Nepal asks India to halt Rassiyal barrage construction

Post Report

KATHMANDU, July 30 – Nepal has formally asked India to halt the construction of the controversial Rassiyal- Khurda-Lautan barrage, just 200 metres from the Nepal-India border south of Lumbini, the birth place of Lord Buddha.

Minister for Water Resources Bijay Kumar Gachchhedar today informed the House of Representatives that such a letter has been sent to India.

Giving a statement of public importance, Minister Gachhedar said that Nepal was sensitive towards the issue and has apprised India of Nepal’s concerns through the Foreign Ministry. "The government has given serious thought to the concerns raised by the lawmakers. We have already requested India to stop the construction of the barrage."

Gachchhedar also informed the House that a technical team has already been sent to the Marchawar area to study the possible consequences of the barrage on the Nepali side. The team is expected to submit its report soon.

Speaker Taranath Ranabhat on Friday had, in a ruling, asked the government to provide details about the barrage and its effect following the lawmakers’ serious concern on the issue.

The 6-metre high Russiyal-Khurda-Lautan barrage being constructed by India just 6 km south-east of Lumbini was the dominant topic again Monday, with most of the members voicing their concern over the specter of inundation of the birth place of Lord Budhha and many of the surrounding areas. Speaking in the House, Minister Gachchhedar also defended the proposed hike in electricity tariff recently announced by the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), saying that it was done after extensive study, discussion and analysis.

Citing the reasons behind the proposed hike, Gachchhedar said that it was done so to meet the target of additional electrification and to meet the conditions set forth by donor agencies. "The donor countries and the agencies have agreed to invest in the Electricity Development Fund, Mid-Marsyangdi Hydropower Project, Village Electrification and transmission lines. If we cannot improve the financial conditions of the NEA, we may not be able to attract the investment."

The minister added "Although there is a provision of increasing the tariff by a maximum 30 percent, the hike this time is not more than 11.07 percent. In the 20 unit range, which most of the consumers use, the increase is by only Rs 2.56. Some 50 percent of the total consumers fall in the 20-unit category."

The Electricity Tariff Fixation Commission had increased the rates on July 20 to be effective from August 17. This was done a few days before the new government was formed.

Meanwhile, besides the barrage and the tariff hike issues, the members of the House also drew the government’s attention to gastroenteritis epidemic and flood havoc throughout the Kingdom.

Monsoon causes havoc across Nepal
Over 300 houses inundated in Kailali

Post Report

KAILALI, July 30 - More than 300 houses have been inundated and property worth Rs 5 million damaged here in Tikapur Municipality and its neighbourhoods by the floods of the mighty Karnali River and its tributary Mohana triggered by torrential downpour over the last four days.

The flood in the Karnali river washed away some 15 bighas of land at Narayanpur, Sasti Bazaar, Shahipur and Dhansingpur villages, all located on the western bank of the river.

Former Nepali Congress district chairman, Ram Chandra Sharma, told The Kathmandu Post that many wards of the Tikapur Municipality have been submerged due to the heavy floods in the snow-fed Karnali river. He further added that he had never seen such a heavy floods in his life.

Mayor of the municipality, Ratna Prasad Sanjyal, said that some parts of the Lamki-Tikapur link road had been washed away by the torrential rains, causing immediate resumption of transport impossible.

Likewise, more than 100 huts of the former Kamaiyas (ex-bonded labourers) located at Balchaur and Dudejhari camps have also been affected by the floods in the Karnali river, said Shyam Lal Chaudhary, chairman of Balchaur ex-Kamaiya camp.

Meanwhile, our reporter from Banke said that people from five VDCs residing on the banks of the Rapti river have been fighting the submersion problem for the last three years after the Indian side completed the construction of the Laxmanpur barrage and its 13 km long embankment.

When then prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala paid an official visit to India last year, the Indian side had assured the Nepali side to help mitigate the inundation problem. But nothing concrete has been done till date.

About 10,000 households living close to the river banks are feared to be submerged during the monsoon as the natural course of the river would be blocked due to the Indian-built barrage just 300 metres away from the Nepal-India border.

The Indian side constructed the 284 metres long barrage over the river and 13km long embankment to channel the water for irrigation in its command area.

Nepali authorities have been saying that about five km long earthen embankment to the east and 15 km long embankment to the west of the river, originating in the Mahabharat range, have to be built to protect the population from submersion.

A secretary level meeting was held last year between the two countries to minimize the inundation problem on the Nepali side. The inundation problem in the south-east part of Banke district has become further complicated due to Indian government’s lukewarm response, an engineer at the District Irrigation Office said.

