KMC ready to check financial irregularities: Official

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KATHMANDU, Nov 21- Kathmandu Metropolitan City is ready to take action against those involved in financial irregularities if the KMC board permits, acting chief executive of KMC said today.

"We will try to implement the results of the probe report if the Board decides to take action according to the report," said Naresh Kumar Regmi, acting chief executive of the KMC.

Regmi also welcomed the report prepared by Ward No. 28 Chairman Subhan Kumar Shrestha, which clearly stated that there have been wide financial irregularities inside the KMC.

"KMC board has in fact taken a positive step to investigate the irregularities," Regmi said, in response to a news report published in The Kathmandu Post on Tuesday, which gave detailed account of those involved in financial irregularities.

Shrestha read out his report in last month’s board meeting, which disclosed that the local representatives have misused Rs 9,300,154 as advance but did not clear on time. They have also failed to specify the reasons for taking the advance and its utilisation as required by the KMC’s financial regulations. The report also said that Rs. 2,516,281 has been paid out to various members for medical treatment without any proper record.

He added that the administration would be happy if the Board takes a legitimate decision on those who have been pointed out as responsible behind this irregularity.

However, Kathmandu Mayor Keshav Sthapit said that this financial irregularity is not that big in comparison to what has been going at the national level.

"Clearing the payments in advance is a long process that goes on," he said, but he refused to comment on Shrestha’s report.

Among those who had received cash in advance and had failed to clear the dues include the mayor and deputy mayor themselves. Also mentioned in the report are ward chairmen, ward members as well as nominated ward members.

Ramesh Dangol, the ward No. 2 chairman, tops the list taking advances totalling Rs 1,715,500 till last year. Mayor Sthapit has Rs. 970,894 to his name while there are 66 more names in the list.

Shyam Chitrakar, the chairman of ward No. 26 said that the report should have been brought to the public long ago so that the local representatives also would be alert not to misuse the citizen’s property.

On the other hand, chairman of Ward No. 12 Niranjan Kumar Shrestha said that the public must work as a watchdog on such issues. "This is the time people should raise questions," he said.

Altogether 41 KMC representatives have received total of Rs. 2,516,281 as medical allowance though there are no legal provisions for such facilities. Among them, Ward No. 14 Chairman Badri Bahadur Thapa and former Ward No. 27 Chairman Dharma Ratna Tuladhar have received Rs 320,000 each. And Ward No. 9 Member Shyam Krishna KC has received Rs 250,000.

Training to police officers

LALITPUR, Nov 21 (PR) – A three-day human rights training for police officers began here today with a view to impart knowledge to the police officers about human rights, and national and international laws regarding human rights, according to a press release received from Amnesty International (AI) Nepal.

Krishna Kandel, president of the AI inaugurated the training. Raju Sarkar, Vice-president of the AI, advocate Balchandra Acharya, human rights education officer Rameswor Nepal and Deputy Superintendents of Police Puskar Karki and Nawa Raj Silwal are the trainers.

The programme was supported by the Embassy of United Kingdom. The AI Nepal has been providing training to police since 1998, but this is the first training to police officers, concluded the release.

Journos urged to avoid unsafe reporting

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KATHMANDU, Nov 21-International Federation of Journalists(IFJ)in a press release today urged journalists and media organisations to avoid unsafe front-line reporting and not to gravel without protection in Afghanistan following the death of four more journalists in an ambush near Kabul bringing to seven the toll of media deaths in Afghanistan the past week.

Much of the Afghanistan is now in chaos and hundreds of reporters are at risk, said the release. Adding, it said that it is clearly reckless for reporters to go into areas that have not been secured without military protection. According to IFJ, 2001 is becoming one of the worst years on record for killings of journalists with some 90 cases of media staff deaths under investigation.

In northeast Afghanistan, three reporters were killed when the Taliban force ambushed its opposition, Northern Alliance. All of the deceased were riding on the roof of an armoured personnel carrier when it came under fire.

Historic Kartik dance starts

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LALITPUR, Nov 21 - The week-long Kartik Dance, that was started over 350 years ago to bring fortune in the state of Lalitpur kicked off Wednesday evening at the historic royal palace square.

"The dance takes place here in front of the royal palace every evening till the coming Wednesday with new episode every evening," said Hari Man Shrestha, the dance director and the manager of the Kartik Dance Management Committee, the voluntary group that is keeping the three century-long tradition of Kartik Dance alive.

Historical evidences state that the tradition of dance that was originally a sequence of one-month-long opera was started by King Siddhi Narasimha Malla in around 1650 to grant the city fortune by starting human sacrifice.

