Bastola off to Bangladesh

Kathmandu, Jan. 8 (RSS): Minister for Foreign Affairs Chakra Prasad Bastola left here today on a three-day official visit to Bangladesh at the invitation of Foreign Minister of Bangladesh Abdus Smaj Azad. He is heading a five-member Nepalese delegation.

Talking to reporters at the VIP lounge of Tribhuvan International Airport, Foreign Minister Bastola said during the visit, talks will be held on various aspects of the promotion of bilateral relations including matters concerning trade and transit between Nepal and Bangladesh.

Speaking about the ample scope for expanding cooperation in areas of mutual interest between the two very close neighbours, Minister Bastola said the Nepalese delegation will put forward Nepal’s views on the promotion of bilateral and regional cooperation.

Replying to a question about the possibility of Nepal importing gas from Bangladesh, he said this issue will also be raised during the visit.

Bangladesh is a good market for Nepalese agricultural produce like apple and orange but the imposition of high custom duties on Nepalese produce has come in the way of exporting such commodities to that country, he said adding, he will request the government of Bangladesh to consider lowering custom duties on such products from Nepal.

In view of the big possibility of promoting bilateral trade between Nepal and Bangladesh, he is to discuss with the sectors concerned in Bangladesh about the possibilities of promoting bilateral cooperation.

Stating that it is always better to have more than one transit point for landlocked Nepal, he said talks will also be held on making visa arrangements for reaching the Banglabandh port/warehouse more practical.

As Bangladesh is making efforts to facilitate convening of the postponed 11th SAARC summit as soon as possible, he will discuss this matter also with his counterpart there, Minister Bastola said.

He also spoke of the need for Nepal and Bangladesh to persuade India in their own ways towards helping organise the regional summit.

The Foreign Minister also told reporters that he will request the government of Bangladesh to provide more seats and facilities at their universities for Nepalese students, especially students of medicine.

Deshdarshan programme
‘Monasteries asset of nation’

Lalitpur, Jan. 8 (RSS): Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Local Development Ram Chandra Paudel has pointed out the need for the protection and promotion of monasteries, which play a vital role in translating the teachings of Lord Buddha into reality.

Deputy Prime Minister Paudel was addressing the concluding function of the 26th Lama Deshdarshan (see Nepal) programme organised by the Ministry of Local Development Monasteries Management and Development Committee here today.

He called upon the Lamas to utilise the knowledge gained through the programme, organised for the observation of development endeavours, protection of culture and sharing of experience in Buddhism, for promoting peace.

Stating that there has been no ambiguity in the world over the fact that Lord Buddha was from Nepal, he said, "the government was committed to developing Lumbini as a world centre for the study of Buddhism and for pilgrimage by Buddhists".

Mr Paudel also said that the role of the Lamas was vital in making the people aware of the need to preserve and nurture democracy.

Stating that the government was for taking the country ahead along the path of modernisation and democratisation and for making it civilised, he urged the Lamas to be vigilant against those opposed to development and democracy.

On the occasion, the Deputy Prime Minister gave away certificates and gifts to the Lamas participating in the Deshdarshan.

Minister of State for Local Development Suresh Malla called upon the Lamas to propagate the message among the masses that non-violence is the greatest religion of all.

Secretary at the Ministry of Local Development Udaya Raj Soti said that the Deshdarshan programme would be carried out in a new form from next year onwards.

Member secretary of the monasteries management and development committee Indra Bahadur Gurung also expressed his views at the programme chaired by committee chairman Teshyang Gyalcho Rimpochhe

Hotelier's voice
10% service charge unbearable

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Jan. 8: The entire national economy would not be able to bear the burden of the 10 per cent service charge demanded by hotel employees’ unions to be levied on hotel clients’ bills, a committee of different tourism related associations said here today.

"Bearing in mind the totality of the economy, the service charge will have adverse impacts," said Prabhakar Shumsher Rana, Chairman of the committee. "For the service charge to be implemented, the tourism sector will have to show significant improvement which means the entire economy will have to show the required progress."

Rana was speaking at an informal discussion with the press here today. The programme was organised by the 16 different tourism related organisations that have pooled together to form Industrial Relation Committee.

