5, including a Major, killed in ambush
Maoists continue destruction, 14 gunned down

Post Report

KATHMANDU, April 6:Five Royal Nepal Army personnel, including a Major, were killed and seven others injured in an ambush after the vehicle they were travelling ran into mines at Khata range post, Dhodhari in Bardiya district Saturday afternoon, according to security sources.

The Defence Ministry confirmed the death of armymen that includes Major Roshan Shrestha. The injured were flown in a helicopter to Kathmandu. There are unconfirmed reports that the injured includes another Major, Lav Rayamajhi. All the injured are being treated at the Birendra Army Hospital, Chhauni in Kathmandu.

The army personnel, led by Major Shrestha were going from the army barracks at Thakurdwara to Kothiyaghat when the explosion occurred at about 1 p.m. The vehicle was extensively damaged. Another army vehicle, that was following behind, escaped the blast. The soldiers in the second vehicle launched the "counter-ambush" operation soon after.

Immediately, the army searched the surrounding areas extensively for the Maoists behind the explosion but without any success. They have surrounded the area and the search for the culprits is on, said the sources. Meanwhile, in the latest clash between the army and the Maoists, 14 "terrorists" were killed in different parts of the country yesterday, said the Ministry of Defence on Saturday.

During the exchange of the gunfire, the army killed five rebels in Amreni, Dang; two each in Ragda (Jajarkot), Salyan, Sivalaya Chhamkharka (Parbat) and one each in Lapchung and Ghodagaon (both in Rolpa) and Jarbutta in Surkhet district.

The ministry said that those killed were involved in the attacks on the security forces recently.

The army also cleared a road block at Sangachowk, Deurali in Sindhupalchowk district that was caused by the mines placed by the Maoists. The "terrorists" also destroyed the house of lawmaker Govind Bahadur Shah after looting valuables and jewellery and food grains at Ridikot in Achham.

Meanwhile, traders in the Dailekh market have begun pressurising the local administration to ease restrictions on the movement of food grains after the Maoists cut off the water supply to the market in order to force the traders to trade food for water.

In recent times, the army tightened its noose on the movement of food grains from the market. They have turned back the Naumule-bound mules loaded with rice, making it mandatory for the traders and individuals to get a prior permission from the administration to move the grains. The Maoists, believed to be holed up at Salleri in Solukhumbu district and Chaurantha in Dailekh have retaliated after facing the prospects of no food.

According to locals, some outlawed Maoist workers met them and asked them to collect water after giving them rice. Last Tuesday, they damaged the main pipeline near Kalimati, Narayan Municipality.

Meanwhile, our reporter from Bhojpur said that the Maoists, continuing their destruction of infrastructure, set fire to the offices of the three VDCs in this district. The VDCs were not protected by the security forces. According to sources in the army, the offices of the VDCs – Gogane, Letwark and Okhregaon – were set ablaze by the armed Maoists on Friday night. The losses from this destruction are yet to be calculated.

The Maoists also hurled socket bombs at the terminal of the Bhojpur airport on Thursday, damaging it partially. On the same day, the rebels bombed a partially damaged office of the Taksar VDC in the district.

Reports from Pyuthan had similar story of destruction. Our reporter from the neighbouring Dang district said that the Maoists burnt official documents of a local secondary school and took away lab instruments from the school. According to the headmaster, Rabilal Khanal, the Maoists had threatened him to discontinue the teaching of optional Sanskrit subject.

Similarly, the Maoists have burnt the documents and looted from the office of an NGO, Snowland Integrated Development Centre at Kermi, north of Simikot, the district headquarters of Humla and looted medicines from a clinic run by another NGO, Nepal Trust at Torpa village near Simikot. The Maoists also set ablaze the papers and documents of seven VDCs in Humla district. With this, 18 of the 27 VDC offices in the district have been vandalised, according to an official of the District Development Committee. In Taplejung district too, the rebels destroyed documents in the offices of 23 VDCs during the past week. All of these VDCs were vulnerable to the Maoist attack due to lack of effective security.

KMC finally gets to manage city landmarks

By Razen Manandhar

KATHMANDU, April 6:After a long wait, the government has finally decided to hand over the management of the capital’s four prominent landmarks to the Kathmandu Metropolitan City.

The government eventually agreed to hand over Ranipokhari, Ratnapark, City Hall and the Balaju Water Garden to KMC that were previously under the Public Garden and Auditorium Development Committee (PGADC), a semi-government body, Hari Prasad Rimal, spokesman of the Ministry of Local Development, told The Kathmandu Post today.

