Maoists lock up VDC offices

DOLAKHA, May 15 (PR) - The underground Maoist rebels have recently locked up the offices of four separate VDCs in the district after confiscating all the documents belonging to those local bodies.

The local residents of Magapauwa, Fasku, Shailengshwar and Bati VDCs have been facing frustrating problems as their important and urgent businesses have been held up due to the Maoist activity.

Meanwhile, the CPN(UML), which is in majority in these VDCs as well as in the District Development Committe, denounced the Maoist act in a press conference held in the headquarters today. During the programme, leaders of the party also vowed to continue business by reopening the locked offices soon.

A press release signed by MP and secretary of the district unit of the party, Ananda Prasad Pokharel, condemned the Maoists by alleging them to be a ‘self-proclaimed revolutionary group of terrorists involved in killing peoples’ representatives who refuse to pay them an outrageous ransom.’

Unauthorised 500 huts demolished

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DHANGADHI, May 15- The police today demolished about 500 huts which were erected after encroaching into the jungle lying between wards 5 and 6 of the Shripur VDC at Syaule.

The demolition was carried out with active support from the local people, particularly the Women’s Community Forest Committee, and the Area Forest Office at Geta.

A forest area of about 150 hectares was cleared of the encroachers. Eleven persons, including several women, were arrested during the forced eviction.

"The encroachers tried to put up a tough resistance to our team, but a large number of local people who backed us left the settlers helpless," said Area Forest Officer, Baliram Pandit.

The people from as far as Dailekh, Baitadi, Kanchanpur, Doti and Kailali had been involved in the encroachment which began about a month ago.

DEO begins work to set ceiling on school fees

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BANKE, May 15- In what has come as an unusual initiative, the District Education Office (DEO)has began work toward setting a ceiling on fees charged by both government and private schools.

While it has already determined the upper limit in government school charges, slashing the several types of charges it made by 18%, it has asked the private schools’ organisation, PABSON, to set the ceiling itself.

The government schools will no longer be able now to devise a roundabout way of collecting money on various pretexts.The government school students now need to pay a maximum of Rs 150 annually in the primary level whereas the secondary level students will pay a maximum of Rs 500 a year. Similarly, the new ceilings for exams fees stand at a maximum of Rs 150 a year.

The committee, however, fell short of giving any directives to private schools. It was attended by representatives of various teachers organisations and PABSON.

Besides setting a limit on fees, the committee is also working toward standardising minimum qualifications and salaries of teachers in private schools.

The private schools here, as anywhere in the country, have little concurrence in the fees structure as well as the qualifications of teachers. Many of the teachers have been found to be less than qualified, bearing directly in the educational standard.

In other cases, suitably qualified teachers are paid poorly and thus have little motivation in doing their best. The committee was particularly concerned to rectify this distortion.

Hence, the committee directed the private schools to adopt a suitable and well-organised mechanism in the appointment of teachers as well as ensure that their qualifications tally at least with those of the government school teachers.

It demanded a report from every private school, Monday, of the qualifications and salary structures of the teachers working there. It has also demanded from the schools whether or not the provision of at least one teacher for 30 students and subject-wise teachers, among other stipulations, have been fulfilled.

Speaking to The Kathmandu Post, Chief of the District Education Office, Dhrubaraj Regmi, said that the decision followed repeated requests from parents and educators for a stricter monitoring of private schools.

Protest march against Purnagiri dam to be held

KATHMANDU, May 15 (PR) – All Nepal Women’s Association (ANWA), an organization affiliated to Marxist-Leninist (ML) is going to organize a week-long street march to protest against the controversial Purnagiri dam going to be constructed by India.

At a press conference held today in the capital, ANWA said if the dam is constructed, most of the Village Development Committees of Kanchanpur and Dadeldhura will come under severe threat of drowning.

Likewise, they also said that 40 thousand people will be homeless and forests worth of billions will be destroyed.

The activists of ANWA accused the then government of jeopardizing nationalism by agreeing on such a treaty four years back.

