Police posts shifted for security reasons

KAVRE, July 25 (PR) - Police posts have been removed from the rural areas of the district and brought to the district headquarters for security reasons.

There were three temporary police posts, 22 police posts, five Area police offices and a District Police Office in Kavre district last year. However, the presence of police is not seen these days in most of the police posts except in those located near the district headquarters.

Police recently moved out of Balting, Katunje and Mechchhe police posts where they have got their own buildings. The Area Police Office of Dandapari area has also been moved from Taldhunga to Dhulikhel, headquarters of the district.

According to local people, Phoksingtar police office, Budhakhani and Area Police Office, Gokule Ghartichhap have also been moved to Dhulikhel fearing attacks from Maoist rebels.

Maoists have already torched the police office at Katike Deurali and the police post at Mechchhe.

Free basic and primary education program launched

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BHAKTAPUR, July 25 - In order to provide free and fair basic primary education to all the children of school-going age in all the districts and to fulfill their fundamental right to education, the government has launched its second phase of preparatory BPEP (Basic and Primary Education Programme) effective from the fiscal year 1999-2000.

The Department of Education under the Ministry of Education and Sports which is responsible for implementing such an objective under the BPEP on Wednesday announced an 8.5 million of its total procurement plan for the fiscal year 2001-2002 amidst a function here attended by various representatives from donor agencies and the Government.

Eighty percent of the budget allocated for the districts is to be implemented through respective District Education Offices (DEOs) and the remaining 20 per cent of the total budget allocated for the center is to be channeled through central level agencies like Department of Education, Ministry of Education and Sports and a hosts of other associated organizations.

"This significant increase in the allocated amount will go towards construction works," said Chuman Singh Basnet, Director General of Education Department at the Ministry of Education and Sports.

"This is a preparatory allocation and we expect it to be approved in the national budget proposal in the Parliament this year," said Basnet. He was speaking at an interaction programme organized by the Department of Education at Sanothimi, Bhaktapur Wednesday.

Launched in 1999, the BPEP is entering the second phase this year. The programme under the project has to be integrated into the national programme in education with the support of World Bank and other projects.

The BPEP has to be implemented through the Department of Education (HMG) which administers the total BPEP education budget. "We will take the programme in the spirit of decentralization as envisaged in the Constitution," Basnet added.

The government is entitled to the re-imbursement of the money from the World Bank. However, the programme and policies have to be in conformity with the objective of the World Bank.

An estimated 6.71 million dollar loan and other non-monetary support were made since 1999 towards the BPEP programme by the World Bank, DANIDA, UNICEF, JAICA and hosts of other projects. The loan amounting to some 1.7 billion dollar has been earmarked for the second phase of the programme ending 2005.

While DANIDA, IEDA, NORAD, FINIDA and European Commission jointly function under the Basket Funding , UNICEF has been funding it from outside.

Plea to fix green tea leaves prices

BHADRAPUR, July 25 (RSS) - National Tea and Coffee Development Board (NTCDB) eastern regional office organised an interaction between the tea producers and small tea farmers on Monday after the small tea farmers’ association demanded that the price for green tea leaves be fixed by His Majesty’s Government.

At the interaction programme, it was decided that the major tea estates and factories as well as the small tea farmers’ association present their reports concerning the price of green tea leaves by August 2.

According to chief of theNTCDB eastern regional office Madhav Prasad Ghimire, the interaction programme was participated in by vice president of the Nepal tea producers’ association Bishnu Raj Pokharel, Chandi Parajuli, Naresh Verma and Hari Giri while Ramhari Thapa and Chuda Acharya had taken part on behalf of the small tea farmers’ association.

At present the price of green tea leaves is Rs 11 per kilogram in Jhapa district. The price of green tea leaves had reached upto Rs. 17 per kilogram last year.

The small tea farmers have accused the big tea factories of exploiting them and urged His Majesty’s Government to fix the minimum price of green tea leaves as soon as possible.