15 bodies recovered in Myagdi

Post Report

MYAGDI, July 30 – Bodies of the 15 people who perished in Saturday’s landslides have been recovered while the rest remained un traced. Altogether 21 people were reported missing in the landslides that occurred in Babiachaur, Amran and Baranja of this western hill district.

Our reporter from the district said that six people still missing in the disaster are feared dead. All the bodies were cremated collectively at the landslide site. Other villagers who survived the natural disaster have shifted to safer places for fear of further landslide, locals said.

Meanwhile, according to a press release issued by Home Ministry spokesman, Gopendra Bahadur Pandey, the government has decided to allocate Rs 1 million for the reconstruction of the three suspension bridges and a local high school that were washed away by the mountainslides in the three villages located on the banks of the Myagdi, a tributary of the Kaligandaki river.

Pandey also stated in the press statement that the government provided a immediate relief of Rs 10,000 to each of the bereaved families of those who perished in the landslide.

Those recovered from the rubble have been identified as Arjun Sharma, Somanth Sharma, Barsha Sharma, Ratna Kumari Sharma and Kaju Acharya, from Baglung who was staying there as a guest at that fatal night.

Likewise, others perished in the disaster are Lal Kumari Sharma, Yogesh Sharma, Yada Sharma, Lilawati Khadka, Lal Bahadur Khadka, Chhabilal Khadka, Deepak Baskota and Man Kumari Sapkota. All of whom were killed in Arman VDC.

In another landslide in Baranja village, the body of an unidentified child was recovered from the rubble in which five people of a family were killed. Locals said that a total of 17 houses were caved in the landslides while about 95 other houses have been damaged by the disaster in the VDCs. A micro-hydro project has also been damaged by landslide.

Waterlogged villagers breach Gandak canal

NAWALPARASI, July 30 (PR)– The locals of the Mahalbari VDC here today breached the bank of the Indian-built western Gandak canal to protect themselves from being further water-logged.

People of the four VDCs living closed to the canal remained water-logged as the Indian canal, occupying about 20 km long stretch of the Nepali territory from Tribeni to Jhulanipur, blocked the water flow during the monsoon. The Gandak canal was built by India in 1959.

After the canal was breached, the Indian side, which as per the accord holds full authority of controlling the water of the snow-fed Narayani river, blocked the canal’s gate to protect its villages, said Beniram Chaudhary, a local. The seven MW power plant at Surajpura has also been stopped due to the closure of the canal, said Chandra Kanta Lal Das, Chief engineer of the plant.

House begins discussion on Corruption Control Bill

KATHMANDU, July 30 (PR)- With the opposition ceasing the loud protests and lengthy disruptions of the Parliament, Bills that have been pending for months are now finally coming up for discussions.

Discussion on two important Bills began today in the House of Representatives, the Lower House, which had been there for nearly a year now.

The Corruption Control Bill and the Bill brought to make second amendment to the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) Act were tabled in the House last August.

These two much hyped Bills along with the Special Court Bill were brought by the government to control the growing cases of corruption in the government and administration.

However, with the entire Winter Session of Parliament stalled by the opposition parties demanding former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s resignation, these Bills never got the chance to see any debate though they were on line-up in Parliament.

Following Koirala’s resignation few days back, the House has begun to take up on normal business and last week the Parliament Secretariat Bill was discussed indicating that lot more pending Bills could also see the light of discussion in the days to come.

These Bills are among the total 15 Bills — 13 in the Lower House and two in the Upper House — that were pending. Some of them have been passed on to various committee for further discussion and amendments.

The Bill proposed to govern political parties, which was brought during the sixteenth Session is being discussed in the Upper House.

This Bill is proposing to manage and govern political parties to make its activities transparent. Once the Bill is endorsed political parties would be required to report its activities and make public all its finances including donations for the party funds.

According to the government, this would help control any political corruption strengthening the position of these parties helping them win public trust.

Other Bills on the pipeline include the Insurance Second Amendment Bill, Bonded Labour Prohibition Bill and the Education Second Amendment Bill.

Beside the Bills already presented, there are another 14 new Bills which were registered at the Parliament Secretariat during the present ongoing Session. Scheduled Bills like the Accounts Bill, which was brought to enable the government to borrow and spend money from the state coffer until the fiscal budget is adopted, have already been given the royal seal of assent.

The Appropriation and Finance Bill that would give the budget the final endorsement is already being discussed.

Though the sailing has been smooth so far, the government is bound to hit snags once (and if) the two Bills proposed to replace the Ordinances comes up for discussion. The opposition parties have long warned that they would oppose the Armed Police Force Bill and the Fourth Amendment to the Local Administration Bill.

