Shanti Sangeet Yatra concludes

By Pragya Koirala

KATHMANDU, March 8 : They gathered at the historic Durbar Square and performed their best numbers as thousands of youngsters and elderly alike jostled to find a space to watch them perform.

With this the Shanti Sangeet Yatra 2059 (travelling peace tour), featuring the country’s leading singers and musicians, came to an end today evening. It all started 12 days ago, when the popular artistes performed in the eastern town of Dharan.

Then the musical tour took them to Hetauda, Butwal, Tulsipur (Dang) and Mahendranagar. The towns represent the five developmental regions of the country.

Artistes like Deep Shrestha, Kunti Moktan, Prem Rana Autari, Ram Thapa, Sapana Shree, Sukmit Gurung and Nepathya took part in travelling concert, which called for peace in the conflict-wreaked country.

Sapana Shree who had been travelling and performing at this concert for the last 12 days said, " I think we were really successful in establishing a kind of peace among the people living in constant fear of violence in these parts of country we have travelled."

This concert was organised by the Himal Association and managed by the Event Nepalaya.

" In the past seven years our people have been depressed and down hoping for peace to restore in the country, so we took a step towards giving them hope and encouragement through this musical liberation," said Basanta Thapa, executive director of Himal Association.

He told The Kathmandu Post that this peace concert was planned many months ago when the insurgency had reached its peak and the state of emergency was imposed in the country.

Hosting the concert all these days, Ashish and Prasan said ,"we had an overwhelming experience to travel all these places with these senior artistes and to be between our country people especially in Dang which has been a place of Maoist victims for some time."

They said this concert was the first step towards peace and everyone should join hands to such peace programme that would help to save our beautiful country.

Release of women prisoners sought

Post Report

Kathmandu, March 8 : The National Women’s Commission submitted its annual report to Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare Gore Bahadur Khapangi on the occasion of the 93rd International Women’s Day today.

Handing over the report, the vice-chairperson of the commission, Pratibha Rana urged the minister to take into account the release of 65 women prisoners on the occasion of the International Women’s Day.

These women are being detained in prison on abortion charges. Abortion has been legalized in the 11th amendment in the Civil Code.

Speaking on the occasion, the minister said the government is seriously taking up the programmes for Nepalese women who comprises half of the globe.

"We are launching the programme for women although there may be little progress," he said and urged women to take up their movement peacefully.

Earlier, the commission had submitted the Bill of the commission to Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand after having analysed women’s situation in 62 districts.

Clean drinking water from Manohara project

By Yek Raj Pathak

KATHMANDU, March 8 : Clean drinking water will be distributed in the Kathmandu Valley from the Manohara drinking water project of Bhaktapur district within a month.

The construction of the first phase of the project, which was started six months ago with Rs.650 million grants from Japanese government, has been completed and drinking water will be distributed within one month.

The second phase of the project is estimated to be completed by the month of May next year. Under the first phase, about 20.6 million litres of water will be collected and distributed to about 45,000 population of Madhyapur Thimi and other areas, it is stated.

Seven million litres of drinking water will be collected under the second phase programme and will be distributed in Kathmandu.

"Clean drinking water in accordance with the standard of the World Health Organisation will be distributed from the project", said Kaushal Nath Bhattarai, general manager of the Drinking Water Corporation.

"Drinking water will be distributed to the water scarcity areas of Kathmandu from two tanks of Anamnagar and Minbhavan under the second phase of the project", he said.

"Eight filter chambers have been installed and the water will be filtered and it will purify the water for distribution", it is said.

"The Drinking Water Project is very important in Kathmandu as there is the scarcity of drinking water in the Kathmandu Valley at a time when it takes sometimes to complete the Melamchi project", Bhattarai said.

About 427,000 people of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur will be benefited from the first and second phase programme of the project.

There is the demand of 180 million litres of water every day in the valley but the Drinking Water Corporation supplies only 90 million litres of water.

Kids of prisoners share Women’s Day jubilation

By Sudha Shrestha

KATHMANDU, March 8 : There was jubilant air in the International Women’s Day celebrations in the valley today. While the long procession of women marched past in the streets of downtown Kathmandu, kids and even some men also shared the moment of jubilation.

Pushkar Shah, the world famous Nepali cyclist working for peace was one of such men who celebrated the occasion in a different way along with the kids of Prisoners Assistance (PA)- Nepal at the café-cum-gallery at Lazimpat which he shared with his British colleague Allen.

