Ancient vehicles spared the ban, for now

By Surendra Phuyal

KATHMANDU, Nov 14 –  The government has doled out a major Tihar gift to the Valley’s more than 11,000 owners of 20-plus-year-old vehicles: it has quietly decided to put on hold the controversial ban on old vehicles which otherwise would have come into effect on November 16.

Constantly hounded by transport entrepreneurs - who went on to stage nationwide protests against the one-year-old decision - higher ups at the Ministry of Population and Environment (MOPE) are busy reconsidering the decision. "The plan has been put off for the time being, and we are re-working on it," a highly placed official at the MOPE told The Kathmandu Post.

And what actually forced a rethink of the decision was the recommendations made by a committee, headed by National Planning Commission Member, Dr Jagadish Chandra Pokharel that was formed by the government in the wake of mounting protests from the entrepreneurs.

The committee - and three sub-committees of finance, technical and traffic management – has said in the report submitted at the MOPE last month: "A vehicle more than 20 years old does not mean that it pollutes the environment. This looks like a decision taken in a haste…without enough home work and preparations and hence it is impractical."

While pointing out the necessity to channel millions of rupees in grant - something, officials say the government cannot afford to - to the entrepreneurs who might need to bring in new vehicles to replace the old ones, the committee, among others, suggested that rigorous emission tests be done on the vehicles and those repeatedly failing them be driven out of the Valley.

Having succeeded in forcing the government reconsider the decision, the entrepreneurs are apparently elated. Said Sarad Upreti, the former president of the Federation of Nepalese Transport Entrepreneurs (FNTE), who led the nationwide protests early this year: "It was simply impractical. It’s good that the plan has been put off, we are expecting something practical, do-able."

Officials at the MOPE privately acknowledge that the decision indeed was taken in haste and assert that approaches and measures to improve the city’s air quality would be forthcoming. "Our plans have not failed," the MOPE official said. "It’s only that we are re-working. We will soon come up with a fresh announcement and do something about it."

But the Tihar gift has come at the cost of the World Heritage city’s pristine environment and health of the Valley’s nearly 2 million people. Countless studies conducted in recent times have shown that the capital’s air quality is continuing to deteriorate and is alarming with emission levels at a few places far exceeding the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended level.

Fumes Bharat Basnet, a tourism entrepreneur and environmental activist, "This is nonsense, a cowardly move. The officials appear to have been bribed by automobile mafia. Really bold decisions have to be there if we are to improve the air quality."

Adds Dr Toran Sharma, an environmental expert at the Nepal Environment and Scientific Services (NESS): "There has to be age bar for vehicles. Older vehicles normally tend to be polluters. Only Royals can live in the palace; this is our capital city."

Bangla divers arrive; set to leave for Rara Lake

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Nov 14 – Ten scuba divers from Bangladesh arrived in Kathmandu today to assist in the search of three persons who are still missing in Rara Lake where a Fishtail Air helicopter crashed early this week. Eight of the divers left for Nepalgunj on their way to the lake, government officials said today.

The officials of the Research Co-ordination Centre (RCC) at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) said the remaining two divers from the Bangladesh navy led by Capt Mustafizur Rahman will leave tomorrow with the equipment of the divers which is expected to arrive from Bangladesh tomorrow.

At a briefing conducted at the Research Co-ordination Centre (RCC) for the scuba divers today, the officials from the Civil Aviation Ministry told the navymen about the weather and the details of the area around the lake in the Rara National Park.

On Monday, the 9N-AFP Fishtail Air helicopter crashed into the lake at about 11.25 a.m. Princess Prekshya died in the crash and three others are still missing. However, two passengers, Lt Col Dr Rishi Khatri and Sharada Singh Suwal, the personal physician and the personal attendant of the Princess respectively were rescued when they were found swimming.

The three others – Ishwor Basnet, an acquaintance, Dan Bahadur Shahi, managing director of the company owned by the Princess near Nepalgunj and the pilot, Rabin Kadaria – are still missing and presumed dead.

The officials told The Kathmandu Post that during the 40-minute briefing Capt Rahman expressed concerns about the high altitude of the place (2990 m), the cold temperature (which the officials say could be as low as zero degree centigrade) and the depth of the lake (167 m).

The chances of recovering the wreckage appear to be remote, admitted the officials, after talking to the scuba divers. Answering the questions of RCC officials, the captain said, at a time the divers could stay for 10 minutes under water upto the depth of 150 feet. However, he added that if they had to descend till 180 feet, they could remain under water only for five minutes. The depth of the lake is 167 metres, or 556 feet. Bikash Rana, owner and executive chairman of Fishtail Air, told The Kathmandu Post that the search and rescue mission remained suspended today. The operation, jointly conducted by the Royal Nepal Army, the local police and the Mugu district administration officials was suspended at 2 p.m. on Tuesday.