"But it does not give authority to the KMC to sell the land and it requires the Ministry’s approval for any development programmes like giving in lease or changing the constructions," Rimal said.

Though the Ministry recently finalised its decision to hand over the ‘rights of utilising’ these major attractions of the city, the KMC will formally take over only after a hand over ceremony.

The decision gives KMC the authority to use the places, develop them and manage them in a better way. The responsibility to manage the 120-odd number of staff also falls on the KMC as per the understanding.

Deputy manager of PGADC Sahadev Shrestha said that the earlier attempts to take over the rights of PGADC belongings by mayors Kamal Chitrakar and PL Singh had failed. "For us, it would be of little difference working under the government or the KMC," he said.

But Mayor Keshav Sthapit has taken this decision as the biggest achievement of his four and half years tenure. "We finally got it" Sthapit said, responding to a question on the decision.

"It was the result of my continuous effort of almost five years," he said. Former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala had announced from several platforms to hand them over but that had never materialised, Sthapit added. "It seems the whole country has now become ours."

He also added that the open space in Teenkune is also on the pipeline to come under the KMC’s jurisdiction. This decision to hand over Teenkune to the KMC would come out within a few days time, according to Hari Krishna Bhagat, in-charge of the Division of Road.

KMC is strong enough to manage the places it would acquire, secretary of KMC Surya Silwal said. "KMC is desperately waiting for a letter to immediately start the maintenance works."

"After completing the garden around Ranipokhari, we will start the maintenance of the City Hall," Silwal said, adding, "We will provide the service of International Birendra Convention Hall in reasonable price at the City Hall itself."

Rebel violence taking its toll
Work on agriculture roads affected in 25 districts

By Damaru Lal Bhandari

KATHMANDU, April 6:The implementations of infrastructure related projects under the Department of Infrastructure and Agriculture Roads of the Ministry of Local Development have suffered a lot during the current fiscal year than ever before.

And, the apprehension that the Maoist violence may have adversely affected the construction of agriculture roads in as many as 65 districts has proved right. These planned roads fall under the 20-year agriculture perspective plan.

Bhim Upadhyaya, Chief of the Department of Infrastructure and Agriculture Roads, said, "The work on roads in early 40 districts got underway though we have received not even 50 percent of the allocated budget." He, however, conceded that the Department has not been able to implement the projects in other 25 districts due to the Maoist violence.

Concerned monitoring officials in the same ministry said, "Either, there has been truncated presence of the key officials in the districts or there has not been enough preparation concerning the roads." Even the budget allocated for the purpose tends to get entangled in the bureaucratic mess, something, which has been identified as additional factor in ruling out the early implementation of the projects.

Moreover, delayed planning of the roads and procedural obstacles had also added to the delay. As has come to the fore, many agriculture roads are still caught in the delay resulting from task of conducting the mandatory competitive bidding before the job is awarded.

As Basant Raj Gautam, Chief of the Ministry of Local Development’s Monitoring Cell, said that the report of the first six months shows that they have not yet commenced the physical part of the work. "They are still busy in concluding the procedural part of it," he said.

Meanwhile, nothing seems to have impended the construction of the roads under the "Rural Community Infrastructure Work (RCIW)", which was previously known as "Food for Work Programme."

"Our programme has remained unaffected for the consecutive seventh year," said Gautam, the Programme Manager of RCIW. "In fact, we have remained unaffected by violence perpetrated by the rebels." It is because of the fact that the programme is directly linked to food, according to Gautam.

The RCIW is currently working in food-deficit regions from where the depots of Nepal Food Corporation (NFC) have moved out or closed down. RCIW is operating 60 rural road projects in 31 districts.

Out of Rs. 350 million earmarked for RCIW projects, about Rs. 230 million worth of food grains come from the World Food Programme (WFP) while the government and local bodies contribute to the tune of Rs. 120 million. The government, however, has cut down the administrative budget as part of the austerity measure in the wake of soaring security expenses.

In terms of food grains, it is nearly 15,000 metric tons of food grains, which ought to go towards agriculture road construction during the current fiscal year. The biggest road being built under the RCIW is 70-km Humla-Simikot road, 20 km of which has already been constructed. "It may be, they are not able to commence the job on time in disturbed areas just because their project does not involve food grains," Gautam said which explaining the inordinate delay in the commencement of the work on district agriculture roads.

