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Kathmandu Saturday February 02, 2002 Magh 20, 2058.
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Maoist leaders still at large: Kandel
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Feb 1 For the first time in the last two months of
emergency, the government minister today accepted that the security personnel have not
been able to locate the senior leaders of the Maoists.
Minister of State for Home Devendra Raj Kandel admitted that
the central leaders of the Maoists were still at large. "But the law and order
situation in the country has definitely improved," he said here today at a press
meet.
"Our target is not to spare them," Kandel said,
adding, "If some one informs us on their whereabouts, we will definitely raid
them."
All the leaders are leading the "terrorist
activities" from outside the country or are underground, Minister of State Kandel
further said. "Only the low level cadres have been exposed at the front."
The Home Ministry also announced the government’s relief
and compensation packages to the victims of the Maoist insurgency today, after nearly a
year of adopting it.
The Ministry has been providing Rs. 750,000 to the families
of the security personnel and Rs. 150,000 to the family of civilians killed by the Maoists
or those dying in action against the Maoists. But the amount of the compensation and the
ground for determining the amount of compensation was not disclosed.
The Ministry also informed that 524 police personnel, 443
civilians and above 1318 Maoists have been killed since the Maoists began their insurgency
to establish "People’s State" in February 1996. But, he did not say
anything about the casualties in the Royal Nepal Army, which has been mobilised against
the Maoists since the declaration of state of the emergency on November 26 last year.
Minister of State Kandel further said that 1,061 police and
939 civilians were injured during the six-year-old insurgency while 330 people have been
displaced from their home. He also informed that those displaced people living in the
capital have been provided "displacement allowance" amounting no more than Rs.
100 per day, which is provided from Lalitpur District Administration Office.
Kandel also disclosed that almost Rs. 2.43 million have
already been spent for hiring helicopters in rescuing and carrying the injured personnel
in the current fiscal year alone, which is some 1.3 million more than that of last fiscal
year.
According to Kandel, the Ministry has also been providing
"widow allowance" to the widows of the persons killed by the Maoists without
imposing age bar. The government has also provided dependent children scholarships worth
Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 20,000 annually, as per their level and degree.
Similarly, those looking after the injured people are also
getting Rs. 75 a day. "Government is thinking of increasing the amount considering
they are not enough to live in Kathmandu," Kandel said.
"Almost Rs. 107.7 million have already been spent in
relief and compensation in the last three years," he said.
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