Duchenne disease  awareness week being observed

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KATHMANDU, Feb 14: The Muscular Dystrophy Development Society, Kathmandu, has been celebrating this week (February 11 – 17) as the Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Awareness Week to create awareness about the disease in the society.

Speaking at a press conference organised here today, the organisers said due to lack of awareness about the lethal disease, at least two persons from across the world die each day. And approximately one in every 3,500 male children suffer from the disease.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Anil Kumar Upadhyay, President of the Society, informed that no cure or therapy has so far been developed to fight the disease. "The survival of the affected is very rare," he informed.

Children who suffer from Duchenne lose the ability to walk between the age of 8-12 years old and lose movement in their arms and upper body around the age of 14. The disease progresses slowly but will affect all voluntary muscles, according to the experts.

The status of the disease in Nepal is yet to be known and "no study or research has so far been carried out in this regard".

The main cause of the disease is the inheritance of defective genes to the male children. In case there are two or more than two sons in a family, one or both of them are prone to the disease.

The press conference was also a part of the awareness campaign, among others.

Japanese grant for Disaster Rehabilitation Project

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KATHMANDU, Feb 14: The Japanese government today extended a grant assistance of Rs 5,791,000 to the Nepalese government for the Emergency Disaster Rehabilitation Project of Tribhuvan Highway, said a Japanese embassy press release issued here today.

The grant contract to this effect was signed and exchanged today between Amodananda Mishra, Director of the Department of Water Induced Disaster Prevention (DWIDP) and the Ambassador of Japan, Zenji Kaminaga.

The highway is the only link between the capital and other parts of the country. The highway, which has been playing a significant role in Nepal’s road network and for socio-economic development, gets often disrupted during the rainy season due to landslides. There is a high probability of landslides in the Thankot-Naubishe sector of the highway. So an emergency rehabilitation work is necessary in the sector. The assistance will be used in this sector to mitigate landslides.

The rehabilitation programme is expected to cost about Rs 8,110,000. And the shortfall amount will be borne by the Nepalese government, the release said.

According to the release, debris and surplus soil will be removed, a retaining wall, gabion check-dam and some temporary structures will also be constructed. In addition, some signboards will also be placed in the project site for emergency disaster rehabilitation.

Speaking at the contract-signing programme, Ambassador Kaminaga said that the project would contribute to strengthen the existing friendly relationship between the people of Nepal and Japan. At the programme, Ambassador Kaminaga also expressed his hope that the project would ensure an interrupted vehicular movement on the highway, stated the release.

According to the release, the Japanese government is also supporting a number of disaster-mitigating activities under the project of Disaster Mitigation Support Programme (DMSP) in the country with the close cooperation of DWIDP.

Rampant rise in domestic violence

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KATHMANDU, Feb 14: A hapless mother of two daughters and a son has left her home as she could not tolerate everyday violence by her cruel husband.

With her swollen face bruised black and blue, Laxmi Sunar, on Thursday, came out of her home town of Bhaktapur to Chetana Kendra at Gyaneswor, seeking refuge, and thus exposing once again, domestic violence in her house that she tolerated in silence for the last 17 years.

"As I could not bear my husband’s atrocities on me, I came here to save my life," Laxmi told The Kathmandu Post. Laxmi’s body is full of violent beatings and is not able to move due to the injuries she has sustained.

"How long can I tolerate such violence on me, so I left my home," said Laxmi, who represents thousands of Nepalese women facing a rampant rise in domestic violence today.

This wasn’t the first cruel experience for Laxmi. She also left home last August, fleeing to Chetana Kendra for refuge due to her violent husband with the help of her relative. "At that time also the situation of Laxmi was very pathetic but we sent her back to her home after treatment, as we thought it was not wise to separate her from the family," said Prativa Subedi, chairman of the Chetana Kendra.

According to Subedi, nearly one hundred women who suffered from domestic violence approached her for help.

Women’s programme in electronic media discussed

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KATHMANDU, Feb 14: Sancharika Shamuha (SAS), a women communicators’ forum, organised an interaction programme on Women’s Programmes in Electronic Media here today.

At the programme media professionals from different organisations discussed about women’s participation in media houses.

They also discussed about the types of women-related programmes that mainly focus on domestic issues and programmes on make-ups and only few of them focused on women’s issue in general.

Speaking at the programme, Ghamaraj Luitel, news co-ordinator of Radio Sagarmatha said that women comprises around 38 percent of the employees that are working within the organisation. "We have tried to include as much of the women’s issues in the programme as we can," Luitel said.

"The organisation is trying to involve and encourage women by airing various programmes. The programmes that discourage women are rejected," says he.

Whereas in the Channel Nepal, a newly launched project, 50 percent of the total employees are women and of them 25 percent are in the news section only, said Yogeshower Upadhyay, news co-ordinator of Channel Nepal.

" Though Channel Nepal lacks women-related programmes at present, we are going to launch them very soon," says Upadhyay.

"Nepal Television, from its inception, is encouraging the participation of women. And at present around 17-20 percent of the total employees are women, whereas in the news section around 40 percent of them are women," says Rajendra Dev Acharya, news co-ordinator at Nepal Television.

Speaking at the programme, Bandana Rana, chairperson of SAS said that women’s participation and women-related programmes in different broadcast organisations need promotion though comparatively it is satisfactory at the moment..

Sarad Raj Gautam, station manager of Kantipur FM, Sailendra Sharma, director of Radio Nepal and Manju Lamichhane, director of Classical FM also presented their views at the programme.

