PM urges youths to safeguard nation

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KATHMANDU, March 18:Prime Minister and Defence Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said it is necessary for all the youths to always remain ready to safeguard Nepal and the lives and property of the Nepalese people.

Prime Mimister and Defence Minister Deuba made this remark while addressing a function organised at the Royal Nepalese Army Headquarters to mark the 37th National Cadet Corps Anniversary and 28th Junior Division Batch passing out parade today.

"The youth force plays a very vital role in development of any country", Deuba said, adding that proper utilization of the existing valuable youth force plays a decisive role in the development of the country.

"The dreams of the country depends on the determination of the youths", he said, adding that education, sincerity and discipline provide special vigour to create this determination.

Deuba urged junior division cadets to carry out their sense of duty from their respective places as their hard work can contribute to the development of the country.

"All the security forces are working with a great enthusiasm for the welfare of the country, people and democracy", he said, adding "the whole country is united against the terrorists."

"The National Cadet Corps has rendered a noteworthy service to the nation by training the youths under such a situation", Deuba said, expressing the confidence that the competent and trained youths will always be ready to safeguard the country.

On the occasion, Prime Minister and Defence Minister Deuba gave away prizes to the National Cadet Corps winning in various events and letters of commendations to the principals of the participating schools.

Presenting the annual progress report, chief advisor of the National Cadet Corps Colonel Girban Bikram Shah said that the National Cadet Corps has the objective of developing a feeling of national unity and nationalism among the students by making them good citizens who are always ready to serve the country, King and the people without any selfish interest.

He said that about 500 students are provided training in social, military and other practical aspects every year.

On the occasion, 100 students from Kathmandu, 50 from Lalitpur and 50 from Bhaktapur district had taken part in the passing out parade of the junior division national cadet corps.

The National Cadet Corps had also presented khukuri, judo, gymnastics, wushu, boxing and P.T. display on the occasion.

Ranipokhari shoe market demolished

Post Report

KATHMANDU, March 18:The future of Nepali shoe industries that are already facing hard times has also come to the phase of standstill with the pulling down of shoe-market buildings located at Rani Pokhari area.

Of the total 81 shops in the block of around two ropanis and a half area, 42 are Nepali shoe wholesalers and retailers, representing around 20 shoe industries of the country.

That small narrow market alley is said to distribute around 70 percent of the total production of local leather, plastic and synthetic shoes.

"This was a model hub for Nepali shoes. It has turned into dust because of the cabinet’s hasty decision and the mayor’s fantasy is also to be blamed," said Rajkrishna Tandukar, the chairperson of Sorhahate Ganesh Byapar Sangh and a shoe dealer himself.

He also accused that the government body Auditorium and Public Garden Development Committee (APDC) that earns Rs 12.5 million per year by giving the public land on lease also turned irresponsible at the time when the shop-owners visited them with complains.

"They not only refused to listen to our complains but also said that KMC would not demolish it so early and there was nothing to worry about," he said.

The shop-owners urged APDC and KMC to provide them a fixed and accessible area but the authorities have not reached any conclusion so far.

He said the shoe-dealers’ delegation asked for the open space near Bir Hospital, Nepal Electricity Authority, Bhaktapur Bus Park and Old Examination Section of Tribhuvan University but none has been finalized. "Once the space is provided, we want all the shoe shops to settle in the same locality."

Meanwhile, KMC has completely demolished the major parts of the 30-year-old building. After demolition works, a white-washed gigantic statue of King Pratap Malla, sitting on a life-sized elephant is visible from the southern road. The area was earlier covered with a Bengali restaurant’s kitchen. KMC has a plan to convert the open space into a green garden.

Police Bill to be discussed

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KATHMANDU, March 18:The National Assembly today sent the Police (Sixth Amendment) Bill 2002 to the Special Committee for clausewise discussion.

The Assembly, the Upper House of Parliament, can send any bill for clausewise discussion in a special committee if necessary.

Tilak Prasad Neupane of the ruling Nepali Congress called on the government to review the recent hike in domestic airfare, which has affected the people in the remote areas who heavily depend on the airlines for transportation.

Ranga Nath Joshi of the main opposition CPN (UML) asked the government to make necessary arrangements for the supply of explosives to the concerned authorities who have been involved in constructing Surkhet–Jumla road. "Lack of explosives has affected the construction of the Karnali Highway," he said.

Sukra Raj Sanyok of Nepali Congress asked clarification from the government and the party on the recent newspaper reports of NC leader’s contact with the warring Maoists.

Lalit Bahadur Basnet of the CPN (UML) drew attention of the government on the absence of judges in the labour courts for more than two months.

Minister of State for Science and Technology Bhakta Bahadur Balayar informed the House that the government was planning to promote employment through development of information technology (IT) and Biological Technology to meet the present challenge of unemployment.

Koirala asks Deuba to avoid seeking foreign aid

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KATHMANDU, March 18:Nepali Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala has called on Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to abstain from seeking any foreign assistance and advised to resolve the Maoists insurgency raging in the country.

