Deuba returns home contented with India visit

Post Report

KATHMANDU, March 25:Appearing contented with India’s assurance that it would not allow its land to be used against Nepal, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba returned home Monday from the eastern port city of Kolkata, completing his six-day-long goodwill visit to the friendly southern neighbour.

Accompanied by his wife, Dr Arzoo Deuba, members of his Cabinet, high ranking officials and businessmen, Deuba landed at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) at about 12:30 p.m. Monday afternoon, where he was welcomed by foreign ambassadors, high ranking government officials and the Royal Nepal Army.

"Most important achievement of this visit is that India has assured us that it would not allow its land to be used against Nepal," Deuba told newsmen at a press conference held at the airport. "And the inundation problem (on the Nepali side near Nepal-India border mainly in western Nepal, where India has unilaterally constructed two barrages) will no longer be there."

Deuba described his trip to Kolkata as "very much fruitful" and said that the Chief Minister of West Bengal assured him that his administration would do everything to check the movement of Maoists in the state that borders eastern Nepal. "The Chief Minister has assured me that the Indian state government would strictly control the movement of Nepali terrorists," he added.

Nepali Maoists frequently cross over to West Bengal and other bordering Indian states, and last year a delegation of Nepali leaders including main opposition CPN-UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal met top Maoist leader Prachanda a.k.a. Puspa Kamal Dahal in the border town of Siliguri in West Bengal state.

When asked to specify the support that the government of India would extend to Nepal to quell Maoist insurgency, Deuba only said that the concerned authorities of the two countries would deal with the issue. "They have agreed to support, and that is it."

He, however, added that the two countries would exchange information about the cross border movement of the rebels. "We will forward the information about the rebels to them and they will do the same," he said.

Besides helping Nepal operationalise the dry port at Birgunj that would soon be linked with Kolkata port, Deuba said, "India has also given words to soon carry out survey works required to construct the East-West Railway alongside the existent East-West Highway in Nepal." He did not elaborate further.

According to him, the two governments have agreed to sign an agreement to operationalise the dry port at the earliest, and complete the much-delayed Detailed Project Report (DPR) of Pancheshwor Multi-Purpose Project by June. The DPR was to be completed soon after Nepal and India signed the controversial Mahakali Treaty in 1996.

"We have also agreed to conduct more bilateral meetings in future to address the problems of border dispute and review the 1950 Nepal-India Treaty of Peace and Friendship," he said.

Deuba added that the two countries have also agreed to foster cooperation in the field of science and technology. "And they have given words to help Nepal develop its information technology sector."

The Prime Minister had embarked upon his trip to India on March 20, his first after he came to power eight months ago. In New Delhi, Deuba also met Indian President K R Narayanan, Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and other ministers. He also addressed a gathering of top-ranking Indian businessmen and industrialists.

NC cracks whip against ministers, CWC member

By Yuvraj Acharya

KATHMANDU, March 25: The ruling Nepali Congress today took disciplinary action against three cabinet ministers and a powerful CWC member for their remarks expressed in the CWC meeting against the party president’s decision to form the powerful party parliamentary committee.

Minister for Water Resources Bijay Kumar Gachchhedar has been banned from attending two CWC meetings in future while Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare Rajendra Kharel and Minister for Information and Communication Jayaprakash Prasad Gupta have been warned not to repeat such remarks against the party line.

Gachchhedar had blamed President Girija Prasad Koirala of making an arbitrary decision on the strength of the nominated members, calling them Bhajan Mandali (sycophants) at the CWC meeting held on February 12.

NC CWC members Binay Dhoj Chand, Dr. Ram Baran Yadav and Sunil Kumar Bhandari had filed a case against Minister Gachchhedar for necessary action and the Central Disciplinary Committee took the decision on the case.

Minister Kharel has been warned not to make derogative comments in future. He had told the public gathering that "both the top leaders, Bhattarai and Koirala, should go to Ranchi for mental treatment."

Talking to The Kathmandu Post late Sunday night, Minister Kharel said that he was shocked to hear the news of disciplinary action against him.

"I am ready to resign from my office if the leaders say I have made a mistake," said Kharel, adding, " I had suggested both the leaders ( Bhattarai and Koirala) to perform a guardian’s role by rising above the factional interests inside the party."

