Joy in communist circles as UML, ML finally merge

By Tilak Pokharel

KATHMANDU, Feb 15: At the same City Hall of the capital where leader Bam Dev Gautam had announced their split four years ago, the two prominent communist parties of the country – CPN-UML and CPN-ML – finally merged today.

When the announcer, Standing Committee member of the main opposition CPN-UML, Ishwor Pokharel, read out the formal announcement of reunion, all present inside and outside the premises of the City Hall burst into joyous applause.

"Respecting the interest and sentiment of the progressive forces, we—the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) and the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist)—announce our formal unification from today," said a joint statement undersigned by the two General Secretaries of the parties, Madhav Kumar Nepal and Bam Dev Gautam.

The nine-point unification statement said the unified party will, in the days ahead, be guided by the principles of the People’s Multiparty Democracy propounded by late general secretary Madan Bhandari. "We will abide by the decisions and political programmes approved by the Sixth National Convention of the CPN-UML, and we agree that the Sixth National Convention is the highest institution of the unified party," the statement added.

Following the unification, the joint declaration says that all the organisational structures of the unified party from the central to the primary-level, will be restructured and the party responsibilities will be handed over to the cadres based on their competence.

Earlier today, leaders of the CPN-ML formally notified the Election Commission to remove the party’s name and its election symbol from the list of the national parties. Although the CPN-UML could not win any seats in the parliamentary elections held in 1999, the party could garner six per cent of the popular votes, and emerged as the third largest party in the country.

Four years ago, a faction of the CPN-UML, led by Bam Dev Gautam, split from the parent party and formed the CPN-ML. One of the major causes behind the separation, as both sides say, was the controversial Mahakali Treaty, ratified by a two-thirds majority of the Parliament on September 20, 1996. The other prominent issue was the CPN-UML’s political stance regarding India and the USA.

It was the same City Hall, where Bam Dev Gautam announced the split and formed the CPN-ML in 1998. More than 40 lawmakers from both houses of parliament had switched sides to Gautam, securing the required 40 per cent for the split.

The Integrated Treaty on the Sharda Barrage, the Tanakpur Barrage and the Pancheshwor High Dam Project—popularly known as the Mahakali Treaty—was ratified by a two-thirds majority of both the houses of parliament.

Minutes before the parliament ratified the treaty, 26 UML lawmakers, led by Gautam and CP Mainali, had walked out of the voting. Two of the UML lawmakers–Padma Ratna Tuladhar and Hiranya Lal Shrestha–went to the extent of voting against the treaty, defying the party whip. The dissenting faction was of the opinion that the four major issues related with the Mahakali Treaty be first settled before the ratification of the treaty.

The four major issues included resolving the Kalapani dispute between Nepal and India, settling the border dispute along the Mahakali River, equal sharing of water from the Mahakali River, and the price of the power to be sold by Nepal to India after the proposed Pancheswor Project comes into effect.

In the run-up to the unification, both the parties had earlier agreed to include 14 central committee members from the CPN-ML in the UML central committee after the unification. Among them, three are to be accommodated in the Standing Committee. Sahana Pradhan, Gautam and Radha Krishna Mainali of the defunct CPN-ML are the ones who will become members of the UML Standing Committee. Eight will be included in the central committee, and three others are likely to be given the portfolio of ‘alternative membership’ in the unified party.

Rest of the central committee members of the defunct CPN-ML will be accommodated in the UML’s National Council. The joint statement agrees that the National Council members will automatically become the representatives of the 7th National Convention to be held next year.

The dissolved CPN-ML also decided to merge all its organisations and sister organisations with the UML.

Addressing the packed City Hall, Gautam confessed that he had made a serious mistake by breaking away from the UML. "I concede that I really made a big mistake. But it was a compulsion on our part," he said. "I could have tried to find out other options rather than breaking away from the UML where I had spent many years of my life."

"When the UML split took place, only the ML leaders and its cadres were happy, but the country was ruing and the people were weeping," a sombre-looking Gautam said. Months after the split, the UML leaders had publicly branded Gautam as "number one corrupt" from the open air theatre at Tundikhel. It further increased their distance.

But by last year, both the parties realised the need to merge, and initiated negotiations. And they constituted dialogue teams six months ago.

Currently, from the dissolved ML side, there are 10 District Development Committee (DDC) chairmen, almost 15 DDC vice-chairmen and hundreds of DDC and VDC members across the country, according to Gautam.

