Maoists hit water supply, powerhouse
Rebels continue attacking development

Post Report

KATHMANDU, April 3 : In a continuing series of arson and intimidation, the Maoist rebels have disrupted water supply to Narayan municipal area in Dailekh by cutting off water mains on Tuesday. This has resulted in unmitigated water crisis, report said.

The town which used to receive drinking water from a stream in the neighbouring VDC which is 18 km away is reeling under water crisis in the wake of natural spouts too running dry.

Elsewhere, the rebels have vandalised the 240 KW powerhouse of Muktinath General Hydro Electricity in Phidim by setting off pressure bomb resulting in the loss of property running into Rs.7.5 million, press release issued by the company on Wednesday said. No one has, however, been hurt in the incident.

Similarly, in what may be said to be a case of bandh called off failing to hold, report from Dhangadi said, the rebel activists set afire two Nepalgunj-bound minibuses. Police said the two buses, which had emanated in Mahendranagar in Kanchanpur, have been completely gutted in the fire.

No one has been hurt in the incident which took place in a relatively busy segment of the east-west highway. The rebels had told the passengers to get off before setting the bus on fire.

The incident took place regardless of the bandh called off by the rebel outfit for the unhindered conduct of SLC examination. Seeing that the rebels had set the buses on fire, other buses which were plying towards Nepalgunj had quickly turned back, our reporter from Dhangadi said.

Likewise report coming from Rolpa said, the rebel activists have vandalised the control tower of Jhufal airport after the security personnel were removed to the district headquarters on security ground on Tuesday.

The airport used to receive at least five flights a week through fair weather. The loss incurred by Tuesday night’s incident has been estimated at Rs.10 million. This is likely to set in crisis of consumer items in the district headquarters, report said.

Report coming in from Nepalgunj said the rebels opened fire on a speeding bus in Kusum which is 68 km east of Banke which resulted in the cleaner of the bus getting injured. The incident would have taken an ugly turn had the driver of the bus stopped the bus, report said.

Meanwhile, our reporter from Dailekh said, the number of government and VDC offices gutted in the last few days has hit 55. The offices include post offices, VDC offices and schools, among other government offices. The rebels have also cut off power supply to Surkhet by felling trees nearby transmission lines.

Similarly, delayed report from Biratnagar said, the rebels hit four VDC offices in Taplejung even as they vandalised five additional VDC offices in Myagdi.

In Narayan Danda Sarlahi, the rebels blasted the MARTS and C-DOT telephone tower throwing nearly 238 telephone lines out of order. The tower has been reported to be completely out of order. This has rendered communication within and outside the town as impossible

Rebels have also destroyed the VHF telephone set in Phulaute. The set belonged to Vinayak Cooperative.

Similarly, the rebels have felled trees along Kathmandu-Trisuli road resulting in the disruption of vehicular traffic since Tuesday. The rebels have also dug up the road rendering any vehicular movement as impossible. Skeletal vehicular traffic between Trisuli and Kathmandu was rerouted through Dhading.

Vehicular traffic has been also reported to be thrown out of gear along the Arniko highway subsequent to the felling of trees in Sukute. Buses coming from Dolakha have been reported to have returned back.

Privileged students

By Uzir Magar/ Prabhakar Ghimire

KATHMANDU, April 3 : If you are under the impression that the Maoist leaders believe in educational institutions inside the country read this: The daughter of Dr. Baburam Bhattarai and Hisila Yami who has been identified as Manushi has flown to London for pursuing higher studies.

This is a far cry from students who are sitting for the examination in a highly charged atmosphere, notwithstanding the fact that the bandh has been called off. Word meanwhile is she is not alone who enjoys the privilege of attending the foreign university even as the parents are supposedly waging a people’s war.

Of course, the fact that the daughter of Comrade Prachanda has long been known to be attending a college in Dehradun. Not far behind is Comrade Badal whose son too is studying in a Dehradun college. Then there is Suresh Alemagar whose two sons too are studying in a Dehradun college.

While those at the top are in a position to admit their son abroad, there is a school in Chitwan which caters to the need of the lowly activists of the party. Not surprisingly, the school in question was free from the bother of handing out so called " chanda" last year when the rebels were busy extorting money from schools.

Lawmakers rap Maoists, government

Post Report

KATHMANDU, April 3 : For the second consecutive day today, the lawmakers, cutting across party lines in the House of Representatives, lambasted the Maoists for destroying development infrastructure throughout the country and asked them to immediately halt their violent activities.

