A plan to save Phewa lake could be adding to woes

By Birodh Pandey

POKHARA, Nov 14 - The future of the magnificent Phewa Lake- a popular tourist attraction – appears to be bleak as both the government and local bodies are persistently implementing what is being called "faulty developmental programmes."

In a recent move to save Phewa Lake from siltation problem, the Pokhara municipality has constructed drains around the periphery of the lake as part of the Second Tourism Infrastructure Development Project funded by Asian Development Bank (ADB) and His Majestiy’s Government (HMG). The drains are supposed to discharge storm water into the lake. Several sedimentation purification points along the system were also envisaged by the project but only one has been built.

The trouble is, alongwith the rain water, the drains are also discharging urban sewage into the lake. Environmentalists say, a disaster looms large if the practice is not stopped soon.

"Though the sole purpose of the drainage is to discharge only rainwater, in some places the urban discharge is directly connected to it", admits Sharad Mohan Kafle, Engineer at Pokhara Environmental Improvement Project which is currently undertaking the work.

Such activity has alarmed conservationists. Dr Roshan Shrestha, Water Quality Expert at Environment and Public Health Organisation (ENPHO), a Kathmandu-based organisation, says that apart from siltation there is direct flow of urban waste with high concentration of phosphorous that has already led to deterioration of water quality.

"The presence of water hyacinth and algae blooms is evidence to show that water is being polluted," he said. According to him the municipality should have constructed scientific filtration tank that can not only segregate the sediments but also the chemical pollutants.

The municipality denies that sewage is being dumped into the lake. "The drain is merely meant for the discharge of rain water not for the urban sewage", says Man Bahadur Gurung, Deputy Mayor of Pokhara Sub-Metropolitan City. "We will strictly see to it that no urban sewage has been dumped into these drains". However, he admits to having failed to build the siltation tanks as proposed in the programme due to land dispute.

Siltation is a massive problem in Pokhara, a valley nestled at the foothills of the fragile Himalayas. Geologists say that within the other half of the next decade Phewa will turn into marshy plains if corrective measures are not taken soon.

"If government is to save Phewa from being rapidly buried then it must build number of siltation tanks", says Dr Megh Raj Dhital, Geologist at Tribhuvan University. According to him the problem of siltation will only be worse with the heavy monsoon downpour. Only one silt filtration tank, as is the case now, will not suffice.

An aerial survey carried out by Air Map Italy shows that present size of the lake is half from what it used to be in 1970’s. The problem, the scientists say, is the rapid encroachment of the lake
by silt.

The immediate sufferers of this unresolved problem will be the dwellers of Pokhara whose fortune has been paved by the booming tourism business around the lake. Tourism entrepreneurs and locals worry that if no efforts are made, the magnificent gift of nature will be something of past.

"We are letting away the hen laying golden egg from our hands", says Sundar Kumar Shrestha, President of Regional Hotel Association. He says that tourism entrepreneurs were first optimistic about the plan of the municipality to drain the water as they had facilities of sediment filtration and promised to drain only rainwater. But, he now rues, it was all in paper only.

CIAA probes into subsidised salt scam

Post Report

KHANDBARI (Sankhuwasabha), Nov 14 - The constitutional anti-corruption body - Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has taken action against the chairman of a co-operative firm in connection with irregularities on subsidised iodised salt supplied to the district.

Chairman of Sankhuwasabhsa Multiple Co-operative, Raj Kumar Shrestha, was released on a bail amount of more than 400,000 rupees. Shrestha has been ordered to present at the CIAA central office in Kathmandu after the Tihar festival.

The District Development Committee had earlier filed a complaint at the CIAA against Shrestha and other four persons including the then Chief District Officer, assistant chief district officer, contractor and the Salt Trading Corporation Limited(STC), accusing all of them of indulging in irregularities on the subsidised salt.

The district administration office said that the then assistant chief district officer has been called back to the Home Ministry. CDO Netra Prasad Sharma said that he had no knowledge about the actions taken against the then CDO and the STC.