Speaking on the occasion, UML General Secretary, Madhav Kumar Nepal, said the party will now become established as an alternative force in the country. "The UML will stand as the force alternative to left extremists and reactionaries," Nepal said.

Chastising the Maoist ideology and the violence it propogates, Nepal said that left extremism has become the greatest barrier to the political, economic and social development of the country. He also warned that the party will take action against any party member who makes derogatory remarks against the unification.

List of Central Committee members from CPN-ML

Standing Committee members

1. Sahana Pradhan

2. Bam Dev Gautam

3. Radha Krishna Mainali

Central Committee members

1. Siddi Lal Singh

2. Ashok Rai

3. Sita Nandan Raya

4. Kiran Gurung

5. Gopal Shakya

6. Trilochan Dhakal

7. Rajendra Shrestha

8. Kamal Chaulagain

Alternative members

1. Hem Raj Rai

2. Kamal Koirala

3. Yogendra Shah

A tragedy, says CP

...meanwhile, CP Mainali, Standing Committee member of the defunct CPN-ML, stuck to his opposition to the ML-UML merger, and in a statement today said that he along with some other colleagues, will soon be forging a new party. He called the ML-UML merger a "tragic event".

"We will soon be under a new party mechanism and will salvage the CPN-ML and lead it," the statement said. The guiding doctrine of the new party will be Marxism-Leninism, he said.

But, while speaking at the unification ceremony, both Bam Dev Gautam and Madhav Kumar Nepal, requested Mainali to come to the mainstream and join the reunited CPN-UML.

Joining hands with Mainali are two central committee members of the dissolved CPN-ML—Jit Bir Lama and Rishi Kattel.

World media ponders ‘sustainable development’

By Akhilesh Upadhyay

UNITED NATIONS, New York, Feb 15: The 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, triggered a huge media spike in its wake, but the coverage on the summit buzzword "sustainable development" has petered out since, largely because the concept is so broad and abstract that the audience just doesn’t buy it, according to leading television journalists.

The World Summit on Sustainable Development adopted a widely hailed "Agenda 21" that called for "increased national and international efforts to promote sustainable and environmentally sound development in all countries." It called for "a global partnership" to achieve the lofty goal.

Ten years on, the watershed document seems all but forgotten, just as many other United Nations initiatives that were once accompanied by heavy fanfare. As the countdown begins for a follow-up to the Earth Summit, slated for 26 August-4 September in Johannesburg, South Africa, increasing number of people are now asking if the media are to blame for the public apathy to the idea of development that is sustainable and sound.

But equally important is media’s response that the concept, a tough sell to begin with, has now become even tougher because pledges made at Rio remain unfulfilled. They aren’t sure how they are going to sell the idea to a wary public second time round.

"Is sustainable development a ‘big story’ that the media are missing too often?" asked Sashi Tharoor, interim head of United Nations’ Department of Public Information, at a panel discussion last week. "Are they doing a credible job in explaining complex issues? Is the watchdog role of the media being undermined by market pressures that drive editors and journalists in the race to the bottom?"

Opinions were divided. Answers were as complex as the questions themselves and depended on where you came from—United States, Brazil, India, South Africa, or China.

One school of thought, championed at the panel by Simone Duarte of Brazil’s Globo TV, is that the journalist has to bear social responsibilities, and that if the occasion so demands she has to educate the audience instead of just "dumbing down" to the lowest common denominator.

"If you think it’s just the market," said the New York Bureau Chief of the largest TV broadcaster in Latin America, "nothing will get done. If you are just going to tell people the stories they already know, what is the purpose of journalism?" she wondered, drawing a warm round of applause from a multi-national audience who had gathered to review media’s role ahead of the Johannesburg Summit. "In United States, no one wants to talk about Argentina, but it’s all about war on terrorism."

Another school of thought, one that frowns upon media’s advocacy role, was taken by BBC and STAR TV journalists.

Tim Hirsch, Senior Environmental Correspondent of the BBC, said it was dangerous to assume that journalists would just "go out there and cover" the Johannesburg Summit. He said each reporter had to first answer several questions from his editor. "How will the world be different after Johannesburg? It did after Rio, but the world went back to sleep."

The big challenge before the media, he said, was to present issues without sounding preachy. "If something sounded too preachy, it would not go on the networks."

Very similar was the response from Jim Laurie of Star TV in China. The Vice President of Star’s News and Current Affairs argued that it was essentially the public demand that determines the priorities. If development issues find audience in India and China, it is because the markets there so desire.