"It is ridiculous for a democratic party to take action against a member who expresses his personal views for the sake of democracy and the nation," said Kharel.

Minister Gupta has been warned for his remark that "Koirala’s assumption of having pleasure in the downfall of Sher Bahadur Deuba was wrong."

Similarly, former spokesperson and CWC member Narahari Acharya has also been warned by the party not to repeat the comments against the party, which were published in the newspapers.

Acharya had suggested for reviewing the laws concerned with the palace affairs and make the palace affairs transparent for longevity of the monarchy.

Acharya has also been insisting for a referendum to make a new constitution and elect the Prime Minister through the election, which the party establishment took as objectionable and against the policy it has been adhering to for years.

Those being punished by the party have termed the party decision as prejudicial.

Narahari Acharya said the Central Discipline Committee has not refused his claims that the published materials were not only the policy of the party but the subjects party has already decided to do.

"The discipline committee itself should be aware of the party decisions," Acharya told The Kathmandu Post Sunday evening.

Security spending hits the roof

By Prem Khanal

KATHMANDU, March 25: As the government’s security operation against the Maoist rebels continues throughout the kingdom, the non-budgetary security expenditure, during the first four months of the declaration of the state of emergency, has exceeded over Rs 1 billion.

According to a highly placed official of the Ministry of Finance (MoF), the government has already released Rs 700 million in three separate installments for the Royal Nepal Army and about Rs 300 million for the Armed Police Force (APF) and Nepal Police (NP).

Though the government has earmarked Rs 10.31 billion for the security purpose for the current fiscal year, the amount has already been exceeded by Rs 1 billion. "As the government has already agreed to allocate extra expenditure worth Rs 3 billion for the army and the similar expenditure for the APF and NP is expected to be around Rs 1 billion, the overall security expenditure for the current fiscal year could touch Rs 15 billion," the official said.

However, the MoF source also said that the government is trying its best to curb such unplanned surge in expenditures mainly due to the pessimistic performance in mobilising internal revenue.

After intense negotiations, the MoF and the army had reached a ‘gentleman’s understanding’ about one and half month ago on managing Rs 3 billion for the army for the current fiscal year to finance the unplanned security expenditures. "As per the understanding, the MoF has already released Rs 700 million and the rest would be made available to the army within the period of current fiscal year ending mid-July," said the official.

Out of that Rs 3 billion, the army intended to earmark Rs 300 million to buy weapons and ammunition. But government officials feel that since the USA and UK indicated their willingness to provide military hardware support, the government is not thinking on allocating huge amount on purchasing arms. Of the proposed expenditure, a large chunk of the amount has been earmarked for logistic support.

Similarly, the army has also proposed to purchase two fixed wing aircraft costing Rs 300 million each. The army, after the declaration of state of emergency, has already purchased two ‘M-17’ Russian helicopters and it had acquired two ‘Chetak’ helicopters as grant from the government of India.

Apart from the amount settled on ‘gentlemen agreement’, the army, in recent negotiations, has asked extra Rs 500 million citing various reasons such as funding new recruitment and meeting soaring market price of other essential military equipment.

"Since the security is the foremost national priority at the moment and the reasons put forward is also convincing, the government is positive about their demand," added the source.

Earlier, the non-budgetary security expenditure caused by the declaration of state of emergency had touched Rs 500 million during the first month of the declaration of state of emergency.

The soaring security expenditure and squeezing revenue has put the government in the most difficult financial condition in decades. In order to meet the unexpected burden, the government has already diverted a sizable amount of development expenditure to the regular front.

The overall development expenditure allocated for the current fiscal year has been slashed by a flat rate of 25 per cent while the government grants for the village Development Committees have been cut by more than 50 per cent.

The government in its budget for the current fiscal year has earmarked Rs 50.47 billion for development activities. However, the actual expenditure, during the first six months, has remained just Rs 5.97 billion, which clearly demonstrates that the entire development activities of the country has almost come to a standstill.

Blasts rock capital
Gorakhapatra Corp, SSP residence targets

Post Report

KATHMANDU, March 25: A house of senior police officer and a toilet in the state-owned Gorkhapatra newspaper office complex were among the places that were bombed allegedly by the Maoists on Monday, rocking the capital.

