Power disruption affects life in Nepalgunj

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NEPALGUNJ, July 26 - There has been irregularity in power supply in Nepalgunj following the collapse of electricity tower located at Lalpur of Mahendranagar as a result of strong winds three months ago.

In the past the town was receiving power supply from three sides _ Nanpara in India, Tanakpur via Mahendranagar and from Kathmandu. But currently, supply from Tanakpur has been discontinued due to the collapse of the tower while supplies from Nanpara, India and Kathamndu have also become irregular, according to NEA branch office.

The 132 KVA electricity tower at Lalpur Mahendranagar, which transmits power supply from Tanakpur to Nepalgunj, has not been serviced even three months after its breakdown. Consequently, the customers are compelled to bear the hardship of loadshedding.

Deputy Manager of the NEA Branch Office Subir Prasad Singh said the responsibility of repairing the tower lay with Atteriya branch.

People have been bearing the hardship of one hour loadshedding in the evening and repeated power failure during daytime over the last 10 days.

Even the NEA office has no idea as to when the power supply would be regular. Deputy Manager Singh says he is not sure when the office would be able to remove loadshedding because there is an acute shortage of power supply in India also.

Nepalgunj is an excessively hot area and as the power supply is disrupted, people are unable to use their fans and feel greatly annoyed.

On the other hand, industries and other ventures, which depend on power supply for their operation, are also adversely affected due to the irregular power supply.

Encephalitis claims 16 lives in three Terai districts

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KATHMANDU, July 26 - Death toll from Japanese encephalitis, a culex mosquito-borne disease that mainly attacks the central nervous system, has climbed to 16 in three hospitals in Banke, Dang and Jhapa over the last weekend, according to the hospital sources.

The Zonal Hospital in Banke said that 11 people have so far lost their lives due to the disease and more than two dozen people are still undergoing treatment at the hospital and the privately-run Nepal Medical College. Sources said one person died of the disease at the zonal hospital while the other died at the college on Thursday.

Chief at the zonal hospital, Dr Arun Koirala, said that four years old Sarad Chaudhary who was brought at the hospital from Golkhutti VDC-3 in Dang died of the disease while undergoing treatment. He said that the number of encephalitis-affected people was increasing every day since the onset of monsoon.

Dr Koirala revealed that most of the dead were children below the age of 15. Of the total 58 encephalitis-affected people admitted at the well-equipped hospital in the region, 29 of them were children.

The disease was first detected in Rupandehi district in 1978 and its first vaccine was developed in Japan. Doctors say the disease spreads to human beings from pigs and water fowls.

The hospital source said that of the total 58 people admitted at the hospital for treatment from neighbouring Terai districts, 10 have succumbed to the fatal disease while 31 are still undergoing treatment at the hospital. The rest of the 18 patients have returned to home after the recovery, the hospital said.

Likewise, at least a dozen of people affected by the disease were admitted at the privately-run Nepal Medical College. Four of them are still undergoing treatment at the college while seven of them have recovered from the disease.

Our reporter from the inner Terai of Dang said that two person succumbed to the disease during this rainy season. According to the Mahendra Hospital, a 10-year-old Pramila Nepali from Hapur VDC-2 and 40-year-old Shankar Prasad Chaudhary from Ganga Paraspur VDC-9 were among those perished to the disease.

The hospital source said that a total of 22 encephalitis- affected people, most of them children, were admitted there for treatment.

In Birtamod, Jhapa, three people, including two children, have so far died of the disease over the last one month.

The Damak-based Amda Hospital said that a 12-year-old girl Narmaya from Shanishchare Bhutanese refugee camp, four-year-old Apsara Darji from Beldangi camp and another local, Manpachhe Magar, 55, from Pathari VDC-1 were among those succumbed to the disease.

The Amda Hospital said that 25 others - 10 from various refugee camps and 15 from other localities - are struggling against the disease at the hospital.

Maoists abduct irrigation office engineer in Dailekh

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DAILEKH, July 26 - The Maoist rebels have abducted the engineer of District Irrigation Office Krishna Raj Upadhyaya from Talpokhari bazaar as he was going to Surkhet from Dailekh on Wednesday.

Engineer Upadhyaya was going to the Regional Irrigation Office, Surkhet to submit the annual programme formulation report to the office and also to participate in a week-long irrigation management training scheduled to begin on Sunday.

A group of 7 or 8 Maoist insurgents abducted him charging that irrigation projects were completed but there was no water and they also said that they wanted to ask him about expenditure accounts, according to eye-witnesses.

The eye-witnesses said peon of the District Irrigation Office Maya Ram Bhandari, ‘amin’ (surveyor) of Survey Office, Dailekh Hari Narayan Shah and Hari Raj Thapa, who accompanied the engineer, were allowed to go asking them not to tell anybody about the incident.