The march will kick off on May 19, Saturday from the capital. From the capital participants are scheduled to reach Narayanghat, Butwal, Kohalpur, Ataria, Jodhbuda and finally in Purnagiri. According to the schedule, the participants will return from Purnagiri on May 24.

Poetry results out

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KATHMANDU, May 15 - Sitaram Academy has announced the results of the 2057 Bhanu-Moti poetry festival, yesterday , states a press release issued by the academy.

Kamalanidhi Dahal of Okhaldhunga came first, Goverdhan Puja of Chitwan came second and Bharat Bhardwaj of Jhapa, Ramesh Shrestha of Kaski and Harisaran Thapa of Bhaktapur came third jointly. The Bhanu-Moti Award, awards Rs 15,000, Rs 10,000 and 5,000 respectively for the top three positions.

The names of the recipients were announced by an evaluation committee comprising of Bharat Raj Pant, Ganesh Bahadur Rai and Ratna Shumshere Thapa.

Over 800 squatter families to be evacuated for safety of wildlife

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CHITWAN, May 15 - More than 800 squatter families living at Banderjhula area of the southern remote Ayodhyapuri VDC for over a decade will be evacuated to protect the Royal Chitwan National Park (RCNP) and wildlife by the end of May, RCNP authorities here said today.

Banderjhula area is located close to the Nepal-India border, which is very sensitive from wildlife protection standpoint.

The squatter families started encroaching the park area taking advantage of the political instability during 1990 when democracy was restored.

The decision to evacuate the illegal settlers from the area was taken by a district level all-party meeting with a view to preserving the park from being further encroached upon.

The all-party meeting, called by the RCNP on May 9, decided to dislocate the people from there fulfilling necessary procedures.

The second rounds of the all-party meeting on Monday agreed to remove the people by the end of May, said District Forest Officer (DFO), Madhav Acharya.

Earlier, the meeting had considered about a possibility of providing one kathha of land to each squatter family.

If one kattha of land were to be allocated to all 800 families, about 40 bighas (60 acres) of land would be required to accommodate them, which is impossible to acquire in the district, DFO Acharya said.

He also said the all-party meeting unanimously decided to send them back where they had come from.

RCNP Chief Conservator Gopal Prasad Upadhyaya said they were forced to take such a harsh decision after the park bore heavy financial losses, a large amount of smuggling of logs into India via the border and threats to wildlife due to the presence of the people close to the park.

Upadhyaya claimed that locals were recently found to have cut down more than 200 sal trees with a view to smuggling them into India.

DFO Acharya said the concerned government agencies and Non-Government Organisations would be duly informed not to develop any infrastructure facilities such as school, road and drinking water projects in the Banderjhula area.

Chairman of the Ayodhyapuri VDC, Naradmani Poudel, said local forest user groups working under the RCNP buffer zone programme would plant saplings in the evacuated area. A Royal Nepal Army post would be established there to protect the wildlife and the park.

The squatters, who have been living in the area for years, however, demanded that an alternative arrangement should be made for them before they are dislocated.

Caged holy pond

By Pradeep Silwal

When I visited Godavari the last time I wondered why the famous pond with the translucent water was behind bars. The caretakers might have tried to preserve the sanctity of the holy water by putting in a pond sized iron cage. But in their zeal, they defeated the main purpose of the builders of this ancient pond. They prevented pilgrims from taking their holy dip.

The pond premises were clean, the walls were painted, and still there was a feeling of sadness inside. With fish swimming in the placid water, the pond resembled a large open aquarium, but just caged in barbed wire.

I found out that the caretakers were simple people from nearby villages with a religious bent of mind. They had taken this drastic step after some intoxicated youths jumped into the pond naked. They were also piqued by youths from nearby settlements like Bandegaon and Harisiddhi who ignored requests not to wash themselves in the pond.

If bathing naked in a holy pond was an act of sacrilege, caging the pond in iron bars was no less so. Here, a group of young people were showing blatant disregard for the religious values and sentiments associated with the holy pond. And another group responded with an equally extreme step. The cage will be dismantled only for the grand religious fair, which takes place every twelve years.

