Princess Shruti opens art show

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KATHMANDU, May 7 - The Exhibition of Paintings by two Dutch artists Ed Van Der Kooij and
Piet Warffemius was inaugurated by Her Royal Highness Princess Shruti Rajya Laxmi Devi Rana
at the Siddhartha Art Gallery today.

The portrarit of Princess Shruti painted by Ed Van Kooij is the main attraction of the exhibition
which will be presented to Her Highness as a gift.The remaining artworks put on show are
abstarct paintings by the artists.

The artists had the priviledge of meeting Princess Shruti who consented to have her portriat
painted by Ed Van Der Kooij.

This exhibition was a project launched in accordance with the agreement reached between the
Siddhartha Art Gallery and the two Dutch artists. This art project was initiated as a gesture of
friendship and goodwill between Nepal and the Netherlands by the Consul for Nepal in Holland,
Cas Stopellar. The exhibition will last till 21 May 2001.

‘Only Buddha’s path can lead to peace’

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KATHMANDU, May 7 - Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala today said that only the teachings of
Buddha can save this country moving towards violence and unrest.

"Though our country is driven in the sea of fear, terror and hate, we know that our ultimate
destination is peace and we can attain our goal only by means of what Lord Buddha has taught
us," he said. He was addressing a public meeting at Ananda Kuti Bihar on the occasion of the
2545th Buddha Jayanti.

Bhikshu Sudarshan, vice-chairman of All Nepal Bhikshu Association, said that birth of Siddhartha
Gautama was a matter of pleasure for the whole mankind. "The campaign of World Peace started
with the birth of Siddhartha Gautama in Nepal who later became Lord Buddha."

He also demanded the government to build a Buddhist University in Lumbini to meet the
demands of all the Buddhists who want to study Buddhism, Buddhist philosophy, art and
architecture.

A religious procession started from Dharmakirti Vihar carrying the idol of Lord Buddha, followed
by traditional musical troupes of different kinds.

Similarly, Prime Minister Koirala formally launched the conservation works of the excavated
remains of the Mayadevi temple in Lumbini.

Vice chairman of Lumbini Development Trust Omkar Gauchan said the temple would be complete
in three years.

However, the participation of the locals was scanty. According to the locals, the trust has not
brought any programmes that would provide direct benefit to the local community.

The day was celebrated in Lumbini as Lumbini Day with various programmes.

Importance of naturopathy highlighted

NEPALGUNJ, May 7(RSS)- A four-room health block of the local Prakritik Swasthya Sanstha
(Naturopathy Health Institution) has been constructed here at the cost of Rs 140,000 provided by
local donors and social workers.

The building was jointly inaugurated by MP Kailash Nath Gupta and central president of the
health institution Dr Hari Prasad Pokharel.

Speaking on the occasion, MP Gupta highlighted the importance of naturopathy and said he
would dedicate himself to the progress and promotion of this system of health care.

Central director of the institution Dr Pokharel said that naturopathy was gaining popularity in
Western countries also.

He suggested that naturopathy and yoga therapy should be introduced in the hospitals in the
same way as the yoga education has been introduced in schools.

Wangla-Sandhikharka water project shows no sign of commencement

SANDHIKHARKA, Arghakhanchi, May 7 (PR) - Although Wangla-Sandhikharka Drinking Water
Project and Khilji-Asurkot Drinking water Project were planned at the same time, there is no sign
of commencement of the former in spite of its detailed survey carried out about one year ago.

Both the people’s participatory projects are being developed by the Gulmi-Arghakhanchi Rural
Development Project (GARDP), funded by the European Community (EC).

Chairman of the Wangla-Sandhikharka Drinking water Project, Nim Bahadur Rijal, said that the
stakeholder had already collected Rs 300,000 as required by the GARDP but it has not kicked off
yet.

People are disappointed with the delayed working procedure of the EC funded GARDP, which,
local claim, has violated its own regulations that requires people’s participation in rural
development programmes.

According to the EC’s stature, local stakeholder should contribute about 40 percent voluntary
work in a rural development project.

The classic example of the GARDP violating its own regulations is a gravelled road in
Sandhikharka Bazaar, the district headquarters. The project officials sought no local contribution
while filling gravels on the road.