Rana said yesterday that only the doors and seats of the helicopter were found in the search operation. Yesterday, the government also formed a seven-member probe committee headed by the Deputy Attorney General to investigate the crash. The committee consists of officials from the army, civil aviation ministry and the technicians of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal. It has to submit its report within 45 days of starting its work.

With peacetalks deadlocked, all eyes are set on round four

By Binaj Gurubacharya

KATHMANDU, Nov 14 – The peace talks between the government and the Maoists may appear to be deadlocked once again but indications are that the two sides will continue with the talks that could end the nearly six years of insurgency claiming over 1,800 lives.

Though the Maoists negotiators led by Krishna Bahadur Mahara walked out of the dialogue table on Tuesday night accusing the government of taking a rigid stand, they stopped short of saying the peace talks was deadlocked.

"The talks have not failed completely ... it just remain inconclusive for now with good prospects of continuation of the talks," said Pancha Narayan Maharjan, researcher with the Center for Nepal and Asian Studies.

The government side appeared even more enthusiastic with Minister for Physical Planning Chiranjivi Wagle saying he was hopeful the next or the fourth round of peace talks will be held within the next two weeks.

The last talks held in the jungle resort in Bardia in September too had ended in a deadlock after the Maoists demanded a republic state and abolition of the Constitutional Monarchy and the government rejected it.

The next round of talks that was to be followed in Kathmandu in the next couple of days did not materialize until the elusive leader of the Maoists Prachanda declared last weekend they were suspending their demand for the republic state.

To the relief to many, the softer stand shown by the Maoists opened up the avenues for the talks and was finally held two months later than originally scheduled at Godavari, where the first meeting was held on August 30.

"Step by step, the Maoists are becoming flexible in their demands and the stand for a republic state was just a bargaining chip," Maharjan said.

Now what the Maoists want is a constituent assembly and say they will not back down from this demand. "The constituent assembly is our minimum demand but the government side is hesitant to comply," Mahara said.

However, the Maoists want an election to this constituent assembly, which would mean that they would be adopting a democratic means within the framework of democracy. Election would mean that those elected would be the same or similar to the people who occupy the seats in the Parliament.

Even though the government refused the demand for a constituent assembly saying that the present Constitution already guarantees and safeguards the rights of the people, such a body would still be within the democratic system.

On the optimistic side, the Maoists have been taking a flexible stand giving up their demand for a republic state, which Mahara and other Maoist leaders were quoted as saying they would never give up.

"The government negotiators need to soften their tone and quit rejecting all the proposals or else their won’t be any talks left," said Maharjan. "Our Constitution says there are some things that are unamendable ... this is undemocratic since people are the sovereign they should be able to change everything." The Constitution says there needs to be two-third majority in the House of Representatives to make any changes in the Constitution. However, Constitutional Monarchy and multiparty democracy cannot be changed any circumstances.

"The ball is in the government’s court and it is up to them whether they want to continue with the peace process," said Agni Prasad Sapkota, another member of the Maoist team, after the nearly six hours of talks at the Godavari resort, south of Kathmandu. The government however insisted that it was the Maoists who have the play.

In fact, most analysts agree that the talks are in fact moving forward and all is not lost and that it may have taken two months for third round of talks to take place but the gap provided the much needed window for positive changes. And the fourth meeting could and should see progress.

DOF set to introduce Leasehold Forestry in 16 more districts

By Kiran Chapagain

KATHMANDU, Nov 14 –  Buoyed by the success of the improving conditions of the people living below the poverty line and its role in improving the ecological condition of the open barren lands of mid-hills in ten districts, the government has decided to extend Leasehold Forestry projects in 16 other districts.

The project had initially started in four districts – Makwanpur, Kavrepalanchowk, Sindhupalchowk and Ramechhap - in the exploratory phase of the project and later on extended to ten districts.

As the evaluation report of the eight years of the project operation produced an overwhelming success in uplifting the status of the people living below the poverty line, the Department of Forest is going to implement the project in 16 more districts from this fiscal year, according to the Director General of the Department of Forest.

"The Department of Forest is going to implement the project in 16 additional districts from this fiscal year," said the Director General of the Department of the Forest, Dibya Deo Bhatta.

"We are going to request donors agencies to support the project after Tihar," director Bhatta added. "We are going to request the donors to take responsibility of the leasehold forestry where they are working", he said.

According to an evaluation report of the eight-year long project of Hills Leasehold Forestry and Forage Project (HLFFDP), prepared by Department of Forest recently, more than 11,500 poor families have directly benefited from the project.