Star’s television arm includes more than 25 satellite channels broadcasting across Asia and the Middle East in seven languages, reaching a total household of 300 million. India and China are Star’s biggest markets.

The situation, however, is quite different in the United States, for example, where networks compete fiercely for market share. "They have to deal with what programmes sell to their audience," Laurie said adding that in Asia, environmental issues are extremely important and, therefore, given priority, but not so in the US. "The intense competition means you are dealing with what sells."

While the media panelists were sharply polarized on their role as journalists and their response to the market needs, they all agreed that the term sustainable development is abstract. They stressed that the messages behind sustainable development needed to be spoken in a different language, and it was only by breaking them down to little units of personal stories that the underlying complexities could be conveyed. This required a lot of attention, energy, and imagination "Sustainable development is a broad umbrella phrase," said Laurie of Star TV. "We have to break it down to little stories. News becomes saleable, when we see people."

"It’s much easier to cover fire," said Barbara Pyle, former Corporate Vice-President of Environmental Policy for Turner Broadcasting in the United States. She said she used the term "sustainable development" at first because it was the language of the United Nations. Then found that it wasn’t working and she started focusing on the people. "The audience has to relate to the people they see on television and care about them," she said.

Pyle launched "Earth Matters", CNN’s weekly environmental news program. Her 1992 film "One Child, One Voice" initiated a worldwide letter-writing campaign in support of the Rio Summit.

The appetite for the so-called development news varies from region to region. Compared to developing countries, the United States viewer has a low acceptance rate for development messages and short attention span given wide array of channels on offer.

Even in countries like South Africa, struggling over a number of contentious development issues, development news does not get into the prime-time news bulletins on a busy day, according to Siki Zikalala, Executive Director of News, South African Broadcasting Corporation, the host broadcaster for the Johannesburg World Summit.

There was, however, general agreement that television matters, even though people all over the world are increasingly relying on Internet to get their news. In United States, for example, the public gets 80 percent of environmental issues from television. In the last ten years or so, television has taken the world’s two most populous nations China and India by storm.

But that doesn’t necessarily guarantee that the viewers there will watch everything beamed to them from Johannesburg. To hundreds of journalists at the Summit, and elsewhere, it will be the same old story: try to make sense of sustainable development for the common person.

"How do you sell this esoteric message?" questioned Pyle of CNN. "Why is the Summit going to produce yet another document and not focus on implementation? How is the Summit going to excite the journalists when dealing with the same issues again?"

Blast in capital injures dozen

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Feb 15: Nearly a dozen people, including a cop, were injured when a powerful bomb on the first floor of the three-storied Land Revenue Office at Kalanki went off Friday morning at 9.50 a.m. Six of the injured were the staff of the office.

The police suspect the Maoists are behind the attack. Police sources said that they arrested more than a half dozen people in this connection.

According to Bhesh Raj Kattel, an official, a group of four young people came to the office as the staff of the office were about to start working in heir own respective departments, and threatened Bhisma Raj Joshi, a clerk, at a pistol point before they sprinkled petrol in the room and set fire. "The explosion occurred after ten minutes of the fire as the office staff were busy to control the fire," said Kattel.

Many charred files were lying on the floor here and there. There were record files since 1931. The fire was later on control by a squad of fire-fighters after half an hour, according to Kattel.

According to the Emergency Unit at the Bir Hospital, five persons from the Land Revenue Office returned home after basic treatment whereas Hari Tiwari, a clerk at the office, was in a serious condition and was undergoing treatment at the hospital. Police Control Room said that the injured constable also returned after primary treatment.

Tiwari’s lower part of the body has sustained serious burn injuries. Besides, he sustained serious injuries on his shins of his both legs and got injured his left hand. "His shin muscle has been torn off," said Sita Tiwari, wife of the clerk, with her eyes full of tears. The injured clerk said that the explosion hit him when he was trying to put off a fire set by the same group earlier at the file-storing unit of the office. "When the blast occurred, it first hit my lower part and I was knocked down unconscious," he said. "In no time, I got my senses went down crawling to save my life," Tiwari recounted the moment of blast to The Kathmandu Post.

Meanwhile, Tiwari’s wife complained that the hospital doctors were not paying due attention to his husband. "They are not giving proper attention to him."

