Efforts on to ease traffic congestion

By Pragya Koirala

KATHMANDU, Dec 19:In 1992 it took Santosh half an hour to reach the nearby school. Ten years later when he returned to Kathmandu after his studies abroad, he was both appalled and amazed to note the chaotic traffic conditions of the capital city.

"The traffic conditions and traffic management in Kathmandu is among the worst I have encountered", says Santosh.

According to Surendra Pal, Senior Superintendent of Police, Valley Traffic Police, there are several reasons for traffic congestion. He says, "The condition of the roads in the Valley has been worsened with the growing number of vehicles. Others would be the lack of knowledge among the pedestrians and cyclists, no proper lane discipline and no destined public stops for the vehicles."

He further says that all these problems make the movement of vehicles slower, which in turn leads to accumulation of a large number of vehicles at strategic points, further aggravating the problem of congestion.

The frequent accidents that occur on the roads also cause traffic jams. The main causes of accidents are poor condition of vehicles, reckless driving, specially among motorbike riders and mechanical failure of vehicles. The best way to overcome this is through careful driving, servicing of vehicles at regular intervals and proper knowledge of driving.

Recently, various traffic rules have been introduced in order to minimise accidents. A new rule, not yet implemented says that a motorcycle pillion rider has to wear helmet, also both the driver and passengers in four-wheeled vehicles have to wear safety belts.

The fact is that the number of vehicles entering Nepal has been growing at an alarming rate. In 2000 itself, there were 2,59,400 number of vehicles, which increased to 3,00,395 after a year. By 2002 the number reached 3,54,955. In Bagmati zone alone, there are 2,17,085 vehicles whereas there is only 1319 km of road.

The newly installed traffic lights have been helping quite a bit. The traffic lights installed by a Japanese company OBYASI have given the traffic police more time to act. Previously, they had to manage traffic manually, which proved to be a tough proposition especially during office hours. Yet, the lights are not enough. There needs to be sixty-three lights in the valley but there are only ten among which two are under construction.

The government has been doing a lot to manage the traffic congestion and pollution. According to law, vehicles more than 20 years old are not allowed to ply in the valley. However, this law has been very difficult to implement, as the public, especially vehicle owners do not co-operate.

Also, people park their cars in the no parking areas and stop the vehicles wherever they like, even when there is a big "NO Parking" sign. Traffic police has been taking action against such people, but drivers don’t seem to be learning from their mistakes and they commit the same mistakes.

People say that they are not aware of the new rules and regulations and have no idea what the signs in the pamphlets mean. Some say that they are new in the valley, so have no idea of the rules while using the streets.

According to SSP Pal, for these people the traffic police has been organising Traffic Day on weekly basis where they teach people about various traffic rules and make them aware of the precautions they can take while using the streets. Traffic Week, celebrated on a yearly basis, is also an awareness programme for the general public.

Traffic police say that they have been doing their best to manage traffic in the valley and to reduce vehicular congestion, but say that if the number of cars entering the valley continues to increase and people do not co-operate, the problem of congestion could never be solved.

Upadhyaya passes away

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KATHMANDU, Dec 19: Former secretary and diplomat Devendraraj Upadhyaya passed away last night at the age of 76. Late Upadhyaya was a life member of the Royal Nepal Academy. He also served as the Executive Director of Radio Nepal. He had written over a dozen of books on literature, culture, religion and other topics. He is survived by his wife, three sons and a daughter.

Women seek 33 pc reservation in politics

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KATHMANDU, Dec 19:At an interaction programme on "Reinforcing Gender Mainstreaming in Local Governance", organised here by the Federation of District Development Committees today demanded at least 33 percent reservation for women candidates, within local bodies to central political level. The programme is expected to establish a benchmark for women’s representation issue in future elections.

Speaking on the occasion, many women politicians voiced their serious concern over the gender-biased mentality of their male counterparts which, they said, had led to the low profile and poor representation of Nepalese women, even in the local bodies.

Although 5 percent quota has been set aside for women in the Lower House, there has not been any significant increase in the number of women politicians.

Speaking on the occasion, Sarita Giri, central member of the Nepal Sadbhavana Party urged the political parties not to make poor opinion about women politicians, while stressing the need for developing "stable leadership qualities." She urged all political parties and civic society to work for gender-neutral society where men and women are treated as individuals.