Local people have started to take notice of the disfigurement and inconvenience caused by the iron railings. If the caretakers are really interested in preserving the sanctity of the pond without turning it into just an exhibit, they should hire some guards to enforce the rules of the pilgrimage site. Why should pilgrims suffer for the faults of others? Pilgrims who come from all over Nepal would be happy to pay a small amount as an entrance fee. This could be used for the upkeep of the shrine.

Development works disrupted in Gulmi

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GULMI, May 15 - Most of the developmental projects in the district have fallen into doldrums following the burning down last week of a vehicle belonging to the Gulmi-Arghakhanchi Rural Development Project(GARDEP), by the Maoists.

Operating at a grant assistance by the European Union since 1997, GARDEP has already funded in a total of 450 projects in all the 79 VDCs of Gulmi, of which 25% are yet to be completed.

The Project was active in agriculture, animal husbandry, environment, health, drinking water, roads and micro hydro-power projects, among others.

With GARDEP’s all round involvement in various aspects of activities bearing on the upliftment of the living standards of the rural masses in the district, the European Union was interested in funding yet another phase of the project. Unfortunately, the recent incident has sparked off an atmosphere of mistrust and fear, which has cast shadows on the future of the project.

Meanwhile, an all-party deliberation held at the District Development Committee recently made a strong demand to provide adequate security to the various development projects.

Said Nepali Congress leader, Rudramani Bhandari,"The GARDEP was doing a 50-year work of the government within just 5 years, which means that the district will lag behind 50 years if the project is forced to discontinue."

More than 250 thousand people were directly benifitting from the various GARDEP schemes in the district.

Nepal-Japan Children Library opens

KATHMANDU, May 15 (PR) - Her Royal Highness Princess Shruti Rajya Laxmi Devi Rana inaugurated Nepal-Japan Children Library amid a program at Lainchaur today.

The library has been built with the funds contributed by 45,000 Japanese at the initiative of Japan Federation of Telecommunication, Agency Electronic Information and Allied Workers, Joho Roren, Kinki Regional Council and is managed by Osaka International Club, Nepal Chapter. The Kathmandu Metropolitan City provided the plot of land to construct the library.

Speaking on the occasion, Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Keshav Sthapit, said that the library would further strengthen the cordial relations between Nepal and Japan.

Sakaya Iwashashi, President of Joho Roren, Japan, expressed happiness at the two-year labour put into the project being amply rewarded by the successful completion of the project. "The library will help the children here carve a better future for themselves," he hoped.

The library has the services of reference books, educational toys, video films section, computers as well as various other recreational and educational facilities, including the Internet.

VDC office destroyed

LAMJUNG, May 15 (PR) - Maoist insurgents destroyed the office building of Kunchha VDC located at Kunchha Bazaar, the old headquarters of the district, on Monday night.

They came at 9 p.m. and removed the roof of the VDC office building. Then they burnt the documents and furniture, eye-witnesses told The Kathmandu Post.

Earlier, the police staff of the local police post used to stay in that building. They also destroyed the kitchen of the police near the VDC office building. The police post is not stationed there now.

Chief District Officer (CDO) Harihar Sharma said the exact extent of damage would be known only after the return of the police team sent there.

Man escapes after murdering wife

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JANAKPUR, May 15 - A man, who had been living in a rented room at ward No. 3 of Janakpur municipality for the last two and a half months, has escaped after murdering his wife.

The 40-year-old man, who identified himself as Raghunandan and worked in a bicycle shop, is suspected to have fled the area after murdering his wife, Rekha, alias Rangeli, on Thursday. He and his wife had been living in a rented room in the house of Ram Sevak Saha.

The man left his room after locking the door and keeping the screens closed in his room on Thursday and has not returned as yet. The body of his wife was found in the room on Sunday when the door was unlocked by force in the presence of local people’s representatives and the police after the area was filled with bad smell coming out of the locked room.

The man had given his name and address differently to the house owner and bicycle shop owner.

According to the Police Inspector Yuva Raj Thapa, who visited the murder site, a brief scuffle had ensued between the couple before the murder. The body was found under the cot.