Organised at the initiative of Irish human rights activist, Margaretta D’Arcy, the celebrations were made with much fanfare for 25 kids of all age-groups ranging from 45 months to 19 year. It was all smiles for kids most of whose parents are locked up in prisons. Their white caps and white vests with printed slogan " Money for kids and mums, not for world wars and bombs" at their backs and the picture of the world famous cyclist , Pushkar Shah on the bike stood out catchy sight for every spectator around. He had distributed the vests to the kids along with a brief speech to kids about peace.

Shah, who has already set up a record by cycling 51 countries on his peace mission holds different opinion about the Women’s Day.

"Today, one of the reasons of conflict in the world is lack of opportunities for women. Men are simply misusing things,"said Shah, who has also creative mind reflecting in his paintings and poems.

The Irish woman human rights activist and staunch organiser of the Global Women’s Strike, Margaretta D’Arcy has a message to Nepali women in villages affected by the Maoist war.

" Today women are asking for better world where every one has food to eat and drink, no one goes hungry and no children have to live in the streets," she said.

Highly vocal and confident even in her 60s, Margaretta D’Arcy, who is also playwright with strong opinion about women’s human rights is deeply inspired by the strength of Nepali women in the face of miseries of war.

"It is important for us to respect village women and value the works they do. Rich women in the city should promote their confidence .Village women should be part of the peace process as they were the ones who were affected the most by war," said the playwright.

The Global Women’s Strike has been launched worldwide on this day for equality and social justice for women.

Focus on women’s welfare, rights

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KATHMANDU, March 8 : An interaction programme on "Girls’ Health Problem and Education was held here yesterday under the aegis of Child Development Centre.

On the occasion, member secretary of Social Welfare Council Prabha Thakkar said women themselves should be active for their welfare and rights.

Shreeram Shrestha of USC Canada said the government should provide education and other facilities to the girls. The function was held under the chairmanship of Sharad Sharma.

Meanwhile, a talk programme was organised on the "Trade Union Movement and Women’s Participation" here today on the occasion of the 93rd International Women’s Day.

Speaking on the occasion, central member of the CPN-UML Ashtalaxmi Shakya said women have special role to maintain peace and consolidate democracy by ending the murder, violence and terror in the country.

She also stressed the need that the women involved in various organisations and trade unions should work for the welfare of women.

General secretary of Federation of Professional Organisation Pramod Sharma said women themselves should be involved to end the exploitation against women.

Chief of the Women’s Department Radha Silwal chaired the function.

Lack of manpower affects fire brigade

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KATHMANDU, March 8 : As the Juddha Fire Extinguisher Office is facing lack of manpower and modern extinguishers, the office is not being able to deliver prompt and effective service to the general people, officials said here today.

According to Bishnu Bahadur Baniya, officiating superintendent at the office, there are 16 posts of fire fighters vacant out of the total 29 posts. Of the 5 total extinguishers belonging to the office, only 3 are in operation, that too are in a very bad shape.

"We do not have sufficient trained and skilled manpower. We also lack modern fire extinguisher that fits in the streets of Kathmandu. We are not being able to provide effective service that we should have been giving in the service of the public," Baniya said.

Besides, the office also does not have required water resources to fill the fire extinguishers, officials said. A boring set up with the support from Japan is pump water hardly sufficient to fill the fire-extinguishers in times of need.

Fire fighters complained that they were not equipped with necessary equipment like special fire proof suit, oxygen max and communication equipment while going out for extinguishing fire. "We do not control fire but only ashes as we cannot get to the spot of fire incident due to the lack of necessary accessories," said Hrishikesh Dhungana, chief commander of the fire-fighter squad.

"There are certain rules and regulations that also affect in the recruitment of needed manpower" Baniya said adding "The offices need more manpower and the existing over three-decade old fire extinguishers need to be replaced with the new ones suitable for the streets of Kathmandu.

Maoists in Dang to return looted gold

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DANG, March 8 ; Senior district level Maoist leaders of Dang stated the Maoist party would return gold looted from different banks. This confession was made at an interaction programme in Rampur VDC yesterday.

Maoist rebels had looted gold worth over twenty million rupees from the Nepal Bank Limited branch in Ghorahi, the district headquarters. They had also looted gold from Rastriya Banijya Bank branch in Narayanpur.

"The owner should produce genuine bank documents to prove that he/she owes certain amount of gold to the bank," said ‘Diamond’ the district secretary of the party.

Though the banks have already compensated the gold owners with cash on as per the bank records, the clients have been complaining that the cash that they have been compensated with is less than the value of their gold deposited in the banks.

Intellectuals, local journalists, industrialists and the Maoists were the participants at the interaction programme which was initiated by the Maoists. "The willingness on part of the Maoists to hold talks with the government should not be considered their weakness but as part of the Maoist war," said Kuber Bali, the chief of the Maoist ‘People government’ in the district, speaking as the chief guest in the programme.