"It is the right time to exploit the situation when national and international activities are putting pressure on political parties to act in favour of women," she observed while demanding a separate budget for women’s development.

Pratibha Rana, a member of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), demanded increase in reservation from 33% to 40%. "Reservation for women at the different political levels should be increased in view of their success in different sectors," she said and called for a national consensus on the increased reservation to make women competitive.

Meena Pandey of the Nepali Congress said that women candidates should be given extensive leadership training to bring them into mainstream politics.

The chief guest, Taranath Ranabaat said that gender equality is not possible as long as socio-economic evils are not eradicated from Nepalese society. "Today, many Nepalese women are joining the Maoists as there are opportunities for them to utilize their capabilities", he said and urged all the political parties to find the solution to present political crisis.

Interaction on National Women’s Commission Bill

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KATHMANDU, Dec 19:Empowerment of women, gender equality, social justice, women’s participation in nation’s main stream development and women’s rights are some of the objectives of National Women’s Commission (NWC). This was disclosed at an interaction programme organised here today. The programme unfolded the proposed bill of NWC that has been shaped after six interaction programmes in the beginning followed by interactions in 54 districts.

Speaking at the 55th interaction programme, Durga Pokhrel, chairperson of NWC said that the bill has been moulded with the suggestions and recommendations of women and men who believe in gender equality. "All the problems of women should be solved in a planned way and the problems of the women living in the capital city should be highlighted as it has not been exposed yet", she remarked.

Various participants of the interaction programme expressed their opinions and made comments to make the bill more practical and strong, once the bill was examined.

Laxmi Prasad Bhattarai, Chief District Officer of Kathmandu district and Surya Bhakta Khanal, Local Development Officer, Kathmandu District Development Committee, also attended the programme. Brinda Pandey, member of NWC informed that the bill would, most probably, be presented to the government in about two weeks.

Social discrimination a hindrance to development

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KATHMANDU, Dec 19:The main reason why the people with disabilities (PWDs) are not coming into the mainstream is due to social discrimination that prohibits them from taking active participation in social events. Without the sense of equality, the concerned issue and problems will never come in the open.

The view was expressed by Munishwor Pandey, president of Nepal Federation of Disabled (NFD). He said the work for the disabled began after democracy and it was in the year 1993 when NFD was established.

The two-day annual review meeting was organised by the Handicapped International today. The meeting was held to share the experiences of Community Approach to the Handicapped in Development (CAHD)-implementing partners, find ways and means to improve project implementation and develop a platform for all collaborating partners.

Dattatroy Roy of UNICEF said the biggest problem in this field is common understanding. He said the importance should be given to prevention and UNICEF has to learn a lot from CAHD approach. One of the programmes of UNICEF is Vitamin A project preventing 2000 children from becoming blind.

PWDs in Nepal face practical difficulties in providing the available services within the country. A majority of the PWDs lives in rural areas. They are poor, socially discriminated, immobile beyond the boundary of their homes or village and deprived of education and lack awareness of their basic human rights, states the report by Megha Ratna Shakya, Service System Development Consultant, Handicapped International.

On the occasion, various concerned organisations working for the people with disabilities expressed their views.

Dalit families forbidden to use public water-tap

By Dipendra Baduwal

BARDIYA, Dec 19:The tube-well fed community water tap, installed by the Baniyar VDC of Bardiya has been made inaccessible to 25 Dalit households at ward-5 of Bardiya district, by a few upper-caste people.

Except for two non-Dalit households of the Singh caste, the rest of the people of that VDC, which comprises a Dalit majority, are forbidden to collect water from that public tap recently installed in their village.

Radhika Sunar, a Dalit woman and a victim of this discrimination, says that just two days after the installation of the tap, the Dalits were prohibited from filling their vessels from it. She said that the Dalit people were kept away by the demeaning verbal abuse hurled at them, by the upper caste people.

She added that any water that they need has to be filled by the Singh caste people, who intentionally leave their empty vessels around the tap as a warning for the Dalits not to touch the tap.

These Dalits disallowed access to this public tap and not being able to install a private tap are forced to fetch water from the Babai river.

Another Dalit woman who was in Gulriya, the headquarters, for a training programme, said that when they needed to drink clean water they had to approach private taps outside their village, but only after getting permission from the owners. However, here too they have to bear many harsh words to get just a vessel or two of water, she added.

