Rawal reinstated NRB Chief

By Bhaskar Sharma and Prem Khanal

KATHMANDU, March 28 - In a dramatic turn of events, the Supreme Court today ordered the government to reinstate the former governor of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) Dr Tilak Rawal, who was unceremoniously sacked late August last year.

Divisional Bench comprising Justice Krishna Jung Rayamahaji and Justice Top Bahadur Singh gave the decision in favour of Dr Rawal today. Dr Rawal had filed a petition at the Supreme Court on September 6 last year demanding annulment of the government decision to replace him as the chief of the central bank by Dipendra Purush Dhakal, former Tourism Secretary.

Announcing the court verdict, Justice Rayamahaji said, "An important and reputed post like that of NRB Governor should not be dealt with irresponsibly… rather such appointments should be done according to the due process of law."

Dr Rawal had filed the petition arguing that his ouster was a violation of the Nepal Rastra Bank Act, 2012, which categorically stipulates the term of the Governor as five years.

The Supreme Court’s decision comes as an embarrassment to the government, which had sacked Dr Rawal seven months ago. More than a legal wrangling, Dr Rawal’s entry and exit from the central bank was a political battle within the ruling Nepali Congress (NC). The then Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai had appointed Dr Rawal to the coveted post of the Governor despite resistance by his Finance Minister Mahesh Acharya. Dr Rawal commands a strong backing of Sher Bahadur Deuba, Bhattarai’s protégé and Koirala’s challenger in NC.

Acharya had then resigned protesting Dr Rawal’s appointment, which accelerated the brewing dissent against Bhattarai, eventually leading to his ouster.

It was Acharya’s return to the Finance Ministry under Koirala government that led to the unceremonious sacking of Dr Rawal.

The controversy surrounding Dr Rawal’s appointment had even dragged the World Bank (WB) into controversy. Following Dr Rawal’s appointment and Acharya’s exit, The World Bank country office had issued a public statement warning grave consequences for government’s credentials as a genuine reformer.

"Acharya’s departure and the developments leading up to it would send a very wrong signal to many donors and international friends of Nepal who thought that Nepal had finally emerged from the political instability of the past five years," the statement had quoted.

However, Dr Rawal’s unexpected exit from the central bank last year had come as a sweet music to the donor community, especially the WB, which had publicly expressed unhappiness over his entry into the central bank’s leadership.

A jubilant Dr Rawal, talking to The Kathmandu Post today said, "I was removed by the government unconstitutionally, and now I have received justice from the respected Supreme Court."

"I will work for the betterment of the country’s financial system and I anticipate full co-operation of other partners," he said, adding, "I look into implementation. And I don’t buy ideas. If there are flaws, then I will reform them."

Meanwhile the outgoing Governor Dipendra Purush Dhakal told The Kathmandu Post late evening that he would respect the verdict of the Supreme Court. He said, "I respect the Supreme Court’s decision." However, he declined to comment further.

Finance Minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat too refused to comment on the court verdict. But said, "Whoever comes as the governor, it makes no difference in the policy level since all work has to be done in a co-ordinated approach."

Meanwhile, main opposition lawmaker and former National Planning Commission (NPC) member Dr Dilli Raj Khanal expressed concern over the frequent changes in the highest seat of the central bank.

"Politicization of the coveted post has affected the implementation of the financial sector reforms," said Khanal. Such changes will negatively impact the supervision, monitoring and leadership of the central bank, he said.

Experts involved in the ongoing financial sector reform projects express concern that reinstatement of Dr Rawal as the governor could squander the reform process. However, Dr Rawal today expressed commitment towards the management hand over of the two largest commercial banks. "The two banks definitely need comprehensive reform. There is no going back," he said.

UNESCO warns govt

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BHAKTAPUR, March 28 - Director-General of United Nation’s Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO) Koichiro Matsuura today warned the government over the deterioration of cultural heritage sites of the Kathmandu Valley in a message sent here today.

"The change in the urban environment of the Valley brought about by the country’s rapid economic development and the expanding tourist industry, would have the most harmful effects on this heritage," the message states.

Regarding the tragedy of Bamiyan as a story of religious fanaticism grounded in ignorance, Matsuura said that the tragedy of the destruction of the monuments of Bamiyan highlights the urgency of a "cultural ethic".

The message was sent to the fifth campaign review committee meeting of International Campaign for the Safeguarding of the Cultural Heritage of Kathmandu Valley (ICSCHKV), which started here today. ICSCHKV is an international fund raisng programme, initiated in 1979 by UNESCO to conserve and restore ancient monument of the Kathmandu Valley, inscribed in the World Heritage List.

