Premier Deuba, 12 ministers sworn in

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KATHMANDU, July 26 - Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba took the oath of office along with his 12 ministers today, five days after he was elected leader of the parliamentary party by lawmakers from his Nepali Congress (NC) on Sunday.

His Cabinet was only announced today though the list was already proposed and forwarded to the Royal Palace on Wednesday evening after days of haggling, negotiating and shuttling between the houses of the leaders.

Deuba had refused to take the oath of office until today as his astrologers were not able to find an auspicious time for him to take over the office. The few days of break has already earned Deuba criticism accusing him of leaving the country in a even more state of confusion after the resignation of Girija Prasad Koirala.

This was also the first time that new King Gyanendra has administered the oath of office to a Prime Minster and his Council of Ministers since ascending the throne as the constitutional monarch.

Deuba has kept a bulk of the ministries for himself that will be distributed during the expansion following the current parliamentary session.

Khum Bahadur Khakda was appointed the powerful Home Minister while Ram Sharan Mahat will continue as the Finance Minister. Mahat had presented the fiscal budget estimates earlier this month, which will come up for voting after discussions in the Parliament.

Mahesh Acharya and Amod Upadhaya who are considered to be close aides of Koirala were also included in the Cabinet as promised by Deuba to form a balanced Cabinet.

Jaya Prakash Gupta, a one-time strategist of Koirala was appointed the Minister for Information and Communications. He had left the Koirala camp and resigned from the government few months back over differences with colleagues in the government.

Following the swearing in ceremony, the Cabinet met for the first time where they reportedly discussed the Maoist issue and endorsed the call for cease fire and peace talks made by Deuba.

Meanwhile, Koirala has left the Capital city for his home constituency of Biratnagar where he told party workers to support the new government as much as they had supported his.

"The government and the Prime Minister is okay so why should we not support him?" said Koirala adding that now he only had the responsibility of party presidentship and he would concentrate on this job.

 Aircraft accident report submitted

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KATHMANDU, July 26- The six member Accident Investigation Commission submitted a report on the cause of the Yeti Airlines’ aircraft accident to the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) ,states a press release issued by MoCTCA today.

The commission concluded that the probable cause of the accident, among others, was "the entrance of the aircraft on the runway at an inappropriate place", no proper crew coordination and non-compliance of operating procedures in abnormal conditions such as application of breaks rejected take-off.

Other contributing factors as the report says, may be the poor runway markings and non-trimming of grass/weeds on the sides of the runway impairing pilot’s judgment.

The accident occured while Yeti Airlines’ aircraft DHC-6/300 (9N-AEV) was taking-off from Tumlingtar, Sankhuwasava, on April 5, 2000, bound for Kathmandu.

To improve flight safety, the Commission also suggested safety recommendations to be adopted by Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) and the concerned airlines. It recommended that the Air Traffic Controller (ATC) should release an aircraft only after conformation of the aircraft having been aligned with the runway at the threshold.

The condition of the runway should be inspected at least once a day and refresher training should be imparted to ATC officials on regular basis. It also recommended operational and functional check of CVR on a regular basis.

SC favours private FM radio

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KATHMANDU, July 26 - The Supreme Court today annulled the government’s earlier decision to control the privately run FM radio stations referring to the lack of law for such control.

Nearly seven months back a cabinet level decision had passed a directive to all privately operated FM radio stations that prevented the FM stations to collect news on its own and broadcast it. Only second hand news collected by the state owned media could be broadcasted after the authenticity of the news was verified, according to the issued directives.

The directive even required the FM radio stations to take permission from the Ministry of Information before broadcasting any programme.

Challenging government’s such decision, Advocates Madhav Kumar Basnet and Sudip Poudel then had filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court arguing that such decision was against the Constitution and the National Broadcasting Act and Regulations.

Even the verdict passed by the special bench comprised of justices Laxman Prasad Aryal, Kedar Nath Upadhyaya and Top Bahadur Singh stated that such directive was against the Constitutional spirit related to "right to freedom" and "right to information". The court declared the directive void as it is not in accordance with the law and Constitution.

"The sub-clause 2 (a) of article 12 of the Constitution requires law to be formulated to control any matter related to right to freedom. On account of such law being lacking, the issued directive is declared unconstitutional," the court stated in its verdict.

The government then had issued directive to 11 FM radio stations including Kantipur FM, Radio Nepal FM 100 MHz, Image Channel, Radio Sagarmatha among others.

The ‘Oh! No’ cabinet

By Suman Pradhan

KATHMANDU, July 26 – The cabinet finally cobbled together by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba gives the impression that he was caught between the devil and the deep sea.