Dwelling on macro-level issues, Rana also said that the nation had to be clear on what kind of economy it intended to have. "This is the time we have to be clear about our economic policy," he said highlighting the need to make the Labour Act more balanced - both for the labourers and the investors. "If we continue with the same provisions in the Act, the foreign investors who are already here will run away."

Clarifying about the necessary changes on the Labour Act, Rajendra Khetan, Chairman of the Employer’s Council at the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI) said that there have to be the provisions of hire and fire, no work no pay, clear conception on who is the decision maker, bonus issues, among others.

"Since we are entering the World Trade Organisation in few years time, we have to be cautious about many things now," he said. "In the last two weeks we could open our business for six days only," Khetan said pointing at the dwindling productivity of the country.

Narendra Bajracharya, President of Hotel Association Nepal (HAN), said that the private sector expected the high level committee to consider the recommendations of the committee of the tourism-related associations.

The committee will very soon submit its recommendations to the high level committee, according to Bajracharya.

The discussion organised by the different tourism-related organisations comes at a time when the government-formed high level committee is still looking into the matter of the 10 per cent service charge issue.

The government last month formed the high level committee headed by National Planning Commission Vice Chairman Prithvi Raj Ligal in a bid to avert the potential crisis in the tourism industry. Both the hoteliers and their employees’ unions were adamant on their stands on the 10 per cent charge issue. While doing that, they were even ready to shut down the hotel services thus bringing the entire tourism industry to a grinding halt.

While the employees’ unions have been claiming that the 10 per cent charge issue is their right, hoteliers have been claiming that the charge would be an extra burden on tourists. The hotel employee’s unions have even claimed that the 10 per cent charge would make hoteliers’ accounting system more transparent.

The high level committee has the deadline to submit its recommendation on the service charge issue by February 11 next month. While hoteliers have made it clear that they would abide by the decision the government would make, the employees’ unions are still assertive that their demand should be fulfilled.

Govt firm to control bird hazards at airport

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Jan.8: Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Varun Prasad Shrestha said today that the government has accorded high priority to control bird hazards at the airports of the country.

Shrestha expressed the view while addressing the opening ceremony of a two-day workshop on "Wildlife Hazard Management at Airports" which opened here today.

Shrestha, who is also the chairman of a high-level committee formed to make a master plan to prevent bird strikes at the airports, further said the workshop would be helpful in preparing an integrated programme to tackle bird hazards.

Speaking at the workshop, Lalit Bikram Shah, Regional Director of Asia Pacific Office of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), said that all the airports must meet the standard as set by the ICAO so as to free them from the danger of bird strikes.

Shah informed that ICAO has recorded the data of bird strikes and their impacts on flight safety. He also stressed on the need to pay proper attention to land management, dissemination of information, record system and the improvement of environment to avoid bird strikes.

He said ICAO has developed a Global Aviation Safety Plan (GASP) and initiated the ICAO Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (IUSAP) together to reduce aircraft accident rates.

Addressing the workshop, Medini Prasad Sharma, Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), an autonomous regulatory body to look after the aviation sector of the country, said all concerned agencies and individuals have to actively contribute to flight safety, airport security and environment protection.

Sharma also expressed the hope that the workshop would be instrumental in framing up effective policies to save the airports from wildlife hazards.

He urged all to extend necessary support and cooperation for the implementation of an integrated programme to do away with bird hazards.

Dr. Richard A. Dolbeer, senior scientist with the National Wildlife Research Center of the US Department of Agriculture, said that since the problem of bird strikes is a global one, all the countries need to conduct studies on the issue and focus on habitat management.

Dr. Dolbeer is also the Chairperson of Bird Strike Committee of the USA.

Captain Len Cornier, chief technical advisor to COSCAP-SA, highlighted the activities related to flight safety and manpower development carried out by the organisation.

Ramesh Man Joshi, Deputy Director General of CAAN, said the authority has been doing its best to avert bird strikes at the airports. Joshi also extended a vote of thanks to the participants.

Fifty participants including those from Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan are attending the workshop.