Prakash Jwala of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) pointed the hypocrisy of the top Maoist leaders who send their children to expensive schools in Darjeeling (India) and in England while they force the minors in Nepal to carry guns and indulge in violent activities.

The opposition lawmakers criticised the government for failing to issue the directives to regulate emergency and thereby denying the lawmakers, party leaders and workers to hold meetings in their districts to build movement against the Maoists.

According to government sources, the Cabinet on Monday drafted the directives and sent to the palace for Royal Assent the same day.

Citing the recently rescheduled five-day bandh by the Maoists, the opposition said it was an example of Maoists bowing down to nation-wide protest against the bandh during the ongoing School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examination. They contended that the incident showed that even the Maoists could back down under mass pressure and stressed the government to issue the directives which are expected to allow holding of public meetings, among other rights that are likely to be revived.

Speaking during the Special Hour in the House today, K P Oli of the UML flayed the government for failing to take initiatives to solve the Maoist problem despite the opposition’s support. "We need to amend the Constitution to make it more viable and refuse the Maoists a tool to incite the people," said Oli, adding that attempts were being made to make the parliament inactive and ineffective. He also warned that "some outside elements" were trying to fish in troubled waters to make the situation graver still.

The opposition MPs also expressed the fears that the proposed Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Control and Punishment) Bill, 2002 might be misused as the definition of who a terrorist is lacked clarity.

Earlier n the morning the meeting of the parliamentary State Affairs Committee finalised the modality of the Bill including some fundamental reforms.There were contradictory voices for envisaging the provision of arrest without warrant between the ruling and opposition parties but it has been accepted in the forms that the arrested person shall be given the information of his arrest as soon as possible.The period of house detention, which was up to six months, has been reduced to 90 days while the provision for keeping the person in police has been reduced to 60 days from the government proposal for 180 days.

Nar Bahadur Budhathoki of UML complained that despite his warning yesterday, the government failed to protect the Dolpa airport yesterday night. Budhathoki had alerted the Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and the Chief of Army Staff Gen. Prajwalla SJB Rana of the probable attack and said that the two had assured him of doing the needful.

Pradip Gyawali of the same party alleged that a systematic attempt was underway so as to "kill" the three Bills – one to control corruption, another to give more power to the Commission to Investigate the Abuse of Authority and the third on impeachment of constitutional heads and members – under pressure from "vested interests". He urged the government to get the Bills passed in the limited time left in the current session and said the opposition was willing to co-operate on the issue.

Navraj Subedi of the National People’s Front demanded an explanation from the PM on the insult meted out to party lawmaker Pari Thapa by army men while he was going to his district Baglung and demanded action against the "erring" security personnel.

Meanwhile, a royal nominee in the Upper House of the Parliament delivering a speech of public importance in the House today, presented some ways for reforms of the dwindling economy of the country through income generation and creation of more employment.

Member of the House, Dr. Rup Jyoti suggested reforms and revision of all the policies directly influencing national economy and analyse them. In his speech Dr. Jyoti claimed that major cause for the worsening state of economy was present unstable economic policies and programs for poverty alleviation could be the only way to retrieve it.

He also suggested that the policies in labour and trade unions, forex, role of banks, tourism, health and education, information technology including others.

He also flayed the democratic system for being confined to political practice and ignoring the economic sectors.

HR situation spiralling out of control in Nepal: Amnesty

Post Report

KATHMANDU, April 3 : Amnesty International has expressed concerns over the human rights situation in Nepal which, it says, is spiralling out of control amid the escalating fighting between the security forces and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist).

On the eve of the release of its 48-page document – Nepal: A spiralling human rights crisis – the international human rights organisation has also urged the CPN (M) and the government’s security forces to respect human rights.

A summary of the report embargoed to the press by the London-based organisation said, "The organisation is calling upon the CPN (Maoists) at all times respect civilians, prohibit murder, mutilation and torture, reprisals and summary executions and taking of hostages and protect and care for the wounded, in line with applicable international humanitarian law standards such as those contained in Article 3 common to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949."

The statement said that the report also provides evidence of unlawful killings, disappearances, torture and arbitrary arrest and detention under various security laws by police and army personnel since the CPN (M) declared "people’s war" in February 1996.

It added, "It also includes details of the deliberate and unlawful killing of civilians, the execution-style killings of police officers taken captive, hostage-taking, torture and the imposition of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments, including death sentences by the Maoists."

"The Maoists have also been responsible for recruiting children as combatants."