Citing corruption in the GARDP-run projects in the district, Jagannath Bhusal from
Sandhikharka-6 had earlier dispatched a letter of complaint at the EU’s Brussels-based
headquarters.

In response to the letter, the EU headquarters requested the Ministry of Local Development to
probe into the GARDP projects under construction in Gulmi and Arghakhanchi districts.

Bhusal, however, claimed that the investigative mission from the Ministry returned without talking
to him.

He further claimed that the project officials gave away the work of gravel to a user group backed
up by a local contractors for Rs 5.2 million whereas another contractor had filed a tender bid for
Rs 1.2 million for the same job.

There was no tender competition before handing over the work to the user group. According to
Bhusal, the user group was represented by the local contractors.

Commenting on the locals’ allegations GARDP Co-Director and local development officer, Hiraraj
Regmi, said that locals agreed to get the gravelling carried out without their voluntary
contributions.

Regmi further said that he was not there when the agreement for the gravelling was signed. The
agreement, in fact, was reached during the tenure of then Local Development Officer Rajendra
Prasad Upadhyaya, he said.

Locals accused the GARDP authorities of carrying out development projects through user groups
which were usually represented by influential people of the locality.

Examination observer disappears

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TERHATHUM, May 7- The observer enstrusted to conduct the Higher Secondary Education
Board examinations in Terhathum has suddenly disappeared from the district after the second
day exams got over.

Earlier, Upendra Adhikari had abruptly left the remote district of Dailekh in the Bheri zone in the
midst of the TU examinations, where too he was an observer for the Bachelor level examinations.
He was able, however, to obtain an appointment as an observer in the Class 12 exams as well
after which he rushed to the Sankranti bazar in Terhathum here to conduct the school exams.

He didn’t remain for more than 2 days here either and immediately slipped off on April 30, in the
pretext of going to the nearby Panchthar district to see friends.

The crafty Adhikari was seen to be assuring his bosses in the TU over the phone of smooth and
fair exams being conducted in Dailekh even though he was thousands of miles away here in
Terhathum. Interestingly, he is suspected to be doing a similar thing in Dailekh right now.

The whole episode has raised a furor in the district as critics question the integrity of the
administrators both in the TU and HSEB of such blatant irregularities creeping into the validity of
examinations.

Meanwhile, the exams were conducted here by the local teachers in the absence of any central
representative.

Police accused of protecting swindler

SIRAHA, May 7(RSS)- Local youths who have been cheated of hundreds of thousands of rupees
by a local swindler on the pretext of sending them abroad for employment have accused that the
police was giving protection to the alleged swindler instead of taking action against him.

The complain concerns one Mehid Mansoori, a resident of local Mahanaur Village Development
Committee (VDC) who allegedly collected more than Rs 1 million from 14 youths of Siraha
district on the pretext of sending them abroad for work but later absconded for months without
any information.

Asked for his comments on the charges leveled against the police that it was giving protection to
Mansoori, Deputy Superintendent of Police Bishwaraj Singh Shahi scoffed at the charges saying
it was baseless.

He said no such complaint has been registered with the police in this connection.

Mansoori, who works as a broker for a foreign employment company, had taken the 14 youths to
New Delhi telling them that they were being send for foreign employment to Saudi Arabia.

Mansoori had then demanded Rs 72,000 from each of the boys and fled from there leaving the
unsuspecting youths high and dry in New Delhi.

The youths, after waiting for two months for Mansoori’s return, returned back to Siraha after he
did not turn up. Back home, the youths managed to get hold of Mansoori.

A deal was struck between Mansoori and the youths in the presence of the VDC chairman
Mohammad Gaffar Miyan that the youths would be either send for foreign employment or their
money returned to them after a months time.

This time also the youths were jilted after Mansoori and his party failed to fulfill the conditions of
the deal. The infuriated youths again caught hold of Mansoori and handed him to police.

But the youths are surprised that no action has been taken against Mansoori months after his
arrest.

Bodies cremated without conducting post-mortem

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GOKULESWOR (Darchula), May 7 - The dead bodies of two women found on the bank of
Chaulani river four days ago have been cremated on Monday without conducting a post-mortem in
the absence of doctors.

Only one doctor, Dr Hari Lal Rawat, had been working in the district hospital and he has also
gone to India for his own treatment after he fell ill about a month ago.

