'Preserve human values'

Biratnagar, Nov. 27 (RSS): Judge at the appellate court Biratnagar Keshariraj Pandit, inaugurating a conference on human rights and peace, spoke of the need to accept the co-existence of all living beings to preserve human values and maintain peace.

The concept of rule of state should be put into practice with utmost honesty and efforts should be made to remove distortions and corruption from the society, he further said.

Central representative of Human Rights Peace Society Narayandutta Kandel noted that chapters of the society have been established in more than 45 districts and it has been carrying out different works with a view to containing incidence of murder and violence both by the government and the Maoists in various parts of the country.

Central member of the Amnesty International Nepal Pradip Pokhrel, presenting a working paper on "Peace has no Alternative", dwelt on corruption and political criminalization in which the past governments have been involved in one or the other way.

A host of other speakers including treasurer of the Society Biratnagar Khem Bhattarai, reader Baijanath Thapaliya and social worker Ganga Bishan Gathi also spoke at the function chaired by society's chairman (Biratnagar) Chudamani Nepal.

Meanwhile in Butwal, chief judge of the appellate court, Butwal Dhruba Nath Upadhyaya declared open the fourth annual general meeting and the second convention of the western region Petroleum Dealers' Association here on Saturday.

On the occasion, chief judge Upadhyaya urged all the businessmen to be honest and be guided by morality.

Central member of Nepal Petroleum Dealers Association Nawaraj Shrestha said that the people had difficulty in getting kerosene at fair prices and in adequate quantity because of the " irregularities seen in the distribution of coupons".

Manager of Nepal Oil Corporation, west regional office Bikhesh Sinha informed that samples of kerosene had been sent to the central laboratory for test of adulteration.

Chief of Nepal Standards and Metrology office, Umesh Chandra Das said the problem of petroleum adulteration was increasing since the office lacks equipment for carrying out different tests.

Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) Rupandehi district branch president Binod Pahadi said that the problem of adulteration was increasing day by day because of the ineptness on the part of Nepal Oil Corporation and Nepal Standards and Metrology Office.

From the chair, association president Rajendra Gupta accused the value added tax (VAT) office of collecting VAT which was against the spirit of an agreement signed between the government and the association.