Photo exhibition on ‘Swiss Alps’ opens

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KATHMANDU, Nov 5 – The photo exhibition entitled The Swiss Alps that consists of 43 colour photographs and explanatory panels has kicked off here today. The exhibition will be on display till November 11 in Hotel de l’Annapurna.

The week-long exhibition is a Swiss contribution to the International Year of the Mountains 2002 declared by the United Nations, which focus on the importance of mountains for the whole world.

Inaugurating the exhibition Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba said that Nepal and Switzerland have in common mountains that occupy 70 percent of the land and from this exhibition Nepal will get a chance to highlight the importance of mountains.

Addressing the function Dr Walter Gyger, Ambassador of Switzerland to Nepal said, "The exhibition will not only create a bridge between the two countries but also help to educate and generate awareness about the importance of the mountains."

The Alps which measures about 1200 km in length and 15781 feet in altitude was discovered in the 18th century.The exhibition has already been displayed in two hill-stations of India- Shimla and Dehradun.

During the exhibition, a series of short documentaries on various aspects of the Swiss Alps will also be screened.

The exhibition was jointly organised by the Embassy of Switzerland, New Delhi and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

Purano Kalimati residents to bring water pipeline

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KATHMANDU, Nov 5 - The residents of Purano Kalimati area, near Kalanki, Ward No 13 will soon be enjoying drinking water facility, thanks to the joint efforts of the ward committee and the active participation of the locals.

"We have to buy water in buckets because water is so scarce in our locality. But now, we will soon be having our own water pipeline in our area," said Sanukaji KC, the secretary of Purano Kalimati Consumers’ Committee (PKCC).

Though they live in the Capital, around 150 households in the newly developed area of Purano Kalimati have been living uneasy lives because direct pipelines of drinking water are not yet available there. They either buy water in buckets or call tankers to provide them with drinking water.

KC said that they used to have a pipeline from Kalanki area some 20 years ago that served the locals with five public water taps. However, it used to be blocked repeatedly.

For a long-term solution, the locals have decided to bring drinking water from Khadka Gaon, the adjoining area across Ring Road. The project will cost Rs 2.7 million rupees for which the PKCC will provide Rs 800,000 including Rs 400,000 that KMC is giving.

Representatives of PKCC had a meeting with the Public Works Department of Kathmandu Metropolitan City Monday to have the pipelines joined.

The Drinking Water, Sewerage and Sanitation Corporation (DWSS) has made a deep-boring waterplant there beside the Balkhu river that would provide drinking water for the residents of the surrounding area.

"Our committee is holding another meeting Wednesday to decide how much each consumer will have to pay for water service," he added.

The Ward No 13 office has provided Rs 400 thousand from the Kathmandu Valley Mapping Project on the condition that at least 40 percent of it would be added from the locals.

According to ward member Dil Bahadur Manandhar, the ward office has been providing necessary assistance to promising consumers.

The committee had planned to construct a reservoir in Kalanki next to Sitapaila Village Development Committee which was later dropped as DWSS agreed to distribute water right from the boring plant.

Speakers hail leasehold forestry

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KATHMANDU, Nov 5 – Speakers at a workshop here today hailed the Hills Leasehold Forestry Project (HLFP) that aims to uplift the people below poverty line.

They said that the project has been extended to over 16 districts, in addition to the already existing 10 districts, from this year as the project proved to be very successful in benefiting the poor people of the districts where the programme has been implemented.

"The project has been very effective in uplifting the poor people of the districts where the programme has been operative and we have added 16 additional districts from this fiscal year," said Dibya Deo Bhatta, Director General of the Department of Forest.

His Majesty’s Government began the HLFP in 1992 with the support of Food and Agriculture Organization, International Fund for Agriculture Development and technical assistance of the Netherlands with the objective of alleviating poverty. According to the programme, a group of 5-10 members is given unused forestland for agro-forest usage for period of forty years . The group does not need to pay any tax or royalty in return for the land.

According to the Department of Forest, 7 thousand hectres of land has been distributed to 1,655 leasehold groups of 11,500 families.

