NC CWC POLLS
21 pull out of contest, 3 candidacies rejected

BY SUNIL K.C., NARAYAN UPADHYAY

Pokhara, Jan. 21: Sujata Koirala’s nomination as a candidate of the Nepali Congress Central Working Committee (CWC) has been annuled along with two others after protest was lodged against their candidacies. The other two whose applications were also rejected are Ramchandra Tiwari and Surya Prasad Regmi.

A notice of the Election Committee said the candidacies of Ms. Koirala and the other two have been invalidated according to the party’s statute of 2017 and the amendments made to it in 2051 B.S. and 2054 B.S. after protests were made against their applications.

Similarly, twenty-one persons have pulled out from the race of the CWC election. According to the final list of candidates there will be three candidates for the party president and 66 persons in the race for the 18 elected seats of the new CWC.

Those who have withdrawn their names are: Surendra Prasad Chaudhary, Basanta Kumar Gurung, Ananda Prasad Dhungana, Ramchandra Pokharel, Jaya Prakash Prasad Gupta, Shesh Nath Adhikary, Home Nath Dahal, Uddhav Dahal, Dr. Ram Prasad Gyanwali, Rabindra Lal Shrestha, Trilokya Pratap Sen, Mangal Prasad Gupta, Mahendra Raj Tiwari, Ang Gyalzen Sherpa Sunil Kumar Bhandari, Gopal Narayan Bhattachan, Omkar Shrestha, Krishna Kumar Joshi, Kamal Chitrakar and Bidur Poudel.

Meanwhile, the annulment of the candidacy of the Prime Minister’s daughter was the most talked about issue among the convention delegates and others.

According to sources close to Sujata Koirala, the protest against her was made by Prakash Koirala, Nona Koirala and Shailaja Acharya.

The applications of Tiwari and Regmi were rejected because they stood as renegade candidates in the 2051 mid-term election and were suspended from the party. Later, they were reinstated but that does not fulfill the condition of 10 years of continuous active membership of the party.

According to Laxman Prasad Ghimire, a member of the Election Committee, the election regulation states only those, who have been active members of the party uninterruptedly since the party’s 8th General Convention at Kalbalgudi, could become the member of the party’s Central Working Committee.

He, however, said this rule does not apply to become the members of the Mahasamiti.

The time for the withdrawal of the candidacy was extended by two hours from 3

P. M. today to 5 P. M. and the final list of the candidates was announced at 6 P.M.

The election for party’s president and the CWC members will be held from 9 A. M. to 1 P.M. tomorrow and the results of the election are expected the same day.

Party spokesman said today at a press briefing that the counting could take more time than was estimated with the long list of the candidates and there will be as much as 18 names to be counted from each ballot paper.

Meanwhile, speculations are rife about who will win. Although there are no panels overtly but some convention delegates feel the voters could split into panels during the voting.

FINAL LIST OF CONTESTANTS

For Party President: 1. Girija Prasad Koirala, 2.Sher Bahadur Deuba 3.Ramhari Joshi

For CWC Members

Ms. Ambika Basnet, Amar Raj Kaini, Arjun Jung Bahadur Singh, Arjun Narsingh K.C., Aditya Raj Gyanwali, Rishikesh Gautam, Krishna Kishore Sharma, Krishna Prasad Sitaula, Krishna Lal Sapkota, Khum Bahadur Khadka, Gopal Man Shrestha, Govinda Raj Joshi, Chakra Prasad Bastola, Chandra Bhandari, Chiranjibi Wagle, Jit Tshering Lama, Dhundi Raj Shastri, Taranath Ranabhat, Damodar Gautam, Deepak Prakash Banskota, Durga Keshar Khanal, Narahari Acharya, N.P. Saud, Padma Narayan Chaudhary, Prakash Man Singh, Prakash Koirala, Dr. Prakashsharan Mahat, Pradeep Giri, Pushkar Nath Ojha, Purna Bahadur Khadka, Formulla Mansoor, Bhakat Bahadur Shahi, Bal Bahadur K.C., Bal Bahadur Rai, Bhagwat Gyanwali, Bhim Bahadur Tamang, Bhu Bikram Nembang, Manmohan Bhattarai, Mahanta Thakur, Mahesh Acharya, Maheshwor Prasad Singh, Ms. Meena Pandey, Ms. Maiya Devi Shrestha, Mohan Bahadur Basnet, Rajendra Kharel, Ram Krishna Tamrakar, Ramchandra Poudel, Ramdayal Yadav, Dr. Ram Baran Yadav, Dr. Ramsharan Mahat, Dr. Rudra Pratap Shah, Laxmi Narayan Neupane, Mrs. Lila Koirala, Baldev Sharma Majgainya, Bijay Kumar Gachhedhar, Binay Dhoj Chand, Bipin Koirala, Bimalendra Nidhi, Bishnu Prasad Sharma, Shiva Bahadur Khadka, Ms. Shailaja Acharya, Sukra Raj Sharma, Sukra Raj Samyog ‘Limbu’, Siddha Raj Ojha, Sushil Koirala, Sury Bhakta Adhikary.

