Opposition seek details on India army deployment

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KATHMANDU, Sept 12 - The opposition lawmakers in House of Representatives yesterday urged the government to give details of India’s deployment of over 70,000 para-military forces along the Nepal-India border "that has caused fear psychosis in the country".

They expressed strong anger against India which, they said, has been training the Maoists and giving them arms as well as shelter to create trouble in Nepal and has now deployed the troops along the international border in the name of its internal security.

The lawmakers also came down heavily on the government for not informing the House on the details of Nepal visit by Indian ministers, leaders and former ambassadors as well as visit to India by Nepal’s ministers.

Meanwhile, giving a statement in the House, Home Minister Khum Bahadur Khadka informed that the second round of talks with the Maoists would be held soon though he did not reveal the venue and the dates of the talks. "The government has honoured the commitments made during the talks but the Maoists have violated their commitments with their activities. This has caused concern amongst the people," said Khadka. He warned the Maoists to desist from their aggressive activities.

Some members also accused the ruling Nepali Congress lawmakers of trying to fan communal violence on the land reforms issue. "There is an attempt to create a wedge between the people of the Terai and the hills," said Krishna Prasad Dahal of Communist Party of Nepal (UML), pointing out at NC’s Surendra Chaudhary who had spoken of civil war if the Bill on land reforms was passed.

UML for left unity

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KATHMANDU, Sept 12 - A two-day orientation programme organised to promote ideological consolidation by the Communist Party of Nepal - Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), concluded here today.

According to a press release issued here, Madhav Kumar Nepal, General Secretary of the CPN-UML, lauded the role played by his party in protecting and consolidating nationalism and democracy.

Speaking at the programme, he condemned the extreme stand taken by the CPN-Maoist and stressed the need to forward an ideological movement, the release states.

Similarly, speaking at the function, central committee member Amrit Kumar Bohara observed that the party must discourage extreme ideas and concentrate on solving the current problems plaguing the country, states the release.

Highlighting the objectives of the programme earlier, central committee member Iswor Pokharel stressed on the need to move unitedly. Various incharges and secretaries from the zonal and the central level attended the two-day programme, adds the release.

Supreme Court to decide on teacher selection case on Oct 6

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KATHMANDU, Sept 12 - Hearings on the case filed against then education minister Govinda Raj Joshi regarding the appointment of teachers five years ago completed Tuesday and the court verdict is scheduled to come on October 6. The fact of the case has it that over 80 thousand candidates of teachers are now waiting for the results even after five years of appearing the examination.

Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had recommended on March 7 to take necessary action against the then education minister Joshi for his ‘malafide performance’ regarding the appointment of school teachers. The CIAA had then accused Joshi that he had made 67 thousand teacher candidates to pass the exam which numbered far more than the requirement.

Joshi on March 13 had filed a writ petition demanding orders including certiorari as his constitutional right was infringed.

Both the government and private attorneys yesterday pleaded before the Bench comprising Chief Justice Keshav Prasad Upadhyay and Kedar Prasad Giri presenting their best convincing arguments. Appearing on behalf of teachers advocate Lalit Bahadur Basnet said that the real victims of the legal battle between the CIAA and Joshi are the teachers who work for their livelihood. "The aggrieved teachers are deprived of their right to life as holding a job means getting a means to eat," Basnet said.

Pleading on behalf of the government joint government attorney Nanda Bahadur Subedi said the works were carried out as per the laws. The laws should be complied until and unless they are declared ultravires. Subedi urged that the writ petitioners have not challenged the laws.Therefore, the petitions deserve to be quashed, he urged. In earlier hearings senior advocates Ganesh Raj Sharma, Kusum Shrestha, Motikaji Sthapit ,advocates Harihar Dahal and Upendra Keshari Neupane had pleaded on behalf of the writ petitioners.

In the examination 87 thousand candidates were made successful against the requirement of 14 thousand. Meanwhile the Education Regulation, 2049 was also changed providing legal provison to make pass those candidates obtaining 35 marks. Joshi was accused of amending the Education Regulation "to serve his vested interest".

The CIAA had initiated action responding to the complaints filed claiming ‘irregularities and malafide exercise in the examination’. The CIAA had then ordered to stop the scheduled interview just two days ahead of the interview. The cancellation of the interview was announced at the time when thousands of candidates were already sheltering in the district headquarters for the purpose of attending the interview.

Considering practical difficulties,however, the CIAA had then agreed to allow to conduct the interview on the condition that the results would not be published until the case was finally settled.

Other four writ petitions were also filed by teachers in the same issue. The teachers - Tanka Prasad Gautam, Gopal Prasad Bhandari, Hari Sharan Pandit and Sharmila Poudel had stated Council of Ministers, Education Ministry, National Teachers’ Service Commission as respondents.

Sedimentation management reduces hydropower cost

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KATHMANDU, Sept 12 – Torrential Himalayan rivers are notorious for transporting sediments all the year round. And the volume of sediment doubles during monsoon season when experts say, the rivers not only transport sediment to hydroelectric plants but also force many to close down.

