Maoist action may hinder water projects in Gulmi

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SANDHIKHARKA, June 19 - Indications are that two major and promising drinking water projects in Gulmi will never materialise, following the decision of a major NGO here to continue only those of its projects which are already operating and cancel the rest, some of which were already on the process of being formally launched.

The development comes after the Gulmi Arghakhanchi Rural Development Project (GARDEP) decided to suspend its future schemes following the burning down of one of its vehicles by underground Maoist rebels last month.

The ambitious drinking water projects at Bangla -Sandhikharka and Nuwakot Khilji Asurkot had already been set afoot with the work of collecting the names of prospective consumers and particulars of proposed water taps.

The residents at the proposed sites have even collected 25 percent of the total cost of the projects, in accordance with a GARDEP condition that seeks public participation for community projects.

The Nuwakot Khilji Asurkot Project planned to set up 200 taps whereas the Bangla-Sandhikharka Project was set to make 100 taps, benefitting about 12 thousand underprivileged households.

The poor people who had shown their enthusiasm in the coming projects by collecting sums of money have both been shocked and angered by the Maoist act.

The European Community was expected to provide a sum of more than Rs 50 million for the contemplated projects.

Locals in constant fear of landslide in Taplejung

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HANGDEWA (Taplejung), June 19 - When a few drops of rain fell on her body, Burchoki Sherpa suddenly became nervous. "It seems we will have to keep awake all through the night even today," she said, sitting just outside her house.

Her father-in-law Phurwa Sherpa, 85, who was reposing on a mattress nearby, warming himself up in a quilt, said helplessly, "We don’t know when we will die. Our house will be swallowed by the earth when there is rainfall."

The lives of about 80 families of ward Nos 6,8,1,7,9 and 4 in Hangdewa VDC has been put at risk due to lack of preventive measures to control, in time, soil erosion in the VDC which had started about 40 years ago. These people are living in perpetual fear. It has been their daily routine to keep vigil at night when there is rainfall.

The report of soil erosion was prepared seven years ago by Soil Conservation Office, Taplejung. The number of households affected by soil erosion has reached 40. Some of the houses have been badly cracked. Burchoki says they have rebuilt their houses four times.

Kul Bahadur Karki ,27, of the same VDC says he is preparing to build his house for the fifth time, in the month of Kartik ( September - October). His fourth house is badly cracked and tilting towards the east.

"All our family members live together clasping each other’s hands at night in the rainy season so that we could die together," his wife Parvati Karki said.

The main reason of their fear is the soil erosion caused by Hirya Khola in the eastern bank of the village and Hangdewa Khola that flows from the middle of the village.

Soil erosion had started to affect the area more seriously about two decades ago. More than 500 ropanis of land has been lost due to the landslide caused by two rivulets while more than 100 ropanis of land has been rendered unfit for agricultural purpose within the past few months. The same plain land has been disfigured to such an extent that it has now nine different layers.

Cracks have appeared in the local school and temple also. The road is also damaged by the landslide. Some people have lost their lives after they are buried under the debris of landslide that fell on the road, VDC Chairman Kumar Maden said.

However, despite the threat to the lives of many people in Hangdewa VDC, located about one kilometre north west of Taplejung bazaar, the government has not taken any initiative to prevent the soil erosion.

A team had come to examine the landslide. The team members had also taken our photos, but our bad days are still not over, a local resident, Dilli Ram Neupane said.

Former MP, elected from this area and a former Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mani Lama said it was the weakness on the part of the government not to be able to pay attention to the problems occurring at the nook and corner of the country.

MP Til Kumar Menyangbo said the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation should immediately survey the affected area and implement measures to prevent further soil erosion.

People who were reluctant to leave their native land for years despite the problem are also so fed up now due to persistent landslide that they are seeking government assistance for their migration. However, the government has not shown any interest in the problem vexing the Hangdewa people, according to locals.

16 irrigation projects complete 

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BHADRAPUR, June 19 - Sixteen small irrigation projects have been constructed and repaired making it possible to irrigate two thousand bighas of land in the Jhapa district.

These works were carried out with the active initiative of the farmers themselves and through the District Agricultural Development Office with 40 percent loan.

According to Jhapa District Agriculture Development Office, Agricultural Production Loan (APL) to be received under the programme included minimum of Rs 20,000 and maximum of Rs 75,000. The loan would amount to 40 percent of the total cost of the project work.

Jhapa district has more than 150 thousand bighas of arable land but more than 70 percent of this land lacks appropriate arrangement for irrigation system.

Although there are major irrigation projects like Kankai in the district, most of the big projects are not very successful. Therefore, these small projects are deemed to be more reliable.

These projects were implemented in Gangatepani of Bahundangi VDC-5, Dangrabari Jhilmile in Budhbare VDC, Duwagadhi-5, Jasdaha in Topgachhi-7, Shanischare-9, Shanischare-4, Geuriya Khola in Lakhanpur, Jhilmile in Dhaijan.

