With advent of Tihar, Kathmanduites prepare for shopping

By Perina Pathak

KATHMANDU, Nov 9 - With only a couple of days left for the Tihar (Dipawali) festival, the second greatest festival of the Hindus after Dashain, the Kathmanduites are busy in shopping.

The shopping areas in the heart of Capital such as Ason, Indrachowk and New Road look busier these days as more people are thronging these places for the Tihar festival shopping flower garlands, candles, electric lights, dry fruits, sweets, ghee and oil, among host of other items.

Shopkeepers are busy selling different items and luring customers and passers-by toward their shops as they consider this month to be the prime time for business. The two biggest festivals, viz, Dashain and Tihar fall in this month.

As new clothes are associated with Dashain, delicious food, colourful candles and home decoration are synonymous to Tihar or Deepawali. People believe that by decorating their houses, they can attract Laxmi (Goddess of Wealth) towards them and they will never be short of money in life.

"I am buying all kinds of decoration materials for my house," says Raman Chaudhary, who was buying four dozens of Makhamali and Jari garlands each in the Kel Tole alley, Ason Chowk.

Beside decorative materials, dry fruits are the most essential and largely sold items among others. Jeevan Kapali, a dry fruit wholesaler at Indrachowk says, "Established wholesalers are making, on an average, daily sale between Rs 100 and 200 thousands and the new ones are selling between Rs 10 to Rs 20 thousand."

Among the dry fruits wallnut, cashew, almond, raisin, cardamom, dry coconut and chhoda are sold in large quantities. Among them, wallnuts are considered to be the most essential dry fruit required for the Bhai Puja (brother worship).

According to shopkeepers, they sell on an average of 100-200 kilograms wallnuts every day during the Tihar festival.

Besides big shops and wholesellers situated at Indrachowk and Ason, small street vendors in the areas also make good money during Tihar. "It has been a week that I am earning Rs 200-400 every day," remarks Jeeban Gurung, selling various colour tika packets and colourful paper crafts in the street.

Tihar is also known as the festival of light. In Tihar people decorate their houses with electric light, oil lamp and candles to attract the Goddess of Wealth Laxmi. Nowadays, instead of oil lamps people have started using electric light or candles.

One of the candle sellers at Ason Chowk reveals that he sells, on an average, candles worth around Rs 500-600 thousand every year, only during the Tihar festival.

Sixty-seven years old Dev Ratna Chitrakar, who has been making candles since 1953, says people started buying candles only after the year1970. "Nowadays, people have started using candles instead of oil lamps, so there is a big sale in the recent years," Chitrakar says.

These days busy market places are lavishly decorated to attract customers. Almost all the shops look bright and electric lights, garlands, colourful papers and craft papers are used to decorate the shops.

There is also a tradition of buying new kitchenware and/or gold items to worship Goddess Laxmi during Tihar. So Pragya and her mother Rekha Sharma, were busy selecting jewelry items for puja in a jewelry shop in Ason.

" I used to buy one steel or brass utensil, but this year I have planned to buy a locket with the print of Goddess Laxmi," says Rekha.

The most important part of the festival is sweets, which are eaten as prasad of Goddess Laxmi. Some prefer to buy ready-made sweets from shops situated in every nook and corner of the Capital city. Some people prefer to make sweets in their own houses.

Sweet shops also try their level best to attract customers to their shops by displaying the sweets of various shapes and sizes.

Experts monitor KVMP projects

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Nov 9 - A team comprising international experts visited various projects being run by the Kathmandu Valley Mapping Programme (KVMP) Thursday as a part of quick monitoring of the projects.

Piero Balossi, one among the team members of the team told The Kathmandu Post today that the projects of KVMP are "positive".

The team is on site visits to various projects running under the assistance of the European Commission. Balossi said the part of the project that involves the community in exploring the local problem impressed him.

KVMP launched Integrated Action Plans in ward levels where the locals meet to discuss the local problems, their needs and means to resolve the problem.

"I hope the community will be involved in future development plans also," he said.

He also said that there are many vital issues left over. "Important issues like solid waste management, landfill site are still waiting for result-oriented actions," he said.

KVMP is an approach to integrated urban development, being carried out as a joint effort of the KMC and the European Commission. It has the objective to improve the capability of KMC to carry out urban development in a sustainable manner.

Govt urged to solve Maoist problem

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Nov 9 – Maoist- affected people living in Kathmandu today held a silent rally demanding the government to solve the six-year-old Maoist insurgency and create safe environment so that they could return their home.

Nearly one hundred people participated in the rally that went through the main thoroughfares of Kathmandu before turning into a corner meeting at Bhadrakali. Speakers at the meeting criticised the government for not providing support for them to live in the Capital.

