and none of the projects has been completed as yet, according to the DDC project section.

MP Hridayash Tripathi has selected 18 projects but only one of the total projects has been completed.

MP Chandra Mani Kharal has selected 11 projects and three of them have been completed. A total of Rs 331,500 has been dispensed for the projects, according the Local Development Officer.

Fifteen percent of the total budget is earmarked for running the MP’s office. The MPs claim and receive the amount at the beginning of the fiscal year but they have not run their office.

Local people’s representatives blame the MPs for failure to complete the projects in time. DDC president Ishwori Prasad Pandey says MPs select the projects at random and they cannot be completed in time.

This problem is not going to be resolved as long as MPs continue to select projects on the request of their party workers without identifying the local problems, Pandey said.

He recommended that MPs should identify local problems and formulate projects at the beginning of the year to ensure that projects completed in time.

Pandey regretted the absence of MPs in the seminars held in area every year to identify problems faced by the people of the area despite the fact that they were ex-officio members of the District Council.

Children’s use in warfare condemned

KATHMANDU, July 18 (PR) - Human Rights and Peace Society (HURPES) has raised its voice against using children in war recently.

Nepal has also shown her commitment on papers only but there is flaw on the implementation part, HURPES says.

In the meantime, HURPES organised a workshop on Nepal : Children Amid Political Violence was organised in 39 districts of Nepal with participation of police, journalists, politicians and human right activists.

Low rainfall affects paddy plantation in Banke

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HOLIYA, Banke, July 18 - Locals living in the once-submerged area of the Rapti river are likely to face famine this year because of low precipitation till the middle of the monsoon.

"In case of heavy rainfall, there is a danger of inundation, otherwise we have to face famine," said Musen Kurmi, a local, from Holiya VDC-8, ploughing his dry field close to the river banks.

There was not even a drop of water in his farm that was submerged last year due to the Laxmanpur barrage built by the Indian government near the Nepal-India border blocking the smooth flow of the floods in the river.

"This is our destiny fallen to us," Kurmi said. This is the common predicament of thousands of people from the five VDCs living on the river banks after the Indianside constructed the 13 kilometre-long embankment just 300 metres down the international border. No efforts have so far been made to mitigate the inundation problem resulted in by the barrage.

Last year, some 2,500 bighas of land in the Holiya, Betahani, Gangapur, Matehiya and Phattepur VDCs was submerged due to the embankment in the Indianside. More than 600 families were displaced because of the inundation. This time around, the same destitute people are likely to become the victim of famine as a result of low precipitation.

"If the monsoon does not bring adequate rainfall within this week, the entire population would be forced to live in hunger throughout the year," said Holiya VDC Chairman Bijaya Bahadur Yadav.

Most of the farmers in this area have not planted paddy until the second week of July, which is the peak season of monsoon.

Out of the total 57,000 hectares of arable land in the district, some 3,000 hectares can only be irrigated by canals, which also remain non-functional at the time of urgency.

Support for handicapped

KATHMANDU, July 18 (PR) - Handicapped in an accident Keshabati Maskey once again donated Rs fifty thousand to Khagendra Navajivan Kendra recently.

Maskey,who is keen to help handicapped people, has already provided support to this Kendra many times previously.

She also expects similar donation from capable people,states the release issued here today.

NOTC support for poor and needy

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KATHMANDU, July 18 - Castrol-Nepal Overseas Trading Concern (NOTC) today at a handover ceremony issued a cheque of Rs 400,000 to Cancer Hospital, Bhaktapur for equipment required in the operation theatre. NOTC also gave a cheque of Rs 119,040 for the education of four students of Nepal Children’s Organisation in Naxal.

Similarly, two persons from Disabled Service Association, Khokana was given a cheque of Rs 25,000 to sustain their living. To purchase 10 artificial limbs for Disabled Children Hospital and Rehabilitation Centre, Dhulikhel has been issued a cheque of Rs 87,500.

Speaking on the occasion, Managing Director of NOTC, Gyan Prasad Karmacharya said, "The poor, disabled and the helpless are also a part of our society and with this small contribution we have made, we encourage others to do the same."