While a peon was injured in the Gorkhapatra complex and taken to hospital for the treatment, another injured youth has been taken in police custody for interrogation, according to the police control room.

The Maoists also hurled bombs at vehicles at Kalanki in the capital and in the Bhaktapur district today.

The first floor of the Gorkhapatra Corporation on the New Road was rocked with a loud bang at about 11 a.m. when the blast occurred, according to an official at the police control room. The official said that a team of police officials rushed to the spot immediately after the blast along with the sniffer dogs and cordoned off the area. The walls of the toilet had developed cracks due to the blast and a big hole was seen in an adjoining proof reading room. The police evacuated all the employees and allowed them to resume their work only after screening the complex for other such bombs.

One youth, Dipak Tamang, 16, was found injured at the spot with his left hand bleeding. He was taken to the nearby Jan Sewa Police Station for interrogation, said the official. He reportedly said that he worked in a restaurant.

This is the second blast at the Corporation. The first blast occurred last year in the toilet in the second floor.

In another incident in the capital today, some unknown miscreants, suspected to be Maoists, hurled petrol bombs at the compound of the house of the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Basant Raj Kunwar at Samakhushi at 5.15 a.m. A nearby parked car, Ba 2 Cha 1768, was partially damaged in the blast, said the police sources. No one was injured in the incident.

Two cars and four motorcycles were damaged in bomb blasts at Kalanki in the capital and in the adjoining Bhakatapur respectively today morning.

Of late, the Maoists have stepped up their terror tactics in the capital, apparently in their attempt to make their upcoming national strike a success. These blasts come before the five-day Nepal bandh beginning April 2 by the Maoists. The nation-wide secondary exams, the School Leaving Certificate examination, commence on that day.

Natural calamities posing global threat

Post Report

KATHMANDU, March 25: Adverse weather, climate and water-related extremes claim nearly 250,000 lives and destroy over a fifty-billion-dollar worth of property across the globe annually.

The figures of these kinds of calamities for South Asia are staggering, which account for more than 80 percent of the world’s total cases of death resulting from natural disasters.

In Nepal, the number of death resulting from the hydrological and natural hazards is appalling. A total of 11,721 people in Nepal died of natural hazards in between 1983-2000 while 1,336 killed in a single month (July 1993 floods and landslides). The same year, floods and landslides ravaged 4,901-million-rupees worth properties, including 620 irrigation channels, 25,628 cattle-heads and 213 bridges. This was revealed at a seminar on "Issues on Climate and Climate Change in Nepal" jointly organised by Department of Hydrology and Meteorology and Tribhuvan University (TU) Central Department of Hydrology and Meteorology in the capital today.

In the programme experts said more people in Nepal died of epidemic than by floods and landslides during the last 18 years. A total of 11,721 died of epidemic while 5829 died of floods from 1983 to 2000.

The statistics on Global Disaster Information show that natural disasters killed about 598,290 people in Asia from 1991-2000, while in Nepal, 20,053 people lost their lives due to similar disasters in the same period.

"The trend on climatic hazards has been rising since the last ten years," said Dr Binayak Bhadra, Deputy Director General of ICIMOD, speaking during the inaugural session of the seminar. He said that the incidence of vulnerability has been rising due to the population pressure on land and the settlement pattern.

Citing that the disaster mitigation process in the country is very frail, he said that the data collection and their analysis has been unscientific and misleading, which often led to massive loss of life and property, which otherwise could have been averted.

"For effective preparedness and prevention, experience has shown that a well-functioning early-warning system is one of the most effective measures for damage reduction," said Professor Godwin O.P. Obasi, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) in his message on the World Meteorological Day Monday. "Apart from their usefulness in climate prediction, climate data sets are also fundamental for related socio-economic and environmental applications, early warning and risk assessment," he added.

WMO, therefore, co-ordinates a technology-transfer project that has brought computers and data management software (CLICOM) to more than 130 developing countries, he added.

Earlier, inaugurating the seminar, Minister without portfolio in the Prime Minister’s Office, Rishikesh Gautam said, "while increasing population has posed tremendous pressure on lands, resulting in the destruction of forests, there has also been a rising air temperature causing the climatic extreme."

"The world-wide change in climate has equally affected Nepal," he said.