But appropriate knowledge, information on the science of these rivers and sediments and subsequent management measures can save time, money and make power projects reliable as well as sustainable. With such a vision, 25 representatives from different universities, consultancy firms and divisions from Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal have converged in the Capital for a workshop.

Member of the National Planning Commission (NPC), Dr Rameshananda Vaidya opened the sediment workshop here Tuesday. He said that the government’s Tenth Five Year Plan has given emphasis to hydropower development, adding that the sediment management helps in reducing the cost of the hydropower development, which is one of the main objectives of the draft hydropower policy.

"The government is focussing on three areas – environment, water rights and financial sustainability of hydropower development - and is aiming to establish River Basin Plan and Water Information Network Development," he said.

Pratik Man Singh Pradhan of Hydro Lab, a private firm, which is hosting the meet with support from Norway-based International Centre of Hydropower (ICH), said , the "sediment transport was, is and will remain a major issue from the conceptual stage, through planning and design, to the operation of any water resource project in the Himalayan rivers".

Professor Haakon Stole from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Pro-Vice Chancellor from the University of Roorke, KG Ranga Raju, Dean of the Institute of Engineering, Professor Jiba Raj Pokharel, Charge d’Affairs at the Royal Norwegian Embassy Ase Seim, and Director of ICH, Tore S. Jorgensen also spoke at the inaugural session.

Govt urged to press for speedy refugee verification

KATHMANDU, Sept 12 (PR) – The Parliamentary Foreign Relations and Human Rights Committee suggested the government to press Bhutan to agree to make 10 Joint Verification Teams (JVTs) to complete the verification of the Bhutanese refugees languishing in the camps in eastern Nepal.

The Tuesday’s meeting of the parliamentary committee unanimously passed a report submitted by six-member team on the problems and solutions of the festering refugee problem. The team visited the camps in Jhapa and Morang districts in the second week of August.

Among its recommendations made by the committee are forming a task force comprising people from political, diplomatic, intellectual, administrative and human rights circle to prepare a strategy to discuss the refugee issue and solve the problem arising out of the flow of refugees in Nepal. It has also suggested that representatives from the committee be also included in all future bilateral talks between Nepal and Bhutan on the refugee issue.

The report also urged the government to involve India, which controls the foreign policy of Bhutan, in the ultimate goal of the repatriation of the nearly 100,000 Bhutanese refugees.

The report, yet to be presented to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, was sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before Dr Ram Sharan Mahat left for Thimphu for the four-day 11th Ministerial Joint Committee (MJC) meeting. A lawmaker, who was part of the team that inspected the camps, said that the Ministry refrained from making any formal comments to their report.

Expressing its serious concern over the "negative impact" on the social, economic and environmental aspects in the vicinity of the camp, the report directed the government to ensure the strict monitoring and adherence to the norms of refugee administration.

Speaking to The Kathmandu Post, one of the members said that due to the presence of refugees in the camps, the human rights of the local Nepali are being violated. "The refugees, who themselves have been the victims of the oppressive regime in Bhutan, are spilling outside the camps and are working outside." He called for immediate attention of the government to this aspect.

He also accused the Druk Kingdom of not being honest for taking its own citizens back.

More than 200 houses collapse in Marchawar

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BHAIRAHAWA, Sept 12 - More than 200 houses, most of them mud huts, have collapsed in the southern part of Rupandehi district due to inundation triggered by torrential rains for the last three days, the district administration office here said Wednesday.

Area police station in Marchawar stated that the houses from 15 VDCs located close to the Nepal-India border collapsed after the floods in Danav River could not take its natural course.

The course of the river has become narrow after the Indian government started building controversial barrages - Rassiyal-Khurda-Lautan - and their supportive embankments close to the international border.

The VDCs to be affected by the inundation are Semara, Rayapur, Asuraina, Bagauli, Betkuinya, Karauta, Farena, Thumuwa, Pirahawa, Sitauliya, Majhganwa, Bogadi, Gonaha, Bairghat, Roinihawa and Maryadpur.

The police station said that more than 900 families have applied for immediate relief from the government. The area is economically backward.

Chief District Officer Tana Gautam said that he would provide relief in cash to the flood victims as per the standard set by the government’s Natural Calamity Relief Fund. He said that about 70 flood victim families have so far been provided Rs 500 in cash for the repairing their houses.

Issuing a press statement here today, Nepali Congress lawmaker, Yagya Jeet Shah, who represent the area said that more than 600 families have been affected by the floods that was blocked due to the construction of the barrage and the embankment. Lawmaker shah has also demanded to the government that it increase in the existing relief amount. According to the statistics made available by the District Agriculture Office, paddy crop planted on around 1,000 hectares of land has been destroyed by the floods and inundation.

Considering the plight of the flood affected people, various social organisations are collecting donations in cash and kind to assist them. Rotary Club of Siddhartha Nagar and District Red Cross Society are collecting the relief materials for the victims.

More than 2,000 people are also affected by gastro-enteritis that spread in the area after they consumed contaminated water. But the District Public Health Office said that the situation has been controlled after a team of medics distributed medicine to the affected people.