17 airlines are in operation
Open sky policy boosts aviation industry

BY B. M. DAHAL

Kathmandu, Jan. 8: With the government adopting an open sky policy, Nepal’s aviation industry has witnessed an unprecedented growth in both the domestic and international fronts within a short span of time. In 1999, aircraft and passenger movement went up by 330 and 313 per cent respectively as compared to 1991 in the domestic sector. There was only one airline—Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC)—to operate flights in the domestic sector. Currently, 17 different airlines, including RNAC, have been operating flights to various destinations of the country. The number of air operators receiving air operator certificate (AOC) stands at 32, and some others are also said to be in the pipeline to be granted AOCs.

In the international front, the movement of aircraft and passengers increased by 13 and 41 per cent respectively in 1999 compared to the figures for 1991. Fourteen foreign airlines and two national ones (RNAC and Necon Air) are operating scheduled flights to and from Kathmandu to international destinations. Now Nepal has air links with several countries. The number of countries having air links with Nepal is likely to further increase as the country has already signed Air Services Agreements (ASAs) and Memorandum of Understandings (MOUs) with 31 different countries. As per the agreements signed between Nepal and the other countries, the number of available two-way seats stands at 3,825,432 annually. But out of 73,566 weekly seats available, only 20,223 seats (27.5 per cent) are utilised.

Despite the mushrooming airlines in the country, air services are not easily accessible to the people living in the remote parts of the country. As per the country’s aviation regulations, the private sector airlines have to operate 40 per cent of the total flights to the service sector and the remaining ones to the tourist sector. But they are not found to be adhering to the regulations.

"Aviation policy needs to be amended so as to strictly regulate the aviation sector to ensure air safety, reliability and security. It has also to be made more comprehensive so that the implementing authority can implement it in an effective manner," Medini Prasad Sharma, Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), told The Rising Nepal.

Sharma, however, says that CAAN is planning to review policies to attract the private sector airlines to the service sector. CAAN has forwarded a proposal to the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation to set up a fund by levying certain amount of money under social sector service charge from tourists travelling to the tourist sectors by air.

"The fund will be utilised to subsidise the costs of service sector flights. As the airlines suffer heavy losses while flying to the service sector, they are reluctant to operate flights."

"Once this policy comes into effect, private sector airlines will be more than happy to fly in the service sector. This will help narrow the gap of regional imbalance," Sharma believes.

He also says that the remaining fund generated from the service sector charge will be spent for upgrading the airports in the remote parts of the country.

When the airlines start operating regular flights to the destinations in the service sector, the areas may also be promoted as touristic sites gradually. This may contribute to the social and economic development of those areas.

He emphasises the need to develop strong mechanism to regulate the airlines so that they can contribute to the country’s development endeavours. He is of the opinion that the government must see whether the air operators have a long-term plan or not before issuing an AOC.

"The government has also to pay attention to the investment and safety aspects of the airlines. Priority must be given to those having more equity of the Nepalese," he says.

He says the government has to take overall responsibility of the airlines, as it is the contracting party to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) convention.

The proposed amendments in the aviation policy is also said to include streamlining the activities of the airlines with provisions for passengers making contributions to safety factor. It also incorporates uniformity in airfare among the passengers from all the SAARC countries.

Due to rapid growth of airlines, Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), the only gateway to the country, seems to be congested. A few weeks back, an aircraft of Necon Air collided with another from its fleet on the ground at TIA. "Since the number of aircraft and frequencies has increased considerably, there are both air and ground congestion at TIA," he accepts.

He expresses the hope that after the implementation of the social sector service charge, the problem of congestion will be solved. "This is because the aircraft will go to the hub airports to operate flights in the service sector."

When asked about the situation of manpower for the aviation industry of Nepal, he says that the aviation sector may face a severe shortage of efficient manpower if proper initiative is not taken in time in this regard.

A lot of expert hands from RNAC have joined the private airlines after the government adopted the open sky policy in 1992. "Because of the lack of training centres and schools to train manpower for the aviation sector, airlines may have to witness a shortage of manpower in the years to come."

He urges the private airlines to be ready to contribute to the production of aviation manpower. He says the government and CAAN have policies to extend necessary support to the airlines to produce manpower.