"Those who recite the mantra of peace should be able to make some sacrifices when the concerned people are making an effort to bring about peace in the nation," said Diamond.

Drinking water projects come to a halt

Post Report

RAUTAHAT, March 8 : Though the deadline of the completion for the 10 drinking water projects under construction in this district under the Drinking Water and Sanitation Division has come to an end. The projects are still lying incomplete. The way that the construction work have been going on at these projects they will come under use only in 20 years time, it is expected.

It is learnt that all these 10 projects which had been expected to be completed in total estimated budget of Rs.107.7 million are gradually coming to a standstill one by one due to adequate budget not being provided in time. Due to this around 100,000 people living in this district are expected to be affected.

According to the information provided by the Drinking Water and Sanitation office at Gaur, the construction work at Rajpur-Fardawa, Chandranigahapur, Santapur, Dostiya, Bijayapur, Sindureghari, Garuda, Pipra, Sarmujhawa, and Auraiya will take some more years for completion and into use.

In a period of eight years since the fiscal year 1995/96 only Rs. 36 million has been disbursed out for these projects out of the total estimated budget.

The head of the division office at Gaur says that due to lack of timely dispatch of the required amount of financial budget the works at these various projects have been closing down. Due to the small amount of budget being dispatched annually than the actual required amount, the works have to be stopped due to shortage, and hence, the completion is expected to come about only in 20 years, he added.

To start the construction work intermittently is not wise, said the technicians involved, as the work done in different span of time creates flaws in the infrastructures and warring down quickly.

The locals have now started to protest over these drinking water projects which initially were started by the government with the motive of providing the pure and clean drinking water to the rural region.

The project in the Chandranigahapur VDC is not complete even after a lapse of 10 years since its initiation and locals there have begun to lose hope on such drinking water projects now, said a local social worker Sumar Ale. Similarly, the delay in the construction of the project in Sindureghari has been protested by the locals . It is learnt that after the intensification of the Maoists insurgency, the development budget had been slashed by the government to be spend on security, which as a result disrupted these drinking water projects of this district.

4 police posts set up to check criminal activities

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BIRATNAGAR, March 8 : Four additional police posts are being set up in the frontier areas of Morang to curb smuggling and criminal activities.

"Number of police posts were increased in view of the escalating criminal activities," said Suman Timsina, the Inspector of Pile at Area Police Office, Rangeli.

The new police posts will be established in Kutumaganj of Bardanga VDC-5, Mahadeva, Sikti and Anpgachhii area, according to source.

The security personnel in the newly established posts will be fully equipped with arms and shall patrol the area in co-ordination with the locals. With the increase of robbery incidents in broad daylight, the locals in the area are already on patrol.

In several incidents of robbery in the past one week, different gangs have looted cash and valuables worth over two million rupees, according to sources. Those involved in robbery are the people who do not speak clear Nepali and the police suspect them to be Indian robbers.

Tallest statue of Lord Buddha coming up in Lumbini

By Kamal Panthi

BUTWAL, March 8 : Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Kuber Sharma said, that the tallest statue of Buddha in the world will be constructed in Lumbini within five years. This statue is expected to be 250 to 300 metres high.

The minister was speaking to a gathering of media persons in Butwal on Saturday. "Whether any foreign donors or devotees assist in the construction or not, the government will provide Rs 50 million every year for the construction work," the minister said. The total cost for the construction of the statue is estimated to be Rs 300 million and the government is providing only Rs 250 million. The deficit cost for the construction is expected to be met through charity from various donors and devotees.

It is learnt that the feet of the tall Buddha statue will be 35 feet wide. Underneath the library, Buddha related artworks will be constructed. "Though there is not any plan to construct such statue in the Lumbini master plan, the government has decided to construct the statue on the large chunks of land that will be available through acquisition," said Minister Sharma.

At the gathering the minister expressing his discontent over the snail paced development, "The corruption and the financial malpractice that has been taking place in the Lumbini Development Trust will be seriously investigated," added the minister.

Fire victims living in caves!

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NAWALPARASI, March 8 : The fire victims of a remote village in Nawalparasi district are in a sorry state as the families of 15 houses gutted by fire two years ago have not been rehabilitated as of yet. Some of them stay in the caves while some of them have taken refuge with their kins.

A huge fire had gutted the houses of an ethnic community Magars, at Chulibojha of Arkhala VDC-2, two years ago. The fire that started from a pig sty had destroyed the houses causing the loss of over Rs. 700,000.

Majority of the victims lack cultivable land to feed their families and depend on pigs to meet their daily needs.

