Nepalese consulate office in Fukuoka

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KATHMANDU, May 10- The Office of the Royal Nepalese Consulate was inaugurated at a function in Fukuoka City of Fukuoka Prefecture, southern Japan according to a press release issued today.

Speaking on the ocassion, Royal Nepalese Ambassador to Japan Kedar Mathema said that the opening of Royal Nepalese Consulate is an indication of the growing relations and deepening friendship between Nepal and Japan and increasing sucess of Fukuoka’s policy of internationalisation.

Mayor of Fukuoka city, Hiotaro Yamasaki lauded HMG’s decision to open a Consulate Office in Fukuoka and expressed his hope that the newly opened office will contribute to the further promotion of Nepal-Japan relations.

On the occasion, Mitsuhiko Shinokuma the newly appionted Honorary Royal Nepalese Consul expressed his pledge to work for the interest of Nepal in Fukuoka.

Disabled people's actual data in census sought

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KTAHMANDU, May 10 - Representatives from different organisations related to disabled people called for all the disabled people living in Nepal to put themselves in the category of disabled in the 10th national census.

Preparation for the Tenth National Census which is going to be held from June 10 till June 21 is complete as the Census Day is just a month away. Questionnaires have already been prepared.

According to the Director General of Central Bureau of Statistics, this census will try its level best to give the real picture of people’s situation.

Disabled people of the country have been claiming that many disabled people have been left out in the last census." In the last census, many of the disabled were left out, but for this census, we don’t want the disabled people to be left out," said Munindra Pandey, chairman of National Federation of Disabled-Nepal, organiser of the programme.

He also said that disabled people are very reluctant to put themselves in the category of disabled." When disabled people are reluctant to put themselves in the category, it will be very tough to know the real situation," said Pandey.

Bharat Sharma, who was a representative from Central Bureau of Statistics said that we have tried our level best to set the questionnaire which will give the real picture of the disabled people." We are very optimistic about getting the real picture of the situation of the disabled in the country," said Sharma.

Maoists force entire family to quit home

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MANMA, Kalikot, May 10 - A six-member family from the remote Chhapre Village Development Committee (VDC) of this mid-western hill region arrived here, the district headquarters, on Wednesday after the Maoist rebels forced them to leave their home under political vendetta. The VDC is located about 18 km away from here.

Their only crime is that they differ from the Maoist views and Prjapati Neupane is elected Vice-Chairman to the VDC from the ruling Nepali Congress.

The family, including Prajapati’s two years old girlchild and 70 years old mother, trekked for three days to take refuge in Manma for security reasons. The rebels did not allow them to live in the village they were born and grown up.

"We ate nothing since we left our home," laments Dabonanda Neupane, 70, upon their arrival here. She wants to see her son who had already abandoned his family after the rebels robbed his home three months ago.

Two days ago, more than 60 armed Maoist rebels approached to her home and forced them to leave their home, saying that their government would feed them in the district headquarters.

Prajapati’s wife, Batu, told The Kathmandu Post that the rebels did not even allow her already-separated kinship relatives to till her land and take care of the cattle they left at home.

The two years old grand-daughter does not know why they trekked an arduous journey and landed here. She simply asked her mother, "I want to eat. I feel hungry."

But this family cannot afford to buy two days meal in the district headquarters, where the rebels have imposed a strict ban on supplying food from outside. The economic sanction has resulted in price hike on daily commodities on top of the hill station.

"I humbly asked the rebels to reveal our mistakes we committed that urged them to chase us away from our home. I pleaded them whatever the mistakes we might have committed can be corrected," Batu recalled the tragic incident she faced with the rebels two days ago.

My plea did not impress them and we finally had to leave our home," she sobbed.

To add insult to the injury, the poor family came to know that their guardian had been to Kathmandu for personal business and they faced a hard time to find a shelter.

If there is anyone who was most affected by the Maoists’ hunt is class eight student at a local school, Ratna Neupane, 12. She has been deprived of her education. "They nipped my future in the bud," she says.

Currently, the Neupane family is taking refuge at the District Police Office and waiting for the arrival of their guardian, who is a prime target of the rebels.

District officials estimate that more than 4,000 people from various VDCs of the district have fled their homes fearing their personal safety since the Maoist insurgency broke six years ago.