The international human rights organisation has also appreciated the "particular difficult law and the conflict" created in the country. It has also urged the government to ensure its response be grounded in the human rights provisions contained in Nepal’s constitution, the international treaties to which it is a state party and other international human rights standards.

AG resignation

KATHMANDU, April 3 (PR) - Attorney General Badri Bahadur Karki Wednesday tendered his resignation to Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba dissenting over the move of the government to issue order to manage emergency according to Article 115 (7) of the constitution. According to cabinet source PM Deuba was pretty unsatisfied with his performance over some time.

TU results

KATHMANDU, April 3 (RSS) - Tribhuvan University has published the results of the M.B.A. first year examination held in the month of Bhadra last and the two-year B.A. (first part) examination held in the month of Poush last.

Krishnabhir landslide cleared, problem still looms large

Post Report

KATHMANDU, April 3 : Even before the onset of monsoon, country’s busiest Prithivi Highway has once again been blocked at Krishnabhir due to the rains and hailstone for a couple hours on Tuesday.

However, the highway was opened for heavy vehicles after the labourers of the Road Department cleared thousands of tonnes of mud.

Hundreds of passengers travelling to various parts of the country were stranded at both the points of the highway as a huge landslide blocked about 200 metre-long section of the road.

"We were informed that the road was not completely blocked. But the landslide disturbed movement of vehicles for a few hours," said one of the officials at the Department of Road.

Suresh Kumar Regmi, Deputy General Manager of Maintenance Department at the Department of Road, said that this is a perennial problem because of fragile hill in the area and the government lacks adequate resources to deal with such geological problem.

"We do not have a permanent solution to the recurring landslide at the Krishnabhir due to lack of resources," said Regmi. However, the Road Department has erected breast-walls on the face of the loose hill and has been applied bioengineering technique to prevent further landslides.

Landslides are the major problems on Nepal’s highways that pass through hill areas. Officials of the Road Department recorded more than 65 landslides of various degrees on these highways during the previous monsoon. 18 landslides occurred at the Krishnabhir alone, according to the concerned officials.

The first ever landslides at the Krishnabhir occurred about two-years ago, and the highway was blocked for more than 10 days.

According to a study carried out recently by Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), most of the highways were developed in pursuit of economic development without paying proper attentions to negative consequences of these roads in the hill areas.

Geologists are unanimous on the fact that enough attention had not been paid on the stability of hill slopes when these highways were constructed. Experts claim that there is an urgent need for a change on agricultural practices on sloppy lands, especially along the major highways.

A series of landslides along the highways are also the results of explosives carried out during the maintenance of the highways. Although mining within 50 meters of the highway is banned, a large number of stone quarries are found to be extracting boulders and sand from nearby the roads.

Experts also say that cutting of the roadside by heavy flooding during the monsoon is another problem that reduce longevity of these highways. "The hillsides are the most vulnerable sections of the Highways," added Regmi.

Seven accused NB officials ordered to post bail

By Rudra Sharma

KATHMANDU, April 3 : Out of the 18 top officials of the Nepal Bank Limited who were sued 11 days ago on charge of irregularities while sanctioning huge loan amounts, 7 have been ordered Wednesday to post bail amount ranging from rupees five thousand to ten million.

Passing an order over two separate cases filed by the anti-corruption constitutional body, Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), a division bench of the Patan Appellate Court ordered today that the officials post the mentioned bail amount or anything equivalent acceptable by the court. Otherwise, the accused are to be held in jail until the cases are disposed.

The order also stated that court summon would be issued in the name of the accused who presently are at large.

Reading out the order, judge Ram Kumar Shah said that the accused were involved in two separate cases that of Mahendra Gartaula Group and Bishwopriya Group.

Among the six accused officials ordered to post the bail amount in the case of Mahendra Gartaula Group, the main accused erstwhile Deputy General Manager of Nepal Bank Limited Sher Bahadur Thapa has been ordered to post Rs 8 million. Similarly, Mahendra Prasad Gartaula has been ordered to post a bail amount of Rs 10 million.

The other officials including Uttam Kumar Nepal, Vijay Prasad Lohani were ordered to post bail amount of 2.5 million while Bishnu Ram Shrestha and Rajani Lochan Prasad Tandukar were ordered to post Rs 10,000 and 50,000 respectively.

Out of the four people accused in the Bishwopriya Group case, three officials Sher Bahadur Thapa, Uttam Kumar Nepal and Rajani Lochan Prasad Tandukar are accused in the Mahendra Gartaula Group as well and the other accused is Pradeep Neupane.