"It’s a hand to mouth situation for us hence there is no question of building a house for ourselves," lamented Reban Wantaki Magar, 48, a fire victim. "The fire gutted the house and sty. We have been living in a nearby cave since then."

Til Bahadur Magar is another fire victim who stays in a room of an abandoned dilapidated school building. Scarson whose body left by the fire are obvious. He sustained injuries while undergoing rescue operations during the incident.

"I am still in debt .How can I build a house?" asked Magar. Man Bahadur Magar and his two brothers are taking refuge in a shed.

"I visited the District Administration Office (DAO) and other organisations pleading for help. But what we got was only assurances," lamented Shiva Lala Baral, the outgoing ward chairman of the VDC-2.

Not much can be produced from their sloppy farms in the hill despite toiling the whole day through . Tending pigs was their main occupation which also came to a standstill after the fire gutted down their pigs and now they are not in a condition to buy new pigs, express the victims.

"We were sending our children to school with the money that we earned by selling pigs. Now, we have no house and not even the stys to tend pigs," said Manisara Magar. Lila Wantaki Magar somehow managed to repair her house. However, she is unable to roof it.

"When the fire ravaged Myanglung Bazaar, it drew sympathy from nooks and corner of the country. But, for us no one turned up for help," lamented a sad Kul Bahadur Magar, another fire victim.

Armed bandits loot jeweller’s house

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BHAIRAHAWA, March 8 : A group of armed bandits looted gold ornaments worth a million from a house situated in Sidharthanagar municipality on Thursday night.

According to the District Police Office of Rupendehi, the dacoits had barged into the home of Karna Bahadur Beka at around 9 pm in the night and carried out the looting. 114 sets of gold ornaments worth Rs. 1,030,641 had been reported to the police by the victim side on Friday. The victim Beka had been indulged in jewellery business, whereby he had been running a jewellery shop, the "Siddhartha Jewellery" situated in Siddharthanagar municipality-9

The bandits of five had at the beginning managed to get into the house convincing the Karna’s son that they were from army who had come for investigation. After they got inside the house they changed their version saying that they were Maoists and looted all the ornaments that were inside the locker. These dacoits said that the house-owner had bought the stolen gold items and will return back their ornaments after a few days after finishing the necessary investigation.

These dacoits had cut off the telephone connection before making their entry, and had completed the plunder just in about 20 minutes. They had also threatened that they would blast the house and kill them if they reported the incident to the police. Each of the bandit had a gun in their possession. The police are of the view that ornaments amounting to lesser than the amount reported to the police has been carried off by the dacoits.

The necessary investigation of the incident and the intensive search for the dacoits is underway, said the Superintendent of Police, Nawaraj Dhakal.

Just before the occurrence of the incident two of the police who were in informal dress had encountered these dacoits, but had to give up after the dacoits pointed gun at them. Since these police were without any weapons, they went to the nearest telephone booth and informed the District Police Office, after which police force had been dispatched to the incident site.

Dacoits loot valuables, youth shot dead

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BARA, March 8 : A group of armed dacoits looted cash and other valuables worth around Rs. 125,000 from Gopi Mahato’s house at Langdatol in Kalaiya municipality-2 on Friday night.

These bandits who were in 20 to 25 in number had carried out the looting from 12:30 p.m. to around 1 in the morning, Ramji Mandal the brother of Gopi informed. The dacoits seemed to between 30 to 35 years of age. The brother duo were hurt by the dacoits when they tried to retaliate them. They even made the female members to take off all the ornaments on their body and hand over to them.

The bandits had escaped away after looting cash amounting to Rs. 46,000, and valuable ornaments and clothes amounting to a total loss of Rs. 125,000, said the victim Mandal. The victim Mahato said that he came to recognise three of the assailants, and after reporting to the police, the District Administration Office (DAO) of Bara has taken them under their custody.

The inspector of police at DAO Bara, Krishna Bahadur Gurung speaking to the The Kathmandu Post correspondent said, that upon suspicion the trio believed to be residents of Kanapa-1, Parsa, have been taken into custody for further investigation.

Similarly, in another incident that occurred in Bara, a 19-year-old youth, Umesh Mandal Dhanuk a resident of Tedakatti-4 and son of Kashi Dhanuk, was shot dead by a unidentified assailant.

According to the inspector of the area police office at Nijgadh, Anurag Dwivedi, that the victim who had gone to his neighbour’s house after his dinner on Thursday evening was found dead on Friday morning lying beside a canal about 500 metre away from his house. The dead body of Dhanuk had bullet wound on the right side of his chest. Inspector Dwivedi talking to The Kathmandu Post informed that the victim was a sober person and neither did his family had any constraint with anybody in the past.