Inaugurating the workshop, Gopal Man Shrestha, Minister for Forest and Soil Conservation (MFSC), underlined the need to further extend the programme as many poor of the country are directly benefiting from the project.

Shankar Sharma, member of the National Planning Commission (NPC) said ," the NPC and donor agencies have given priority to the project as it is directly targeted to the poor section of society.

Chandi Prasad Shrestha, secretary at the MFSC, also lauded the success of the project at the workshop held under the chairmanship of the State Minister for the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation. The workshop will continue till Nov 7.

‘Art show with a difference’ kicks off

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KATHMANDU, Nov 5 - It is going to be an art exhibition with a difference. Beginning Tuesday, November 6, an art exhibition featuring the artworks of two artistes will get underway at the Siddhartha Art Gallery in the Capital.

The exhibition will feature the works of Jyoti Duwadi, a USA-based non-resident Nepali who frequently visits Nepal, and Sandy Shum, an American citizen who is currently based in Thailand. The exhibition will open until November 26.

While Duwadi’s digital artworks reflect the spirit of nature in the abstract form and present the colours of Hindu and Buddhist rituals found in Nepali culture, impressions of Asia, or traditions and cultures of Nepal, Thailand and Cambodia are the main highlights of Shum’s works. The uniqueness about their work is that they have used computer programmes to create their final composition.

Duwadi first paints his works with his hands into the natural fibres of hand-made Nepali paper and then gets it printed using a computer as a medium to create his eventual digital art. For Duwadi, art and life in the West have always been separate "whereas the beauty in Nepal has integrated the two forms into one".

"I want the young Nepali generation to realise that it is possible to create good works of art with the use of computer," Duwadi told journalists at a press-preview here Monday.

Shum said, "Through these pictures I wish to bring beauty and peace in our daily lives especially in times of troubles like this...Computers are not only machines but also versatile and colourful tools that an artiste can use."

All-party meet decides to stop evacuation

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MAHENDRANAGAR, Nov 5 - Despite the resistance from Shukla Phanta Reserve, an all-party meeting held here today decided to suspend the evacuation process until the families living in the extended area of the reserve are compensated with land in other areas.

The district administration office had called the meeting to take stock of the situation after the reserve administration started removing people from the 150 square km of the extended area. The meeting also demanded the government that a high level powerful commission be formed to sort out the resettlement problem of the affected people.

Even the advisor of the Prime Minister, Baldev Bohara, who also took part in the all-party meet, said that the evacuation process should have been carried out after finding out an alternative way to the affected people.

Lawmaker and whip of the Nepali Congress parliamentary party, Ramesh Lekhak, said that the reserve administration should be allowed to continue its work as the government was doing its homework to form a commission.

Chief Conservator of the reserve, Surya Bahadur Pandey, said that evacuation process was being carried out as per the instruction by the Department of Forest and insisted that there should not be any political interference while evacuating the people from the extended area.

"I will help resettle the affected families identifying their land in other areas as recommended by the previous commissions," Pandey said, adding there had always been political interference in the matters related with the reserve. The all-party meet, however, extended its support about the reserve’s decision to remove the people from the area.

There had been 18 commissions formed by the government ever since the reserve was decided to further extend its linkage with the Chure mountain range in 1989. But none of the recommendations of the commissions were put into practice due to political pressures all the time. Kanchanpur District Development Committee chairman, Rishi Raj Lumsali, said the new commission should be armed with full power. He added that no one should be compensated with land more than once.

Ranger of the reserve, Ramesh Thapa, said that 46 huts had already been demolished from the extended area in Rauteli Bichawa VDC-1 and Badhani Khoala since last week. People of ward No-2 of the VDC have agreed to leave their village on their own will and the reserve authorities have given them a chance.

Meanwhile, 102 affected families have formed an action committee against the reserve chaired by Jeet Bahadur Ghale.

The Shukla Phanta Reserve is believed to be one of the densely populated habitat of the Royal Bengal tiger in the world and is a major corridor for the movement of wildlife from Indian reserves to Nepal’s protected forests.

