Landslide victims’ death condoled

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KATHMANDU, June 29 - Nepal Sherpa Association extended heart-felt condolence to the victims of landslides and flood that killed at least 44 people in different parts of Nepal.

30-odd people were killed on Tuesday night when huge landslides caved in on remote mountain settlement of Satya Devi Village in northern Dhading district.

Likewise in Chakha village, Dolakha district, at least 11 people were killed when lanslides occured due to the torrential rain. 400 ropanis of fertile land was swept away by the swollen river.

Association has also demanded the rehabilitation and emergency relief to the victims of the landslides.

Street drama on development staged

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KATHMANDU, June 29 - A street drama called Wave of Development in Our Village, was staged in the villages of Sindhupalchowk recently to inform the people about the development activities taking place in the area around Melamchi.

The drama was staged in Phataksila, Bansbari, Taramarang, Ichowk, Mahakal and Helambu Village Development Committees, a press release states. The drama concentrated on the development works of Melamchi Drinking Water Project, new resettlement policy and other concepts. Twenty-four students took part in the drama.

The programme was co-ordinated and managed by the local youth groups.

The release adds that the locals are now convinced that they will get the compensation of the land they lost due to the Melamchi project.

4 more die of snake bite in Morang

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MORANG, June 29 - With the beginning of this year’s rainy season, at least four people have died of snake bite from various villages of this eastern Terai district, according to the Kosi Zonal Hospital.

The hospital source said that out of the total 120 cases of snake bites registered at the hospital, four of them died while undergoing treatment. Five people, who were bitten by poisonous snakes are still undergoing treatment here in the district headquarters.

Those died of snake bites have been identified as Dilmaya Khadka from Babiya Birta VDC-3, Abbal Lal Sharma from Jhurkiya VDC-3, who died at the hospital, while two others were declared dead on arrival.

Khadka’s family source said that she was bitten by a cobra in the kitchen.

Last year, 14 out of a total of 280 snake bite patients admitted to the hospital had died while undergoing treatment at the hospital. On an average, three cases of snake bite are registered at the hospital each day since the onset of the monsoon, according to the hospital.

It is, however, impossible to keep records of all the people killed by snakes because many people hardly attend local health centres and hospitals from rural areas, where such cases are found in plenty compared to urban areas.

Maoists set police post on fire in Dhangadi

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DHANGADI, June 29 - Maoist insurgents set ablaze a police post and the Customs Office situated in Dhansighpur and Bardawa villages on Thursday.

According to the area police station Tikapur, a group of around fifteen armed rebels attacked and set fire on the station.

It is learnt that prior to setting fire on the station, the rebels had bought 100 litres of diesel and kerosene from the shop of a local, Durga Prasad Koirala.

According to Chief of Customs Office, Raju Prasad Subedi, all the documents and the furniture in the office at the time of the incident were destroyed.

Bhedetar sub-station starts operation

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DHANKUTA, June 29 - Eastern Regional Director of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), state monopoly for power generation and distribution, Amar Prasad Rijal, inaugurated the 33/11 kilo volt sub-station installed at Bhedetar bazaar amidst a function on Friday.

Following the installation of the sub-station, people from 14 VDCs will enjoy electricity facility.

Addressing the function, Director Rijal said that politics should be kept aside in development issues.

He also lauded Kantipur Publications for its assistance to extend four kilometres long transmission lines up to Danda bazaar village free of charge while connecting the transmission lines to Namje Danda-based FM tower. The tower will relay Kantipur frequency to the eastern region from the Kathmandu-based station.

Publications’ staff, including Marketing Manager Pradyumna Pokharel and legal advisor, were also present on the occasion.

The NEA has already provided electricity to 11 VDCs of the district under the seventh rural electrification project.

District Development Committee Chairman Tikaram Chemjong, Chief District Officer Shambhu Koirala and Dharan Municipality’s Deputy Mayor Jeev Prasad Poudel also addressed the function.

Kala-azar claims three lives

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DULARI, Morang, June 29 - At least three people have died of kala-azar within this week and a number of others have been affected by the disease, according to the locals.

Officials at the District Public Health Office (DPHO), however, denied the outbreak of the disease and said that they could not determine the cause of their deaths.

DPHO Chief Madhu Sudhan Koirala said that there was no outbreak of the disease as they had sprayed insecticide in the VDC a few weeks back.

Koirala said that if a person is found to be infected with the disease, he is provided medical support free of charge.

According to Vice Chairman of the Dulari VDC, the disease showed up its symptoms especially at ward No-1, 7 and 9 of the VDC.

Last year, 21 people succumbed to the disease. Kala-azar usually spread in communities due to open drain, stagnant water and poor sanitation. It takes at least one month to determine whether a person is affected by kala-azar or not.

Trust instituted

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MAKAWANPUR, June 29 - In the memory of his late mother, Subarna Shrestha from Lazimpat, Kathmandu has established Bindra Memorial Trust consisting of fifty thousand rupees.Shrestha handed over this amount to the principal of Jhamkeswori Proposed Secondary School here in Palung last monday.

Speaking at the programme, School Management Committee chairman, Buddha Lal Shrestha said, " We will provide assistance to the brilliant but poor students of the school. Such help from private initiative will help us to provide and maintain quality education."

In the programme, former lawmaker, Hiranya Lal Shrestha was also present.

Regmi to be awarded

KATHMANDU, June 29 (PR) - Reporters’ Club Nepal will give away this year’s Martyr Jagat Jung Shah Journalism award to Shekhar Regmi, a correspondent of Himalaya Times daily, a press release issued today by Reporters’ Club Nepal stated.

Regmi has been serving as a correspondent at Biratnagar for the last five years and has made outstanding performance in the field of journalism. The award consisting of a purse of Rs 5000 will be given away to Regmi. Last year the club had given the award to Sitaram Prasad Verma, a correspondent of Kantipur Daily based at Dhading, the release states.

‘Small arms undermine democracy’

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KATHMANDU, June 29 - In South Asia small arms undermine democracy, election process, threaten democratically elected regimes and impede peaceful resolution of conflicts.

This was one of the points highlighted during the Civil Society Regional Strategy Meeting on Small Arms and Light Weapons held in Colombo from June 7-9.

Hari Roka, who was one of the representatives of Nepal in the three-day conference, today briefed several government officials, intellectuals and journalists about it. All the people present there expressed their views over the matter.

The United Nations has been carrying out various initiatives to contain a threat of small arms since mid-1990s and is set to hold a milestone international conference in July 2001 on the issue. The Colombo conference and other conferences were held in this context in various South Asian countries previously.

South Asia Parternship (SAP) an NGO organised today’s event. SAP had also organised a similar workshop in Kathmandu, South Asia and Small Arms Challenges and Responses, last April.

HIV/AIDs micro finance discussed

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KATHMANDU, June 29 - The Centre for Micro Finance (CMF) today organised a seminar on "Micro Finance and HIV/AIDS - A partnership development experience".

The seminar is aimed at disseminating the experience gained during the first phase of the pilot project last year. The pilot project aimed at establishing partnership between the two sectors, HIV/AIDS NGOs and Micro-Finance Institutions (MFIs) for the prevention of HIV/AIDS in Nepal with the financial support from the UNDP.

The targets of MFIs are poor people as 90 percent of the HIV/AIDS affected people are unaware of the infection and majority of such population is poor.

Namrata Sharma, Managing Director of the CMF said that MFIs are a financial service providers for the poor people but it is not a charity organisation.

The seminar was participated in by 50 participants from 11 partner HIV/AIDS NGOs, 8 partner MFIs, related INGOs and donor agencies.