Similarly, other projects were constructed and repaired in Duwagadhi, Juropani, Maharanijhoda, Goldhap, Sharanamati and Topgachhi.

Technician of the Agriculture Development Office Shalik Ram Bhattarai claims that farmers would increase their agricultural produce this year and it would facilitate farmers to grow wheat.

Since farmers have invested their money in these projects apart from the loan they received through Agriculture Development Office and contributed their voluntary labour, it is expected that there would be effective management and operation and protection of the irrigation projects.

Rebels lock two more VDC offices in Jhapa  

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JHAPA, June 19 - The Maoist insurgency seems to be making a steady infiltration into the Jhapali soil after a brief period of lull following the royal deaths.

The Maoists on Sunday evening locked the offices of two more VDCs, raising the number of VDC offices not functioning to a bewildering 13, almost the entire western Jhapa. The freshly closed VDC offices are Panchgachhi and Mahabhara, leaving only two VDC offices functioning normally in western Jhapa.

Topgachhi VDC has been renamed Ratna Village People’s Committee, after the slain Communist activist, Ratna Kumar Bantawa, sources close to the Maoists said.

Likewise,the VDC offices of Dharampur, Gauradaha, Maharani Jhoda, Khajurgachhi and Juropani, among others, were locked by the Maoists on Friday last and have not yet been reopened. The police, however, denies the reports.

According to another report, only a few days after the Maoist attacks on police posts in southern Jhapa, the insurgents are reported to have forcibly closed the privately-run boarding schools as well as campuses at Gauradaha and Gaurigunj to close down from Tuesday last.

As reported earlier, the Maoists on Saturday night stormed into the police posts at bordering VDC of Korobari, some 50 kms south-west of the district headquarters, Bhadrapur, and reduced it to ashes. A similar incident of arson on the police post was also reported from Topgachhi.

No human casualty occured at either of the posts because the policemen at both the posts had moved away from their duty station a few days ago. Important documents along with furniture and parts of buildings were destroyed.

The administration is now following the policy of shifting small posts to relatively bigger area police posts nearby, and retain the smaller ones only formally with no arms and few policemen.

Lack of range-land affects Yak breeding in highlands

By Ishwori Neupane

DOLAKHA, June 19 - The age-old Yak rearing profession in this district, one of the 22 Himali districts in the country, has become problematic mainly because of lack of range land and their breeding.

The grazing land has been shrinking following the government policy of converting local forests into a community forestry. It requires a large area of pasture land for Himalayan Yaks for grazing in all four seasons for their survival and breeding.

Locals at northern Kalinchok VDC said the population of the Himali cow is declining due to the rare breeding of male Yak. A female Nak is produced after the cross breeding of a Yak with a local cow.

The Himali cow is classified into Nak, Dimjo and Urang according to their varying breeding procedures. Nak and Dimjo are slowly disappearing from the Lower Himalayas, especially on the Nepali side. Yak and Nak are the chief means of transportation and major sources of income such as milk products and wool in steep Himalayan region.

These days, locals have to trek to buy Yak in the Tibetan part of Laptang for more than two days. "It is very difficult to get Yak even in Tibet," a local said.

Asked if there was any modern facility of artificial fertilisation of the Himali cows, livestock technician Gyan Bahadur Thapa at the District Livestock Service Office said the office has not developed such artificial breeding in the Himali region.

One of the major problems in rearing the Yak and Nak in the area is lack of pasture land which has been handed over to the local community that bars cattle from grazing into the protected areas.

Flocks of Himali cows has to be shifted to, at least, a dozen of places throughout the year to find their range land but a Yak shepherd is not allowed to move his cattle except from his community forest where he is the member of the given community forestry.

"We have to pay fine in case our cattle sneak into other forest area," said another farmer, Makardhoj Tamang, from Kalinchowk. He said some of the VDCs have planned that they would remove all Yaks from their area within two years.

It is because there are quite a few families raising Yak and Nak for their survival and most of the people have chosen other alternative and leaving their old profession.

Pastemba Sherpa from Chhemawati VDC said out of total 65 families in his village, there are only seven families who depend on Yak.

Contrary to the local attitude about livestock rearing in the Himali region, Thapa said that this old profession should continue to utilise the vast area of the high land range that has an immense possibility of economic prosperity. Statistics show that 140 million hectares of land in the Asian continent belongs to the highland mountain area.

According to the 1993 statistics, there were around 60,000 Yaks and Naks in Nepal and about 28,000 families depended on them. But the situation has drastically changed and the livestock population reduced to a remarkable degree within less than a decade, Thapa added.

People in the highland area are no more interested in livestock rearing because of the unavailability of markets for their products and because of alarming transportation cost, Tamang said.

Makardhoj Tamang further added that livestock rearing was becoming less lucrative among the highland farmers for they rarely get technical support from government-owned veterinary clinics. He also said that whatever the clinics are in existence are located far away from the range land.

Sirubari, a model tourism village

By Krishna Adhikari

KATHMANDU, June 19 Anyone who is garlanded amid mesmerising tunes of the panchaibaja (the traditional music band of Nepal) can feel like being a bride or a bridegroom and would start dancing with the young boys and girls irrespective of three hours of steep climb to Sirubari, the model tourism village developed in Syangja district.

