Passport shortage resolved, but for how long?

Ranjan Rijal

KATHMANDU, Feb 9: Although the District Administration Office (DAO) here has resumed issuing passports, there is still concern that it will again face a shortage of passport books like what happened three months back. That shortage is now being seen as an example of the lack of coordination among the departments involved.

The DAO officials are saying that the number of passport books that it receives from the Home Ministry is not enough to meet the demand.

Phanni Raj Pokhrel, staff at the DAO, says the 500 passports his office received from the Home Ministry this month do not suffice as over 100 passports are being issued daily by his office. Says Pokhrel, "When we ask for 2000 passport books from the Home Ministry, it gives us only 150- 500 of them. That simply is not enough."

He also recalls the difficult time his office had for two months when no passport books were made available. He says during that time, over 150 people used to come daily to the office and most of them used to return empty-handed. Pokhrel says sarcastically, "When there is a rumor of shortage of anything, we Nepalese need that very thing at that time."

Binod Prasad Sharma, Assistant Chief District Officer of Kathmandu, blamed the shortage on the system. "There is a lack of coordination between the ministries concerned which is creating this disruption in passport supply. When there is a shortage of passport books with the DAO, we inform the Home Ministry, which in turn requests the Foreign Affairs Ministry to get the books which are printed in France and Singapore," says Sharma.

Before a passport reaches an applicant, it passes through three stages—first the book is printed abroad, which then is sent from the Foreign Ministry to the Home Ministry, and the latter then forwards it to the 75 DAOs in the country.

But there are also those who accuse the DAO of foul play, saying that during the shortage period, only those passport-seekers returned without getting their passports who did not want to bribe the officials. Says a passport applicant, "You could have got the passports during the so-called shortage period if you had the money to give under the table."

But officer Sharma dismisses those charges, saying that only those in urgent need of passports—like those who had to attend seminars—were issued the same during the scarcity time.

On the Home Ministry’s part, it passes the blame on to the Foreign Ministry. Gopendra Bahadur Pandey, Spokesperson at the Home Ministry, says that the Ministry can provide passports to the DAOs only if the Foreign Ministry provides sufficient books.

However, Yagya Bahadur Hamal, officer at the Passports Department of the Foreign Ministry, says that during the shortage period, his ministry had ordered 50,000 passport books from a Singapore firm, which have already been delivered to the Home Ministry. The officer also said that his Department had no information on further lack of passport books.

He also informed that the Foreign Ministry has now ordered 2,50,000 passports from a French company, which are expected to arrive in the near future. Everyone concerned is hoping that this consignment would solve all the shortage problems, but the fact remains that the departments involved ought to show better coordination.

Call to preserve national heritage

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Feb 9: Chairman of Rajparishad Standing Committee Dr Keshar Jung Rayamajhi today said that peace is the base of all the cultures of the world and maintaining it is the duty of the entire humanity.

He was addressing the 51st anniversary of the Nepal Cultural Association Saturday.

"In the course of time, culture has been internationalized and preserving national and local culture has become a real challenge," he said adding that one cannot live without any root and one’s culture is the base of the root from where he or she has evolved.

Cultural expert Satya Mohan Joshi said that Nepalis are showing eagerness to import Western culture and making ourselves cultural slaves.

"The growing popularity of Valentine’s Day, that has been discarded by some of Christian communities, indicates where we are going and how our slogans of culture preservation is working," he said.

He further said that though the world is impressed by the monuments of the Kathmandu Valley and UNESCO has inscribed them as World Heritage Sites, the locals are disinterested and not paying any attention though the site was warned to be enlisted as the Heritage in Danger.

"Illegal houses are being built in critical monument areas but neither Cultural Ministry nor Department of Archaeology, municipalities and other organizations are working to stop it. Those might have been successful because they have "big powers" behind them," said Joshi.

Cultural expert Dr Saphalya Amatya said the government has spent tens of millions of rupees in culture preservation all over the country but none has ever monitored or followed up the result of spending so much of money.

He added that teachings of heritage conservation and importance of culture should be taught in the early age so that they grow in cultural environment in the future.

General Secretary of NCA said that the association has started reference library recently where the public could visit everyday to go through books on culture of Nepal.

Minister opens YMCA festival

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Feb 9: State Minister for Education and Sports Narayan Prasad Saud today inaugurated the Youth Festival of Nepal Young Men Christian Association (YMCA).

He said maintaining peace has become a real challenge for the youths of today as the Maoists have been creating terror in all parts of the country.

"Maoists’ guns and bombs can take life of a citizen or destroy one house but they cannot sabotage the power and desire of innumerable youths," he said.

Sauds home was destroyed by the Maoist terrorists by blasting a bomb the other day.