These Bill were designed as part of the last government’s strategy to quell the Maoist insurgency. However, with the new government initiating peace talks and both the government and the rebels proposing peaceful resolution to the issue, it is unlikely that these two Bills would come up for discussion at all. The government is yet to decide on withdrawing these two Bills which would mean disbanding the Armed Police Force and the Regional Administrators.

The opposition parties are yet to decide how they would move ahead.

"We are going to meet with representatives of all the parties in the opposition soon and decide how we will move ahead," said Subash Nemwang of the main opposition CPN-UML.

There is still over a month left in the present Session of Parliament that just began discussion on the fiscal budget.

Rocca’s visit highlights Nepal’s importance

By Satish Jung Shahi

KATHMANDU, July 30 – After the first visit to the country by the United States’ new Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, Christina Rocca, Foreign Ministry officials here say that the visit has left behind " a positive impression" of the Bush Administration upon Nepal.

US Assistant Secretary Rocca in her statement stressed on the democratic system and said that the US would not look at Nepal "through the prism of any other nation."

Officials believe, such assertion has definitely highlighted the importance of Nepal in the South Asian political landscape, which is becoming increasingly important in the US perspective.

"The fact that the US Assistant Secretary placed Nepal on her itinerary right on her first official visit after her appointment and in the early days of her career is very noteworthy," says Gyan Chandra Acharya, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).

"She met various prominent leaders with a variety of interests including journalists...We have been assured that the events have generated a positive interest," he added.

However, apart from further praises set upon the government for adopting peaceful means to resolve the long-standing Maoist insurgency, the US Assistant Secretary also spoke on the country’s need to "create a healthy investment environment by combating corruption and unnecessary red tape."

Many industrial experts here also hint that it is the very same factor pointed out by the US Assistant Secretary that is urgently necessary not only to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) but also to encourage local investors.

"It is definitely the bureaucratic hurdles that is affecting business environment not only for the foreigners but even for Nepalis back home," says Roop Jyoti, a noted industrialist and a lawmaker in the Upper House. "In fact it is red-tape that feeds corruption as people would bribe officials to avoid unnecessary harassment and to get their jobs done in time."

According to lawmaker Jyoti, the government should work seriously to enforce transparency in the decision making process and maintain consistency in economic policies especially the tax policies. "The government should also plug the root loopholes, which are often exploited by the businessmen for their benefit at the expense of the society," said the lawmaker, who holds a Ph. D. from the Harvard University.

On the other hand, in the foreign policy front, many have questioned the US Assistant Secretary’s silence over the long-standing Bhutanese refugee issue, which had gained much height after concerns raised by former US Assistant Secretary Karl Inderfuth (whom Rocca succeeded).

However, when the MOFA Joint Secretary Acharya was asked if the US was loosing its interests upon the issue, he replied: "She (Rocca) must have chosen to remain silent on the matter as the workings of the verification process are presently going on."

"Anyhow, we are planning to hold a ministerial-level meeting with Bhutan sometime in August as their National Assembly has just been over. Our main agenda this time will be to discuss how to speed up the present verification process," he said.

Buddhists decry barrage construction

Post Report

KATHMANDU, July 30 - Buddhist leaders today  demanded that the government send a fact-finding mission to Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha and a World Heritage Site, and make the outcomes public at the earliest.

Though political parties are making an issue of the a barrage being built by India nearby which is likely to flood Lumbini, the Buddhist leaders say the Nepali government has failed to take its stand on the issue.

Govinda Chitrakar, a Lumbini Development Council member, said the government should at least constitute a team comprising of representatives of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Irrigation Department, Lumbini Development Trust (LDT), geographers and social workers to draft an official report on the probability of the 2,500-year-old Buddhist relic being submerged.

"The most surprising thing here is that the Nepali government is still silent though the opposition have been raising the issue for over two weeks," Chitrakar added.

Sixteen Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist) lawmakers travelled to the barrage area on July 20 and Geographer Netra Dhital, who was one of the members in the team, prepared the report based on the visit.

Dhital’s report states that India started building a Rusiawal-Khurda Lautan barrage over the Danav River just 200 meters away from the Nepal-India border, and about 6 km south-east of Lumbini around four months ago.

"The water level of the river at the barrage area is just 2 metres lower than the surface height of Lumbini. The blockade of the river flow could inundate the Lumbini area anytime after the barrage is constructed," he said. But the government of Nepal is yet to give a formal statement on whether the World Heritage Site is safe or not.

Vice-Chairman of Dharmodaya Sabha, Prof Asharam Shakya, who is also a former LDT vice-chairman, said the government has been unexpectedly quiet on this issue.

"This is a crime, 1,000 times bigger than what the Talibans did in Afghanistan by destroying the Buddha statues there. The government by this time should Summan the Indian Ambassador to Nepal as ask for clarification," he said.