‘Convicted’ Maoist commander deserts party

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JAJARKOT, Nov 5 - A Maoist commander deserted the party and fled to India alongwith his half a dozen senior cadres after a Maoist court convicted him to death sentence on charges of allegedly having sexual relations with a woman of his own group, according to a source close to Majkot VDC.

This is probably the first incident of death penalty ordered by the Maoist court against its own cadre after the Maoist waged People’s War six years ago. Maoists consider it unethical if anyone establishes sexual relations with a woman other than his wife.

The person who deserted the party alongwith his fellow cadres has been identified as Kali Bahadur Khadka A.K.A Comrade Sameer, a permanent resident of Taiya Gaon of western Majkot VDC. The source said that he was the secretary of area No. 6 of Maoist district No-1.

One of the party members found Khadka and the woman having sex. He was immediately arrested with handcuffs on June 9 and taken to the eastern part of the district to officially charge him in the Maoist court.

After being taken to the court, Khadka denied having any physical relations with that woman. He was suspended from all party activities after the woman accepted the fact that they had had such relations.

The source said that commanders of the western and eastern part of the district had clashed among themselves after the court announced the death sentence.

The commanders holding grip of the western part had demanded that the accused be given a minor punishment rather than the death penalty. Khadka was convicted death penalty last week. He, however, managed to escape from the Maoist circle added by the villagers.

Majkot VDC chairman Bed Bahadur Shahi said that Khadka fled his village alongwith his family members and other squad members.

Chief District Officer Rishikesh Niraula said the Maoist organisations in the western part of the district had been disintegrated as most of the cadres deserted the party or fled to India.

Members of the local youth wing of the main opposition - CPN-UML - said the Maoist rebels beat up their supporters and moved them around Majkot village with handcuffs after they refused to join the ward level committee formed by the rebels.

Meanwhile, the rebels abducted Bhim Bahadur Malla, chairman of Ragda VDC elected on behalf of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, before Dashain festival from his own shop, family source said.

It is end of violence that counts: Poudel

CHITWAN, Nov 5 (RSS) - Nepali Congress party leader and former deputy prime minister Ram Chandra Poudel has said the immediate conclusion of the government-Maoist talks would not be an achievement in itself.

He reiterated that only ending the talks would not ensure the success of the talks. On the other hand, it is the end of violence and terror that counts whether the talks are successful or not, he added.

The former deputy prime minister also remarked that it is equally important for the Maoists to give up their arms and bring them into the political process.

Poudel expressed these views while addressing separate gatherings of the party workers in Bharatpur and Ratnanagar of Chitwan district yesterday.

The Maoists are trying to confuse the talks process and they want to avoid it as they do not have specific demands which they can stand up before the people and put forth, he alleged.

Poudel also spoke on the need for all the political parties to isolate the Maoists since they were creating a big misunderstanding between the political parties as well as a sense of fear and confusion in the country.

Assistant minister for construction and physical planning Sabitri Bogati Pathak called on the Maoists to abandon the politics of violence, stressing that the pace of development in the country would pick up momentum only in an environment of peace and security.

NSP withdraws Singhadurbar gherao

BIRGUNJ, Nov 5(RSS) - Nepal Sadbhavana Party (NSP) has, for the time being, withdrawn its programme of organizing a public demonstration and Singhadurbar gherao scheduled for tomorrow.

NSP president Gajendra Narayan Singh gave this information while addressing a press meet organized after the conclusion of a two-day meeting of the party held here on Sunday.

On the occasion, the NSP president said the Maoist problem could be resolved through talks but termed the Maoist activities as terrorist activities.

He demanded that the government fix the minimum purchase price of the agriculture produce, constitute a separate commission for the uplift of the Madhesi and dalit communities, provide employment opportunities to the educated unemployed persons and resolve the citizenship problem in the Terai.

MP Rajendra Mahato called on all the political parties and people’s representatives to become committed to increasing people’s participation in nation development.