Detailing the damages incurred in the blast, the chief of the office Prem Bahadur Khapung said that the damage was of about Rs 500,000. Due to the blast, the registration unit room, where the blast exploded and another adjoining room had turned into a pile of rubble. There was a hole of more than one feet diameter on the floor. The blast had thrown the window pans up to approximately 30 meters.

People living near the office the blast site said their window glass had cracks. "My two windows were unhinged injured two of my tenants," said Juju Bhai Maharjan.

Constituency Development Fund comes to stay

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KATHMANDU, Feb 15: The members of Parliament have been allowed to spend the Constituency Development Fund, by virtue of "Constituent Development Programme (Operation Procedures) Regulations, 2058 made public by the government on Friday.

The regulations, dated February 7, were handed to the MPs today. The regulations have paved way for the parliamentarians to spend Rs. 265 million allocated for the programmes in current fiscal year.

The regulations address the concerns raised by the Supreme Court which had, in a verdict delivered on September 27 last year, declared the then existing procedure to use the sum as illegal. The apex court had stated in its verdict that the government could not distribute the public funds on the basis of general directives made arbitrarily after more than a billion rupees had already been spent for the programmes in the last seven years.

The decision of the court had come at a time when the parliamentary Finance Committee was recommending the government to increase the amount of fund by Rs 10 million. The Constituency Development Programme was initiated by the minority government of CPN (UML) some seven years back.

Since the procedure to use the fund was criticised by the SC, the new regulations make it mandatory that certain procedures be followed before the fund is used.

The regulations have also fixed the field of spending the Constituency Development Fund.

The fund can be spent through District Development Committee offices only after selection of the programmes was made by the MPs and found logistically and economically feasible by experts.

The regulations have allowed the parliamentarians to select programmes of infrastructure and economic development and social welfare in their constituencies for Lower House members and a maximum of three districts for Upper House members.

The regulations have also provided for clearance of the projects run under the fund by a three-member committee headed by respective DDC secretary and finally the accounts have to be audited by the Office of the Auditor General.

The regulations have banned the MPs to spend more than 15 per cent of the fund on administrative overheads.

RNAC asked to go semi-private

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KATHMANDU, Feb 15: A committee instituted by the cabinet to recommend ways to shore up the Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC), the only national flag-bearer, submitted its final report to the Minister for Culture Tourism and Civil Aviation, Bal Bahadur KC, suggesting partial privatization of the Corporation.

The committee, led by former chief secretary Damodar Gautam, has recommended initiating immediate reforms in the Corporation by turning it into a company so that it could be saved from complete collapse. The committee has also pointed out the need to divide its entire service into internal and international sectors.

Among other things, the report pointed out that rampant corruption, mismanagement, and political interference in RNAC’s decision-making were the key reasons behind the Corporation’s present plight. Until 1992, the Corporation was one of the most successful of state ventures.

The total liabilities of the Corporation currently stand at Rs 2.56 billion whereas its total assets are over Rs 8 billion. The Corporation currently pays Rs 400,000 monthly as interest on the overdrafts it has taken from various financial institutions.

12 rebels shot dead in encounters

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KATHMANDU, Feb 15: Security forces on Thursday shot dead at least 12 Maoists in exchanges of fire in Dolpa, Dang, Jumla and Kanchanpur, according to the Defence Ministry and our reporters from the respective districts.

In a press statement issued here today by the Ministry, 12 Maoists—five, including a platoon commander of the outlawed Maoist organisation in Kalika area of Dolpa, four in Ganeshpur village of Dang, two in Tatopani of Jumla and one in Suda village of Kanchanpur districts—were killed in army actions.

The rebels killed by the army in Dolpa have been identified as platoon commander Lok Bahadur Rokka, and Mansingh Karki, Dale Sarki, Kande Sarki and Sarbajit Sarki. Two other rebels were injured in the encounter. The forces have arrested two rebels from the area along with a large amount of arms and ammunition.

Our reporter from Dang said four rebels fell to the army bullets in Ganeshpur village of Hapur VDC, about 15 kilometres west of Ghorahi, the district headquarters. After receiving tip-offs about the Maoist gathering, a contingent of the Royal Nepal Army (RNA) surrounded Madhav Gautam’s house, where the rebels were about to have their dinner, and killed the rebels.

The RNA forces also confiscated four .303 rifles, one shut-gun, 36 hand grenades and some socket bombs from Ganeshpur area.

The four bodies of the rebels were lying in front of Gautam’s house, our reporter quoted a local, who arrived at Ghorahi, as saying. The local said the security forces arrested the members of Gautam family for necessary investigation. It is learnt that around four dozens rebels had forced the Gautam family to prepare dinner for them when the RNA soldiers raided the house.