While Thapa was ordered to post Rs 2 million, Nepal was ordered to post Rs 50,000, Neupane Rs 10,000 and Tandukar Rs 5,000.

The accused are charged with overvaluation of surety while providing loans and also abusing their authority against the interest of the bank.

Talking to The Kathmandu Post, brother of Mahendra Prasad Gartaula said the decision was unexpected and the bail amount was too high than expected.

The CIAA had asked the court to send back the accused to detention again since it was investigating other corruption cases in which also the accused were involved.

Kathmandu could go the Chennai way: Collect rainwater and drink it

By Surendra Phuyal

CHENNAI, India, April 3 : No snow-fed river like the Melamchi or the Trishuli flows from near this metropolis in India’s eastern coast. Neither is the salty Indian Ocean water that splashes its sandy beaches useful for consumption or any other domestic use.

And yet this city of six million people has managed to get enough water—for drinking, and for cleaning, washing and even recreational purposes such as swimming. Now, you might begin to wonder what could be the source of Chennai’s drinking water…

It is as simple as this: The erstwhile Madrasis trap the water where it falls: On simple terms, they collect rainwater during the peak rainy months of monsoon and use the same to meet their domestic needs during the dry season.

Eighty five percent of Chennaites have their own source of drinking water, and the municipal authority requires them to have the rainwater harvesting facility incorporated in their house designs. Most Chennai houses have rainwater drains connecting the roofs with underground tanks or wells.

Even the Municipal and Water Supply Department of the Tamilnadu state government does the same. It collects rainwater in mammoth reservoirs to meet the city’s growing water demands.

And as they do it, Chennai’s groundwater aquifers, too, get automatically recharged, enabling the residents of the city to pump ground water for domestic use.

This may be the reason why the Secretary at the Department, Shanta Sheela Nair, looks contented. "The water we have currently is sufficient to meet the city’s present demand of 200 million litres daily (MLD)," she said during a South Asian journalists’ workshop here last week.

The residents, most importantly housewives, appear to be the happiest lot. Said Bhagyalaxmi Kalyanram, a housewife of Tambram locality, "We have no shortage of water. We are proud of the rainwater harvesting facility that our apartment has."

Added Suvasni, another housewife in the same complex, "Because we collect the rainwater and store it in our tanks and there is no chance of the groundwater aquifers getting dried. Our neighbours are jealous of this."

Alacrity Foundations Pvt Ltd is one of the companies involved in constructing buildings and apartments with the rainwater harvesting facility in Chennai. It has already constructed 3,000 such houses in the city, while 1,000 more are under construction, according to Indukanth Ragade, Vice Chairman of Alacrity.

"The rainwater drains in these apartments tend to remain highly successful so long as the rains are there," said Ragade.

Experts say rainwater harvesting is a practise that is becoming increasingly popular—and successful—in big cities like Chennai; and not only in India but also around the world—in Australia, East Asia and the Americas.

The practise, according to Deepak Raj Pant, an Associate Professor of physics at the Tribhuvan University and a RONAST (Royal Nepal Academy for Science and Technology) Academician, is equally suitable and relevant for Kathmandu.

"It is a new and evidently the best technology available," he said. "Rainwater is the cleanest, safest and most beautiful source of drinking water. At times like these, Kathmanduites (who are reeling under acute shortage of drinking water) have no choice but to start doing it."

Kathmandu’s drinking water requirement is 170 MLD, but with its surface water sources fast drying with the dawning of yet another dry season, its over a hundred year old pipelines are getting between 70 to 80 MLD currently, forcing residents to either go for mineral water or unsafe ground water.

But as much as 2500 MLD water, ironically, has been flowing down the Bagmati river every year from the Valley, which lies in one of the country’s active monsoon regions.

According to Pant, if the rainwater from the Valley’s 650 sq-km catchment area is to be collected, the Valley can have a supply of at least 2,500 MLD water throughout the year. And even if six percent of this is to be collected, it would generate around 150 MLD—which is little less than what authorities are planning to bring in from Melamchi in the project’s first phase.

But are big projects like Melamchi the answer to cities like Kathmandu’s growing water demands?

Like many other experts at the workshop, the Chennai Department’s Secretary Sheela Nair says a big NO to it. She said, "There will still be people without drinking water even if we supply 600 MLD into the system. The point is: you have to check massive pilferage of drinking water from the system and plug the leaks. And you have to make people pay for it."

Point to ponder: like in many other South Asian water supply systems, there is a 40 per cent leakage in Kathmandu’s water supply system.