This is what one experiences during a visit to Sirubari, the first model tourism village of Nepal. affection, group culture, clean environment and original culture are those traits of Sirubari that invite a foreigner or a compatriot to be back again soon.

Sirubari which lies at Panchamul VDC- 4 in Syangja district (west Nepal) has emerged as a destination for all.

Situated at an altitude of 1,700 metres above sea level, Sirubari looks like an ordinary village at the first glance, but has been a real model tourism village because of its unity, hospitality to tourists and cleanliness.

His Majesty’s Government had declared Sirubari as the first model tourism village in Kartik 22, 2054 B.S. this village has also earned the international fame of being the first community based tourism village. According to informed sources, such kind of model village has not been developed even in Switzerland which has developed rural tourism.

The tourism village is developed by incorporating 50 houses of the 75 houses of Gurung families. the village has no hotels, restaurants and shops. the local tourism development and management committee has been making arrangements for tourists visiting Sirubari to stay at homes of the Gurung community as paying guests.

A feeling of intimacy can be found in these homes of Sirubari which cannot be found in the five star hotels of cities. every tourist forgets his own family because of the hygenic and healthy meals, modern toilets, abundant water and family treatment from the house owner.

More than six hundred foreign tourists have so far experienced the rare feeling during the three years after Sirubari was declared a model tourism village. The number of visitors is still more.

A tourist in a two-nights and one-day package will have no moments of leisure at Sirubari. the scene of sunrise from the Thumro hill an hour’s climb above the village is very enchanting. Tourists are busy visiting various places and a cultural programme is organised at a monastery in the middle of the village in the evening. The next morning, tourists are bid farewell at the monastery after breakfast.

The moments of departure are very sentimental and unpleasant for the tourists. The Sirubarians are very unhappy to bid farewell to the tourists who stayed with them as paying guests. The visitors too feel as members of the family rather than a tourist. The foreign tourists also like to involve themselves in domestic works with the local people.

Ex-member of parliament Rudra Man Gurung says: a great change has been taken place in the consciousness of the locals after Sirubari was declared a model tourism village.

Mr Gurung said that the foreigners visit Nepal not to see the cities of Nepal but to have a glance of the rural lifestyle, culture and natural beauty.

Economic development of the country is possible if the tourists are attracted to this aspect, he said, adding that for Sirubarians, tourism is not the only business.

They engage in traditional farming when there are no tourists, smoking and alcoholism are banned and special care has been taken to prevent theft and robbery.

Chairman of Lamjung district development committee Jamindraman Ghale says he is here to study about Sirubari so as to develop some villages of Lamjung as model tourism villages at a time when those seeking to follow Sirubari’s example are on the rise.

Stating that the Nepal tourism board has adopted a policy of expanding village tourism all over the Kingdom, manager of Nepal tourism board Hikmat Singh Air says they plan to develop village tourism as an industry for poverty alleviation.

Manager of village resort pvt. ltd Lekhraj Niraula complains that HMG has not given any attention towards constituting a board or department so as to develop village tourism or towards providing tax exemption.

For Sumitra Gurung, 70, a local resident, Sirubari is a heaven on earth. she says, though the modern technology and high-rise buildings she saw in Singapore during her visit sometime back were wonderful it cannot come nearer to the originality of her own Sirubari village.

A remote village of the Syangja district, Sirubari got its new life through special initiative of an Australian citizen tony par and the unrelenting efforts of the villagers.

He says that Nepal can achieve more progress if the concerned body gives attention to identifying places like Sirubari in time, which can be found elsewhere in Nepal.

A fair weather road constructed through the initiative of the locals links Sirubari village. The villagers are not sure what effect it will have on the originality of Sirubari as it can be reached in four hours from Putalibazaar, the headquarters of Syangja.

A resident of the village says the road is both an opportunity as well as a challenge for us.

Govt certificates for dogs’ health care

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BIRGUNGJ, June 19 - The government office has started to issue dogs’ health care records in Birgunj.

This is the first time that dog’s health care certificate is being given at the government level in Nepal although a few private organisations were issuing such certificates in Kathmandu.

Dr Govind Jha, chief of District Livestock Office, speaking at a free anti-rabies vaccine camp organised to distribute such records said that the beginning for maintaining the dogs’ records was made here in view of the fact that it was essential to maintain the record of everything in this age. He added that this was the first time that the dog’s health care record was maintained and given to owners at the government level.

The dog’s health care record includes detailed information as to what vaccines were given, how many times and what was the dose of vaccines administered. The record also included dog’s age, whether it suffered from contagious hereditary diseases in the past and so on. The record enables the doctors to assess whether a man who is bitten by a particular dog needs to be administered anti-rabies vaccines or not.

Health care records for 125 dogs were issued here on Tuesday.

There are about 4,000 pet dogs and about seven to eight thousand stray dogs in Parsa district.