Locals vandalise industry for polluting environment

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BIRGUNJ, May 10 - Hundreds of residents of Maniyari village vandalised and damaged a local leather industry on Tuesday alleging that the industry had polluted the village environment.

They charged that the industry named "National Leather P. Ltd" had been discharging poisonous water and that the water polluted with chemical had harmed the cropland and environment.

The locals numbering about 500 damaged the machines, tank and watchman’s shelter.

Prior to their attack on the industry, they had shouted slogans saying "Shut the leather industry" and "Don’t pollute village environment."

According to the industry, the damage has been estimated at around Rs 400,000.

Leather is one of the prominent export items of Nepal. As different chemicals are used in processing leather, the water polluted with chemicals directly harms the environment and living beings if it is directly used for crops and thrown into rivers, according to environment expert Chandra Kishor Jha.

The eight leather industries operated here have severely polluted Sirsiya Khola, the main rivulet in Birgunj.

When the water in the rivulet turned black, locals protested against the pollution and the government established a treatment plant at a cost of Rs 6 million at the premises of Narayani Leather Industry with the cooperation of UNIDO. However, the plant is currently not functioning due to load-shedding.

4 die of poisonous mushrooms

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BIRTAMOD, Jhapa, May 10 - At least four people, including three children, of a family died while four others were admitted at a local hospital in critical condition after the family members from the southern Prithvi Nagar VDC-5 consumed poisonous mushroom on Monday, police here said.

Those who died due to the consumption of wild mushrooms have been identified as Homanath Rai, 45, and his three daughters - Melina, 6, Elina, 8, and Dil Kumari, 10.

Deceased Rai’s wife, his two sons and one guest were rushed to BP Koirala Memorial Hospital in Dharan in critical condition after being referred by Mechi Zonal hospital in Jhapa.

According to the victims’ relative Sarbadhan Rai, the Rai family collected the wild mushrooms from a nearby forest and consumed it as vegetable. However, they started vomiting and suffered severe pain in stomach within a few hours of its consumption.

By the time their neighbours noticed about it, the youngest daughter Melina had already died at the house while three others expired about 12 hours later at Mechi Hospital.

Doctors said the victims were detected to have suffered from food poisoning and they were brought to the hospital too late.

The doctors said they had no other option but to treat them on the basis of case history as the hospital lacked food- testing facility.

Roads, Capital City and the Nation

By Utpal Raj Misra

Never in history of the modern days have the roads of Kathmandu ever been called in good condition apart from the very stretch of a few hundred meters in Durbar Marg and few other stretches here and there.

Especially in the last eleven years or so the capital’s roads have had to bear the brunt of every kind of turmoil in the country. Ever since the practice started from the advent of democracy in Nepal it seems like the people have thought that anything is possible by making the poor roads victims of their anger, fear, disenchantment and/or demands.

It seems people think that if it was possible to topple off a strong and established government by punishing the roads of the capital it is possible to get anything by doing similar acts. Whether it is the opposition party demanding resignation of the Prime Minister or the students venting their anger on a statement-never-made by someone in Bombay, the poor roads in the capital are always to be scarred, maimed and left looking like virtual war zones.

The history of bad roads of Kathmandu start a long way before the "democracy" days. It is just that things have got worst in recent times.

As a child walking down the roads of the capital I always wondered why the digging and drainage pipe or cable laying works had to always start right before every monsoon. Then the only thing bothered me was mudding my freshly polished shoes and the fear that I would be nagged by a teacher for coming to school with unpolished pair. It was only after a brief lecture in economics by someone that I had got to know why the roads were always dug just before the monsoon rains, but it had been pretty difficult for me then to make out what financial year and cycle of yearly budgets really meant.

The Road Department, Telecommunications Department and the Sewer Management Department as all the other government departments are always in a hurry to finish their allotted budget amount right before a fiscal year ends. And that is always during the monsoon time. So all the department heads fearing that they will be branded as incompetent if the budget allotted to the department gets surplus make it a point that they get all the necessary and all the unnecessary things done. The practice still continues and worst (or better?) the allotted budget of most of the departments finish up half way through the fiscal year without doing anything noticeable. And the roads remain in same condition for years.