Police could not find a doctor even in Baitadi and Dadeldhura districts. The two bodies were kept
in the primary health centre where even electricity facility was not available. As the surrounding
areas was also filled with the stench of the bodies kept for four days, police allowed to burn the
dead bodies under intense pressure from the public. Not a single doctor has come to this primary
health centre since its inception.

The bodies belonged to Kismati Devi Thagunna, 20, of Ranishikhar VDC ward no. 2 and Kalawati
Thagunna, 18, sister of her husband.

According to a report, both of them had gone to a water source to bathe and fetch water in the
afternoon after working in the wheat field. As they did not return, a massive search operation was
launched the next day and their bodies were found on the river bank. Both of them were tied by a
single

saree in their waists. Police have suspected that they have committed suicide.

Chief of the investigation team, Padam Bahadur Singh, said police have not arrested anyone until
now.

According to neighbours, Kismati has a one and a half year old son and there is no reason for
both of them to commit suicide. The husband of Kismati works in a hotel in India and he has
returned home about a month ago. There was no quarrel in the family, according to neighbours.
Since the bodies were burnt without a post-mortem, locals suspect that the real cause of their
death is not likely to be known.

MPs to visit Germany

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KATHMANDU, May 7 - A 12 member delegation comprising parliamentarians and jurists is
scheduled to leave for Federal Republic of Germany on a familiarization cum exposure visit on
May 11. During their 15 day long sojourn, parliamentarians will interact with members of
parliament and officials of the organization affiliated with Free Democratic Party of Germany, said
a press release received here today from Nepal Law Society.

The main themes of the visit are Federalism and Decentralization in Germany, Role and
Functioning of Political Parties and Democracy within political parties. The team is scheduled to
visit Cologne, Duseldorf, Berlin, and Postdam or Germany. Parliamentarian from national political
parties – Nepali Congress, United Marxist-Leninist (UML), Rashtria Prajatantra Party (RPP) and
Nepal Sadbhavana Party (NSP) including two office bearers of Nepal Law Society are members of
the delegation.

The visit is expected to help contribute to familiarize the Nepalese lawmakers with German
Federal System and role of political parties in strengthening democratic tradition and norms. The
Nepali legislatures will also apprise the German counterparts about the functioning multiparty
democracy in Nepal.

The visit is sponsored by Fredric Naumann Foundation (FNF) and locally supported by Nepal Law
Society. The foundation is assisting the Nepali organizations in executing activities in the area of
human rights, constitutional democracy, industrial peace and labor relations while Nepal Law
Society is working in the field of constitutional democracy, rule of law, self-governance and
human rights for the last two decades. The delegation is also scheduled to visit Switzerland en
route to Nepal.

Employers, workers vow to fight against child labour

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KATHMANDU, May 7 - International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) of
International Labour Organisation held separate meetings with the employer’s and worker’s
organisation today to identify the target groups and areas where the Time Bound Programme
(TBP) should concentrate on.

Nepal has been selected along with Tanzania in Africa and El Salvador in South America to
implement TBP, which aims to eliminate the worst forms of child labour from the country within
the time frame of five years.

During the meeting of employers, Pradeep Kumar Shrestha, president of Federation of Nepalese
Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) stressed on the need to look at the real causes of
child labour and also to clearly define what constitutes child labour. "When we talk about
combating and eliminating child labour, we should not talk in simple terms of banning child labour
and putting up legal punishments for employers and children," he said.

He suggested on the role of entrepreneurs in tackling the issue of child labour by barring children
from working children in industries and enterprises. Leyla Tegmo-Reddy, director of ILO
Kathmandu said that TBP still has to search for or develop new partnership and find new ways of
combating child labour. Bijaya Bahadur Shrestha, vice chairman of Employers Council, FNCCI
stressed that employers take a proactive and innovative steps to respond to the challenge that
worst forms of child labour poses to the country.

During the meeting of the worker’s organisation, Laxman Basnet, president, Nepal Trade Union
Congress (NTUC) said that the children who are forced to work is disgracing to the society itself.

The employer’s organisations, trade unions and teachers unions present in the meeting extended
their commitment to fight the problem of child labour from their respective organisational positions.