"Since we are deprived of clean drinking water, my father entered India with the prospect of earning enough money to install a tap of our own," said Radhika to The Kathmandu Post with tearful eyes, " but his dream cannot come true as he was reported to have died while working there," she added.

Though many government and non-government organisations have been established in Bardiya for the upliftment of the Dalit people, all are inactive, except for the "Dalit Sewa Sang", it is learnt. No organisation comes to the aid of the Dalits of that village when they are in dire need of life-saving water.

Janaki Thapa, a resident of that VDC, maintains that the equipment and materials provided by the VDC office for installing this tap were carried in by the Dalit workers who had been assured that they would have access to the tap. However, after the tap was installed the Dalits were denied use of the same.

The chairman of the "Dalit Sewa Sang", Ganesh B.K. says, the upper caste people are trying to cause a rift among the Dalits, at the same time breaking the confidence of these people. He also informed of such incidences that had come up before and how they had been settled. He said that this incident has been reported to them, and will be taking necessary steps after talking to the locals in that VDC.

"Such insensitive behaviour from conscious human-beings is ridiculous at the threshold of 21st century," reiterated Naresh Sowar, a representative of "Dalit Sewa Sangh".

Army, Maoists use civilians as porters, informers

By Kashiram Dangi

ROLPA, Dec 19:Security forces and Maoist rebels are learnt to have used civilians of this insurgency-hit district in the mid-western region against each other, according to reports from various parts of the district.

It has come to light that the security personnel force the locals to work either as porters or informers whenever they carry out search operations in rural areas and, the rebels also use the non-combatants as human shield, either to escape from security actions or to ambush them.

Locals said the security personnel used more than five dozen civilians as porters while conducting search operations in the western part of this impoverished district about a week ago. The victims complained that the government forces usually compel the people coming at the district headquarters, Liwang, for personal businesses to work as porters, saying that they needed a little consultation with them. Most of the people who are forcibly used as porters or informers are those who have been taking refuge in Liwang due to Maoist atrocities.

On the other hand, the rebels are also learnt to have forcibly used the locals as informers about military activities around their villages. Locals said the rebels normally use children and elderly people as their agents, despite their unwillingness.

Villagers in remote Pobang area said some of the villagers, used as porters by the security forces, were killed during crossfire between the two warring sides about two months ago.

Financial assistance for Myanglung fire victims underway

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OKHALDHUNGA, Dec 19:In order to provide financial relief to the victims of the fire in Myanglung some days back, District Natural Calamity Relief Committee has collected Rs. 55,382 during their rounds on Saturday and Sunday.

According to the Chief District Officer, Gyan Prasad Sharma since more financial aid is pouring in from various government and non-government organisation employees and from VDCs and the general populace, this relief assistance shall only be distributed to the fire victims next week onwards through the District Administration Office Tehrathum.

This relief collection programme which was started with the initiation from the Relief Collection Committee is remarkably being assisted by the government as well as non-government employees, Red Cross, social workers, politicians, teachers, students, business community, and by the general populace, it is learnt.

Three die in road accidents

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BHADRAPUR, Dec 19:An accident occurred near Dhaijan on the Mahendra highway when a mini-bus of New Jhapa Travels, bearing the no. Ma 1 Kha 532 heading towards Birtamod from Kakarbhitta collided with a motor-cycle no. Ma 1 Kha 3251.

Two are claimed dead in this accident which occurred at around 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon. Among the dead were the driver of the bus, Ramesh Khawas, and the 40-year-old motorcycle rider, Sikander Prasad Singh, according to the District Police Office there. Of the 28 injured passengers, eight are in serious condition while two are in critical condition and are referred to the hospital in Silguri.

Similarly, a 20-year-old resident of Taplejung, Hari Prasad Khati died when he fell from the roof of a moving bus which was heading towards Birtamod from Pirthivinagar on Wednesday afternoon.

Similarly, in another accident that occurred near Bori-khola in Dhanauri VDC of Dang on Wednesday afternoon, five passengers were injured. The ill-fated jeep bearing the no. Ra 1 Ja 22 was bound for Kalimati of Salyan from Tulsipur.

Three of the injured have been taken to Palpa for treatment, while the remaining two are undergoing treatment in Mahendra Hospital at Ghorahi. The condition of one of the injured is learnt to be serious.

