Office chief's absence deprives locals of basic services

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BAGLUNG, March 26 - People from the western part of this hill district have been deprived even of basic services from the Burtibang-based Area Administration Office, established about four years ago, following the long time absence of the office chief.

People who basically approach the Area Administration Office for Nepali citizenship certificates have been facing difficulty after the office chief remained absent over for two months.

Nim Bahadur Pun from Gwalichaur VDC-1 has been trying to obtain his citizenship paper from the Area Administration Office to study abroad. But the concerned official was not available at the office for more than two months.

"I cannot obtain my passport without having a Nepali citizenship certificate. But it has been very difficult to obtain the citizenship paper," laments Pun.

Pun also approached his problem with the district administration office in Baglung, the district headquarters, but the authorities rejected his requests saying that they could not handle the job of the Area Administration Office.

"We have written to the Ministry stating the problem but have received no instructions from there," said Assistant Chief District Officer, Rajendra Raj Adhikari.

Chairman of the Bohora VDC, Taranath Poudel, quoted the Home Secretary as saying that there was shortage of manpower to deploy an officer to Burtibang.

A local teacher said that half of the population from this western part of the district have been facing double hardships: no officers at the Area Administration Office and no records of those people have been kept at the district headquarters.

Sex trade on the rise in Chitwan

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CHITWAN, March 26 - Chitwan comes second only to the capital Kathmandu in the number of commercial sex workers.

Leaving aside the capital city, the highest number of commercial sex workers in Nepal are found in Chitwan district where 300 women are engaged in flesh trade. The information was given in the district AIDS coordination seminar organised in Narayangadh by General Welfare Academy, HIV/AIDS Education and Awareness Programme (FHI Project) and District AIDS Coordination Committee Chitwan.

Disclosing this figure at the seminar, Field Officer of Gene Welfare Academy Ram Hari Neupane said 66 per cent of the 300 girls engaged in commercial sex were teenagers.

According to Neupane, the number of their daily customers (males) was 500 and of them only 61 per cent used condom during the sexual intercourse.

Sujan Pundit of General Welfare Academy Hetauda said 39 per cent the male and female sex workers who do not use condoms during the sexual intercourse might be suffering from HIV/AS or other sexually transmitted diseases.

The General Welfare Academy has been carrying various programmes aimed to control commercial sex and HIV/AIDS in the localities, villages and towns along the 450 kilometre-long highway that passes through nine districts including Dhading, Chitwan, Makwanpur, Bara, Parsa, Rautahat, Sarlahi, Dhanusha and Mahottari over the last seven years with the cooperation of Family Health International (FHI) Nepal.

About 600 women are actively engaged in flesh trade along the highway, Sujan Pundit said on the basis of studies and research works carried out by the organisation.

Chitwan DDC president Bishnu Ghimire, who is also chairman of the District AIDS Coordination Committee, said 37 people were found suffering from AIDS, but the actual number could three times more.

According to Sujan Pundit, the number of AIDS patients found in Nepal so far was 1,836. However, the number could be as high as 33,532, according to WHO estimates.

The number of AIDS patients found all over the world at present is around 36,100,000. This fatal disease has already claimed 21,800,000 lives worldwide.

The programme chaired by DDC President Ghimire was attended by representatives from different organisations, associations and political parties.

The seminar expressed its commitment to further focus its programmes intensively to the target groups by ensuring participation of different organisations, such as general Welfare Academy and continue to coordinate efforts of different organisations to control flesh trade and HIV/AIDS.

Be heart alert: Experts

KATHMANDU, March 26 (RSS) - If you feel a pain in the heart while walking it may be a symptom of a heart disease and it is better for you to get a medical check-up.

This was suggested by senior cardiologist Dr DB Karki at a talk held at Kathmandu Medical College, Sinamangal, today on "regular exercise and healthy heart."

Heartache while on the move and remission of the pain upon taking rest is a problem of blood circulation in the heart, a warning signal that should not go uncared for, Dr Karki said. But a heart attack might follow without any forewarning and to stop such thing, one must have regular medical check-up, he added.