Representatives of Christian association branches from Kathmadu, Lalitpur, Khokna, Hetauda, Sarlahi were also present at the programme.

The festival was formerly scheduled to hold on November 9,10 and 11, 2001. Then it was shifted to December 7, 8 and 9 due to the internal problems, the organizers said.

One of the aim and objectives of the festival was to spread YMCA and its branches throughout the country. Nepal YMCA, established in 1990, is a volunteer, ecumenical membership-based Christian organisation.

Traditional musical instruments on the verge of extinction

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Feb 9: It was pointed out that traditional musical instruments are on the verge of extinction as they are confined within the community. It was also said that folklore instruments, limited within the community and certain locality, give the identity of different cultures, scattered in different parts of the country.

The need for preservation of the traditional musical instruments was stressed at the inaugural function of the Festival of the Nepali Folk Instrument held at Kastamandap, Kathmandu Durbar Square Friday.

The Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Keshav Sthapit inaugurated the festival by playing the traditional blow instrument Murchunga. Mayor Sthapit was helped to play Murchunga by Suresh Chandra Pradhan, the wellknown Murchunga player.

Addressing the function, folk instrument expert, Ram Sharan Darnal said, "There are lots of traditional folk instruments used during Kirat, Licchavi, Malla and Shah periods which are almost extinct and so need some research."

Emphasising the importance of folk instruments that play an important role in human life from birth to death, Darnal said, "There arises a necessity of enough research, about the origin of the instrument and its importance in tradition and customs."

Folk singer Kumar Basnet, who has travelled much in different parts of the country called to avoid modern music and instruments. "Mostly the youths are attracted in adopting the modern instrument, which is why the age-old Nepali instruments are on the verge of extinction," he said.

Basnet further added that the new generation have to take the old instruments along with sophisticated modern instruments.

The audience, present at the Kastamandap traditional hall, were astonished when Narad Mani Hakpale produced music out of Pipal leaf.

"It is not only the duty or responsibility of one organisation or the government to preserve the Nepali folk instruments that represent different cultures and customs," said Sanad Adhikari, the teacher. "But it is the responsibility of all the individuals and communities, who have been using it from years."

Pokhara greets rare guests while Fishtail looks on 

By Satyendra Timilsina

I was lucky to be among the many journalists who arrived in scenic Pokhara to cover the Nepal Development Forum meet. The major donor event was held at The Fulbari Resort, the biggest five-star hotel in Pokhara, and probably the best in the entire Kingdom.

It was the first time that I was spending a night in this beautiful resort since its establishment some three years back. While each and every corner of Pokhara offers a vantage point to the glorious Himalaya, Fishtail, the view from the hotel perhaps beats most. But the way to the resort itself, some seven kilometres’ drive from central Pokhara, did not prepare me to its beautiful ambience—the road was rough, narrow and lonely.

After arriving at the hotel, I was soon to learn that the hotel has been paying an interest of 500,000 rupees every day from the first day of its operation. And now with the hotel not doing well because there are not many tourists around, it must be a Herculean task to pay off the loan.

Of course, the donors’ meet did provide some relief to the resort. Even then the resort was not packed to capacity, around 90 per cent of the rooms were full during the two-day affair. Now I am sure the resort is back to its deserted self. It must have been a long time since the golf course, the spa, the hot-water swimming pool, the disco, and many other amenities of Fulbari Resort, have seen maximum use.

If this is the case of a premier resort in a tourist country, I shudder to think of what must be happening in the thousands of small- and big-time hotels in the country. The case of the resort, I think, is representative of the entire tourism industry in the country.

Nothing is going well for this industry at this point in time. Several domestic airlines are on the verge of closure, several travel agencies have already closed down, and many who depended on this hospitality industry to earn their bread, are now struggling to make ends meet. The waiters, the guides, they all are facing as bad a time as the famed Fulbari Resort. Crisis times, it seems, don’t discriminate between the poor and the rich.

The only thing that one can do in such times of extreme pessimism is to retrieve optimism. We ought to be prepared for the worst of course, but we should hope for the best.

In the meantime, all steps should be taken in this Nepal Destination Year to win back the tourists. Whether by offering huge discounts, attractive travel packages, or by better advertising, the country’s tourism industry has to be brought back to track. The lifting of the emergency is the first resort.

‘Resume work  on highway’

By Lila Nath Ghimire

SINDHULI, Feb 9: The District Development Committee (DDC) here has demanded for quick resumption of the construction work of the Bardibas-Sindhuli-Banepa highway. The construction work of the highway was stopped by the government after the Maoist rebels attacked the office of Japanese contractor Hazma Constructions on February 4.