In Jumla, two rebels were identified as Paran Bahadur Dharal who was believed to be the chief of "district people’s government" formed by the rebels, and another Maoist Navin Rawal, in Tatopani area yesterday. The forces seized some arms and grenades from the scene.

Meanwhile, a report from Kanchanpur stated that an unidentified rebel instantly fell to the army bullets at Mandhipur village of Suda VDC yesterday. Security officials said the rebel hurled a socket bomb at the soldiers travelling in a vehicle on a patrol.

The Defence Ministry added that the forces confiscated a large amount of arms, ammunition and explosives from Thumari area of Shivapuri VDC of Kapilvastu
district yesterday. In Pokhara, the forces seized about four kilograms of gold from a house at Amarshing Chowk. RNA officials suspect that the gold was looted by the rebels from various government banks in the past. The forces also arrested 31 suspects from various districts for investigation.

In another incident, the rebels killed a local, Padam Bahadur Thapa, of Kalika VDC-5, and another civilian sustained serious injuries after being beaten by the rebels.

‘I left without lunch, praying for my country’s peace’

By Yagya Bikram Shahi

KATHMANDU, Feb 15: Reporting on the mid- western hills of the country from my base in Nepalgunj district, has always thrown up its challenges. Thinking twice before touring the hills to gather information was a daily affair with me. Fear was a constant companion during all those arduous treks to the ‘war-zone’. It was only the compulsions of my job that kept me going.

Recently I came to the capital, and was relieved to be walking again without fear, and on terrains that posed no difficulty. The capital, I imagined, was a far safer place than the hill districts, emergency or not. Of course my thoughts did stray to the familiar surroundings of my office, but Kathmandu was being nice to me.

That is, until Friday. On that fateful morning, I was idling away, and thinking about visiting the main office of the Kantipur Publications. At around 10, I went for lunch to one of the well-known eateries around–Mahalaxmi Bhojanalya. There were other three people at the restaurant. I was just about to stuff my first mouthful of bhat when all of a sudden I heard a deafening explosion. Glass splinters came flying to my plate. A couple of cups fell on the floor. For a moment, I could not figure out what exploded and where.

Everybody panicked and ran for cover. It was chaotic. All of us at the restaurant rushed towards the door. I ran fearing the next explosion. By this time I was pretty much sure that it was a bomb that had exploded.

I came to know that the bomb exploded at the Land Revenue Office which lies near, and north of the restaurant. Smoke bellowed from the building. The area in front of the Office remains busy throughout the day, what with a hectic junction near by.

As we were trying to come to terms with the situation, a man covered with blood all over his clothes, came yelling and shouting for help. He was trying to say something but it was not clear. Some bystanders came to his help and took him to a hospital. I later came to know that the blood-spattered man’s name was Hari Tiwari.

But the chaos had not ended. The splinters from the explosion had also hit some bystanders, injuring them. Many people were running to help the wounded, some were yelling at the culprits, while the security men who arrived immediately after the explosion (like in the movies) were searching for a clue.

I quietly left the place without having lunch, praying for peace in my country. The hills don’t seem that worse any more.

Green Revolution: Scientific vs traditional farming

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POKHARA, Feb 15: The much-hyped green revolution might have given the yield to feed millions, but in terms of quality of the crops and the effect of inorganic fertilizers on the soil, it’s an experiment that has almost failed. With the green revolution, traditional ways of cultivation are struggling to make their mark. And the hopes of feeding those millions could hang in limbo.

Experts fear that the growing use of improved-seeds could push country’s natural crop genetic resources to an extinction path. The reasons are - the conservation of agro-bio-diversity is not in the list of national priority and even there is no policy in preserving agro-bio-diversity. Nepal is also lacking a gene bank.

At present, according to Bhola Man Singh Basnet, Chief of Communication, Publication and Documentation Division at Nepal Agriculture Research Center (NARC), that only 29 percent of lands have traditional landraces of rice. The farm coverage of improved maize seed is 67 percent where as we have only 10 percent land having traditional landraces wheat. There is no data available about how many other agro-bio-diversities have been extinct.

This figure of improved seed coverage of the major food crops of Nepal has been a great worry to experts working in the field of conserving crop landraces diversity.