However, he informed that the government is seriously committed towards mitigating water and air-related hazards and said the country has enough potentials to convert the natural resources like water, air and bio-gas for the development.

Speaking on the same occasion, Mahesh Man Shrestha, Secretary at the Ministry of Science and Technology said the government has initiated the implementation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and added that the government is committed to reduce the vulnerability to weather and climate extremes in accordance with the theme of the World Meteorological Organisation. "The Ministry and the department are collecting the data to study on the climate change and to identify its impacts," he further added.

The theme widely proclaimed for the World Meteorological Day 2002 is: "Reducing Vulnerability to Weather and Climate Extremes."

Anti-terrorism bill to last for 2 years only

Post Report

KATHMANDU, March 25: Parliamentary State Affairs Committee today decided to include two years’ time bound for the Terrorist and Destructive Activities (Control and Punishment) Bill, 2002.

The controversial Bill, now, will be valid for two years only after it gets the Royal assent.

During the clause-wise discussion on the bill today, members of the opposition parties suggested for a time bound of the bill to ensure the freedom of the people, suspending them only for a certain period.

After growing pressure from the opposition and some of the ruling party members, Home Minister Khum Bahadur Khadka agreed to include a sub-clause to validate the bill just for two years.

Pradip Gyawali of the main opposition CPN-UML suggested to include a time bound in the bill saying that the mentality of the government to retain the Bill for unlimited period was undemocratic and was against the spirit of the Constitution.

But some of the members from the treasury bench said that the Bill would be automatically defunct once the country’s law and order situation improves and timeframe was not required in the Bill.

But the members from the opposition bench Lilamani Pokharel, Ishwor Pokharel, Jagannath Khatiwada and Mahendra Pandey rule out the claim, saying that the objective of the Bill was to curb the terrorist activities and it would be ridicule to impose the anti-democratic law for an indefinite period.

The committee also has suggested some changes in terms of defining the weapons by excluding the stones and sticks in the list of sophisticated weapons.

PAC to probe irregularities in MPPW

Post Report

KATHMANDU, March 25:A sub-committee under the parliamentary Public Account Committee today sent a letter to the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works to submit details on the files of projects being investigated by the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA).

The sub-committee took the decision after the ministry officials clarified that the auditing of the projects could not be done as the files were with the CIAA.

The CIAA had seized the files of some donor-funded projects for nearly a year, suspecting financial irregularities during the implementation of the projects but have been pending since then. The PAC is expected to request the CIAA to present the files.

NHRC chief flays security forces

Post report

KATHMANDU, March 25: The Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Nayan Bahadur Khatri said it was a terrible situation if the security personnel themselves kill the people after their arrest.

"It is the terrible state of the country if the people are killed after arrest," said Khatri, adding that there is always suspicion over security of life and property of the people.

He also suggested that the government must not resort to "revenge killing". He said, "One of the main responsibilities of the state is to preserve the lives of the people."

Khatri, who was speaking at an interaction programme organised by the commission, said that if the security forces had killed the cadres of National People’s Front (NPF) in Baglung after their arrest, it was abuse of power by them.

The NHRC chief was referring to the murder of three NPF members – Roshan Dhwaj Malla, Dor Bahadur Chhntyal and Tika Chhantyal – allegedly by the security forces after their arrest. Earlier the leaders of the National People’s Front have complained to the NHRC about Baglung incident.

MPs concerned about Maoist-called bandh

Post Report

KATHMANDU, March 25:Former Deputy Prime Minister Ram Chandra Poudel today called all the political parties to condemn the five-day Nepal bandh, declared by the Maoists saying that it would disturb the SLC examinations.

Speaking at the special hour in the House of Representatives, Poudel said, "All the political parties and all sectors of the society should press the Maoists to withdraw their call for Nepal Bandh." Adding that more than 200,000 students would suffer from this Maoist action and leave their future uncertain.

Similarly, the meeting of the upper House of the parliament also showed concern about the Maoist called Nepal bandh and the law and order situation of the country.

The members demanded that the government ensured security of all the students appearing the SLC examination, which begins from April 2.

"There is still a state of uncertainty among the parents whether the examination will be conducted or not," said Bir Bahadur Singh of the CPN (UML).

He also suggested government to call an all party meet to discuss the situation and immediately issue a notice to remove the suspicions over dates of the exam.