Petrol pumps accused of adulteration

By Gopal Devkota

BIRGUNJ, May 13 - Of the nearly two dozens of petrol pumps selling petroleum products in Birgunj, about one and a half dozens of them do not sell pure petroleum products.

Despite this situation, the quality of petroleum products has not been tested by the government agencies over the last 15 months.

Samples of petroleum products from five local petrol pumps were sent to RONAST by the local administration for testing after people raised hue and cry and some users formally complained about fuel adulteration about 15 months ago. However, the office has not made public the report received from the RONAST.

Dr Bharat Prasad Basyal of the RONAST sent the report of the lab test after about two months. His report consists mainly of technical jargons and even the employees in the District Administration are unable to understand the report.

Administrative Officer Suresh Adhikari said if the petroleum product was adulterated it would have been mentioned clearly in the report. If it is not mentioned, it means perhaps it is not adulterated.

After this testing, the district administration office has not sent any sample of petroleum products for lab testing,Market Inspector Coordinator of the District Administration Office Krishna Prasad Dahal said.

Fifteen months ago Mahesh Gautam of Birgunj-6 had complained to the district Administration Office that there was problem in his motorcycle after he started it, but his complaint was not heard.

Now a legal practitioner, Prahlad Gautam, is also suffering from the same problem. He told The Kathmandu Post, " I go to Hetauda once or twice a week in connection with pleading cases, but I always experience problem in my motorcycle on the way. Why don’t you journalists write about such problems?’

A jeep of Parsa DDC was taken to the mechanic after it started malfunctioning. After examining the vehicle, the mechanic said this was due to the consumption of adulterated fuel and it would now cost Rs 200,000 to set it right.

Parsa DDC member Rajesh Tiwari said ," This is the complaint of every transport owner. But what can we do if those responsible for inspection and taking action are keeping mum?" He alleged that local district administration does not check petrol due to the commission received from adulterators.

However, an employee of the administration said technicians of RONAST were to be suspected because every time the samples were sent for examination, they always certified that it was pure. Another employee said if the examination is delayed the result will not be correct. The technicians delay the examination in complicity with such petrol pump owners. To avoid this complicity between the technicians and petrol pump owners, there must be four or five testing facilities, he added.

Appeal for release of abducted constable

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DOLAKHA, May 13 - Family members of constable Nripa Dhoj Khatri, who was kidnapped by the guerrillas of CPN (Maoist) during the clash in Rukumkot, urged the Maoists to release him and free his family members from mental torture.

Constable Khatri hails from Nau Kotgaon in Jiri. His illiterate wife and three daughters aged between one and eight years, depend entirely on him for their livelihood. The family members faced problems whenever he was late in sending home his salary on time. They have published an appeal saying that the family members were greatly worried as they are unknown as to whether he is alive or dead.

The appeal signed by his father Purna Bahadur Khatri, mother Rudra Maya Khatri and wife Guna Maya Khatri, urges the Maoist workers to make his status public at this critical hour and release him without delay.

The appeal has also requested the Human Rights organisations, political workers,journalists and all the intellectuals to extend their cooperation in securing the release of constable Khatri. The appeal is signed by Purna Bahadur in writing while his mother and wife have put finger impression on it.

UNIFEM opens field office

KATHMANDU, May 13 (PR) - United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) formally opened its field office for the first time in South Asia.

UNIFEM, which has been working for the empowerment of Nepali women along with various partner organisations, is also extending cooperation in the national census scheduled to be kicked off this year.

UNIFEM Regional Programme Director, Chandani Joshi, said it was necessary to have a UNIFEM field office in Nepal, where the organisation had been assisting in national level programmes.

"Our programmes have been expanded here in Nepal," Joshi told the reporters, "Whole procedures of the national census should be gender oriented, statistics be well analyzed and women issues be included in the forthcoming census."

The UN agency is planning to launch human resource development programmes in collaboration with the Ministry of Woman, Child and Social Welfare, the National Planning Commission and other concerned non-governmental organisations in the course of preparing the 10th Five Year Plan. Joshi said that the UNIFEM would form a number of groups representing experts from media, technology, economy and politics to expedite women activities for their empowerment.

Asked whether the UNIFEM is concerned with the problems faced by women due to Maoist insurgency, Joshi said, "We can consider the vulnerable women." She said that her organisation would not discriminate any women in terms of class and caste and would apply an holistic approach in woman’s issues.

Mayor flays Govt over garbage problem

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KATHMANDU, May 13 - Mayor of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC), Keshav Sthapit today came down heavily on the government for what he said foiling KMC’s attempts to find a long-term solution for the capital’s perennial garbage problem.

"I am tired of listening garbage issues, and the government instead of taking necessary steps to resolve the problem is continuing to impose taxes on the city’s waste," Sthapit said at an interaction program here Sunday.

"All we are saying is that we need some hundred ropanies of land, where we want to set up a garbage processing plant and resolve the problem for once and all."

Due to a lack of permanent garbage dump, over 300 metric tonnes of garbage discharged by the capital’s over 1 million people are currently dumped along the banks of sacred Bagmati river near Chovar, south of the city.

Sthapit was speaking at an interaction program jointly organized by Zero Waste Nepal and The Explore Nepal Group, and referring to the capital’s garbage problem and their constant search for a garbage dump.

The capital city has been doing away without a dumping site after an agreement with the locals of Mulpani village, east of the city, to use Gokarna dumping site, expired last year.

The government shows Okharpauwa in Nuwakot district as a suitable site to dispose the garbage discharged by the capital city, but KMC officials and experts say that the idea is not feasible.

They have been insisting that a "cell-rich plant" which requires a wider land space could be the long term solution for the garbage problem. The cell-rich plant, according to them, recycles more than 80 per cent of the garbage and produces inorganic fertilizer.

Bharat Basnyat, Managing Director of The Explore Nepal Group and B L Nyachhyan of Zero Waste Nepal called for public awareness and participation of local-level social oragnizations.