After the attack, the Japanese government, the donor to the shortest link-road between the capital and eastern Terai, had expressed its concern over security to the Nepal government. "The decision would affect the pace of development of the nation," says Ramesh Karki, President of the DDC. "The government should stand firm and assure donors about security."

The Bardibas-Sindhuli spread of the highway was completed 3 years ago, while the Dhulikhel-Nepalthok stretch is in its last phase of completion. And 42 per cent of the first-phase work on the Sinduli-Pipalbhajang stretch has also been completed, according to Shrestha Constructions, the Nepalese contractor of the highway. Karki demanded for the restart of construction work of the highway that touches a municipality and 10 village development committees (VDCs) of the district.

Kathmandu-Hetauda road in national plan

Post Report

HETUADA, Feb 9: The District Development Committees (DDCs) of Kathmandu and Makwanpur at a recent meeting have made a request to the government to include the Kathmandu-Farping-Hetauda road in its national plan.

The roadway, around 76 kilometres’ long, is the shortest one linking the capital with Hetauda.

The road was constructed recently at a cost of Rs 100,000,00 with the collective aid of Kathmandu and Makwanpur DDCs, Rural Community Infrastructure Development Programme and Plan International Nepal. The voluntary labour of the local people also helped a long way in the construction.

At the meeting, the DDCs of Kathmandu and Makwanpur also appealed to the government to construct the tunnel portion of the road from Kulekhani to Bhimfedi.

The DDCs’ officials also expressed their commitment to jointly maintain the road. They said that constructions won’t be allowed 10 meters off the road, and that the local people have been sounded out on the same. A lot of people had donated their land for free for the road to come about.

Eighteen kilometers of the Makwanpur section of the road and 29 kilometers of the Kathmandu section, are now blacktopped, informed the DDC officials.

As of now, only light vehicles can ply on the road, and the traffic too is low as each vehicle passing along the site of Kulekhani hydel project has to obtain a permit document from the project. The DDC officials have appealed to the project authorities to adopt a prompt system of availing the permit.

Meanwhile, with the possibility of the roadway becoming a busy and important one in the near future, the price of land along the roadside have soared.

Poverty and hunger stalk them even in their 60s

RSS

NEPALGUNJ, Feb. 9: A majority of the elderly persons of the deprived and poverty-stricken families in the rural areas work 5 to 10 hours and elderly women up to 16 hours a day to make a living.

A research on the state the elderly persons of the remotest areas of Nepal by Nepal Community-Based Participatory Action Group (NEPAN) in association with the British Embassy and help age international in the 15 districts of five development regions across the country reveals the fact.

During the course of research, financial status of elderly persons, their basic needs, ways of livelihood at old age, their contributions to the family and society, health condition, legal rights and services and privileges provided to them have been taken into account.

One is considered an elderly person after attaining the age of 60 in a majority of the affluent and middle-class families whereas the age bar declines to 40 in the case of economically deprived and weak families.

With the emergence of financial difficulty in the family, there seems to be wide disparity in the care for the elderly persons, the research points out. The report also states that elderly persons from all kinds of families enlist food, clothing, accommodation and health services as the basic needs for them.

Elderly persons or women belonging to an extremely poor family work as porters or farm wage earner while some are involved in breaking stones, sewing shoes and dresses as far as allowed by their physical capacity irrespective of gender and caste.

Mostly elderly persons in the rural areas suffer from Arthritis, Asthma, Gastro-Enteritis while women from the problem of womb dislocation.

According to Man Bahadur Thapa, chairperson of Nepal Community Based Action Group (NEPAN), the findings have been based on the report of the study conducted on the poorest families of remote areas living in Ilam, Dhankuta, Siraha, Sindhupalchowk, Makwanpur, Mahottari, Mustang, Tanahu, Rupendahi, Jumla, Surkhet, Dang, Baitadi, Doti and Kailali districts in March and April last year.

The study aimed at identifying the problem of elderly persons, taking initiatives to solve these problems, providing the findings to planners and policy makers, and setting up a national network for the organisations working for the welfare of elderly persons.

A regional symposium was held at Nepalgunj in the presence of elderly persons of Jumla, Surkhet and Dang districts with a view to familiarise local bodies about the findings of the study and elicit suggestions in this regard.

At the symposium, Banke DDC president Om Prakash Jung Rana said that all the conscious citizen should seriously dwell on giving due honour to elderly persons in the form of financial assistance and social recognition.

Banke CDO Bal Krishna Prasai, freedom fighter Shyam Bahadur Tamang, Federation Of Nepalese Journalists Banke district chairman Pannalal Gupta and member of NEPAN C.P. Singh pointed out the need for all to educate children in order to look after elderly persons in a better way.

Elderly person Bhawisara Gharti Magar was on the chair.