To make things worst the number of vehicles have increased maybe threefold in ten years and the roads still remain just the same. In addition the road manners of our citizens are also worth mentioning. Especially the motorcyclists who always are in a hurry and drive along the busy roads swinging left and right as if they are whizzing across a labyrinth. The pedestrians are no less, they cross the roads wherever and whenever they feel like and some amusingly raise their hands as if ordering (not asking) the plying vehicles to stop. The utter chaos and confusion all face while moving along the roads in the capital does not need much elaboration at least not now.

Somebody had said something in tune of the following statement- the overall situation of a country can be made out by its roads. Meaning the roads disseminate the core situation of the country by their looks.

If this is true then what is the situation of Nepal ? Well we don’t need the roads to say what the situation of our country is like. But one thing is clear if this is the way in which it goes very soon our dear city will have traffic jams similar to Bangkok with the roads, vehicles and the road manners of the people more comparable to Patna than any-where else. So where is our country heading for with the capital city being similar to the notorious city of neighbouring Bihar.

A model drinking water poject handed over

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CHITWAN, May 10 - A drinking water project has been completed in Naya Padampur ( Saguntol) which has been handed over to Padampur VDC located in Royal Chitwan National Park near Sauraha.

This is a model drinking water project for the entire country because water is brought from the source, Chuhad Khola, through pipes and taken directly to the overhead tank, according Purna Narayan Pradhan, Chairman of Gaidakot Youth Club.

Gaidakot Youth Club of Nawalparasi district had constructed the project with the financial assistance of Rural Drinking Water and Sanitation Fund Development Committee and voluntary labour contributed by the local people.

People of Nayabasti in Saguntol ward No. 1 contributed voluntary labour for pipe-laying work, staying in the forest for 18 days. About 50,000 litres of water can be reserved in the overhead tank and it will benefit more than 1500 people of 227 households. The water will be sufficient for the people of Nayabasti for 20 years, Pradhan added.

The users committee of Chuhad Drinking Water Project has been constituted and Rs 360,952 which was in excess of the project cost, was handed over to the committee.

The committee has decided to carry out repair works of the project with the amount and has also launched a campaign to increase the fund by charging Rs 10 per month to each user household. The committee has also decided to carry out sanitation programme in the village using the same fund.

Storm causes heavy damage to school

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SALYAN, May 10 - Roofs of two new buildings of Sharada Jan Kalyan secondary school, located in Kalimati, Rampur of Salyan district, have been destroyed by storm accompanied by rain the other day.

Even the walls of the school buildings constructed at a cost of Rs 700,000 two years ago have collapsed. Roofs of two old buildings have been partially blown away.

Science materials, official steel cupboard, chairs and tables were damaged after the pillars fell down in office room and science room. According to headmaster of the school, Madhav Bhattarai, some documents were blown away by the storm while other records of the students were also damaged by rain.

The damage caused by storm and rain is estimated at around Rs 650,000.

The damage in the school and compulsion of students to take examination (which is now going on) in the open ground was reported to the concerned District Administration Office, District Development Committee and District Education Office.These offices pledged to provide assistance to the school.

Similarly, guardians also gave word that they would extend their cooperation to the school, according to headmaster Bhattarai.

Organisation to help tourists, pilgrims formed

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DEUKHURI (Lamahi), May 10 - A social organisation has been constituted in Tribhuvannagar Municipality, Ghorahi with a view to providing transport facility and medical treatment to tourists and pilgrims who go to Sworgadwari to have a ‘darshan’ of Sworgadwari Mahaprabhu.

The 11-member social organisation, "Rapti Sewa Sangh" (Rapti Service Association), has Ganesh Kumar Gupta, Shiva Pujan Giri, Ram Kripal Pandeya, Raj Kumar Gupta, Devi Prasad Gupta and Sunil Kumar Gupta as its chairman, vice-chairman, secretary, joint secretary, treasurer and joint treasurer respectively.

Most of the pilgrims and tourists come to Ghorahi, headquarters of Dang district, through various means of transportation up to Ghorahi and reach Sworgadwari by walking all day long from Ghorahi.

The newly constituted non-governmental organisation has already started its work to facilitate the pilgrims and tourists coming from different parts of Nepal and around the world, according to treasurer of the Association Devi Prasad Gupta.