Pokhara women provide additional financial support to their families

By Amrit Bhadgaunle

POKHARA, Dec 19:Milan Sherchan of Pokhara is known to be the first person to introduce Hanano Osiwana, a Japanese art form using dry leaves. Sherchan introduced this art six years ago when she returned from Japan. "Because of the art people respect me. I earned some money but had I returned only with Japanese Yen no one could have recognised me," she explained. She bought a modern building at Jawalakhel out of the earnings of her stay in Japan.

Sherchan learned the art from Japanese teacher Nohara Umi for five days. She organised exhibitions of her art twice, once last year and in July this year. Pasting leaves and flowers she creates mountains, gardens or portraits, without the use of a brush or any colours. All she needs are fevicol, scissors and forceps.

Many other women from Pokhara have stories similar to Sherchan’s. While earning sufficiently from places like Japan, Germany and America, they also learnt skills from there. Krishna Gauchan, mother of two daughters, also returned from Japan three years ago.

"My overseas stay proved quite beneficial as I learned new skills as well as to speak confidently," Gauchan said to The Kathmandu Post adding, "I feel proud as I can support my husband financially". Tirtha Shrestha of Pokhara also accepts the fact that those women who have returned from foreign countries have confidence and better skill in business management.

As they return from abroad they also change their lifestyle. Those who were simple housewives before leaving the country now possess scooters or cars and are often found driving by themselves. "The more you work, the more you earn there. So we worked almost 16 hours a day," a woman possessing a car said.

Another Japan-returned lady, Shanti Sherchan, who stayed there for six years, said that even an uneducated woman can earn 150 thousand per month. As a widow, she has more responsibility on her shoulders. However, she has been managing easily with her own earnings. Shanti, who had also worked in Britain, purchased land, admitted her children at renowned school and has maintained a healthy bank balance.

"Here I barely get ten thousand rupees no matter how hard I work, while I earned around 150 thousand per month abroad," said another woman. The large income abroad, encourages people to prolong their stay abroad, even illegally.

Tirthamaya Joshi of Vindhavasini Women Handicraft Development Centre, too, started her business from the earnings that she earned abroad. Late King Birendra conferred ‘Social Service Award’ to Joshi who gave training to around three thousand women. Similarly some other ladies from Pokhara have been working in Hong Kong. Some of them possess ID card as a citizen born there while others go with travel visa.

Chandra Kumari Gurung of Ghandruk, Kaski who suffered mental torture in South Korea, feels vindicated as the Korean government is to provide her with Rupees 18 lakhs as compensation, after the Seoul District Court declared it a negligence on the part of the government. She is going to file case at an appellate court claiming more compensation. She was arrested from a restaurant and sent to prison, as she couldn’t pay her bill. Gurung spent more than six years where she was treated as a mentally retarded person.

Hydrological studies continue despite DPR suspension

By Chitranga Thapa

MAHENDRANAGAR, Dec 19:The Nepal-India Joint Technical Team (NIJTT) on Pancheswor High Dam project has continued hydrological measurement studies along the Mahakali River, despite the fact that the project’s detailed project report (DPR) has been suspended indefinitely since June.

The hydrological measurement has been started in the Pancheswor, Rupaligad and Purnagiri areas, according to Narendra Bhandari, a Nepali engineer associated with the NIJTT. The survey work of the Panchaeswor’s DPR was kicked off in December 1999 but came to a halt all of a sudden in June.

When the Mahakali River Treaty was signed between Nepal and India in 1996, it was agreed upon that the Pancheswor’s DPR would be completed within six months from the date of its ratification by both countries.

Pancheswor, located on the Nepal-India border, has been identified as the dam and powerhouse sites for the 315-metre high hydro project generating 6,480 megawatts of electricity whereas, the authorities of Nepal and India have strong reservations over the construction site of a re-regulating dam, either in Rupaligad or Purnagiri.

"Indian side is in favour of constructing the re-regulating dam on Purnagiri, where, they believe, will be able to fully utilise the water to be augmented from the reservoir of the Pancheswor High Dam for irrigation purposes," said a Nepali official. He said that the Jogbuda Valley in Dadeldhura district would be inundated once the re-regulating dam is constructed at Purnagiri. Sources said that preparation of the DPR was suspended due to the differences over the sharing of the river water between the two countries.