The statement of NC President and former Prime Minister Koirala came two days before Prime Minister Deuba is scheduled to pay an official visit to India. The Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee has officially invited Prime Minister Deuba for a six-day cordial visit to the Indian Capital.

Speaking at a programme organised in the capital, Monday, to commemorate the death anniversary of Tika Raj Aran, a team member of the NC General Convention Committee, Koirala said, "instead of seeking a way out of the Maoist problems through the combined efforts of all political parties, I have heard that weapons and advice from foreign countries seem to be the order of the day. We have to think this over."

Koirala further said that the government would be bound in listening to foreign countries and will have to fulfill certain obligations for receiving their assistance.

Various NC members also said that the government has shown no interests in the attacks on NC cadres in various districts. Maoist rebels murdered Tika Raj Aran last year.

Maoists’ death toll reaches 65 in Rolpa

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KATHMANDU, March 18:The death toll of Maoists on Sunday’s joint operation of the army and police in Gumchal area of Rolpa district has reached 65 with three more bodies recovered from the area, the Defence Ministry confirmed here today.

A joint team of the security forces had raided a Maoist military training camp there and gunned down the armed-rebels. Among those killed includes a Maoist military instructor identified as Basant.

The Defence Ministry press statement said that a large number of women were found to have been involved in the combat course.

Security forces have been mobilised in the area to smoke out the outlawed rebels shortly after raiding the camp. This is the first incident in which a large number of rebels fell prey to the security forces.

The Ministry said that the joint security forces recovered training equipment like varieties of ladders, monkey-crawl, vertical ropes and wooden beams from the camp. The rebels had also forcibly converted the houses and cowsheds of the local people into the military training camp.

The Ministry claimed that the government’s security forces also recovered a large amount of firearms, explosives, camouflage dresses, crude bombs and other training materials from the scene.

The rebels were also found to have butchered a large number of cows and consumed them as dry meat during the training period, the statement claimed. A cow is the national animal of Nepal and is also worshipped as a mother-animal in the only Hindu Kingdom in the world.

The Ministry further added that an armed-rebel involved in setting up booby-trap against the security forces was shot dead in Dhamir area of Gulmi district yesterday.

Another rebel identified as Gokul Khasu Magar was killed in an army action in Gathi VDC of Dang district on Sunday, our reporter quoted the security officials as saying. In yet another incident, locals of Sahare VDC in Dang dismantled a gate built by the rebels on Patihalna hilltop of the VDC.

Fed up with the Maoist atrocities and extortion, people of Botechaur village of the same VDC have chased away the rebels from their areas, locals said.

Meanwhile, our reporter in Dhankuta said, quoting the security officials, that the security forces confiscated 360 kilograms of foodstuff from the rebels at Gadi Bazaar of Pathibhara VDC in Sankhuwasabha district on Sunday.

Sources said that the food grain was being carried toward a Maoist training centre located in northern part of the district. The security forces have warned local businessmen not to sell any foodstuff to the rebels.

Our reporter in Bardiya quoted the police as saying that the rebels on Sunday abducted policeman Prakash Dahit Chaudhary while returning to his duty in Rajapur from his home in Nayagaon village. His whereabouts is still unknown, the police added.

One killed, dozens injured in bus accident

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ILAM, March 18 : One person died instantly while three dozens others injured, seven of them seriously, when a passenger bus on its way to Birtamod from Mangalbare fell about 100 feet off a country-road on Monday, according to police.

The person to be killed in the accident has been identified as Devendra Bahadur Raya, 19, of Shantidanda VDC-4. The seriously injured passengers are undergoing treatment at the BP Koirala Memorial Hospital in Dharan while the rest are receiving treatment at a local hospital, police said.

Police said that around 60 people were travelling in the bus (Me 1 Kha 104) that skidded off the road at Santidanda VDC.

Kamaiyas: Freed from bonded labour, but no place to live

By Sudarshan Rijal

DANG, March 18:Six months after a government decision to provide cash grants of rupees 10 thousand with timber free of cost, for each freed Kamaiya family to construct their own houses, thousands of Kamaiyas in the Western plains of the country are still compelled to live their lives in bonded slavery. Ironically, these deprived people were virtually declared ‘free’ since the past one and half years - by the same government.

With a total of 175 homeless Kamaiya families in this district alone, only a few have managed to construct their own houses, while 125 of them are still staying at their landlords’ houses, according to sources here.

Sources here say that despite the announcement of providing hard cash to construct residences for the freed Kamaiyas, the issue of timber supply has not been settled as yet.

Tantamount to a directive issued by the cabinet on availing 75 cubic feet of timber free of cost for each family of freed Kamaiyas, the Forest Department has, retroactively, agreed to provide only 35 cubic feet of timber. This directive however, carries conditions that the ‘Kamaiya Coordination Committee’ (KCC) must undertake all tasks pertaining to the lumbering of only selected trees for timber and its subsequent transportation.