Regarding the bird-strike problem, which appeared during August-October last year at TIA and some other airports, he informs that a high-level committee under the chairmanship of the Secretary of MoCTCA has already been formed to devise a master plan to control the bird hazards in an effective and sustainable manner.

"As it is related to many factors such as sanitation of the locality, habitat of birds, all the concerned agencies and residents living around the airport need to make efforts."

He says the efforts of the airport authority alone will be insufficient to tackle the problem. He says the master plan will define the role of all the concerned to address the problem permanently.

As per the government’s liberal air policy, Necon Air has been allowed to fly to some sectors of India. To involve more airlines to fly on the international routes, the government has forwarded the process of selecting the capable ones. It is also restructuring the international air routes to encourage the private sector airlines to operate international and regional routes.

CAAN has devised both the short-term and long-term plans. One of its plans is to improve TIA and other airports. It has also plans to install the satellite-based safety equipment such as Enhanced Global Positioning Warning System (EGPWS), Conflict Flight Into Terrain (CFIT), among others. Besides, it is extending the coverage of radar to improve the air traffic control services.

As someone having a long experience in the aviation sector, which is directly related to tourism, he says that the Maoist insurgency, hijacking of a plane of the Indian Airlines, hotel management-employee conflicts, the Hrithik Roshan scam, bird hazard at the airports and media’s negative attitude caused negative growth in tourist arrivals last year.

Koirala should incorporate all NC workers: Deuba

Kathmandu, Jan. 8 (RSS): Nepali Congress leader and ex-prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba exchanged views with intellectuals of the country on the present political situation, at his residence at Thapathali today.

On the occasion, Mr Deuba said the restoration of democracy brought reform to areas like socio-economic development, education, communications, human rights and press freedom but could not bring improvement in corruption control, law and order and good governance.

"As the resolution of the problems of the nation is not possible through one man’s lone effort and it would be difficult for Prime Minister and party president Girija Prasad Koirala to shoulder the responsibility of both posts, I made an effort to share that responsibility", he added.

Mr Deuba also said that Girijababu would become a historic prime minister if he is successful in resolving the Maoist problem, alleviating poverty and checking corruption.

The no-trust motion was registered as a result of discriminatory behaviour against us from the party president and prime minister, Mr Deuba said adding that Mr Koirala should incorporate all the workers of the party while moving ahead in the coming days.

Though two different views have emerged within the party in an organised manner right from the bottom to the upper level, this will make the party more democratic and consolidated. As the responsibility of institutionalizing democracy lies upon the shoulders of the Nepali Congress the party should not be divided, he said.

Ex-minister Chiranjibi Wagle said there is a crisis of faith among political parties in the country and expressed the view that intellectuals should put pressure on the leadership to unite the party.

Intellectuals present on the occasion urged leaders to work in the spirit of the popular movement, not indulge vested interests, not give rise to groupism inside parties and become focused on the problems of the country and people rather than on power and office.

Nepali Congress MPs, intellectuals, legal practitioners, professors, journalists and litterateurs were present at the programme.

People respond well to peace rallies: Nepal

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Jan. 8: General Secretary of the CPN-UML, Madhav Kumar Nepal, said the recent peace rallies are indicative of positive elements coming to the fore for unity and harmony after the recent disruptive incidents.

The UML General Secretary, giving his party’s views on the recent events, said the recent occurrence should be taken with Nepalese people’s sensitivity towards nationalism and dissatisfaction towards the government’s performances. "And also," he said, "Of the negative elements, including the Maoists and the other Left factions, trying to take advantages of the situation and exploit people’s feelings for unscrupulous gains." He said often minor incidents are exaggerated and are given communal colour.

"The UML is also organising a good-will rally from Mechi in the east to Mahakali in the West," Nepal said at a programme at the Reporters’ Club today.

Nepal was create more disharmony and rift in the society. He said the UML is committed to pluralistic system of governance and to multi-party democracy.

Nepal was also highly critical of the present government, especially Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, of being complacent to the problems of the nation. He even accused the Nepali Congress government of not seriously willing to end the Maoist problem.

However, he said, his party is in no hurry to go to power. "We may look a bit restless, but we will not go for things like the no-confidence motion through any unparliamentary practices." He also denied that his party is having contacts with the dissatisfied group of the ruling party.