Regular exercise is a must for the people suffering from hypertension, diabetes, obesity and ischaemiasis as well as those who want to keep their heart healthy. Those with weak heart, too, could take regular exercise after proper treatment, Dr Karki suggested.

Exercise may be done either in the morning or in the evening. However, one should avoid exercises immediately after a full meal. Take regular exercises daily as far as possible or on alternate days, he advised.

A treadmill at home is a good idea. If one is not in a position to have it, one might as well take an hour of brisk walk in the open regularly. A brisk walk that causes normal sweating is good for health, he added.

One suffering from fast or slow heart beat should avoid exercises. However, after medical treatment, such patients can take exercises, he said. Excessively rapid and deep breathing while working, chest pain, unfavourable results on treadmill test and echocardiography indicate possibility of a heart disease, the experts said.

In the past, asthmatic patients used to be advised against taking exercises, but now scientific tests have shown that some light exercises benefit them, Dr Karki said.

Special emphasis is given to balancing one’s body weight in order to keep one’s heart and other organs healthy. One should shed unnecessary body fat and excess weight to remain healthy. Regular exercise and good dietary regime are good means to that end, he said. Besides, freedom from tension and mutual love and affection also make one healthy and for this, yoga exercises could be a good means, he said.

CPN-ML national council meet begins

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LAHAN, March 26 - Close door session the first national council meeting of the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist) - CPN-ML - began at the local city hall here on Sunday.

ML General Secretary, Bamdev Gautam, presented the political report on behalf of the party’s central committee in the closed door meet, chaired by the party Chairperson Sahana Pradhan.

Likewise, Balaram Upadhyaya from the central advisory committee, Bhojraj Joshi from the central judicial committee, Prem Bhandari from the central accounts committee of the party have presented their reports respectively to the first council meeting, according to the party.

Standing committee member and chief of the party’s financial department, Radha Krishna Mainali, also submitted his report to the meet.

Party’s Central Office Secretary, Kiran Gurung, said that the council members were holding discussions on all the reports in 15 different groups.

Prisoners claim ‘quota release’ discriminatory

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KATHMANDU, March 26 - The prisoners are discriminated in jails over the government’s provision of releasing them on special occasions, against their constitutional right, said a prisoner here yesterday.

Keshar Bahadur Tamang, 44, a prisoner at Charkhal prison yesterday said that though the constitution has guaranteed equal rights to all the prisoners, those who are in the jail on charges of drugs, human trafficking, gold smuggling and rape cases are never nominated for release before the date. He said this while addressing a press meet programme Sunday.

As per Jail Regulation 2020, rule No 29, a certain quota of prisoners are released on the basis of their characters after they have passed over half of their jail term on special days like the National Constitution Day, King’s Birthday and Democracy Day.

"This cannot merely be a coincidence that in the past decade not a single prisoner on the four charges has been granted pardon on these special days," he said. "This is an utter violation of human rights."

Tamang has presented a memorandum to eliminate this discrimination to the Chairman of National Human Rights Commission. Tamang from Kakani VDC, Nuwakot said that he was arrested in 1993 and is in jail for 10 years term.

Talking to the media persons, Sudip Pathak, the Chairman of Nepal Human Rights Organisation said that though there is no such written rule, the jail authorities have developed a concept that the inmates brought over the four crimes are not to be nominated for the quota release.

"Except one or two top level gold smugglers, who were released over political interest, nobody in charge of drugs, human trafficking, gold smuggling and rape cases have been released after 1990," he said.

Cheated and betrayed, he waits for the job

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BIRGUNJ, March 26 - He comes to Birgunj Narayani Sub-regional Hospital daily at 10 a.m., sits on a chair there for the whole day and returns home right after 5 p.m. He is not an employee of the hospital though.

He has been regularly following this schedule for the last two years. When somebody asks him,"why have you come here?" he replies,"don’t you know? I’m the Superintendent of this hospital."

He is Sanjay Kumar Mali, 24, resident of Alau VDC-1. Some people think he is half-mad, others think he is fully mad. The reason: he was made to pay a bribe of Rs 20,000 by some people promising a peon’s job in the hospital. He received neither the job nor the bribe paid by him. He lost his mental balance because of his obsession with job. "Yes, Sanjay is mad, but it is the hospital which has made him mad," an employee of the hospital said on condition of anonymity.

