Elders home to be set-up in Biratnagar

BY OUR CORRESPONDENT

Biratnagar, Dec. 3: An elders home will be constructed here for those old people who want to spend the rest of their live away from the hassles of the domestic life.

A get-together was organised here on Sunday to hold discussions about the constrution of the house. About Rs. 10.5 million will be spent for the construction of the rest house.

Organised by citizens of Biratnagar which included advocate Bipulendra Chakrawarti, Pushpa Raj Sharma, Markandeya Acharya, Krishna Prasad Guragain, Pitambar Sharma including various other persons were also were present in the get-together. The gathering has formed an eleven-member Elders’ Home Construction Committee under Ashkaran Rathi as coordinator. Markendeya Acharya is member-secretary of the committee.

According to Acharya, the rest house will be constructed within the next two years and it will have all the facilities needed for the old people to make their lives easy and peaceful.

Ramechhap feels secure after state of emergency

BY OUR CORRESPONDENT

Ramechhap, Dec. 3: Residents of Ramechhap district have started to feel secure following the declaration of a state of emergency and the active mobilisation of all the government’s security organs.

Police and army men have been carrying out patrolling in Manthali, district headquarters, and the hill of Ramechhap. Similarly, the army personnel have been observing the situation of all the villages of the district from helicopter. Besides, the District Administration Office has imposed a curfew in the district headquarters to maintain law and order in a more effective manner.

"Local people and businessmen have become free from terror. We used to be concerned and worried of the Maoists’ terrorist activities almost every day before the emergency," says Ganesh Das Shrestha, secretary of Ramechhap Chamber of Commerce.

Shanti Poudel, member of District Development Committee (DDC), says that the declaration of the state of emergency has given a feeling of security to the local people.

Bee keeping thrives in Chitwan

BY OUR CRRESPONDENT

Chitwan, Dec.3: Chitwan may soon become a honey basket. Bee keeping has become a booming business with more and more people being attracted towards bee farming after a pilot project is run in the district.

The District Development Committee has chosen four areas as a pilot project for bee farming with the establishment of bee-keeping centers. There are already three co-operatives for bee keeping established and 5 private bee keeping farms registered. According to assistant section officer of District Agriculture Office Yam Prasad Poudel there are four bee-keeping regions at Sukranagar and Dibyanagar, Jagatpur and Parihanki, Kumroj and Bachauli, and Chainpur, Pidewa, and Jurpani. The office is providing the bees and hives as donation to several groups of peasant.

The bee keeping started in a commercial basis only about eight years ago. Now, there are eleven groups of 257 men and 57 women involved in bee keeping. The project provides necessary skill development training, provide medicines for the eradication of diseases and also take the farmers to different bee farms as observation tours.

According to Poludel, a peasant has 30 hives on an average and the district produces 60 tons of honey every year. He added that a peasant has to invest Rs. 100,000 for 30 hives and earns Rs. 10,000 monthly. Though the production of honey is high in Chitwan, there is shortage of market and one kilo of honey sells from Rs 100 to 150.

Experts say one hive can produce seven hives in one year provided there is enough food for the bees. But during the period no honey is produced.

Experts say December to January is preferable for keeping bees and in those months honey production also increases. The unfavorable months are June to September but during the period the bees should be feed sugar.

They say if Nepalese honey can enter into the international market and the government regulates the price, bee keeping would flourish further.

Cattle obstructing highway in Bara

BY OUR CORRESPONDENT

Kalicha (Bara), Dec. 3:Vehicles and cattle compete for space along the Birgunj-Pathlaiya highway. Every morning cattle farmers take their cattle for grazing along the banks of river, jungles and other open-grassy lands.

Everyday at about 9, the cattles are out. There are hundreds of them and they cover almost the entire stretch of the highway. It is the same in the evening when the cattles are returned to their sheds.

The problem is the cattle-owners use the main highway instead of detouring along the village roads causing long lines of buses, trucks and other vehicles. Traffic comes to a standstill waiting for the cattle to pass. Even emergency vehicles like ambulances and fire-brigade can not help but to wait for the beasts.

Jamuna Chaudhary, Vice-chairman of Jitpur Village Development Commitee (VDC), told The Rising Nepal that though there are alternate paths to the grazing areas the owners prefer the highway because they find it easy.

Although, traffic police and VDC officials have been asking the people to take the alternate paths, the requests are not heeded.

But, Surendra Yadhav, a farmer of Jitpur, says otherwise. He said they are using the alternate ways as much as they can.

Nakul Bahadur Karki, a truck entrepreneur, blames the authorities both VDCs and the traffic police for not showing any concern.

He said the cattle pose a grave danger to the vehicular movement and they can cause accidents. "If a vehicle hits the cattle, it is us who are punished and have to pay for and not the owners for letting their cattle stray along the highway."

Shadev Dhakal, Sub-inspector of Bara district, said that by taking the help of VDC district traffic police office will soon recover this problem.

He also told The Rising Nepal that district traffic police office had already started working with the local residents to avoid parking illegally, not to let the cattle pass through the highway and to put up weekly markets along the highway.

Sunsari farmers to get loans at cheaper interest

BY OUR CORRESPONDENT

Itahari (Sunsari), Dec. 3: The first general meeting of farmer welfare saving and credit co-operatives held here yesterday. Established to make available loans to farmers at cheaper interest rates, the co-operative has set the objectives to cut down unnecessary expenses and make the society independent economically.

Another objective of the institution is to provide relief to the farmers from the local moneylenders who charge exorbitant interests and also procedures of the banks which many farmers are unfamiliar with.

Every shareholder has to deposit Rs. 50 monthly. The institution has collected a total of Rs. 380,806 from 69 different shareholders and has given the money as loan to rural farmers of Sunsari district.

Speaking at the general meeting, Dr. Dev Mani Bhattarai said that the co-operative has carried out exemplary works such as forging unity among farmers in the rural areas and improving their economic situations.

Chaired by Chuda Basant Lamsal, coordinator of the institution, Jivan Nepal, Chudaraj Khatiwada, Krishna Binod Lamsal, Shanta Lamsal, among others, spoke about the various activities of the institution.

The meeting has formed an executive committee, which includes Chuda Basant Lamsal, Bhavanath Luintel, Jivnath Nepal, Chudaraj Khatiwada and Devi Luintel as chairman, vice-chairman, treasurer and joint treasurer respectively.

Similarly, Rita Tamrakar, Chandra Prasad Timilsina, Khemraj Bhandari, Goma Shrestha, Krishna Lamsal, Sabitri Lamsal, Rajan Raut and Ganesh Dhakal have been elected as members of the co-operative.