Biratnagar in dire need of sewerage system

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MORANG, May 30 - All the roads in Biratnagar, the second city in the country, are covered with water before the start of the rainy season due to lack of proper road and sewerage system.

The city was lashed by continued rainfall over the last one week with the result that almost all the roads are covered with water, thus affecting the pedestrians and even those who use rickshaws, bicycles and vehicles.

Pedestrians cannot walk in the area from Tinpaini to Jaljala Mod and in all the roads in front of Shiva Mandir and behind it.

Mayor of Biratnagar, Ramesh Chandra Poudel, says the city office was finding it difficult to develop the sewerage system, footpaths and roads due to lack of budget.

The budget of the office is generally utilised in building roads only with the onset of rainy season.

Construction of the 1.8 kilometre-long sewerage and the footpath has been initiated from Tinpaini to Jaljala Mod, the main road of the city, at a cost of Rs 7,000,000. Almost half a foot deep water is collected all along the road and the pits already dug out are filled up with water posing risk of drowning. The water collected in the pits poses risk even to rickshaw pullers, motorcycles and vehicles.

As people cannot move in this section of the road, local businessmen have no customers over the last one week.

Mayor Poudel said construction of sewerage system and roads have begun in all the 22 wards with the limited budget at the disposal of the city to address some of the problems being faced by the people. These works are scheduled to be completed in six months.

Locals flee homes for fear of dacoits

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MORANG, May 30 - Locals in Biratnagar Sub-Metropolitan City are so fed up with thieves and dacoits that many of them have left their homes and are staying at rented houses in the central part of the city.

A series of theft and dacoity incidents are taking place in the city. Therefore, people living in the outskirts of the city have locked their houses and have taken shelter in rented houses in safer parts of the city to protect their lives and property.

Dacoits attacked the houses of Padam Bahadur Thapa, Bishnu Shrestha and Bir Bahadur Chaudhari of Biratnagar Madhumara -11 about a week ago. All three locked their houses and moved to other people’s houses along with the remaining property because they fear another attack from the dacoits. They are feeling safer after they left their homes. The number of such people moving to safer houses is increasing daily in the city.

Police admit that incidents of theft and dacoity occur almost daily in Biratnagar and the rural areas of Morang district, but police express their helplessness in arresting the dacoits.

According to District Police Office, drug addicts and unemployed youths are involved in most of the incidents of dacoity. When police arrest them for necessary action, they are ordered to release them before they are brought to the police office under pressure from political parties and the Chief District Officer (CDO). "We are forced to release them on the way....We return to the office empty-handed. We hear that the same dacoits commit dacoity in another house the same night after they are released," police source complained.

Dacoits had created terror in Biratnagar about a month ago. They have once again started creating terror currently among the local people, as in the last month. They have already raided about 30 houses, police sources said.

Workshop on proper sex education held

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KATHMANDU, May 30- Minister of State for Women, Children and Social Welfare Kamala Pant inaugurated a workshop on Young People’s Sexual Health organised by Society for Local Integrated Development-Nepal (SOLID-Nepal) here, today.

Speaking on the occasion Minister of State Pant said, " In our society, there is a great discrimination between the son and the daughter. Even educated people in our society have this behaviour."

Grishma Joshi, a participant in the programme, expressed concern over the negligence of health education in the country.

Likewise, speaking at the programme, Prof. Ram Briksha Sahu with the Institute of Medicine shed light on the importance of sexual education for youths and lauded SOLID-Nepal for this kind of programme.

The workshop was supported by Safe Passages to Adulthood (Department for International Development,UK) and University of Southampton, UK.

SOLID-Nepal, a non-governmental organisation has been established with its priorities on education, health, income generation and other programmes.

Rebels distribute VDC chief’s property

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KHANDBARI, Sankhuwa Sabha, May 30 - Underground Maoist rebels on Tuesday distributed all cash and kinds of Man Bahadur Majiya Jimi, Nepali Congress Chairman of Constituency No-2, to the locals, according to the victims.

The rebels arrived at Jimi’s house in Madi Mulkharka Village Development Committee-4, about 24 km east of here, the district headquarters, and disbursed all his foodgrain, clothes and kitchen utensils to the locals, except for the clothes they were wearing and cattle.

Four die of poisonous mushroom

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DARJEELING, May 30 - All 11 members of a family living in Boudhadham VDC of Ilam district have been admitted to Darjeeling hospital when they fell ill after eating mushroom.

According to Durga Pradhan, head of the family, the mushroom was bought at the market of Pashupatinagar on Monday. The family members have locked their home since all of them had eaten the mushroom. The condition of one patient has improved.

Similarly, seven family members of Bal Bahadur Rai, resident of Tinbulak VDC ward No 9 in Ilam district, have also been admitted to Darjeeling hospital. They had also fallen sick after consuming mushroom.

Meanwhile, four of the five people admitted to the hospital recently after eating poisonous mushroom have died.