Yes, cobbled, because though the government may not be a coalition one in the true sense of the word, the various factions within the ruling Nepali Congress still needs to be stitched together to make them work as one group.

Deuba has partly accomplished this by including prominent members from both his faction and former-Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s faction. That he took four days of backroom wheeling and dealing and some astrologers’ blessings to achieve it is another story.

But even so, no amount of deal-making and help from the stars could entice the supporters of party general secretary Sushil Koirala, Deuba’s rival in the parliamentary party election, to join the cabinet. This, many analysts believe, could be the harbinger of political instability a few months down the road.

But more importantly, Deuba’s selection of the cabinet also fails to inspire confidence on one key count: checking widespread corruption. As a result, much of the goodwill and relief generated early this week by the prime minister’s call for cease-fire with the Maoist rebels is already evaporating.

Why so? To begin with, Deuba’s initial cabinet – and this is an initial one – is devoid of women. While his aides say the prime minister will certainly include women in the expanded cabinet later on, just the fact that he failed to give them a voice in his first cabinet sends the wrong signal.

Secondly, Deuba has included only one new face in the cabinet, former mayor of Kathmandu P. L. Singh. Most of the rest are tried, tested, and depending on whom you are talking about, they are either proven failures, tainted with corruption scandals or both.

For instance, Minister for Home and Local Development Khum Bahadur Khadka once admitted to having "abducted" an MP to save the first Deuba government during a confidence vote. He also boasted to having split the then large CPN (UML) by pumping enough clandestine funds into the hands of Messers Bamdev Gautam and company.

Other controversial selections are Chiranjibi Wagle, Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar, Jay Prakash Gupta, Bal Bahadur K.C., and Sharat Singh Bhandari. All of them have been accused of shady deals while in previous governments, though the charges have never been proved.

K.C., the prime minister’s pick to head the Ministry for Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation, additionally also has the ignominy of breaking into the house of a married woman.

The biggest message Deuba’s cabinet sends, therefore, is: the prime minister has a cavalier attitude towards controlling corruption.

And that is an irony, since while still spearheading a spirited campaign against his predecessor Koirala, Deuba had repeatedly charged the septuagenarian leader of harbouring corrupt ministers. How the roles have reversed now. Mr Koirala can fling that very charge back at Mr Deuba with a lot more conviction than the former ever did.

‘US for democracy in Nepal’

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KATHMANDU, July 26 – U.S. Assistant Secretary for South Asia Christina Rocca who is on a three-day visit to Nepal said she was here to learn about the issues confronting the country.

"The U.S. believes strongly in the benefits of democracy and we care about the developments of Nepal’s democracy. I am here to ask questions, to learn about he issues confronting Nepal, and to introduce myself to my Nepali colleagues," Rocca said in a statement issued today.

She said the Bush Administration places a high priority on relations with nations of the region including Nepal and her visit attests to that.

She also said she looked forward to meeting with King Gyanendra, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and other leaders.

The U.S. official arrived in Nepal on Wednesday from New Delhi, India, and will be flying to Islamabad on Saturday on the last leg of her first visit to South Asia after her appointment just two months ago.

Hotels try to keep afloat as tourist arrival dwindles

By Bhaskar Sharma

KATHMANDU, July 26 - If the occupancy rates of the major hotels in the  Capital are any indication, they point to the pitiful state of the tourism industry in general and hotel industry in particular.

Hotels in the Capital continue to burn under the heat of low tourist turn-out and are beginning to face problems in servicing their debts. Meager proceeds, and hence dwindling profits, in addition to huge interests that they have to pay to various financial institutions have hit their returns on investment (ROI).

"Low occupancy rates and huge investment bill are the two poles between which no balance can be struck under the present circumstances," says an employee of Hyatt Regency Hotel. The employee says that on an average 4 rooms are booked every day. Today, only three rooms out of total 290 rooms were occupied.

This occupancy rate is far below the one required for any international class hotel to strike break-even. For such hotels, at least 40 per cent occupancy is necessary to attain operational break-even (point of sales where the proceeds is equal to operational costs).

"Given the room occupancy ratio, how can one expect hotels to make profits or service their huge debts, for the mega-multi billion project like the Hyatt," the Hyatt employee says. The Hyatt Regency has a total investment of about 3 billion rupees.

Though other hotels in the Capital are faring relatively well, they are in no position to be called lucky. For the Soaltee Hotel Ltd., the sales in the last two months could reach just Rs 15 million, down from the average monthly sales of Rs 45-50 million. The room occupancy rate as of today was 30 per cent.

