Eighteen brick kilns close down in Siraha

SIRAHA, May 31 (RSS)- Eighteen of the 37 brick kilns of Siraha district have closed down because of the smuggling of low quality bricks from India through various check points along the open border.

According to entrepreneurs involved in producing bricks in Siraha district, 15 to 20 tractor and truck loads of bricks are smuggled daily into various villages through Madar, Bariyarpatti and Thadi check points in collaboration with the employees of the customs office and the police.

The smuggling of Indian bricks into the Nepalese market has caused a decline in government revenue and affected the local brick kilns, according to the local brick entrepreneurs.

The closure of 18 brick kilns has caused an annual loss of Rs 1.8 million in excise duty to His Majesty’s Government.

The Lahan VAT Office had collected Rs 905,000 from the brick kilns of Siraha and Saptari districts a few days ago.

According to chief of the Lahan VAT Office Bhim Prasad Adhikari, the main reasons for the closing down of the local kilns are the entry of cheap Indian bricks into Nepalese market and the inability of the local kilns to pay excise duty by competing with the bricks produced in India.

The excise office receives Rs 100,000 in three installments from each brick kiln in the district. The kilns being run in the VDCs are exempted 25 percent in excise duty.

Meanwhile the smoke emitted by the kilns using coal has polluted the environment and directly affected the health of the local people.

The local kilns are given permission by the Cottage and Small Industry Office to operate within the prescribed limit of pollution.

Likewise, about 2,000 children are involved in producing bricks in the local kilns.

The local industrialists demand that His Majesty’s Government promote Nepalese industries by giving attention to the problems of raw materials and market management.

ISDP set to be in full swing in Gorkha

Post Report

GORKHA, May 31- The Integrated Internal Security and Development Plan (IISDP), a government package designed to contain the Maoist rebellion while carrying out projects for the upliftment of the socio-economic standards of the people, is all set to be in full swing in the district.

The district level team formed under the convenorship of the Chief District Officer (CDO) to carry out the follow-up and assessment of the IISDP met for the first time, Wednesday. CDO Kashinath Marasini said that the Barda Bahadur Battalion has already started functioning through its units at each of the election constituencies.

Similarly, there are 5 drinking water projects, Anbukhaireni-Gorkha electricity transfer lines and an electric sub-station as part of the development work are in the offing.

The government has allocated an ammount of Rs 40.65 million this fiscal year for the IISDP. The money will be utilised for the construction of roads, bridges, irrigation facilities, drinking water projects, rural electrification and agro-vet development, among others.

The meeting decided to request the government for the filling in of the vacancies at the various develomental-related offices in the district and a prompt sanction of the money allocated for the IISDP so that all the listed projects are initiated in time.

Squatters not necessarily be landless

By Razen Manandhar

The credit of "success" of the unprecedented three-day bandh, called by the alliance of six left parties goes to the city squatters. Regardless of the organising parties and their motives, they come out enmass, where local people’s participation is scanty, to destroy the public and private property indiscriminately.

Development of a city, everywhere in the world, draws more and more people from surrounding city and even from the neighbouring countries. This extra numbers of immigrant population is not only a decoration but also a prerequisite to turn any settlement into a city. Growing urban population is an indicator of the people eager to earn more, which in turn makes the governments’ revenue and vote base broader.

Broadly speaking, Kathmandu Valley migrants, who squat upon public land without the permission of the local authorities during and after the Panchayati era, have a special identity. They presume all vacant public land as their own and it is within their rights to live there undisturbed.

They also enjoy all the advantage of being "citizens" but never pay back their dues. They are the squatters, the landless people or rural poor of different genre.

In a city one has to pay for everything. And, city life generally means expensive life. But, these hordes of people neither buy land nor pay rent. Why should they? If the local authority allows them to squat upon the entire public land, why spend money for room or a flat.

Now, the squatters themselves admit that there are around 1700 people living on public land. The real number can be double the figure because of the continuously growing encroachment. It is not a surprising sight to see scores of new hut mushroom overnight along the riverbanks.

For the local authorities they are heaven sent gifts. For them, the more the squatters the more chances of winning the next local election, be it at the cost of the planned development of a city. That is why such illegal settlements are seldom controlled or evicted. Rather, they work hard to issue them with voter’s list and sell dreams of providing land ownership certificates before each elections. Come election time, they even lend helping hands to provide them water and drainage facilities.

It is strange that no ministry, department or section has any jurisdiction over the thousands of wrongdoers. There is the Squatters’ Problem Solution Commission but the district where it has the office is not within its concern.

The municipalities often turn blind eyes to this sore sight of the city. The Kathmandu Mayor went to distribute "certificates" to the squatters living in permanent houses near Balaju. And Lalitpur Mayor persists that there are no squatters in his municipality so it is not necessary to devise any plan against them.

In that context it is not surprising that the squatters are now organised and they even threaten to protest over any urban planning along the riverbanks, conservation of river and riverside monuments or about the responsibilities of the citizens.

Most of those who called themselves landless are well-off people. The squatters’ organisation admits that many of the squatters have land in the village and have occupied several "plots" in the city. They earn enough for their family and have no bread and butter problem. They are employed in teaching, business, tailoring, running teashops, army or soldiers or other professions. They have their own co-operative company with millions of rupees that gives loans to women for small-scale business too.