"There is a clear trend in increased income from the sale of farm products, such as milk, goat vegetables fruits, fodder or fodder seeds," said the report. "Leasehold households have increased food security by 16 percent," said the report.

The Department of Forest started the project in 1993 in Makwanpur, Kavrepalanchowk, Sindhupalchowk and Ramechhap in the beginning with the objectives of uplifting the conditions of the people living below the poverty line and improving ecological condition of the in open and barren mid-hills of Nepal by leasing blocks of degraded and barren forest land to small groups of poor families.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Netherlands’ technical assistance supported the project. The programme is currently operative in ten districts. The degraded forestlands is estimated to be in 1.5 millions of hectors.

The concept of Leasehold Forestry for the poor began as the government formulated the Forest Act in 1993.

The project has also proved very successful in exalting the position of women of the leasehold groups that are 1655 in number, consisting 5-10 people in each group, according to the report.

"Decision making power of women is increasing dramatically," said the report. It also added, "Before the leasehold groups were formed, only 10 percent of the women could decide for themselves, while 30 percent made joint decision and 60 percent depended on a male household member for making decision. At present 25 percent of the women could decide for themselves, while 55 made joint decision and only 20 percent depended on a male household member for making decision".

The programme has also decreased leasehold women’s time for collecting forest-based fodder and firewood by 2.5 hours per day.

Not only the project improved the condition of the leasehold poor family, it also improved the ecological condition of 7000 hectares of degraded forest land, which has been distributed to the leasehold groups.

"It has increased the ground cover of the land by 32 percent in the case of new leasehold land and by 78 percent in old leasehold group".

As the degraded open lands have become covered with tresses and vegetation, water level has increased substantially. " Even in the place where there came water for five months of a year have witnessed water flow almost a year," said the report. The IFAD and the Netherlands completed the project in June this year, the government is looking for donors to give continuity to the project. According to Shankar Sharma, member of the National Planning ommission, government could not run the project on its own financial resource.

DNC lambasts Bhutan govt

KATHMANDU, Nov 14 (PR)- Druk National Congress (DNC) today strongly criticised the Bhutanese government for its lack of sincerity in the repatriation of the Bhutanese refugees.

The press release issued by the DNC said that it has been keenly observing the work of the Joint Verification Team (JVT) and Joint Ministerial Level Committee (JMLC) since its inception. It accused that Bhutanese Royal regime has so far not indicated the place of their return as the places left behind by the refugees have been put under resettlement programme.

The motive of Bhutanese government appears to provoke the refugees by creating more confusion and frustration so that the situation turns more volatile in the camps, read the release.

The release also stated that DNC has been shocked to learn about the arrest of four persons namely Pema Tenzin, Hari Bhattarai, Tshewang Dondup and Kamal Pradhan for allegedly involving in anti-Dalai Lama activity at Siliguri. Reportedly, two of the four persons have claimed to be the members of the DNC during the interrogation. DNC had earlier claimed that the arrested persons are in no way linked with it and had urged its well wishers to be carried away by this mis-information.

Maoist attacks on UML workers continue

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KATHMANDU, Nov 14 - The latest attacks on a house of an active member of the main opposition party CPN-UML has corroborated the reports that the Maoist leadership has lost control over its cadres.

According to reports provided by the UML party sources, a group of 10-12 armed and masked men claiming to be Maoists robbed the house of Thakkar Prasad Sanjel, member of UML who was actively involved in anti Maoist movement in Bhattedanda VDC of Lalitpur district on the evening of 11th November.

The men looted Rs 25,000 in cash and over 5 tola of gold jewelry, including the jewelry worn by a guest. The armed men did not even spare few hundred rupees from piggy banks of two children.

The men came into the house and said that they were looking for arms but after tying up the family members rummaged through the house and looted the valuables.

"We know no Prachanda," the men reportedly said when Sanjel protested saying that the supreme leader of the Maoists had given orders to stop all violent activities. "Hundreds of Prachandas will be born at the need of time. It is easy for the leaders to give orders but how are we to survive in the jungles without looting," the men reportedly replied.

The men even challenged Sanjel saying that you can give this information to all the papers you can but don’t dare to inflate the amount that we have looted.

This incident has raised a question mark over how effective is Prachanda’s orders on the Maoist cadres said Keshab Badal, a standing committee member of UML. "The men even raised questions on Prachanda’s loyalty to the Maoist party therefore now we are convinced that the Maoist leadership has no control over its working cadres," he added.

Badal informed that the UML is planning to organise a mass meet in Bhattedanda, soon after Tihar and is going to intensify its campaign against the Maoists. "If this trend of victimising UML cadres goes on then they (Maoists) will have to pay a heavy price," Badal added.