"Though the use of improved crop seeds on farm is feeding the growing population, we should now think of preserving the traditional landraces form saving them being extinct," says Dr. Madhu Sudan Upadhyay, an agronomist at the NARC.

Experts say that Nepal has been loosing its agro-bio-diversity day by day as there is no policy on conserving the traditional landraces and underlined an prompt initiatives to control the gradual extinction of landraces diversities.

"Now the government of the world should give high priority in their national plans to preserve landraces instead of just encouraging modern varieties of crops," says Dr. Geoffrey C. Hawtin, the Director General of the IPGRI.

Dr. Hawtin is currently in Nepal for a four-day visit to Nepal at an invitation of the Executive Director of the NARC R.P. Sapkota to observe the In-Situ project in Kaski. He visited Begnas In-Situ site on Thursday and observed the ongoing activities of farmers to preserve the traditional landraces.

Besides, other experts say that Nepal should now establish a gene bank to save its agro-bio-diversities. At present Nepal has five species of edible agro-bio-diversity, according to Upadhyay.

"Nepal should now, besides giving a national priority, work for establishing a national gene bank to preserve its rich national agro-bio-diversity," Dr. Percy Sajise, the Regional Director at the IPGRI at Malaysia.

Despite this fact, little efforts have been being made by the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI), an autonomous scientific organisation, NARC and Local Initiatives for Bio-Diversity, Research and Development (LI-BIRD) to preserve local landraces on farms in three eco-zones of Nepal- Kaski, Jumla and Bara districts through a global project.

The global project termed as A scientific Basis of In-Situ Conservation of Agro-bio-diversity on Farm" by the Rome-based IPGRI supported by Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research (CGIAR) is operative in nine countries, including Nepal, around the globe. The In-Situ conservation is concerned with maintaining crop landraces on farm through participation of farmers.

Experts say that the In-Situ conservation is one of the best way of preserving the traditional landraces on farms and now the governments of the globe should give priority to preserve traditional landraces.

"The government of the world now should start initiatives to preserve traditional landraces," said Geoffrey C. Hawtin, the Director General of the IPGRI. Dr. Hawtin is currently on a four-day visit of Nepal. He on Thursday visited Begnas In-Situ conservation site in Kaski and observed the activities of community based groups in preserving landraces on farms.

He also urged the governments of the world to give a national priority to preserve landraces. "It is time now to allocate high priority to preservation programmes," said Dr. Hawtin.

Other experts working in the field of conserving the agro-bio-diversity said that countries should now work for establishing a gene bank. Nepal does not have its own national gene bank.

"A national gene bank is extremely important to preserve agro-bio-diversity as all landraces may not be possible to be preserved on farms," Dr. Percy Sajise the Regional Director of the IPGRI, told The Kathmandu Post on Thursday in Pokhara. Percy also accompanied IPGRI’s Director General during the Begnas In-Situ site at Kaski.

The worried experts are urging the government to put the agro-bio-diversity in national priority list. Says, Gopal Koirala, director at the NARC, "We are trying our best to put the agro-bio-diversity preservation programme in a national priority list".

CAAN trip to Montreal not justified : PAC

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KATHMANDU, Feb 15: The parliamentary Public Accounts Committee(PAC), has found it administratively incorrect to send a delegation of Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal(CAAN)officials to Montreal, Canada, to take part in an Aviation Security Measures Conference; adding liabilities to the fund allocated under the headings of Human Resources Development (HRD) of the authority.

After clarifications defined at a meeting held by Birendra Bahadur Deuja(acting secretary),at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MTCCA), the Committee reached a decision that the visit scheduled for Saturday would definitely add a burden amounting to Rs 3 million for the Authority.

The visit doesn’t run parallel to the objectives of human resources development. Tantamount to this, the committee directs the Cabinet Secretariat, Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, and CAAN, to follow financial and administrative laws and norms.

Earlier at the meeting, Acting Secretary Deuja claimed that the visit was liable to HRD headings, which includes seminars and conferences, too. He, however, said that since no budget was available in other headings, the ministry had decided to add liabilities to the HRD heading of the Authority.

Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Bal Bahadur KC, Chief Secretary of the Government Tirtha Man Shakya, Secretary at the MTACA Birendra Bahadur Deuja, chairman of the parliamentary Natural Resources and Means Committee Lekhanath Acharya and Director General of CAAN Medini Prasad Sharma were to leave for Montreal on Saturday.

It was learnt that the visit of KC and Acharya has been cancelled due to a crucial parliamentary procedure to ratify the state of emergency.