Two years ago, the development board of the hospital invited applications for the post of peons when Dr Keshab Bhakta Shrestha was the Medical Superintendent. Sixteen people were appointed, but Sanjay was not selected. Newspapers had published the news that most of them were selected on the basis of bribes.

"Everybody thinks I am mad, but I am the Superintendent. Do you know how much I earn? The government pays 10 thousand rupees to me every month," he told The Kathmandu Post.

When anyone talks to him he does not appear mad. But talking to him for a long time and looking at his daily behaviour one is forced to say," Sanjay has gone mad."

He dresses normally like any other man and sits on the chair of the hospital all day long. When somebody asks him questions, he replies patiently. He behaves well. But people address him as mad.

President of the Hospital Employees’ Association Arun Upreti said Sanjay can be cured if he is provided medical treatment on time.

Most of the employees of the hospital say since the hospital is responsible for this state of Sanjay, the hospital should bear the responsibility of curing him.

Another employee of the hospital said the 28 doctors and 274 employees were ready to contribute financial assistance to him as far as possible if some organisation took the responsibility of providing treatment to Sanjay.

He comes to the hospital every day from a distance of five kilometres. The hospital has provided a chair for him. But in fact, it is not the chair but medical treatment that Sanjay needs in the first place.

Land distributed to ex-Kamaiyas

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TULSIPUR (Dang), March 26- The Kamaiya Rehabilitation District Monitoring Committee and the Kamaiya Land Registration Committee, Dang have distributed land to 176 freed Kamaiyas opening a new avenue for them to lead an independent life.

Land Reforms Officer Bharat Kumar Budhathoki said land could be distributed to additional 951 homeless Kamaiyas and other Kamaiyas living in the fallow land if the political parties and local representatives of people cooperated.

Chamari Chaudhari of Sisahaniya, the Kamaiya who received the land ownership certificate, said, "I don’t know what this paper will offer. We need employment on wage basis. The landlord has ousted us. We need money or loan to build a hut."

Budhathoki informed that the district has received quota for providing training to 281 people to enhance skill among the Kamaiyas. The Kamaiyas are therefore expected to be capable of generating income as a result of this training.

Dang district has also received Rs 2,550,000 and 100 metric tons of rice with the coordination of DDC and Land Reforms Office for construction works aimed at infrastructure development. Kamaiyas will participate in the construction works.

Convenor of Kamaiya Land Registration Committee Abdul Kalam Khan said the Kamaiyas were receiving training on stitching, cutting, masonry and carpentry. Preparations were being made to run training programmes on bee farming, ginger farming etc for the Kamaiyas.

The main problem is that of providing land to the Kamaiyas. After this problem is resolved with the cooperation of all, ways and means could be devised about their residence and other options, Khan added.

Phone, TV services hindered in Nuwakot

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NUWAKOT, March 26 - Telephone users and television viewers both have suffered due to technical defects in the Marts and VHF telephone systems installed in the rural areas. Television sets in the district headquarters capture telephone conversations made for rural parts of the district and this has breached personal privacy.

Television viewers particularly suffer on Saturdays when their sets are disturbed by the telephone calls from rural areas. Circuits remain extremely busy on holidays because the telephone clients receive 50 per cent concession on long distance calls.

Shyam Bahadur Pandey from Bhadrutar VDC said that telephone conversation made through the Marts and VHF systems is detected by TV sets and FM radios, resulting in the violation of individual secrecy.

Chief of Nepal Telecommunication Corporation in Nuwakot, Shyam Kumar Maharjan, said that antennas of the VHF and Marts telephone system and the TV antennas caught the waves of each other and disrupt functions of both the systems.

People from the Sikre, Bhadrutar, Thansing, Madanpur, Samundratar, Kabilas, Ganesthan, Chaudhada, Khanigaon and Kharanitar VDCs have been particularly suffering from the 25 VHF and Marts-based telephone lines installed in these areas.

Maharjan said that this kind of problem had been common in all rural areas of the country where telephone service was in operation based on these systems.