Two died, 8 injured in road mishap

MAHENDRANAGAR (Kanchanpur), Sept 12 (PR)- At least two people died on the spot while eight others sustained serious injuries when a three wheeler tempo collided head-on with a bus from Gaddachauki, police here said Wednesday.

Those killed in the incident have been identified as Karmaya Rokka, 22, and Pun Raj Budha, 33, from Kakari VDC-2, Rukum district. The eight passengers who sustained serious injuries have been rushed to Bareili in India for treatment. All of the people travelling in the tempo were heading toward India for seasonal employment.

An eyewitness said that the bus hit the three-wheeler on the wrong side. Police said that the drivers of the three wheelers and the bus fled the scene and remain at large. Hospital source in Bareili said that condition of three of the injured is critical.

Record cases of suicide in Ilam

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ILAM, Sept 12 - A total of 54 people committed suicide last year in the Ilam district, which leads the list of suicide cases in all the districts of Nepal.

According to the District Police Office, 40 people committed suicide by strangling themselves with a rope, 11 people by taking different kinds of poison and two by setting themselves ablaze.

Of the total people who committed suicide, 18 were females and 36 were males. Similarly, 10 people lost their lives in vehicle accidents while 34 lost their lives in other mishaps in the year by the end of mid July. The major causes leading them to commit suicide are reported to be mental disturbance and poverty.

Dalits assaulted for entering temple

BAITADI, Sept 12 (PR)– Local bazaars of Gothalapani and Saikale, Baitadi district remained tensed when group of high caste people physically assaulted Dalits on charge of entering into a local temple.

More than 200 Dalits entered the local Jagannath temple in a programme organised by Movement against Untouchability, Baitadi on 8th September. However, a day later, a group of upper caste Hindus protested the move by physically assaulting Puran Dayal, the secretary of Movement against Untouchability, Naresh B.K, Human Rights activist and other Dalit members.

The Dalits were prompted to enter the temple by local political parties, district development representatives, mayor and different NGO’s.

The Dalits, who were not permitted to enter the temple are being allowed to do so after Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba declared untouchability as a punishable crime.

VDC chairman sent to judicial custody

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MAHOTTARI, Sept 12 - The District Administration Office in Mahottari has ordered to keep the Simardahi VDC chairman and his accomplice into judicial custody on charges of severely beating a local woman accusing her of being a witch and to exercise the evil spirit.

Around 1,500 local women of the village were publicly insulted while beating and chasing away Marani Devi, the woman accused as witch, on the provocation of the VDC chairman, Naval Kishor Sahani about a month ago. Sahani and his accomplice, Shanker Sahani, were taken into police custody for investigation after a complaint was lodged by the husband of the victim. Marani Devi has earned reputation in the locality as a dedicated social worker.

Both the accused were sent to district jail after they failed to deposit a cash bail amount of Rs. 28,000 plus Rs. 48,000 by each accused as compensation to the victim for social defamation. Previously, the VDC chairman, who is supposed to resolve social skirmish, faced charges of public offence.

Police said that 16 others charged of insulting the women in public places are still at large and they have been ordered to present themselves before the authorities within seven days. Speaker of the House of Representatives Taranath Ranabhat had also issued an instruction to the Home Ministry to furnish details of the incident to the House within seven days after the lawmakers raised serious concern over the indignity meted out to the women.

3 accused remanded in custody for the last 5 years

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MORANG, Sept 12 - No detainees can be kept in jail for more than six months without trial according to the jail rules but three people have been kept in Morang jail for the past five years without any trial.

Janak Lal Mandal of Nocha VDC-3, Janak Lal Mandal of Majhare VDC-5 and Nathu Ram Mandal of Sisasbani Jahada VDC-9 were arrested on the 26th of Falgun, 2053 BS on the charge of arson and remanded in custody at Morang jail under the court order.

A total of 45 people were arrested on charges of arson in the same case but 42 were released immediately after they paid fines of Rs 10,000 each as asked by the court. The court has, however, not brought forward the case of these three people for discussion as yet.

A total of 65 houses were burnt at Pokhariya VDC-6 in 2053 BS and these people were arrested on the charges of setting fire to these houses.

According to law those who set fire to houses may be sentenced up to four years in prison for one house and one more year for every additional house burnt not exceeding 12 years at the maximum. If a detainee has been detained in jail for more than six months, there is a provision under which the jailer should report the matter to the court which had remanded him into custody, but Morang Jail has so far not done so. There remain lodged more than 100 detainees who have been detained in Morang jail for than six months, according to the source.

Legal practitioners have expressed surprise at the detention of these people and retained them in custody for five years without carrying out the required legal procedures.

Janak Lal Mandal who has been in custody for five years said, "42 others were asked to pay Rs 10,000 each and freed immediately but we don’t know why we have been detained for five years without any legal action or court verdict."

Another accused, Shiva Nath Mandal said police would not allow them to reach the court. "We tried to meet the judges also but the police do not allow us to meet them." They ask us to sign in the blank paper and postpone the date for discussion of the case," he added.

The Government attorney Krishna Poudel says the delay was caused because the police have not mentioned the address of the witnesses while the District Police Office says they have not been asked to furnish the address of the witnesses and evidence of the case.