Last year the then engineer Keshab Karki had prepared the report that Listechaur and Gitachaur irrigation project implemented in this district under Sector Irrigation Project was completed by accepting a hefty commission and made the payment to the contractor before the project was completed. Analysts are of the opinion that the Maoists might have abducted Upadhyaya thinking that he was the same engineer and without knowing that Upadhyaya had been transferred there only in the month of Baishakh (April-May).

Assistant Chief District Officr Biswo Raj Nepal said it was not known where the abductors had taken engineer Upadhyaya. He added that it had been difficult for the employees to go out of the district on duty as a result of the incident.

Experts question slow process on border regulations

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KATHMANDU, July 26 - Politicians and experts yesterday blamed the government here for its inefficiency in the regulations of open border with India despite its agreement in principle with the Indian government for border regulations.

However, the Foreign Ministry here denied the charges and said that they are working diligently for open border management.

Former foreign minister and Rastriya Prajatantra Party leader Kamal Thapa stressing upon the regulations of the open border between the two countries said that the border needed to be regulated in view of the long-term perspective of demography and terrorism. "Even as the Joint Border Management Committee (JBMC) was formed four years ago between Nepal and India after both the governments had principally agreed to regulate and manage the border, the government here has not sincerely pursued the matter," Thapa said.

Thapa blamed the government for confining the committee to security aspect only and not to the border management perspective. Thapa was speaking at a programme on Nepal-India Open Border: Positive and Negative Aspects organised by Institute of Foreign Affairs (IFA) and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES).

However, Spokesperson at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Gyan Chandra Acharya, denying the charges said that the committee was not just limited to the security matters. Acharya said that the Joint Secretary level dialogue was held between Nepal and India during the first week of July which had dealt at length the issue of border regulations which would come out with concrete procedures in due course regarding the border management.

Another former foreign minister and RPP lawmaker Prakash Chandra Lohani blamed his successors for not giving continuity to the committee for the task of border management. The JBMC was constituted four years ago during Lohani’s India visit as a foreign minister.

Speaking on the occassion, Executive Director of IFA Dr Mohan Prasad Lohani said, "The border must be regulated, avoiding both the status quo and the sealing of the border". Researcher at IFA, Nischal Nath Pandey said that the open border is a unique characteristic of Nepal-India relations. "Movement of people can be restricted but not the emotions and socio-cultural bindings that have bound the people of both the nations."

Pointing out the need for border regulations, senior politician Dilli Raman Regmi said, "At least the record of people crossing the border should be maintained". Regmi even questioned whether imposition of working permit was possible in the process.

On the occasion, Dr VBS Kansakar had presented a comprehensive paper on the Nepal-India open border, arguing that an uncontrolled and open border constitutes the breeding ground for anti-social, criminal and illegal activities for which the border required to be monitored. "As voter’s identity card has become compulsory for the voters in both the countries, this will facilitate to some extent the task of regulating the movement of population on either side of the Nepal-India border," said Kansakar.

Viral encephalitis spreading in Kailali, one girl dies

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TIKAPUR, July 26 - Viral encephalitis, which appears every year during the monsoon in the Terai districts as an epidemic, made its first appearance in Kailali district Sunday. A 15-year-old girl, Sushma Thapa of Nakkalipur in Tikapuar municipality ward No 3, succumbed to the disease on Thursday, as she was undergoing treatment, according to an assistant health worker in Tikapur hospital, Beena Swanr.

Ten encephalitis patients have so far been admitted to Seti zonal hospital since Sunday. Of them, three have been referred to other hospitals for treatment, two have returned home after treatment and five are still undergoing treatment.

Two patients, in average, are coming to the hospital daily and those admitted to the hospital are in the age group of 12-37 years. Most of them have come from Hasuliya, Pabera, Chaumala, Kotatulsipur and Beladevipur VDCs.

More than 50 people had lost their lives and 550 people were directly affected as a result of this disease last year, according to hospital sources. Children aged below 14 years were vaccinated against the disease by District Public Health Office in June this year to protect children from this disease.

The disease can be communicated due to the ecological ignorance of the people and from geese, pigs and horses. If people are conscious enough to protect themselves from encephalitis, if they do not stay naked in the morning and evening and use mosquito nets, they can ward off 50 per cent of the chances of falling prey to this viral disease.

Similarly, cases of typhoid, gastro-enteritis, headache, fever, and sudden fainting fits have suddenly increased in the far-east of the district with the result that the 20-bed hospital is packed with patients suffering from these diseases, according to AHW Beena Swanr.