The 680 quintals of subsidised salt was distributed to all the VDCs in proportion to their population as per an all-party meeting held last year. But the DDC later found that the law enforcement officials themselves had ordered to distribute more salt than what was decided by the all-party meet.

The officials from the CIAA had taken written statement from the accused in an all-party meeting held here, the district headquarters.

Water project fails soon after completion

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SITAPUR (Banke), Nov 14 – The Underground Water Development Project aimed to irrigate the fields of this district has exerted the punch of non-performance as many of the tube wells faild to operate soon after their completion. Locals blame that the failure was caused by the financial irregularities that existed during the construction of the project.

The project that started in the fiscal year 2051/2052 with an amount of Rs 30 millions failed soon after they began to operate mainly because of the use of low-grade equipment. Apart from it, sources point out the unethical nexus between the contractor and the government officials and lack of coordination on the part of the Underground Water Development Project Nepalgunj.

16 deep tube wells were installed by the Underground Water Development Project at various places of the district with the aim of irrigating 600 hectares of land. However, four out of these 16 tube wells were non- functional by the time the project ended and remaining are also not functioning with their due capacity.

Likewise, four out of six tube wells were non- functional at various places of Sitapur VDC before the end of the project.

Locals say that use of low-grade transformer to provide electric powers to the system is also responsible for the failure of the project. Similarly, the quality of other accessories used there were also below required standards of the Project.

"Local contractor and the authorities embezzled 40 per cent of the total cost of the project", claimed Man Bahadur Bali, Chairman of Sitapur VDC.

"Tube wells installed under the private initiative three decades ago are still operating successfully while the government built ones failed soon", said the locals pointing out to the cause of the irregularities.

However, Ramesh Gautam, Chief of the project, said that it's natural for some of the tube wells to run dry due to the number of wells installed in the vicinity. " Since many people are pumping water in the vicinity, it's normal even if some of these facilities fail to operate", said Gautam.

Gautam, however, denied that project had failed and pointed out that it was also the responsibility of users' group to monitor the project. "All the work were done under the supervision of the users' group", added Gautam.

Nepal Era awaits government recognition

By Razen Manandhar

KATHMANDU, Nov 14 - He was only a layman but he not only liberated all of his fellow citizens from all their debts but launched a new era by the name of his country, after taking permission from the monarch. That was exactly 1,122 years ago.

The New Year is celebrated with extravaganza — in cultural milieu, rock-n-roll concerts and boisterous motorcycle rally at least in the Kathmandu Valley and some other cities where the Newars predominantly reside.

"There was a merchant called Shankhadhar Sakhwa in ancient Kathmandu who possessed piles of sand that turned into gold. Rather than using it for his personal purposes, he paid off all the people’s debt and launched a new era," says historian Bhuwan Lal Pradhan, quoting ancient history books.

The kings of all the dynasties marked this Era in their historical inscriptions for over a millennium until the year 1911 when Rana Prime Minister Chandra Shumsher replaced it by a solar calendar Bikram Era, on the pretext that the government had to pay salary of 13 months in every three years when lunar calendar was used.

Pradhan adds that Nepal Era plays a pivotal role in the cultural life of Nepalis as most of the festivals are celebrated according to the lunar calendar upon which Nepal Era is based.

Though the whole cultural life of Nepali people is guided by the Nepal Era, it is never used directly in administration these days.

Secretary of Nepalbhasa Academy Indra Mali said that the Nepal Era deserves government recognition as it is established by a citizen and carries the country’s name. This must be only one Era of its kind in the world as most of the eras are either based on religions or established by monarchs.

The Newars, the indigenous people of the Kathmandu Valley took initiative to revive the glory of Nepal Era after the democracy of 1950. The Nepalbhasa Mankaa Khala (NMK), a community organisation gave it a formal touch after the NMK started carrying out cultural rally on the first day around the core city in 1988 and a glamour events like motorcycle rally also became the part of the festival-cum- movement.

However, as community leaders admit, this support of the Newars to Nepal Era unknowingly gave an impression among the people that the Era belongs only to the Newars.