Keshav Raj Jha, the former Nepali Ambassador to France and permanent delegate to UNESCO, who played an instrumental role in inscribing Lumbini as a World Heritage Site in September 1996, said that the confusion being raised in Nepal could hamper the reputation of the site as well as the country in the international circle.

Sources at UNESCO Kathmandu Office say that the international organisation is waiting for the government’s stand to move into action in this issue.

The officials at LDT said it is the responsibility of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation to probe into the issue. But, the Department of Archaeology, the section responsible for the heritage sites, on the other hand, claims it is the LDT which is responsible for protecting and preserving this ancient monument of universal value.

PM continues to meet political leaders

KATHMANDU, July 30 (PR)– Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is continuing his efforts to bring the Maoists to the dialogue table. In his latest move he has decided to call an all party meet comprising of all the major parties within and out of the Parliament on Wednesday, sources close to the Prime Minister said.

According to another report, a delegation of CPN-ML led by Shahana Pradhan, the Chairman, General Secretary Bam Dev Gautam and leaders Chandra Prakash Mainali and Radha Krishna Mainali met with Deuba at the Prime Minister’s residence at Baluwatar, today and gave suggestions regarding the Maoist issue. Similarly, the Prime Minster also met with a delegation of Nepal Worker’s and Peasant’s Party led by party chairman Narayan Man Bijucche.

Radha Krishna Mainali, later told the journalist that CPN-ML had suggested to the Prime Minister that no decision taken while talking with the Maoists should constrain democracy and that nothing against the Constitution should be entertained.

Likewise, an eight member Human Rights team led by Sudeep Pathak, President of Human Rights Organization of Nepal also met with Prime Minister Deuba and submitted a memorandum.

Meanwhile, various political leaders today pointed out that the present political environment was ideal for initiating moves in order to solve the Maoist problem and that the opportunity should not be missed.

They were speaking at a face to face programme on the proposed Government-Maoist talks, in the capital today.

A leader of ruling Nepali Congress and former speaker of the party Narhari Acharya said that Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is calling an all party meet to discuss on how to go about solving the Maoist problem.

"It has been decided that the talks with the Maoists should be held without any pre-condition and the aims should be to protect the sovereignty of the nation and the people and to protect democracy," Acharya said.

Ramesh Nath Panday, a Royal nominee to the Upper House of Parliament said that the present environment favouring dialogue itself was an achievement, but all had to realize that dialogue was a serious matter.

"This is the last opportunity to stop civil war and we all know in a civil war there are no winners but everyone including to the nation losses," he said.

All the speakers were of the opinion that the present crisis prevailing in the country was because of the failure of the previous governments. All agreed that all the leaders who have been in power were more interested in piling up wealth and staying in power than working for the interest of the nation and the people.

Jhala Nath Khanal, a leader of the main opposition party in the Parliament CPN-UML said that events in last few days had proved Maoist problem as a political one and not a terrorist movement.

He also added that the government has to be more revolution oriented than the Maoists in terms of development in order to short things out. "If the government keeps on going at this pace then it is not going to achieve anything," he said.

Rajeswore Devkota, Chairman of the RPP(N), a breakaway party of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, raised a question that since the Parliament, Prime Minister and the King all were bound by the Constitution who was going to "break the lock" and work on the demands of the Maoists contradicting the Constitution.

Devkota also opined that if there was any guarantee of another fresh group of Maoist being not created if the current group decided to join the mainstream.

Radha Krishna Mainali of CPN-ML, Dip Kumar Upadhyay member of Nepali Congress and Nepal Sadvawana Party’s Badri Prasad Mandal also spoke at the program.

‘Ex-Kamaiya rehabilitation works over in Dang, Banke’

Post Report

KATHMANDU, July 30 - Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba said that all the former bonded labourers in Dang and Banke districts have been given land as promised by the government.

Deuba, who is also the minister for Land Reforms, in reply to queries by lawmakers said that rehabilitation work on these two districts were 100 percent over and each of these families besides receiving land was also given Rs. 10000 cash and 75 cubic feet of wood for construction of a shelter.

Last year the government made a landmark decision and liberated all the bonded labors through out the country.

The government estimates that there are at least 16,000 bonded labors in five western districts the Kingdom.

Human Rights groups report that the number of these people in Banke, Bardia, Kailali, Kanchanpur and Dang districts could be as high as 40,000, who for generations have been working as bonded labors in an effort to pay off debts drawn by their fathers or grandfathers.

The Prime Minister, who also holds the Foreign Ministry, said that the government has issued 783 diplomatic visas to officials of various diplomatic missions and the agencies of the United Nations. Other 3,151 official visas have also been issued.