A Cowardly Act

THERE was a heinous and cowardly attempt on the life of Chief Justice Keshav Prasad Upadhyaya in Surkhet the other day by a group of people, who are bent on taking advantage by terrorizing people and destabilising the country. Fortunately, the Chief Justice, chief guardian of country’s judicial system and rule of law, survived unhurt. But some other officials including the Registrar of the Surkhet Appellate Court and some policemen became the victims of lethal attack of terrorists. The entire nation and all conscious citizens have condemned the attack. Deputy Prime Minister Ram Chandra Poudel, who also holds the portfolio of Home Ministry out rightly described it as a cowardly and barbaric act. Even though the government is now engaged in the development activities and consolidating the multi-party democratic political system that was established ten years ago as a result of the great sacrifice of the people, some elements are making their vein attempt to weaken democracy and push the country back to the tyranny and also hamper the development activities. This is evident from their violent and terrorist acts they are indulging in despite having full opportunities to express their views and carry out political activities openly and peacefully. It is because they do not have the courage to face the people openly and muster people’s support through peaceful method. The global experience has shown that violence has never been successful anywhere in the world as the best political system is the multi-party democracy in the world. In Nepal as well, people rose against the tyranny and restored democracy in 1990, which means that people want democratic political system to function and become successful. Nepalese people are always peace loving and they are against violence and terrorism. The past elections for both parliament as well as local bodies have shown that people are clearly against the politics of violence and terrorism. The acts of terrorism and violence have already claimed life of almost 1500 people in the country. Terrorism and violence only breed violence and conflict. It is now time for all people to engage in development activities so that people’s social and economic condition can be raised. The government has openly invited all to come to the negotiating table for the resolution of any problem including the insurgency being perpetrated by a section of people who claim to be Maoists. If acts of killings and terrorism are not stopped, the government also may not remain as a silent spectator in the future but take a firm action to control them. Violence and terrorism are by no means at the interest of the nation and the people from all walks of life must join together to condemn such heinous actions and work collectively to counter terrorism and violence.

Collect Power Tariff

DESPITE possessing abundant water resources Nepal is still unable to provide electricity to about 85 per cent people in the country. Only 15 per cent Nepalese people mostly living in the urban areas and the Kathmandu Valley have access to the electricity. However, these 15 per cent Nepalese people have been those who have to pay the highest tariff in the world for consuming the electricity that frequently disappears without any pre-notice. What’s there that forces the Nepalese people either to afford the most expensive electricity in the world or to live without electricity? Maybe lack of resources is the main cause behind the country’s inability to harness adequate hydel power from the hundreds of rivers constantly flowing from north to the south in the country. But behind the rising prices of the electricity, the management aspects may be blamed. It is reported that Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been failing to collect electricity tariff from most of the government offices, the Municipalities and the industries. Introducing an effective tariff collecting system for NEA authorities has always been a challenging task. As a result, the common people often have to become the victims of such reluctance of the government offices which often end with the sky-rocketing prices of power.

A news report has it that not only the government offices, industries and Municipalities of the Kathmandu Valley often hesitate to pay the tariff, but also the industries and offices outside the Valley are also following the same path. As per the news report, NEA, Dubai branch office at Itahari in Sunsari district has black-listed 300 of its total clients for failing to pay up electricity tariff. Ironically, among the black-listed clients industrial clients constitute 90 per cent of the local electricity consumers. Moreover, the branch office is failing to recover tariff of Rs. 4.683 million in Dubai Industrial Estate and the adjoining villages. These are the industries which consume more electricity for profit making purposes but these are the same industries which often fail to pay the tariff! In fact, the NEA should introduce such a policy that will not only discourage its clients from failing to pay the tariff but also check the existing power leakage so that NEA could can collect more tariff so necessary to carry out new hydel projects in the country.