Of the total 25 people admitted to Darjeeling hospital due to eating of poisonous mushroom, the condition of 13 patients is critical.

Maoists capture police post at Tatopani

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MYAGDI, May 30 - Maoist insurgents have captured the police post at Bhurung Tatopani on Tuesday morning.

There were 11 police personnel in the police post. It was suspected in advance that Maoists would attack the police post.

A local teacher said that he had seen Maoist rebels in the police post and that they had taken away with them gunpowder, documents and clothes from the police post. He said that the police who had escaped from the police post had come to the district headquarters in slippers.

According to Chief District Officer Mathur Prasad Yadav, police were staying at a safe place along with their weapons and communications set after the locals informed them that the Maoist attack on the police post was imminent. Local people had come to know about the plan of the Maoist workers as they saw them eating at local ‘hotels’ and restaurants two hours before the attack.

According to the Superintendent of Police, six police personnel departed for Area Police Post at Ghorepani along with the weapons and the communications set after they tipped about the planned attack. The remaining police personnel were keeping a watch on the police post in civilian uniform. They fled immediately after they saw a group of about 12 Maoist workers entering the police post.

The Superintendent of Police said, quoting an ASI from the site, that the Maoist rebels have not damaged the police post. However, it is suspected that the Maoists have planted a bomb there. The Maoist workers have carried away helmets, sleepling bags and documents from the police post.

A local resident told by telephone that the Maoist workers organised a programme after they captured the police post. This is possibly the first case in which the Maoists have captured the police post in broad daylight.

Tatopani is the tourist area and the only gateway to Mustang district. Hotel entrepreneurs are, therefore, worried in view of the fact that tourism in that area will be adversely affected after the increase in Maoist activities.

Food prices plummet in Manthali

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MANTHALI, May 30- The food prices at the local market has declined by as much as 50 percent, thanks to the Maoist ban on the production and consumption of liquor.

A huge quantity of foodgrains which was earlier used in the brewing of local drinks has been saved after the Maoist insurgents put a ban on the production, transport, selling and consumption of liquor in the famine-ridden rural villages.

The people involved in the booze trade ordinarily are the downtrodden, down-on-the-social-scale castes like Kami, Sharki, Majhi, Damain, Hayu and Thami, who are not only economically poor-off but also generally illiterate and superstituous.

Hari Sunuwar from Farpu says, "Those who made rounds of the villages in search of foodgrains for brewing liquor are themselves selling the cereals nowadays."

People from across the district testify that the Maoist ban on liquor has been impressively effective here. As a result, the heavy demand for foodgrains primarily for purposes of producing liquor has plummeted drastically, releasing more than enough of the food cereals for daily consumption.

"We’ve not been able to sell the foodgrains accumulating since the last two years," says Arjun Ghimire from the headquarters Manthali. "Only two years back, we had to go in search of even minor quantities of corn in the villages for several days before we tracked it after paying as much as Rs 50 for a single pathi. Today it doesn’t sell even at Rs 25."

Tourist inflow up in Surkhet

SURKHET, May 30(RSS)- With the start of excavation work in Kakre Vihar, an ancient religious spot in Surkhet district, the tourists visiting here are increasing.

According to chief of Kakre Vihar Excavation and Restoration Project Uddhav Acharya, about 1,500 stone artifacts have been unearthed from the site.

The archaeological remains including the artistic stones artifacts unearthed so far, have been kept safely at the regional museum.

Latikoili VDC, Kakre Vihar Conservation Committee and Sustainable Development Office are co-operating in the preservation of such remains.

Under the project, scaling and drawing of such stone artifacts are also going on.

With the report of restoration of the Kakre Vihar, tourists from within and outside the country are pouring in a large number. An average of 500 tourists visit Kakre Vihar daily.

A plan of action for restoration of Kakre Vihar will be started after completing the excavation works, project chief Acharya said.

According to him, on the basis of its architectural structure of the Vihar, it is believed that the Vihar could be a pagoda style temple.

However, local people believe it to be a Buddhist Vihar.

Anti-leprosy campaign to be launched

KATHMANDU, May 30 (RSS)- Leprosy eradication campaign is to be launched in Achham district from June 3 to 7 under the joint auspices of HMG, WHO and the Netherlands Leprosy Relief .

Under the campaign, the patients suspected of suffering from leprosy will be referred to nearby Leprosy Diagnostic and Treatment Centre by the investigation teams which will reach the doorsteps of the villagers of various VDCs.

A total of 258 investigation teams will be engaged in detecting the leprosy patients in 50 VDCs where the disease has spread. Each team will consist of two members.

Forty-nine treatment centres with trained health workers have been set up to diagnose and treat the patients referred by such teams.

A total of 194 health workers and 322 volunteers will be involved in this campaign. monitoring and supervision teams from HMG and other INGOs will also take part in the campaign.

Orientation training were conducted for the volunteers and people’s representatives and separate training for health workers.