Padma Ratna Tuladhar, the chairman of NMK says that as the Newars show active participation in celebrating this national event, people from other communities as well as political parties have a misconception that Nepal Era is a Newari one with significance only to the Newar community.

"This is the reason why after promising speeches on its value and importance of its recognition by the government from political parties, several prime ministers and other prominent political figures, the implementation is showing lukewarm response," he says.

Tuladhar says if Nepal Era belongs to the Newars only, this must also be the case with the art and architecture of the ancient Kathmandu Valley that was created by none other than the Newars.

"The state should recognise Nepal Era as the national heritage and emblem of unity, coming out of boundaries of who created this Era in the name of the country," Tuladhar adds.

He says since the present official calendar Bikram Era is Indian by origin, the state should replace it with Nepal Era, which has a rich history and is attached to the cultural life of the whole country.

Tuladhar suggests that the state could use internationally recognised Western calendar for daily use after accepting Nepal Era as our national calendar.

He further clarifies that the movement of Newars for indigenous people’s right or development of their mother tongue is quite different from the annual function that takes place on the fourth day of Tihar.

"The movement of Nepal Era may end after the government recognises it. But the movement for the development of local language and culture will not," he says.

Tihar : Festival of Deusi enthusiasts

Perina Pathak

KATHMANDU, Nov 14 – The Tihar festival is also the occasion for all the Deusire and Bhailire enthusiasts to go around their neighbourhood to collect money and sweets.

Deusi and Bhailo are played for two consecutive nights of Laxmi Puja and Govardhan Puja.

As dusk falls, people specially the youngsters are seen in the streets and alleys walking with musical instruments – like guitar, drum set, keyboard and many more for the Deusi and Bhailo carol.

Asked the reason for using modern musical instruments instead of traditional ones like the Madal or the Tabala, 20-year-old Rajesh KC, a boy from Kalankisthan who was preparing music for the Tihar carol says, "Those instruments will not make our Deusire and Bhailire so much interesting as these modern instruments."

With increasing modernisation, the traditional form of singing Deusi and Bhailo has also been modernised. People in the past took Deusi and Bhailo as the custom to rejoice and give blessings.

However, in the recent years the Deusi and the Bhailo carols seem to have turned into a mobile concert. The speciality of today’s youngsters is that they start the carol with few traditional Deusi and Bhailo lines and go ahead with English, Nepali and even Hindi pop songs along with the music of sophisticated musical instruments.

"Singing only traditional songs will make our Deusi and Bhaili uninteresting and people will give only a little amount of money," says Diwakar Shrestha. "Even house owners are habituated to hear modern songs."

Youngsters not only sing for fun but at the same time they also expect to collect as much money as possible visiting as much houses as possible. "With the collected amount our Deusi group has planned to go trekking," says Diwakar, revealing his purpose of singing Deusi.

Nowadays, the Deusi and the Bhaili carols that actually started with the purpose of entertainment and fun in the olden times are not free from social aberrations. The youths of today even send invitation cards to the houses where they wish to visit.They select the houses that look affluent from the outside with the expectation to get plenty of money as rewards.

The Deusi and the Bhaili are played on the nights of Laxmi and Govardhan Puja, the third and fourth nights of the five-day festival respectively.

According to Arjun Prasad Rimal, Brahmin priest, the Deusire and the Bhailire singing began in ancient times after Great King Bali donated his own head to Lord Vishnu.

The story in the Puran goes like this - Baman Dev, who is believed to be the fifth incarnation of Lord Vishnu, came to the palace of King Bali (Baliraja) when he was performing Puja. King Bali was very popular for giving alms to any one who came to his palace.

Baman Dev asked for only three steps with Baliraja. Baliraja,without knowing who the Baman was, agreed to fulfil his demand. To Baliraja’s great surprise, Baman Dev with his two steps covered the Earth and the Universe and asked the great king where he would place his third step. Bali was confused and did not know what to say.