"We are not getting support from the government and we have been denied access to the Ganesh Man Shanti Movement," said Ganesh Prasad Chilwal, president of the Forum of the Maoist-affected people, addressing the meeting. The Ganesh Man Shanti Moventment is a government programme intended to rehabilitate the people affected by the Maoist insurgents.

He also demanded the government to create safe environment for their return to their home and to provide financial support to the government-affected people.

Dharmaraj Neupane, vice president of the Forum, demanded the Maoists to stop violence and terrorising people. Janardan Aryal, a Maoist victim, blamed the Maoists for violating the terms of the cease-fire process.

In the Maoist-waged ‘people’s war’, 384 common people have been killed and 700 others have become disabled. In the process over 2000 people including police, Maoists and the general public have lost their lives.

Massive deforestation in Udayapur

Post Report

UDAYAPUR, Nov 9 - Hundreds of bigahas of forest area has been destroyed in the eastern part of the district as the authorities here fail to check the encroachment that has occurred in recent days due to the security reasons.

At least 500 bighas of forest land has been cleared up in Rampur VDC of ward 3 and 7. According to the Dhanapati Acharya, member of District Development Committee, around 4-5 hundred people are involved daily in clearing the forest area.

Local people including some wood smugglers chop down the trees and throw it into the Koshi river to transport it to India.The local representatives say that the felling of trees has been intensified in recent years as the Area Police Office Rampur has been shifted and forest guard no longer patrol the area due to escalating Maoist and Khumbuwan activity.

"We requested them many times not to intrude into forest area but all in vain. Their activity has flourished because there’s no regulating body", said one of the representative on condition of anominity. According to the locals the Maoist themselves are inspiring the locals to cut down the trees as they are also directly involved in the activity.

Despite the massive deforestation in the district, the concerned District Forest Office has not taken any action to stop the encroachment although the political parties have asked Shankar Kumar Yadav, District Forest Officer to take necessary action.

Minister urges for favourable transport policy

BUTWAL, Nov 9 (RSS) - Minister of State for Local Development Duryodhan Singh has pointed out the need for introduction of transport policies favourable for transport entrepreneurs.

Inaugurating here yesterday the seventh annual general meeting of western Nepal bus entrepreneurs association, Mr Singh said efficient and transparent policies and regulations alone cannot foster business, guarantee of security is equally important.

CPN-UML central member Bishnu Poudel spoke of the need to change the policy being adopted to displace 20-year-old vehicles without providing any proper alternative.

President of Nepal Tarun Dal Balkrishna Khand said the government should take business organisations as its fellow worker.

Central member of Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI) Chop Narayan Shrestha gave emphasis on amendments in the transport act.

Former President of Nepal Transport Federation Sharad Upreti, Mayor of Butwal Municipality Bhoj Prasad Shrestha and other speakers also expressed their views at the programme chaired by president of the association Krishna Neupane.

Two youths escape from Maoist captivity

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CHARIKOT (Dolakha), Nov 9 - Two abducted youths have escaped from Maoist captivity and arrived at the district headquarters on Friday after being threatened to death by the rebels if they did not agree to join the party.

"Since we were abducted by the rebels they tortured us and gave political training. They pressed us for joining the party. But we refused their offer time and again. We escaped from their captivity after they threatened us to kill," said Suresh Tamang from Gairimudi of Dolakha and Pratap Lama from Jethal village of Sindhupalchowk. But Tamang’s wife is still in Maoist custody. All three people were abducted about four months ago.

They were taken into hostage by the rebels on charges of extorting people in the name of Maoist and of a murder. Earlier, a Maoist source said that the abducted people were kept in a labour camp as a punishment for their "crimes."

"They tortured us for many days and tied our hands and legs while sleeping," said Tamang after escaping from the rebel captivity. He said that the rebels threatened to torture the locals if they did not obey their order. The victims said the rebels in the camp used to torture them in connivance with the local Maoists of Gairimudi. They were told to work for building a house of a Maoist leader at Bhedpu VDC-8. Tamang said that he could have escaped from the Maoist camp long ago but could not do so because his wife was also held by the rebels.

One day, the rebels took him to his wife who was forced to work in a labour camp at Fasku VDC. Both the husband and wife were allowed to spend a day there. His wife said that she was assaulted by the rebels.

Asked about the crimes the rebels charged them, both the victims said they were totally innocent. "I even do not know the crime for which my wife has been taken into hostage," he said.

Both the victims, who are driver and helper by profession, said that most of the people had joined the Maoist party to take revenge to the people they hate. Asked about their security, deputy superintendent of police Bijaya Kumar Bhatta said he was informed about their arrival but said had not thought about their security.