Y. Kitamura, the country representative of UNESCO country office indicated that the campaign would be closed after this fifth meeting.

He said, "No campaign can go on indefinitely...this seems to be an appropriate moment to draw the campaign to a close, to take the stock, and to pledge ourselves to even greater efforts in the future."

But he assured the government officials to "continue to provide support, encouragement and the small interventions of which we are capable".

The formal declaration will be made by the end of the meeting.

He said that the Kathmandu Valley narrowly escaped a contested move to place it on the Heritage in Danger List. "But though the threat has been temporarily withdrawn, a sword of Damocles now hangs over the Valley World Heritage Site and those responsible for it."

He warned that this year would be critical for the future of the World Heritage Site of the valley because the issue would be revisited in 2002, and the World Herigate Committee would be looking for a dramatic improvement in the delivery of heritage protection measures. "Lip service and unenforceable powers are not likely to be sufficient next time."

Giles Proctor, the International Evaluator of the World Heritage Sites of the Kathmandu Valley recommended the government to establish a separate Ministry of Culture to give conservation and enhancement of the cultural heritage due importance and dedicated support at Cabinet level.

Francis Childe, the chief of the operational section for Asia and the Pacific, Division of Cultural Heritage, UNESCO, Paris, said that old monuments are like the species, once they are gone, they are gone. "Instead of talking about the failure of the past we must put our efforts to continue conservation works."

In the programme, Director General of Department of Archaeology, Mayors of Bhaktapur and Lalitpur, and representative of Kathmandu Metropolitan City also presented papers on the conservation situation of the Kathmandu Valley.

‘Regional admn structure riddled with problems’

By Damkant Jayshi

KATHMANDU, March 28 – During the Panchayat years, the local administration in all the 14 zones of the kingdom were run by the Anchaladhish, the Zonal Commissioner, appointed directly by the King. As the official representative of the monarch, the commissioner commanded not just the civil administration in the zone but also the army garrisons. Security, as a result, was tightly coordinated.

The reason the zonal commissioner system, which was abolished in the immediate aftermath of the 1990 restoration of democracy, is coming under revisionist examination today is because of the government’s recent move to establish regional administrators in all the five development regions of the kingdom.

With nearly similar aims as the disbanded zonal commissioner system, the regional administration’s chief task will be to coordinate the administrative and security structures in the region, chiefly the containment of Maoist-inspired violence. But the question is, how effective is that going to be?

The February ordinance that set up the regional administrator creates a new five-member Regional Defense Committee (RDC) with the regional administrator as its chairman. Other members include the regional chiefs of the army, police and the armed police force. The chief of National Investigation Department is the member-secretary. A similar body has been set up in the districts chaired by the Chief District Officers. The aim of these committees is to ensure law and order, and smooth and efficient functioning of the administration.

It all sounds impressive in theory. But on the practical plane, the implementation, especially of the security provisions, is certain to be rocky from the start, not least due to the ambiguous nature of the army’s command and control structure.

During the Panchayat days, problems were few and far between because the Anchaladhish was a representative of the King. But now, questions are being raised whether the regional army officers will answer to an administrator appointed by the Home Ministry.

The ordinance itself fudges this issue. While it is unambiguously stated that the police will be under the command of the regional administrator, the ordinance is silent on who controls the army at the local level. The only indication where the ordinance is pointing to is the provision of putting local army commander in the regional security committee chaired by the regional administrator.

"The ordinance points to the fact that the local army units will be under the regional administrator," says Dinesh P. Pant, Director of Studies at the Nepal Administrative Staff College. But, he adds, it is silent on who controls the army. "When rules are silent, the situation becomes both dangerous and problematic."

The problems could result in confusion over when and how to use the army, as well as misuse of security apparatus for political gains, points out Pant. "Since, the ordinances are implicitly brought to control Maoist insurgency, caution should be exercised," he says.

However, Pant said it would be premature to imagine problems just now. Although, legally the ordinances seem sound, the big question is over implementation and "a lack of it might jeopardize the effectiveness of the ordinances".

But all the feared problems could be put to rest if the ordinance fails to win parliamentary approval within two weeks. In such instance, the ordinance will lapse and it could be back to business as usual, though the Koirala government has indicated there are other alternatives to put the provisions of the ordinance in force.

