Chitwan festival from Dec. 26

Kathmandu, Dec. 18 (RSS): The Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Narayangadh, Chitwan district development committee, Bharatpur Municipality, Ratnanagar Municipality and Ratnanagar Chamber of Commerce and Industry are to jointly organise the Chitwan Festival at Narayangadh from Dec. 26 to Jan. 2 to celebrate the 56th auspicious birthday of His Majesty the King.

As part of the festival that aims to contribute to tourism promotion, special programmes will be organised to highlight the present condition of tourism business and industry and possibilities of promoting this industry.

A special agricultural exhibition will also be organised on the occasion for the promotion of agro-industry in the country.

More than 150 stalls will be allotted to participants for highlighting their achievements through displays.

Efforts on to prepare report on discrimination

Kathmandu, Dec. 18 (RSS): Preparations are being made to present a separate national report on behalf of the various communities suffering from racial discrimination at the world conference against racial discrimination to be held in South Africa from the last week of August to the first week of September, 2001.

At a programme organised by the world conference national preparatory committee against racial discrimination here today, committee convenor Dr. Krishna Bhattachan said that the committee would present a factual report to the world community, and conduct awareness raising and pressure generating programmes to create public opinion against racial discrimination.

He said that the report to be prepared by the committee would cover issues concerned with oppressed nationalities, ethnic people, Muslims, Madhises, lingual, religious, ex-Gurkha soldiers and freed bonded labourers under the issue based communities.

Dr. Bhattachan said that the world community should give due priority to the reports presented by the oppressed communities rather than that of the government and other agencies.

Chief guest of the programme, chairman of the International Centre for Law in Development, US, Dr. Clarence J. Dias said that racial discrimination in South Asia was on the increase instead of decreasing, and many people of the developing countries were deprived of basic services such as health, water and sanitation that have been privatised, and the gap between the rich and the poor was increasing dramatically.

Member of the report preparing committee Malla K. Sunder said that the United Nations had issued the international declaration against racial discrimination in 1963 which was ratified by Nepal in 1971.

Central president of the Society for Emancipation of the Oppressed and Downtrodden Castes of Nepal Padma Lal Biswakarma and editor of "Tisari Duniya" Ananda Swarup Verma also expressed their views on the occasion.

Nepalgunj roads face encroachment

Nepalgunj, Dec. 18 (RSS): The trend of installing commercial signboards, hoarding boards and roadside kiosks by encroaching on the road is on the rise in Nepalgunj Municipality.

The commercial signboards and the roadside stalls that have been put up haphazardly in the town area here have caused a great deal of inconvenience to the pedestrians as well as hampered in traffic control.

In view of this inconvenience, Nepalgunj Municipality and the district traffic police office have joined hands to remove such signboards and roadside stalls.

In the initial phase of the campaign, more than 100 signboards and roadside kiosks from the local Pushpalal Chowk up to the Surkhet road have been removed, according to the district traffic police office.

Police have said that such signboards, hoarding boards and roadside kiosks found to be encroaching the road would be removed gradually.

Meanwhile, the fish and vegetable stalls alongside the Sadar Line-hospital area have been shifted to the newly constructed Sajhedari vegetable market at ward No. 17.

Likewise, various goods kept for sale on pavements and roadsides have also been removed, it is learnt from the police.