Apart from that, the possibility of the squatters being involved in pick pocketing, prostitution, smuggling and other criminal activities cannot be overruled. Since they are not affiliated with the culture of the city dwellers, they are free to live, as they want.

Thanks to the foreign donations and some non-government organisations for helping them to develop their living standard. This is a big incentive for the newcomers — everything is ready for them. So why not some more squatters?

The strange aspect among squatters is that they do not want to live in some planned settlement in the periphery. They want to stay in the core city area and that too at free of cost. Democracy has given one right to all — be united and demand for anything, be it unreasonable.

We have to see how long the local representatives keep on caressing the city’s tumour in hope of winning next election at the cost the city’s structure, social and cultural values.

Ghorahi jail in pathetic condition

Post Report

DEUKHURI (Dang), May 31 - The condition of Ghorahi jail, located in the headquarters of Dang district, has deteriorated so much that it looks like a stable.

This is the jail, where many leaders fighting for democracy were lodged for a long time. Inmates say it seems as if they are living in the stone age although the country has entered the 21st century.

The sheds and rooms of jail building can normally accommodate only 25 people, but 44 inmates have been packed in these rooms, in-charge of the jail, Debendra Prasad Shrestha told The Kathmandu Post.

The jail building, constructed 37 years ago with unbaked clay and thatched roof, is at the verse of collapse and useless. And yet it has not been repaired.

Although NC leaders like former Home Minister Khum Bahadur Khadka, former water Resources Minister Bal Dev Majgaiya, MP Krishna Kishor Ghimire and other left leaders had lived in this jail, none of them has shown interest to improve living condition in the jail, inmates complain.

The way to the jail has become the dumping site and sewers for the District Police Office. To make matter worse, there are toilets of different houses near the jail. Nobody can pass along this way without covering his nose due to the unbearable stench.

The inmates showed the low quality coarse rice given to them by Nepal Food Corporation.

Although there are three toilets inside the jail, they are of low quality and there is no provision for separate toilet for female prisoners.

"The office gets a budget of only Rs 25,000 a year. What improvements can be made with this amount? The electricity bill is around Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 per month. How can we carry out other normal activities with this amount?" in-charge Shrestha asked.

Rice bags were stacked together in the room allotted for the watchman. It was obvious that the rice would be damaged by rain.

The hut allotted for the in-charge also looks no better than the jail itself.

There is an acute shortage of drinking water in Ghorahi jail. There was no water in the tap during the Dashain and Tihar festivals last year.

There are seven convicts and other prisoners include those who are facing charges like rape, beating, dacoity, theft, murder and possessing illegal arms and ammunition.

‘Second-hand smoking kills’

KATHMANDU, May 31 (RSS) - Minister for Health Ramkrishna Tamrakar has in a message given today on the occasion of the world anti-tobacco day, called on all to discard smoking and consumption of tobacco products and to declare public places and offices as tobacco prohibited zones.

Minister Tamrakar in the message requested all to make the air clean in order to protect the children from the bad habits of smoking, and to spend the money in nutritious food and education to lead a healthy life by discarding smoking and tobacco related products.

Tamrakar also drew the attention of all towards the harms of passive smoking which takes lives of those who sit nearby the smoker, and towards the situation of having to spend more in the treatment of diseases like cancer, heart diseases, asthma and cough, causing loss to national human resources.

Bad habits of smoking not only affect the persons who smoke but their families, society and the country as well, he added.

The message states that it is evident from researches that anyone including husband or wife, children and even the unborn child who is closer to the smoker will be affected by smoking and stressed on the need to publicize in our country the slogan of who for this year ‘second hand smoking kills, lets clear the air’.

Lack of fund hampers embankment construction

NAWALPARASI, May 31 - People of Narayani VDC engaged in the construction of embankment to control the Narayani river over the last three months free of cost are enraged because they have not received necessary cooperation from the government bodies.

A total of 102 families had been displaced when the Narayani river entered Shehari and Dhajah, ward nos. 3 and 4, of the VDC from its diversion at Dhajah and washed away 350 bighas of fertile land last year.

The displaced people were rescued and temporarily resettled in Tamsariya VDC and Tandichaur but they have not been permanently resettled even after one year. The threat of erosion of the remaining areas of Shehari and Dhajaha villages by the flood is increasing once again.

Locals are working in the embankment construction day and night for nearly four months. About 15 tractors had been employed to transport boulders, but since the tractor owners did not receive necessary amount of money they have stopped transportation of boulders. They are yet to receive about Rs 250,000.

Locals are working at Bagmara,Gothtol and Bhutah to construct the embankment. They require additional 500 tractors of boulders to complete the embankments, Bhakti Prasad Mahato, secretary of the users committee said.

As the amount has not been released by the District Natural Calamity Relief Committee, there is a possibility that the embankment construction works will remain incomplete.

Local people are contributing their labour free of cost for the construction of the embankment after they received government assurance for construction of a 300-metre-long dam up to Bagmara.

People’s voice that the Nrayani river must be diverted back to its old course from Narayani VDC before the onset of the rainy season is not heeded by anyone.