Two rhinos moved to Bardia Park

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GULARIA, Bardia, March 28 – Two greater one-horned rhinos that were captured in Royal Chitwan National Park Tuesday have been released in Babai Valley of Royal Bardia National Park. The rhino couple comprising a male adult and a female adult were released in the Valley’s Chisapani area Wednesday, according to the Park headquarters.

Three more rhinos will be arriving on the days to come. Conservation officials are currently working to capture and subsequently move five one-horned rhinos from Chitwan to Bardia. With these rhinos, total number of rhinos translocated to Bardia from Chitwan will stand at 63.

Prior to this, a total of 60 rhinos – all from Chitwan – had been released in this mid-western Terai park, famous for Royal Bengal tigers, black bucks and a variety of other exotic wildlife species. The first batch of rhinos had been brought here in 1990.

According to concerned officials, one-horned rhino population in Nepal currently stands at 624, out of which 544 survive in Chitwan, 75 in Bardia and 5 in Royal Shukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve in far-western Nepal.

Bodies of two missing trekkers recovered

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KATHMANDU, March 28 - Rescuers dug through snow and ice and recovered the bodies of two of the four missing trekkers who were swept by an avalanche over the weekend.

According to Prakash Adhikari of the Himalayan Rescue Association, rescuers today dug out the bodies of a woman and her dauther.

A helicopter had been sent to bring the bodies back to Kathmandu, however, deteriorating weather condition forced the craft to return to Pokhara and will be making another attempt early Thursday.

The bodies are believed to be of Michelle Hackett, a Flight Sergent in the Australian air force and her eight-year-old daughter Kathleen Cassandra.

Since the accident was reported on Sunday, almost 24 hours after the mishap, helicopters had hovered over the area and rescuers on foot combed the area looking for any signs of life.

Rescuers are still looking for the bodies of the third Australian — Squadron Leader Peter Szypula — and an 22-year-old Israeli trekker identified as Hevil Noam, who were trekking through the popular trekking route around Mount Annapurna.

Reports say that there could also be a Nepali porter among the casualties.

The three Australians were accompanying the Tenix Everest Expedition on an acclimatization trek in preparation for a 12-member climbing team’s bid to scale 8,850 meters high Mt. Everest.

The expedition planned to reach the summit of the world’s tallest mountain during the present mountaineering season. Colleagues said the couple were experienced trekkers and outdoor adventurers.

Szypula was later to film the expedition’s attempt on Everest, but Flight Sergeant Hackett and her daughter had joined him on holiday, and planned to hike only on marked tourist trails where hundreds travelled each day, family members said.

The woman and her daughter had no intention of going anywhere near Mount Everest or to climb any other mountains, just to walk between safe and secure low-level base camps.

Expedition leader Major Zac Zachariah said rest of the team began a frantic search the day after the accident, moving blocks of ice with their bare hands in a bid to find their friends.

"It was massive. (I felt) absolute shock, a terrible pit in my stomach because it was apparent to me from that moment that if they were in that avalanche there’s no way they would have survived," news reports quoted Zachariah as saying.

Blind climber sets out to conquer Mount Everest

By Binaj Gurubacharya

KATHMANDU, March 28 - Watching Erik Weihenmeyer walk the streets of Thamel aided by a walking stick, it would be hard to say that this man who lost his eyesight at age 13 is a professional mountaineer.

More amazing is that this Spring he will attempt to be the first blind person to scale the 8,850 meters or 29,035 feet high Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain.

But losing eyesight due to a degenerative eye disorder has not deterred American climber from what he loves to do the most ... climb mountains.

"Everest is famous and because it is so famous that you read and hear so much about, I wanted to try it too," said the 32-year-old climber from Golden, Colorado.

Unlike most climbers who depend on coordinating carefully between their eyes, hand and feet to make their climb, he will follow the sounds of bells that will be tied to the jackets of his climbing mates and Sherpa guides.

"I have developed skills with my hands that most people do with their eyes and I always climb with strong people," he said. "I have been to 7,000 meters points and feel pretty good."

His biggest challenge will be the Khumbu Icefall where climbers use aluminum ladders and ropes as bridge to cross crevasses. A slip would almost mean certain death hitting the icy bottom or razor sharp ice edges on these crevasses.

He will also be using bottled oxygen to supplement his breathing at the higher points. He said since he did not want to take any risks and give safety number one priority, he would use the bottled oxygen like most western climbers do.

When he was just 13 and in high school, he lost his sights due to a rare disease called retinoscheses. At age 16, he took up rock climbing and ever since then there has been no stopping him.

He has already climbed 20,320 feet high Mount McKinley in Alaska, 22,834 feet high Mount Aconcagua in Argentina, which is considered the highest peak outside of Asia and 19,340 feet high Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa.

