IT dev plan at snail’s pace

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KATHMANDU, June 22 - The development of information technology (IT) industry, the fastest growing industry by nature, has been moving at a snail’s pace, thanks to unhurried approach of the government.

The government, a couple of years ago, had planned to construct a physical IT Park at Banepa, some 26 kilometres east of Kathmandu in Kavrepalanchwok district, with a view to develop infrastructure for the development of IT.

But there has been very little progress in the work compared to the time the government initiated the process of constructing the Park. One of the major causes of slow pace of IT development is the failure of the government to realize the importance of such industry on time.

Another reason behind it is that the government could not understand the potential of the sector and appropriated very meagre amount of budget in the annual fiscal budget over the years.

The paltry amount compounded with a considerable delay in releasing it has further marred the acceleration of IT growth. The government in the budget announcement for the current fiscal year earmarked Rs 40 million for the development of IT to be spent under the Ministry of Science and Technology.

But the amount was released four months after the budget announcement. Officials at the Ministry of science and Technology complain of not being able to utilize even the small amount set aside for various programs due to the delay in releasing the budget.

"As the amount was released four months after budget presentation, we could not make plans accordingly and some of the amount is going to be frozen, " said an official preferring anonymity.

The Ministry by the end of third week of June has spent only Rs 19.3 million out of 40 million rupees set aside for IT development. Almost all the amount has been spent in acquiring land for the proposed IT Park.

Minister for Science and Technology Surendra Prasad Chaudhary said that the process of acquiring 47 ropanies of land for the IT Park is in the final stage, after which the total area will be 227 ropanies.

"The process of acquiring private land is very complicated so it took more time than we had expected in the beginning. Anyway, we are in the final stage of land acquisition and will expedite construction process from the coming fiscal year", said Minister Chaudhary clarifying the cause of delay in IT Park construction.

The ministry has requested the Finance Ministry to allocate more than Rs 200 million in the forthcoming budget in order to speed up the construction works.

However, the Finance Minister repeatedly explains about the resource constraint of the government and asks the concerned ministries to manage with limited budget. Amid, soaring security expenses and pension amount, among others, the ministry is likely to appropriate smaller budgets than expected. If it happens, it will be another blow to the construction of the IT Park.

Therefore, the government should be grave while preparing the coming budget and allocate money accordingly if it really wants to boost the IT industry. And the Ministry of Science and Technology should also be serious in implementing its programs in time.

The freezing of a meagre budget set aside for IT programs is obviously very sad and the Ministry cannot afford getting its budget frozen.

Army patrol raids warehouses

BIRGUNJ, June 22 (PR) - The army on customs patrol, which has been mobilized in the major customs points of the country to curb illegal inflow of goods, has started raiding warehouses of suspected local businessmen.

A mobile army patrol led by Captain Chandra Prakash Gautam on Thursday raided the warehouse Shibani Enterprises situated at Adarshanagar, during which it confiscated three bags of illegal goods, according to a customs source.

According to the local customs office, Shibani Enterprises had imported various illegal goods worth Rs 1 million through the Sirsiya sub-customs office three days ago.

However, the goods couldn’t reach the go-down as an army informant came to know about the illegal import and informed the concerned officials. On being informed, as the army was planning to raid the go-down, Bhola Gupta, owner of the enterprises, relocated the goods at another rented go-down.

But before the army could raid his warehouse, Gupta had posted the goods into the VAT Account in order to legalize the goods. This step helped him to protect other goods except for the three bags, which the army confiscated.

An army official on condition of anonymity said that even though the goods were imported through an illegal channel in front of us, we could not impound them since just posting it into the VAT account legalized them.

"VAT account and related bills have become an easy way for smugglers," said the irked officer engaged in the operation.

Though it is not impossible to prove that such goods are imported illegally, it requires complicated investigation process and takes weeks to complete the task, which is difficult for the army due to time constraints, said the official.

The army in similar operation had carried out another raid on the go-down of General Stores situated in the Mahabir Road on Wednesday, suspecting the Stores of conducting its business under four different names.

IRC favours Public Security Regulations

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KATHMANDU, June 22 - A meeting of Industrial Relation Committee (IRC) held today expressed the views that the recent decision of the government to enforce Public Security Regulations-2058 (PSR) would be helpful in curbing the deteriorating laws and order situation of the country and in creating business-friendly environment.

In press statement issued here today, IRC, a committee comprising 16 leading business organizations, has stated that the growing practices of Nepal Bandhs and general strikes, in recent years have worsened security.

This has not only put negative impact on national economy but has also devastated business and industrial environment of the country.

In addition, the statement has also said that due to the worsening internal security arrangement, tourism sector has been hit hard. The declining number of tourists, which would have negative impact upon other sectors of the economy is also one of the most worrisome facts.

Under such circumstances, all the industrialists and businessmen had been demanding with the government to take appropriate steps to curb the eroding business confidence and create conducive environment for investment, states the release.

Stressing on the need to strengthen human rights, press freedom and democracy, the committee reiterated its allegiance to and faith in the democratic system of politics.