NTV Unplugged tonight

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KATHMANDU, Feb 14: NTV Unplugged, one of the most popular programmes in Nepal Television of its kind, is airing again.It was discontinued a month ago to further improve the programme.

The programme is being produced by the House of Entertainment (HE) in association with the Nepal Television (NTV) by tying up with the Media Hub. The Media Hub markets such products.

The programme has been airing from 8th Feb. and that featured Sanjeep Pradhan in its second appearence. At the coming Friday programme, Sarmila Bardeva will sing her debut songs such as Ankhai Ma Jhalajhali, Sara Sara Ali Wara, Mero Hajur, Nilkanda and Ansu Ra Hanso Ko.

"HE has also tied up with a new record company and soon it will launch CDs and cassettes of the same programme’s live recording verson", stated Diwakar Pandey, executive director of HE in the press release issued here today.

Justice delayed is justice denied

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DOLAKHA, Feb 14: A 14-year-old boy spent more than 13 months in the prison here, two times more than the sentence period ordered by the district court because of sheer negligence of the district attorney. A classic case of justice delayed being justice denied.

The existing law of the land regards all those below the age of 18 as children, and prohibits them from imprisonment. Such children, if they commit any delinquencies, should be sent to a juvenile court rather than to an adult prison, says advocate Sundar Kumar Shrestha.

The district court ordered the boy (name not disclosed to protect his reputation) to be imprisoned for six months on charges of assaulting a six-year-old girl of his neighbourhood.

But by the time the court delivered its verdict, the boy had already served 19 months and 17 days in Dolakha prison.

"The boy should not have been remanded to judicial custody in the first place; rather he should have been sent home on the condition that his parents ought to bring him before the court if summoned," Shrestha said.

But the presiding judge took the decision to put the boy under remand as the police mentioned his age as 18. "When the boy was charged, the police had mentioned him to be an 18-year-old, so the court’s order to remand him did not violate the existing law," said district judge, Mahendra Raj Gautam.

"But later we came to know that the accused was only 14-year-old when he committed the crime. Thus, the court sentenced him only for six months of imprisonment," said Gautam.

The victim’s father had claimed that the boy was 18 while filing the complaint in the District Police Office. "But even then I had told them that I was a 14-year-old," recalled the boy.

The boy filed a petition to an appellate court a year ago. But the court in its verdict had agreed with the decision of the district court to place him under remand. But after the appellate court decision, the district court in Dolakha proceeded to ascertain the boy’s real age, said Judge Gautam.

The medical report stated that the boy was between 15 to 16 years, while his birth certificate revealed that he was only 14 when he committed the crime, said Gautam.

Electricity pilferage on the rise

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NEPALGUNJ, Feb 14: The Electricity Authority (EA) here accepts that the cases of Electricity pilferage is increasing due to lack of manpower to check the same in the branch offices.

Many industies, mills, and organisations of Nepalgunj run by using the leaked electricity.

Though such activities are rampant in various VDCs’ of Banke District, they are going with impunity.

He further added, in 2050 there were 10 thousand customers and the staff number was 129 but now the condition is completely reversed, the number of customer is increasing while the staff has come down to 100.

One reliable source said, nearly 25 percent of the organisations and industries in Banke run through such pilfered .

But the EA officer Singh denies such contentions.

Brick kiln smoke affecting SOS village

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DHARAN, Feb 14: The smoke and dust from a large brick industry near the SOS Children’s Village of Itahari is causing health problems to its residents. For the last eight years, requests have been made to move the industry, but nothing has come of them.

"More than 80 per cent of the children living here are suffering from lung diseases," says Ramesh Tamrakar, director of the village.

The village has 200 children staying in its premises, and 400 more in the school and child care centre of the village.

"Doctors (at the village) told me that my nephew was not in good health, and it might lead to a heart problem," says Ram Kumar Subba, uncle of a class 10 student.

"The industry is not more valuable than the lives of hundreds of children," says Kishor Bhandari, whose children are studying in class 1 and 5. "Both of them are suffering from health problems because of the pollution."

The village had filed a request at the small and cottage industries’ office to measure the pollution of the brick industry in 1995. Since then the village has already written to the District Development Committee, the Municipality, the Department of Industries, the Nepal Environment Journalists’ Association and other related bodies, but all in vain.

"The discussions with the industry management also have never been fruitful," says Tamrakar. "The management always agrees to check the pollution level but never does anything." The industry was established in 1993 just a year after the village was established.

Revenue office loses millions

By Sudarshan Rijal

DANG, Feb 14: Land sales in this district have been halted since the last three months after the Maoists destroyed the land maps and other important documents of the District Land Revenue Office here. The sales will probably begin after two months, according to the Office. This is costing the Office millions of rupees by way of loss of revenue.

"Land sales are not being carried out due to the lack of land maps and other documents," said District Land Revenue Officer Abdul Kalam Khan. "Now we are re-collecting all the vital information, and establishing area offices in Lamahi and Tulsipur."

The office has already prepared 15,000 maps among the total 40,000, and half of the bank orders have been made again, according to Khan.

The office is losing over 1.5 million rupees a month from registration revenue due to the halt in land transactions, said Khan. The office had collected 15.5 million rupees as registration revenue in the last fiscal year. But in the seven months of this fiscal year, the office has collected only 7.5 million rupees, according to Khan.

The number of loans issued by the banks in the district has fallen sharply during this period, said Binayak Raj Pant, chief of follow up and control department of the Agricultural Development Bank.