Chief of the NTCDB eastern regional office Ghimire said that the price of green tea leaves had declined as a result of the decline in the sale of Nepalese tea and a huge stock of processed tea in the local market.

Mr Ghimire said that the small tea farmers were not suffering a loss even if they sold green tea leaves at the existing market price. Similar problems are faced by the farmers in the hilly districts, he added.

The small farmers involved in producing tea have demanded that the Agricultural Development Bank and financial institutions provide loans to the farmers for irrigation purpose at the same interest rate being provided for cultivation of tea.

At present 513 small farmers have been cultivating tea on 23,000 ropanis of land in Jhapa district, according to the NTCDB eastern regional office.

Maoist imposter held by local people

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NEPALGUNJ, July 25 - A man posing himself as a Maoist and engaged in looting people has been arrested by residents of Kaskusma VDC-8 in Banke district and handed over to the police.

Local ward member Pradip Kumar Pandey told The Kathmandu Post that Tilak Ram B.K., aged about 25 years, of ward no. 8 masked his face and demanded money from some people on Tuesday night wielding a khukuri.

First of all,he went to the house of Shashi Ram Khatri and demanded Rs 15,000.When Khatri informed him that he had no money, he warned him, before leaving the house, to keep the money ready for him by the 25th. Then he went to the house belonging to Dharma Bahadur Oli and demanded Rs 10,000 and then went to the house of Khum Lal Rawat. When he reached there local people came to know about the incident, surrounded the house and arrested him.

He had taken Ind. Rs 500 from the house of Oli and was pocketing Rs 250 from the house of Rawat when he was nabbed, locals said. This is considered to be a Maoist-affected VDC and lies at a distance of 57 kilometres east of Nepalgunj.

Police Inspector Uday Kumar Tamang of Kohalpur Ilaka Police Office said B.K. will be prosecuted on the charge of forceful theft.

Police fire at midnight spreads panic

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MYANGLUNG, Tehrathum, July 25 - Locals of the district headquarters were terrified when the security guards at the District Police Office blank-fired suspecting a Maoist attack in the district headquarters on Tuesday midnight.

The sentries opened around 20 bullets at around 1 a.m. and alarmed the other policemen asleep in the office residence. The locals rushed to a safety when the Royal Nepal Army also fired some rounds of bullets in response to the police fire.

When asked the reason of the fire in the midnight, Deputy superintendent of Police, Keshav Bahadur Gharti Magar, said that one of his security guards inadvertently opened fire after seeing a human figure jump close to the office. It was later known that the said figure was of a dog.

"But we immediately informed the locals about the incident and the situation returned to normalcy," said DSP Gharti Magar.

Only two days ago, the Maoist rebels killed five policemen and injured other seven after attacking a police station at Poklabang in the Simle VDC. Maoist have already attacked six area police stations in the district since the beginning of the rebellion six years ago.

More than 1,700 people including the policemen, rebels and civilians have lost their lives during the insurgency from across the country.

Equal fees for Nepali origin students urged

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KATHMANDU, July 25 - The International Nepali Students’ Organisation (INSO) in Kathmandu has urged the Tribhuvan University to charge fees to foreign students of Nepali origin pursuing the Ph. D. course in Nepali Language, literature and culture equivalent to the fees charged to the Nepalese students keeping in view the larger interest of the Nepali language and literature.

In a press communique published by the INSO on Wednesday it has said, "Instead of running a separate programme in the foreign countries to publicise, protect and promote Nepali language, literature and culture, it is unfortunate that the central university of Nepal has been charging fees to foreign students of Nepalese origin engaged in studying Nepalese language, literature and culture at their personal expense, as it has been charging fees in dollar to European and American students."

"It is clear that this act aimed at discouraging the students has adversely affected the upliftment of Nepali language and literature in foreign countries. This act has also hurt the feelings of the people of Nepalese origin who are fighting , in adverse situation, to protect and promote Nepali language and literature in foreign countries," the INSO has said in the press communique.