He even married his wife at 13,000 feet Shira Plateau on his way to Kilimanjaro’s summit. Now the couple has a nine-month-old daughter, Emma.

In January, he scaled Polar Circus, the 3000-foot vertical ice wall in Alberta, Canada.

He said that he has always dream of stepping on the top of the world but kept it a secret desire until about four years ago when he met other climbers in Colorado.

For the past three years he and his climbing friends have been preparing for this trip practising on smaller mountains to familiarize with the cold, high altitude and thin atmosphere.

Last year, the team made an unsuccessful bid on the 22,500 feet high Mount Ama Dablam. Deteriorating weather and food shortage forced the climbers to retreat from a 19,800 feet point spending after eight days waiting for weather to clear up.

He and his dozen team mates from the National Federation of Blind Allegro Everest Expedition hopped on a helicopter and left for the mountain Wednesday.

The team will first land at Lukla and trek for nine days to the base camp at 17,500 feet where they will spend at least three days to acclimatize before making practice runs up the mountain ferrying supplies.

The team hopes to reach the summit during the middle part of May when the weather gets favorable for the summit bid.

"I feel lucky this time," he said.

Japan grants 850m yen for food production

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KATHMANDU, March 28 - The government of Japan has agreed to extend a grant assistance of 850,000,000 Japanese Yen (US $ 6,936,000) to the government of Nepal for the promotion of food production in its Fiscal Year 2000.

Japanese Ambassador to Nepal Mitsuaki Kojima, and Secretary at the Ministry of Finance Dr Bimal Prasad Koirala signed and exchanged the notes today on behalf of their respective governments, said a Japanese Embassy press release received here today.

The grant is provided for the purpose of procuring fertilisers and gearing up agricultural production to meet the growing demand for food, the release said.

It added, "Under the agreement, the government of Nepal will deposit in the KRII counterpart fund in Nepalese currency, an amount equivalent to two-thirds of the Yen disbursement paid with respect to purchase of fertilisers. The currency thus deposited shall be utilised for the purposes of economic and social development, including agricultural, forestry and fisheries development and the increase of food production in Nepal."

The government of Japan had provided KRII grant assistance of 700,000,000 Japanese Yen for similar purpose in the Japanese Fiscal Year 1999. The fertilisers procured under KRII represent about 20 per cent of the total fertilisers imported in the country.

Also, the government of Japan has extended a grant assistance of 6,721,000,000 Japanese Yen in the Japanese Fiscal Year 2000 for projects such as the Sindhuli Road Project, the Basic and Primary Education Program (BPEP), grassroots projects and many others including this grant.

The release said, "Ambassador Kojima has expressed sincere hopes that the continued support of the Government of Japan to Nepal in it’s development efforts will certainly help promote Nepal’s efforts for nation-building and will improve the well-being of the people, thus strengthening the existing cordial relationship and co-operation between the two nations."

Police constable impregnates convict

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KALIKOT, March 28 - A police constable on his duty impregnated a woman prisoner inside the district jail. The woman, convicted for 20 years of imprisonment on charges of killing a 13-year old girl, is now pregnant with a seven months pregnant.

Jaya Rupa Adhikari, 21, from Pakha Gaon Village Development Committee-5, and another man, Manikesh Acharya, were arrested on charges of killing Sukili Chaulagain, following the complaint filed by the father of the deceased, Nanda Prasad Chaulagain, from the same VDC, around two years ago.

Convict Adhikari told The Kathmandu Post that police constable, Padam Singh Dhami, a resident of Mahendranagar, who was on duty at the prison, seduced her into an illicit relationship on October 2, 2000.

"I was preparing tea in my room that morning. Police Constable Dhami dashed into my room on the pretext of having a cup of tea," Jaya Rupa related to the harrowing story, "Within a few minutes, he embraced me and... I was ruined."

Constable, however, has been transferred to an area police station in Dang district following the illicit relation with the convict. She further said that Constable Dhami had promised that he would help her release from the prison.

Convict Adhikari said that the policeman gave her some medicine to get her foetus aborted when he came to know about her pregnancy.

She has already filed a complaint at the local administration office claiming formal relation with Dhami and half of his salary and benefits.

Asked to comment on the incident, Chief District Officer in Kalikot, Mukunda Prasad Dhakal, said that the accused would certainly be taken legal action. CDO Dhakal added that departmental action had already been commenced. He, however, did not elaborate on the status of the to-be-born baby.