"The government has already issued a directive to disburse cash of 1.7 million and fifty thousand rupees to resettle the Kamaiya families in the district. "However, the District Forest Office is not sure as yet of providing the required timber," said Govinda Adhikari, the acting Chief (DFO) at the District Land Reformation Office, in the district.

While contacting Gyanendra Mishra, acting Chief at DFO, he said that the office is positive in providing the required timber to the Kamaiya families, however, there is still a dilemma to face, as it doesn’t have enough timber stock to meet the stipulated demands.

This problem is not only relevant to the district in question, but the DFO in other districts too, like Banke, Bardiya, Kailali and Kanchanpur voice the same statements in terms of availing timber to the Kamaiya families, it has being learnt.

"Despite the provision of free timber from the government, it would be better if the ‘community forests’ in the district solved the current problem themselves," said Raghu Bir Chaudhri, a freed Kamaiya here.

Running parallel to these issues, some organisations working for the Kamaiyas in the district have announced that they will continue to actively be involved in rehabilitation campaigns of the Kamaiyas, once the budget will be released.

Sources at the ‘Food Security Project’ assisted by WWF, here say that various programmes like drinking water, sanitation, irrigation and many other programmes under ‘poverty alleviation,’ to begin soon, will be implemented for the betterment of Kamaiyas in the district.

‘Let there be light’: This district finally saw it after 3 long years

By Prakash Adhikari

TANAHUN, March 18:Around four thousand families, including the municipality and fourteen VDCs of the district, will now be electrified and see the light of even tide within a year. This was after a long wait and tedious patience, said sources at the Nepal Electricity (NEA) Office at Damauli, the district headquarters of Tanahun district.

Some wards of the Vyas Municipality, Damauli, as well as Bandipur, Bhanu and Manpang VDCs of the district have already been electrified under the current ‘Electrification Programme’ of Nepal, carried out by NEA at Damauli in its recent attempt to electrify fourteen VDCs of the district.

The VDCs to be electrified include Keymin, Sotishnara, Mirlung, Tanahunsur, Keshabtar, Ghansikuwa, Shyamagha and others. "Our lost hope has come alive again with the initiation taken by NEA," said Rudra Acharya, a local at Shyamagha VDC.

NEA at Damauli was given the responsibility of electrifying these regions three years ago under its ‘Seventh Electrification Project’, had there not been any obstacles on the way, we would have completed the project much earlier, said NEA sources down here.

The NEA office at Damauli had already fixed electric poles, arranged the electric lines and transmitter boxes in the planned regions three years back. The jubilant people in the area underwent house wiring with the hopes of their houses being lit up with electric bulbs instead of the wretched routine of burning dirty oil lamps everyday, but they had to wait for three lengthy years, said Ranjan Chalise, the Chief at NEA, Damauli.

"People had been making complaints at the office that their wires were getting worn out being unused, however, we just couldn’t provide the prompt services of electrification due to many technical problems," said Chalise.

He attributed the causes being due to a high capacity powerhouse and a shortage of meter boxes, as the cause of delay for the electrification in the proposed regions. "The on going electrification campaign is still at a snail’s pace owing to a less number of technicians involved in the task, and this has being further hampered by a complex topography of the regions to be electrified," he said.

As revealed by records at the NEA office, around 13,000 families in the district will now enjoy the facility of electricity supply apart from those to be privileged with the facility under the current initiatives of the office.

Maoist blockade creates tedious problems for district

By Shyam Bhatta

BAITADI, March 18:The price of goods in the district is feared to rise to soaring heights and around 17,000 students appearing the School Leaving Examination (SLC) this year, will be severely affected following a blockade in transportation at Satbanjh area of the district, said sources here.

Transportation entrepreneurs have ceased to resume road service from Satbanjh to the headquarters of the district, Patan, 20 kilometers west from the area, following a threatening letter that was said to be sent by Maoists through the hand of a young boy, recently.

This has affected passengers bound to other districts like Bajhang, Dadeldhura, Doti, Achham and Darchula. The populace in the region is bound to make a long de-tour via an Indian road to Mahendranagar. Even Urba Datta Panta, a lawmaker from this district used an Indian route to attend the District Council convention, here.

Following the adjournment of vehicles plying daily from Mahendra Nagar and Dhangadi to district headquarters, people in the area are worried of the price hike. "If transportation doesn’t operate in the district for a week, we will have to face soaring price hikes as the cost of goods brought in via the Indian road will become costlier," said Mohan Chand, a local merchant.

"More than 17,000 students appearing the SLC examination from remote parts of this district will be affected by the Maoist blockade on transportation," said Surya Prasad Adhikari, chief at the District Education Office (DEO).

However, the local administration says the incident could be a ‘rumor’. According to sources at the District Administration Office (DAO), a massive operation by security forces is being conducted on around 40 kilometers off the Satbanjha area, but there are no evident signs of rebels seen in the area.

The DAO further adds that a bus from Mahendranagar, guarded by security personnel reached Patan on Sunday night, and left the district headquarters on Monday, this week.