A rally was taken out and publicity materials were distributed to generate awareness among the people about the disease.

The campaign aims at covering 158,288 people of the 50 VDCs in achham district.

Goat rearing program launched

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MAHENDRANAGAR, May 30 - The government funded goat rearing programme has been launched in Kanchanpur district with a view to improving the condition of living of the poorest families in the district.

This programme has been implemented in 22 districts, including the hill districts, of the country from the current fiscal year. Under the first phase of the programme, 10 goats are distributed free of charge to each of the 100 poorest families from the selected districts.

The Krishnaur Village Development Committee of the district has been found to be the best area for goat rearing programme, according to Dr. Amar Bahadur Shah, Chief of the District Livestock Office.

Shah said the 100 poorest families from the VDC were selected unanimously by an all-party meeting and 10 goats were given to each of the poorest families free of charge. All the goats were purchased from the neighbouring areas.

The government authorities decided this year to purchase the local breed of goat after they realised that the high breed goat from India and Israel suffered acclimatizing the Nepali climate.

It is estimated that the government has to spend around Rs 30 million to get the programme implemented. Shah said the programme benefited both the goat sellers and the poor families.

Experts at Livestock Health Service Department said an estimated Rs 100 million is spent to import goat and sheep from India and Tibet every year.

The second phase of the goat rearing programme would be reintroduced in the same 22 districts along with the impact study of the first phase of the programme.

Koirala Niwas apprised of bandh incident

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BIRATNAGAR, May 30- The Chief District Officer, Binod Gyanwali, who was beaten up by the Nepali Congress activists yesterday for his alleged inefficiency in co-ordinating the party’s resistance march against the opposition-engineered Nepal Bandh is the talk of the town today.

Gyanwali was trying to intervene in a 4-hour fracas that ensued from a face-to-face between the agitating activists of the grouping of six left parties and the anti-bandh Nepali Congress workers at Mahendra Chowk, yesterday. The CDO was defied by the police when they refused to comply with his orders.

The CDO sustained minor injuries when the enraged NC pelted stones at him for what they called his inefficiency in co-ordinating the police forces to let them organise the NC protest march.

A responsible activist of the Nepali Congress said that, as always, Gyanwali apprised the Koirala Niwas of his grievance yesterday itself. But according to him, the CDO received a curt reply from the Niwas stalwart, Nona Koirala, that he was to blame himself for the incident. It is worth mentioning that the Niwas earlier always used to pass its verdict in favour of Gyanwali.

Season's first paddy planting begins in Dolpa

DUNAI, May 30 (RSS)- Anyone who reaches Tripurakot village in Dolpa district these days will surely be enchanted with the scenes of paddy plantations accompanied by beautiful songs of folk tunes. These songs are the ones sung by the Deutis who plant the paddy seedlings.

Paddy plantation began this year rather early due to early rain at Tripurakot village and these songs can be heard in each and every terraces of the paddy fields.

According to the District Agriculture Development Office, rice is cultivated in 40 hectares of land in the district. Plantation has begun in 15 hectares of land in Tripurakot as it rained in time a few weeks earlier than past years. Tripurakot is the VDC which grows most of the rice produced by the district.

Most of the farmers in Tripurakot are happy to plant rice early but some ten farmers looked gloomy as they were deprived from planting rice.

The reasons were that the new variety of rice seeds provided by the district agriculture office was of the variety to be sowed only in dry slopes and not of the vareity that could be planted in the paddy fields. as a result, the seeds did not germinate. the new variety was given because the old variety was damaged by disease last year.

Farmer Umakant Neupane of Tripurakot VDC says we believed the agriculture office and were happy to get the seeds but it did not germinate and even if some of it germinated, it was not the variety suitable for our land.

Insurgents threaten to attack

JAJARKOT, May 30 (PR) - Maoist rebels have warned that they would attack again if the policemen remain in the Panchkatiya police outpost within a week, locals here said Tuesday.

Last year, the rebels destroyed the Panchkatiya outpost by bombs, leaving 21 people, including a dozen police personnel, seven locals and two Maoists dead and a number of others seriously injured.

The policemen have been staying there in a makeshift shelter after they reclaimed the post about three months ago.

"The rebels have told us to leave the area to avoid impending casualties of the civilians. But we cannot leave the place where we grew up," an aged local shopkeeper told The Kathmandu Post.

Ultras set off bomb

TULSIPUR, May 30 (PR) - Unidentified ultras set off a socket bomb at the central administrative building of the Mahendra Sanskrit University at about 9:30 PM, Tuesday night. The glasspanes of the two windows and a wardrobe were smashed and plastic chairs crumbled in the blast.

Three persons arrived at the chamber of the Vice-Chancellor’s personal assistant in the evening and left the room with the bomb wrapped in a handkerchief. The bomb blasted off immediately afterwards. Suspicions are that the Maoists, whose student wing is avowedly campaigning against Sanskrit education, might be responsible for the attack.