"The present occupancy is 50 per cent below the usual occupancy during this period. We consider this phase to be just a road bump and look forward towards realizing in full during the next tourism season," says Sunim Tamang, Marketing Manager of Soaltee Crown Plaza.

Similarly, for the other 5-star hotels, the picture is not so bright either. Occupancy at the Hotel Yak and Yeti stood at 36 per cent today, while Everest Hotel had 31 per cent. Oriental Hotels Ltd. (Radisson Hotel Kathmandu) had a relatively better occupancy with 51 per cent, while De La Annapurna had hardly 26 per cent.

"The tourist arrival has dived at a greater rate in past few months. Under the present circumstances, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the hotels to recover even their running capital," says Narendra Bajracharya, president of Hotel Association - Nepal (HAN) and owner of Hotel Bajra, whose room occupancy today was a mere 14 per cent.

Hoteliers are now demanding with the government for some kind of relief package. Their demand is to restructure the loans, defer the payment of interests, and convert short-term loans to long term and waive 6-month visa fees.

"If the government does not take immediate steps to revitalize the tourism industry and the current situation continues to prevail even during the peak tourist season, the results can be detrimental not just for the hotels but for the economy as a whole," says Bajracharya.

The dark days for the tourism industry began with the hijacking of the Indian Airlines flight 814 that took off from Tribhuvan International Airport on the Christmas eve of December 1999, prompting the Indian aviation company to suspend flights to Nepal for the following five months. The result was not just a decline in the flow of Indian tourists, but even the third country tourists.

The other damaging incidents were the ten per cent service charge row between the hoteliers and workers that even led to the closure of hotels throughout the kingdom for a day. Next followed the anti-Hrithik demonstrations over his alleged derogatory anti-Nepal remarks. Then came the biggest bump in the form of June 1 Royal Palace Massacre.

Tourist inflow in 2000 plummeted by an aggregate of over 11 per cent, a whopping 33 per cent in the case of Indian tourists alone. Though tourist arrivals had begun to improve in 2001, with a surge of 8 per cent in the first five months, the Royal Palace carnage crushed it down by over 56 per cent in the month of June as compared to the corresponding period the last year.

Deuba seeks support in resolving insurgency

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KATHMANDU, July 26 – Speaking in the House of Representatives Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba today urged all the political parties of the country to help his government in evolving national consensus towards solving Maoists insurgency.

"I urge all the political parties to help the government in evolving a common approach to the Maoist problem," said Deuba, addressing the House for the first time after being appointed Prime Minister. "For lasting peace, violence must end; for an end to violence, talks must be held and for the talks, there should be congenial atmosphere."

The Prime Minister also urged the Maoist leadership to come forward for dialogue with the government to resolve insurgency. He reiterated that he had no reason to doubt the Maoists’ commitment to dialogue.

Referring to the leader of the opposition Madhav Kumar Nepal’s criticism that appeared in the media on PM Deuba’s impropriety in announcing the cease-fire when the parliament was in session, the latter said that he had no intention of bypassing the parliament.

Deuba thanked his predecessor Girija Prasad Koirala in making the "sacrifice" to find a way out of the political stalemate prevailing in the country. Earlier, he escorted Koirala to his seat himself.

Joining the issue with Deuba on cease-fire today, Nepal said that if the parties were serious in preserving and strengthening the multi-party parliamentary democracy, no one could bypass the parliament. However, he lauded the PM’s effort in finding peace by announcing the cease-fire.

Deuba was in for criticism from Nepal for not taking oath of office "while waiting for an auspicious occasion to take the oath of office and thus creating a situation whereby there was no government in the country for four days." The opposition leader said Deuba could have come out with a more comprehensive statement with details of programmes and policies. "Probably the PM was busy in finalising the Cabinet list and so he did not get the time to think about the programmes."

Nepal also criticized the proposed price hike in electricity tariff at this stage. Similarly, leftist lawmakers, Lilamani Pokharel and Narayan Man Bijukchhe, also criticized the price hike and asked the government to immediately withdraw it.

Speaking about the cease-fire, Surya Bahadur Thapa of Rastriya Prajatantra Party asked the government if it was prepared to meet the conditions set by the Maoist leader Prachanda’s while reciprocating Deuba’s declaration of cease-fire. Prachanda had proposed exchange of the "prisoners" and repeal of "draconian laws" aimed against the ‘people’s war".

Badri Prasad Mandal of Nepal Sadbhawana Party demanded the government’s position on annulment of citizenship of "24 thousand citizens".

During their statements, all the leaders offered support to the government if it pursued right policies.