Additional obstacles of course include delayed release of budget both from the Ministry of Finance and donors themselves who have committed for the funding of these projects. The budget earmarked for the district agriculture roads has been put at Rs. 150 million, with a major component coming from the donors. The donors are usually known for seeking complete transparency and preparedness before doling out the money something which against rules out any prospects of timely release of the same. Timely preparedness is ruled out by the fact that the projects often get caught in the bureaucratic hassles.

Even the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has suspended the continued assistance to road projects in Kavre, Tanahu and Bajhang, saying that it expects to make reassessment of the entire commitment made in the wake of the anomalies arising in the implementation stage.

The bank, however, is expected to recommence its assistance in these districts when the second phase of the programme begins elsewhere. ADB is funding these roads, which are identified as "village to market roads."

Meanwhile, the projects undertaken by the Swiss Development Co-operation (SDC) have been regarded as the examples of better-implemented ones, compared to others. SDC is funding roads in Kavre, Sindhupalchowk, Dolakha and Ramechhap districts.

Bandh withdrawn, but cadres went ahead

By Tilak Pokharel

KATHMANDU, April 6: After unleashing terror for days Maoist rebels decided to reschedule the nation-wide shutdown, scheduled for the first week of April. They did it at the eleventh hour bowing to the pressure from all the political parties and the civil society.

But even so the chaos continued throughout the country that saw transport entrepreneurs fearing to operate their buses. But it was the general public and, not to forget, the poor people who were at the receiving end.

Despite the rescheduling of the five-day shutdown (Nepal bandh) starting Tuesday, 73-year-old Krishna Prasad Aryal could not go to his home district in Gorkha after the bus operators refused to operate their vehicles. " I was shocked and all my plans went haywire after the buses remained in garage," a stranded Aryal said.

Like Aryal, thousands of passengers have been stranded in the capital. They have been the victims of the psychological fear of being caught in the Maoist violence. Since the bandh was rescheduled at the eleventh hour, the bus operators did not operate their buses on the first day. The news of the strike withdrawal came late.

Despite the call off, Maoist atrocities against few buses plying along the highways on the second day forced other buses remain within the garage. The Maoists had opened fires at a bus near Nepalgunj that left one passenger seriously injured and couple of others with minor injuries, let alone the number of buses set on fire.

Whatever the eleventh hour development, fears loomed large and the market prices of such basic commodities as vegetables, lentils etc went up. A kilogram of tomato in the Kalimati-based vegetable market went up to Rs 40 from Rs 6. All because there was no mobility of vehicles and new stocks could not be brought to the capital from outside, according to vegetable vendors.

Krishna Thapa, a staff of a bus plying to Baglung from the capital, said he was forced to garage his bus apparently because of the fears of possible Maoist attacks. "The security was horrible and I did not want to take risks" he said. The strike was to continue till Saturday. According to information provided by the Thankot-based Police Check Post, about seven buses per day left the capital during the "withdrawn" bandh days, totaling the number 36. On a normal day, almost 250 buses pass via Thankot for the districts in the west, south and east.

Two months ago, a group of armed Maoists burnt alive five persons including a minor travelling in a bus in Bhandara area of Chitwan district. That particular incident was enough to create psychological fear among all—both the passengers and the operators.

But Thapa said the buses would come back to the streets as usual from Sunday. "All the buses including mine will be operated from tomorrow," he said. On Saturday, most the ticket counters in the New Bus Park were closed and the staffs in a few open counters were sending back their potential customers empty-handed.

Sudip Pathak of the Human Rights Organisation of Nepal (HURON) partly blames the government for not effectively disseminating the news of the rescheduling of the bandh. "The government media was intent only on making propaganda to force the Maoists withdraw the bandh," he said. "But later, the same media houses virtually failed to disseminate the news of the bandh withdrawal and all the people were perplexed." Had the government media houses invited all the concerned individuals - including the transport entrepreneurs, human rights activists and representatives from the consumer forums - and assured them of the security, the life would have been normal, he said. "But the government left the people in enigma," he added.

Pathak also said that the grassroots level Maoist cadres who went on a rampage and created uproar were not well directed by their seniors. "Since the bandh was called-off at the last hour, the already prepared Maoist cadres were not well informed about it and damaged the vehicles and property," he said.

Citing security reasons, the security personnel have also been barring people from taking batteries to their villages mainly in the Maoist strongholds. And, that virtually detached the locals from mass communication that made them unaware about the news of the bandh.

HMG to introduce ‘civic education’ course

Post Report

KATHMANDU, April 6:With the current violence and unrest in the country, the government will be soon announcing a new academic course, beneficial for a moral upliftment of the students as future citizens.