In the initial years the person playing role of Narsimha really killed the person who played the role of Demon Hiranyakashyapu. Later the organisers had to change the deity’s mask to discontinue it, the legends said.

The 64 years old dance director has been choreographer around three dozen of artists to launch the drama-cum-dance since last one and a half months.

He said that the first three days will perform acts of three wise men the Bathaas, who appear in the stage as buffoons to discuss about past, present and future. "The three men symbolizes the three cities; past, present and future as well as three prime deities of the Hindu religion - Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshowr."

"After that the dance will feature war between Krishna and Mahadev; Bhairav, Kumari and Mahalaxmi; Madhu-Kaitav; killing Hiranyakshya and Hiranyakashyapu on the last day."

Shrestha said that the committee is running the whole set of dance in Rs 34,000 whereas it needs around Rs 200,000 to keep the heritage living in full swing.

"Only love to the tradition drive the dancers to work. Otherwise the money we offer them is not enough even to buy cigarettes. Beisdes, long and strict rituals must be practiced," said Shrestha, who has been involved in the Kartik dance either as an actor or choreographer since 1945.

The one-month-long dance was shortened for two days in 1951 and again was extended to seven days after a committee was formed to revive the dance tradition in 1981, the management committee members said.

Chiraito likely to become extinct: Experts

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KATHMANDU, Nov 21 – If any immediate initiatives are not taken for the protection of Chiraito Swerita, it will soon become extinct, said specialists here Wednesday.

The medicine herb popurally known as Chiraito which is found exclusively in the upper mid-hills of eastern Nepal is decreasing since 1989 due to the lack of protection by the government and ignorance of the people over the protection of the crop, said Dr Tanka Prasad Barakoti, a senior crop specialist.

Barakoti who works in Argiculture Research Centre Dhankuta disclosed this at an interaction programme on Chiraito Farming. The programme was organised by Nepal Forum for Environmental Journalists (NEFEJ). He said that the findings were based on a three-year long research entitled Development on Propagation and Management Technology for the Domestication of Chiraito, conducted in Pakhribas Agriculture Station recently.

The Chiraito herb is found in the Himalayan forest that lie at the height of 1700 to 2700 metres in Sankhuwasabha, Taplejung, Bhojpur, Terhathum and Dhankuta districts of Nepal including Darjeeling, Sikkim of India and even in the hills of Bhutan.

He further said there is a vast potentiality of Chiraito farming in the abovesaid areas and the product can easily be cashed by exporting it as a medicine.

Women’s role in agriculture emphasised

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KATHMANDU, Nov 21 – Experts today voiced for the need to increase women’s participation in order to maximize the productivity in the agricultural sector. With more than 80 percent of the total population depending on agriculture for their livelihood, the productivity of the sector has not been increasing accordingly, they said.

Since women’s contribution to the sector is more than 10 percent, they have a very little share out of the total product states a study report on gender equality in the agriculture sector. Surendra Shrestha, Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives (MAC) said increasing the productivity of women means increasing the productivity of the agriculture sector.

According to the organizers, the report was prepared after a question- answer sessions with 425 women groups working in fishery, vegetable, cattle breeding and other domestic work related to agriculture.

The report was conducted in seven districts of Nepal and was jointly conducted by Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare, Mainstreaming Gender Equality Programme of UNDP and Centre for Policy Studies.

When the whirly birds come to town

KATHMANDU, Nov 21 – The State Minister for Home Devendra Raj Kandel revealed some days ago that America had promised to supply 10 well-armed helicopters to aid the government in its fight against "terrorism."

Kandel did not specify who was fostering terrorism in Nepal, but that is quite understandable: his boss Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba began calling Maoist insurgents "daju bhai didi bahinis" from the day one of his second innings as premier. Terrorists they are not, at least not until the cease-fire lasts.

But this is a far cry from the position of earlier governments. You might recall that soon after coming to power in 1997, then Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand and his Deputy Bam Dev Gautam had no qualms in labeling the Maoists as terrorists. Girija Prasad Koirala and his Home Minister Govinda Raj Joshi too threw that epithet left and right, and so occasionally did Krishna Prasad Bhattarai.

The communist opposition, which briefly tasted power in 1994-95, has not directly pinned the adjective on the rebels. But that has not stopped Madhav Kumar Nepal from urging insurgents to refrain from "terrorist acts" which he has suddenly come to notice. This urging has picked up pace in recent weeks as the Maoists finally begin to turn their ire, and 3-not-3s, on UML sympathizers.

