IPI-Nepal committee formed

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KATHMANDU, May 4 - International Press Institute (IPI) yesterday formed the Nepal National Committee to mark the World Press Freedom Day.

This committee is affiliated to the International Press Institute established in 1950 at Vienna, Austria. The committee nominated Pushkar Lal Shrestha, the editor of Nepal Samachar Patra as the president. Padam Singh Karki, the editor of Gatibidhi Saptahik as the vice president. Journalist Bhagirath Yogi was nominated as the general secretary. And the other members are Shreeram Singh Basnet, Arjun Bista, Purandar Ghimire, Shobhakar Budhathoki and Babita Basnet.

In the same way, Hemraj Gyawali the chairman of Kantipur Publications, Durga Nath Sharma the General Manager of Nepal Television and Senior Journalist P.Kharel have been nominated as the advisors to the committee.

The decision to establish the IPI-Nepal Committee was taken during the IPI golden jubilee celebration held in New Delhi, India in January this year.

Policemen shifting to safer area

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BHOJPUR, May 4 - Amidst growing Maoist activities in the rural parts of this district, policemen have started shifting towards safer area police outposts or the District Police Office from the smaller and insecure posts, a report received here said.

Most of the policemen assigned at eastern and northern parts of the district have abandoned their small police posts fearing their personal safety over the last couple of months.

Three small police posts located in Yaku, Nyauli and Dobhane VDCs have been abandoned after they were set on fire by the rebels some time ago.

Two policemen assigned at Nyauli police post had tendered their resignations which were approved later on, according to the District Police Office.

Similarly, all the security men assigned at the western Antapurna VDC police post have also shifted to the Dilpa-based area police outpost after the rebels set the post ablaze.

Asked to comment on the growing tendency of the policemen quitting their posts, Police Inspector Sharad Tamang at the District Police Office said the policemen were still there on "plain clothes."

"We cannot put our lives at risk if the government does not ensure our security," a police constable said requesting anonymity.

Maoist quits squad

SINDHULI, May 4 - A Maoist guerilla woman revolted against the party and fled this week her guerrilla squad along with party literature and arms, a Maoist sources said.

According to a highly-placed Maoist source, Sabitri Karki from Harkapur village of Bitijor VDC-7, who was working under the command of area commander Hemlal, fled the squad hoodwinking her colleagues.

Her whereabout is still unknown even to her family members. The sources said that the party cadre were mobilised in search of the runaway woman.

Meanwhile, the rebels mentally tortured Karki’s parents pressing them to reveal her actual position, her family sources said.

The rebels released her father Abindra Bahadur Karki and mother from their few hours of detention on condition that they would hand over their daughter to the rebels as soon as her whereabout became clear.

A police officer in the District Police Office said none of the Maoist cadre had surrendered at his office so far.

Storm kills 1

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BANKE, May 4- A teenaged boy was killed in a violent storm when a tree fell upon him at Chisapani-7 at around 7 pm on Thursday evening.

Power supply has been disrupted in the district since last evening and roofs blown away due to the storms.

Maoists hold open mass meetings in Kalaiya

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KALAIYA, May 4 - The incident of two successive open mass meets being held by the Maoists in the district over a single night yesterday has alarmed the local residents here as the underground rebels are gradually creeping into the political arena more openly, and without much fear of the police.

According to reports received here, a band of about 50 armed guerillas in military uniform arrived at the Bakuliya Chowk in Jitpur VDC around 8:30 pm with their terrorising gunfires and slogans.

Addressing the crowd gatherd there, highway secretary of the Maoist party, Shishir, said that his party’s doctrine of Prachandapath alone was the viable alternative to the present political establishment.

Similarly, the armed activists left the scene soon after and conducted another ‘orientation’ meet in front of the residence of the VDC Chairman in Chhatapipra at around 10 pm the same evening.

According to the locals who attended the meet, the Maoist cadre threatened that their ‘armymen’ would take action against whom they called ‘exploiters, schemers, and unscrupuluous persons’.

Maoists seize ID cards

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DHARAN, May 4- A group of Maoists confiscated about 200 Voters ID Cards which were being distributed at the Singia VDC in Sunsari, yesterday.

According to sources at the District Administration Office, the ID Cards were seized from the VDC Secretary, Raj Kumar Rai, immediately after he opened the office on Thursday morning.

Consequently, the plans to distribute the Cards in Constituencies 1, 2 and 4 of the district have been adjourned for the time being.

More than 138 thousand voters had got their photographs taken for their ID Cards in the three constituencies of the district, out of which about 101 thousand ID Cards were ready for distribution. Among them, only 66 thousand voters have taken away their Voter’s identitifications.

Chilime hydel delayed for 8 months

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BIDUR, Nuwakot, May 4 - The 20 megawatts capacity Chilime Hydro Electric Project, an undertaking of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) will be further delayed by eight months due to the problem that arose while digging the 2,826 metres long tunnel, sources here said.

The initial estimated cost of the project has also shot up from Rs 1.70 billion to Rs 2.32 billion due to the poor geological condition in some parts of the tunnel. The initial target of the project was to complete by end of July this year.

The construction started in 1997 and only about 50 per cent of the project work has been completed so far.

But Larson and Turbi, the contractor assigned to dig the arduous job of digging the tunnel, has demanded that NEA sanction eight more months to complete the tunnel, according to side in-charge of the construction company, V E Bhagavat.

Bhagavat cited the loose soil inside the tunnel as a major hurdle for speedy digging of the tunnel. Normally, it is faster to dig a tunnel on hard rocks than on loose deposit of soil.

The project work was further hampered for some time following the damage of the link road to the project site during the rainy season last year.

Girl rescued from detention

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GAIGHAT, Udayapur, May 4 - Police rescued a minor girl from 10 day house detention in Lahan Municipality-9, Thursday. The girl was locked in the house with an intention of selling her to an Indian brothel.

According to the police, Khadga Bahadur Bishwokarma’s daughter Bhagawati BK from Trijuga Municipality-1 was found to have been locked in the house of Mamula Miya at the Municipality of Siraha district.

A person named Ramakant Chaudhary who runs a rice mill at Gaighat had tempted her a nice job in Lahan and sent her there about a week ago.

Following her rescue, Bhagawati related to the police that accused Miya forced her to do all his house chore jobs and told her that he would take her to India a few days later.

He did not allow her to go back home despite her repeated pleas, she said. Police are searching the accused who is still at large.