Speaking on the occasion of the ninth anniversary of Maiti Nepal, State Minister for Education and Sports, Narayan Prasad Saud said that with morally wrong activities like terrorism and girl trafficking rampant in the country, HMG has decided to include a special "civic education" course for students above sixth grade. Similarly, Minister for Health, Sharat Singh Bhandari stated that the country has today many rehabilitation centres and organisations for victims of girl trafficking but not all of them have contributed in giving such massive awareness to the society. Minister Singh citing a popular Nepalese proverb, said that Anuradha Koirala, the chairperson of Maiti Nepal has taught people the way to fish rather than giving a fish to eat, so that one can survive on her own in future.

Meanwhile, Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare, Rajendra Kharel amidst the huge function said that he will make sure the Bill against girl trafficking is passed during his tenure in the ministry. The anniversary was celebrated with huge fun and fanfare where children of Maiti Nepal presented various songs and dance sequences. Currently, Maiti Nepal is a home for 80 women and115 destitute children. In nine years, the centre has brought back to the country nearly 400 girls and women from Indian brothels.

How an ailing system fails to deliver services

By Khagendra Bhandari

KAVRE, April 6:More than a dozen organisations are pouring in millions of the rupees to improve the health sector in the district, but the people here still lack basic health facilities with more and more people dogged by simple ailments like dysentery and host of other problems.

In fact, the health situation in this district is so bad that the people living in the rural areas succumb to the simplest of problems, which could have been avoided with a simple care.

Consider also that the district health office functionaries say. They consider consumption TB as the major threat. Although as much as 85 percent of the TB patient ought to recover from it in line with the national target, the rate of recovery, however, currently stands at mere 48 percent.

Bal Krishna Bhusal, chief of the District Health Office, says, "The reasons behind lower rate of recovery include giving up intake of prescribed drugs mid way through the entire course and lack of awareness on the possible consequences."

There are also instances of the programmes not getting along smoothly due to the political pressure, according to Bhusal.

The woes do not end here. In fact, the district has in recent years come under the scourge of malaria and hence there is an additional need to introduce anti-malaria drive. The district health authorities are mulling the idea to introduce it this year.

Bhusal told The Kathmandu Post that the mosquitoes, which spread malaria in the Terai region, have also been found in Paanchkhal Village Development Committee (VDC). Almost 36 percent of the local population here were affected with malaria last year, which is the highest percentage of the incidence of malaria in the whole country.

Additional problems lie in the area of family planning and contraception. Meanwhile, there has been an increased awareness on the need to encourage married couples under the age of 40 to stop at two children in the wake of the scheme whereby couples above 40 were urged to use contraceptives have failed miserably in the district.

Those working in the health sector also complain that there should not be too many organisations working in the same area since the results have not been satisfactory.

The government expects to introduce a programme to eradicate poliomyelitis by feeding polio pulses to the children in the age group of 1 to 5, as part of the national drive even as the programme to fight diphtheria is still underway on an experimental basis.

At the same time, the concerned people here complain that the medicine being distributed as part of the community medicine is failing to reach to the predestined quarters of the district.

The organisations which are involved in the running of health services in the district include ADRA-Nepal, Unicef, Scher Memorial Hospital, Dhulikhel Community Hospital and more than a dozen non-governmental organisations. But, as elsewhere, the element of universal service is lacking since almost all of them have tended to operate in areas far from remote.

Meanwhile, as Kavre District Development Committee (DDC) President, Ram Hari Subedi, said, " The issue surrounding health services have not made it to the agenda of the DDC meeting. We have tended to concentrate on roads, bridges and other physical infrastructure."

What has also come to the fore is that since program aimed at increasing the fertility rate among women has not been introduced, there are every chances of iron capsules going waste for want of consumption.

What is also true is that the government has failed to make it a point to depute health staff at the respective health posts in the district something which leaves no other option for the villagers than travelling to the hospital in the district headquarters.

It is also true that program related to health have not gone into implementation in the absence of Auxiliary Health Workers (AHWs) in the health posts. This becomes evident from the fact that there has been no AHW in the 19 health posts of the district since the last one year. In fact, the government has not filled up the vacant posts.

Predictably enough, most of the AHWs who were posted at the health post in the remote parts of the district have sought transfers to relatively accessible areas tapping connections. There are 80 sub-health posts, 10 health posts and four primary health posts in the district which is divided into 87 VDCs and three municipal units.