All this leads us poor folks to wonder if terrorism is, like beauty, in the eye of the beholder. The Maoists may be terrorists to Koirala, Chand and Gautam, but not apparently to Deuba and company. To UML’s Nepal, they are half and half, whatever that is.

The point is, if so many of our knowledgeable leaders are confused as to what constitutes terrorism and who exactly are terrorists, isn’t it time they convened an all-party meeting to vigorously search for national consensus on this issue of utmost importance?

Had they done that, the newspapers could then report that "an all-party meeting was organized by "falana falana" to discuss terrorism. Present on the occasion were all the notable "falanas". Inaugurating the opening session, the prime minister stressed the need to arrive at a national consensus on terrorism. The opposition leader concurred adding that it was high time that Nepal had national consensus on such an important issue…Others who also spoke on the occasion were falana falana…It has been decided that the search for consensus will continue in another round of meetings"…and blah, blah, blah.

In fact, we poor folks are surprised that there hasn’t been an all-party meeting on this issue. Not even a tea party, a la Nepali Congress and UML. And this, in a country, that single-handedly invented all party meetings for national consensus, according to the Guinness Book of New Inventions (latest edition, hard cover).

Maybe the arrival of the American-donated helicopters could correct this oversight. These super powerful choppers will at least need some targets to train their guns, and that in turn will require some sort of a consensus on what constitutes a target.

Talking of helicopters, are the Americans supplying ultra-modern Apaches or the 1960s vintage Hueys? Whatever it is, it is going to put bigwigs within the Home Ministry and Nepal Police out of business. They will have to come up with some very ingenuous arguments to contract – and skim off - local helicopter charters.

Kimathanka likely to be opened for tourists

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KHANDBARI, Nov 21 - The local people and the Local Administration have demanded the concerned officials to work on the process of opening the restricted Kimathanka area for tourists.

According to Home Ministry, a proposal has been sent by the District Administration to open the area for tourists. In the recommendation, the District Administration has stated that the development of the area will gain momentum once the area is opened to the tourists.

The District Development Committee Board made such recommendations after the local representatives and the local people pointed out that the economy of the area would not progress until and unless the area was opened to tourists.

Talking to The Kathmandu Post Netra Prasad Sharma, Chief District Officer, said the culture of the area would flourish after opening the area to the tourists.

The Kimathanka area encloses Hatiya, Chepuwa and Kimathanka VDCs that share border with China. The area is dominated by the Sherpas and is home to rich culture and natural beauty.

However, no basic infrastructure has been developed so far. The area has no hotels and communication facility. The police posts stationed at four places of the area have been shifted to district headquarters citing security reasons.

The area also lies within the territory of Makalu Barun National Park and the authorities at the Park say that the area should be opened to tourists only after establishing basic infrastructure. "The Park is home to diverse flora and fauna so a proper study should be made before making the decision", said Megnath Kafle, Chief of the Park. "The area should not be opened before setting up hotels, communication and other facilities", Kafle said.

The government had declared Kimathanka a restricted area to tourists in 2021 BS citing security reasons.

Maoists renounce party following local resistance

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NUWAKOT, Nov 21 - Village level Maoist cadres in various Village Development Committees have started submitting resignations from their respective posts after the locals started retaliating with the Maoists after the cease-fire announcement in July.

The District Police Office said more than 150 Maoists have renounced the party following the local resistance.

The Maoist cadres, who earlier held Maoist-formed VDC level posts, said they were inducted in those posts forcibly.

Saduram Tamang from Narja Mandap VDC-9 is one of such Maoist cadres who, according to him, was included in the village level Maoist committee without his consent. Tamang arrived at the district headquarters of Bidur to tender his resignation.

"The Maoists inducted us in their committee without informing us. And the villagers have warned us against entering villages unless we produce an evidence of the acceptance of our resignations," said Tamang. However, the problem is that there are no Maoist leaders available in the district headquarters where they could tender their resignations.

"We do not know where to submit our resignations. But the villagers press us for producing the evidences that we are no longer in the Maoist party," said Jeet Bahadur Moktan, who was the secretary of Maoist-formed Village People’s Committee of Narja Mandap VDC.

He asked The Kathmandu Post to make public his resignation so that he could show it to the villagers.

Initially, people of Betini and Bageshwori VDC protested against Maoists atrocities and its impact has now spread in their neighbouring VDC such as Ganeshsthan, Gaon Kharka, Bhalche, Taruka, Madanpur and Samundratar. About three weeks ago, army and police had to be deployed in Betini and Bageshwori VDCs to protect the villagers from impending Maoist attacks.