At this moment Baliraja’s wife used her presence of mind and suggested him to offer his own head (Deusire) to place Baman’s last step. For Baliraja greatest alms charity, he gained Lord Vishnu’s favour and also attained salvation. It is believed from that day Baliraja’s citizens celebrated the day as Deusire.

There is also a belief in the month of Kartik (the month when Baliraja donated his head) if one donates something, it will do good to the alms-giver. This was how the tradition of Deusi and Bhailo originated.

Official recognition of Nepal Era demanded

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KATHMANDU, Nov14 - A 15-member joint delegation of the Valley Co-ordination Committee of the main opposition party CPN-UML and New Year 1122 Celebration Committee met with Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba this morning and handed over a seven-point demand regarding official recognition of Nepal Sambat.

According to Krishna Gopal Shrestha, the coordinator of the celebration committee, among the demands were the declaration of Shankhadhar Sakhwa, a national hero and release of postal stamp in his honour.

The Nepal Sambat was started after Sakhwa freed all the people of the country by paying all their debts 1122 years ago. According to committee members, they were insisting the government to recognise this era officially since it was the date which started genuinely from Nepal.

"Till now many people think that Nepal Sambat is just followed by the people of the Newar community but before the time of Chandra Shumsher this was regarded as the official date," said Laxmi Das Manandhar, Chairman of the Nepalbhasa Manka Khala.

Even historic treaties between Nepal and Tibet has mentioned this date. This is why we are asking the govt to revive this era, Manandhar added.

"Although the Prime Minister has assured that he is willing to look into the matter, only one of our demands that of releasing a postal stamp in Sakhwa’s name is likely to be fulfilled soon," Shrestha further said.

Girlchild raped

KATHMANDU, Nov 14 (PR) – Seven-year-old girl, Som Maya Sherpa was brutally raped under the tin shelter of a carpet factory at Thecho in Lalitpur. At the time when the rest of the people were involved in drinks and merry-making, the minor Som Maya experienced pain and infliction this Dashain.

Som Maya was raped by a 26-year-old Subash (surname not given) at Muktinath carpet factory in Thecho, according to sources at the Women and Children Unit in Jawalakhel Police Station. Som Maya and her father Pasang Sherpa have come on living in the compound of the same factory where Subash also works.

The victim’s father took his unconscious and wounded daughter to the District Police Office at Jawalakhel and reported the case there. The police handed over the case to the Legal Aid and Consultancy Services (LACC) for trial in the court.

According to Narayan Subedi, woman assistant sub-inspector at the Unit, the victim was called for trial at the Appeal Court today but due to the ongoing festival, the trial has been postponed till Tihar.

Father Pasang Sherpa, though disappointed today due to the postponement of the trial, was adamant that his daughter should somehow or the other get justice. "There used to be a time when girls are raped but today how safe is this city when even minors are being raped?" he enquires.

Teachers to resume protest programme

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KATHMANDU, Nov 14 – The Special Teachers’ Association (STA) is going to resume its protest programme after the Ministry for Education and Sports declined to fulfil its demand for salary and other facilities equal to their counterparts in general schools, according to STA Chairman, Pashupati Parajuli.

"We are going to resume our protest programme immediately after the Tihar festival as the Ministry failed to fulfil our demands," Parajuli said.

The STA postponed its protest programmes on September 25 after Minister for Education and Sports Amod Prasad Upadhyaya directed officials at the Ministry to start a dialogue to address their demand that included salary and other facilities equal to their counterparts in government offices.

"The officials at the Ministry yesterday informed that the Ministry could not recognise us equal to other general teachers and provice equal salary and other facilities," Parajuli added.

Teachers associated with Special Education-intended towards the hearing impaired, physically handicapped, mentally retarded and the blind- are being deprived of increased salary in 2000, pension and medical facilities, which teachers of general schools have been enjoying now. Despite rise in salary of all teachers in 2000, they have been denied these facilities since the Ministry recognises the Special Education as run by donation.

"We waited for the peaceful solution of the problem but the government responded us irresponsibly," Parajuli said. Officials at the Ministry could not be reached for comments.