Gas short due to lack of coordination

Lalitpur, Jan. 21 (RSS): The Gas Transport Entrepreneurs Association has made it clear that gas-driven vehicles are not responsible for the present crisis in gas supply.

According to the association, about 350 micro-buses and 276 tempos, which run by gas, consume about 415 cylinders of gas daily.

Noting that all the gas-run vehicles have not been able to operate due to the shortage of gas, the association has said that increase in the price of kerosene and lack of coordination between supply and distribution has resulted in gas shortage in the valley.

Association president Chiranjibi Kumar Maskey has also said that the policy of maintaining two prices for domestic use and for vehicles would affect the gas transport entrepreneurs thereby giving rise to irregularities and black marketing.

Remote districts ‘missed’ out in WB’s health project

By Krishna Sharma

Kathmandu, Jan 21: The first ever health project funded by the World Bank in the country may have been over but with a lopsided priority.

The Population and Family Health Project (PFHP) has recently built 225 health facilities across the country yet some remarkably backward hilly districts have no good news to rejoice about.

Billed at above US$ 20 million, the scheme has constructed only two health facilities in the remote Karnali zone while the project ended up with nearly a dozen health facilities in the more accessible Terai districts of Morang, Dhanusha and Rupandehi.

The far-reaching mountainous districts like Jumla, Mugu, Manang, Rasuwa and Dhankuta, however, are missed out in the project-checklist.

"It appears, the project has not respected the sentiment of the government plan of sustainable and overall development throughout the country," say some officials at Department of Health Services.

"The project has missed many hilly districts where people die due to lack of medical facility when epidemics break out. It was only last year that over a hundred people died in Karnali zone in a viral influenza epidemic," experts say.

PFHP officials, however, argue otherwise. Acting Director of the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) of the project Pushkal Bharati says that the World Bank had asked them to build health facilities keeping in mind the factors like density of the population, accessibility and so on.

Launched in 1994, the World Bank funded PFHP was designed to help improve the health conditions of the Nepalese. But with the remote areas still left out by the project, eyebrows have been raised.

And it is not only the matter of over-concentration of health facilities in easily accessible areas. There are even fears that these health infrastructures will turn into white elephants now that the government has taken over the charge of these facilities from January 2001 — one month after the project ended on Dec. 31, 2000.

Health experts are also skeptical about the proper use of these facilities which are spread in almost all the districts except in remote ones.

Then there is the problem of over-staffing in the project sites that could run into the government’s liability.

"We are mulling to trim down the size of the staff appointed by the Project and then we will run the facilities so that they can serve the people well," Padma Prasad Pokharel, Secretary at the Ministry of Health, said at a programme organised to discuss the project’s implementation.

Even if the officialdom does that, there is already another problem awaiting to be addressed. And that is none other than the gross lack of health workers, especially in the remote areas.

The mere existence of hospitals, health centres or sub-health centres throughout the country does not necessarily mean that the country’s health sector is improving and that people have access to health care. Needless to say, the country’s health facilities are in a dire strait. They not only lack medical equipment and drugs, but also lack skilled manpower. Despite the government’s investment of billions of rupees on health sector, what ails the situation is the absence of health professionals.

Although the government has established health posts or sub-health posts in all the VDCs, most of those in the hilly ones remain unmanned due to lack of poor administration.

Of the country’s 977 doctors working in the government sector, only 46 are deputed in the mountains. "Although there are nearly 50 health posts, there are barely 10 doctors working there," a doctor assigned to Surkhet in far west Nepal said.

Regional imbalance is equally striking. Presently, there are a total of 4,389 health facilities throughout the country but there are only 608 health facilities in the mountain and Himalayan region. And nearly 50 per cent of them are sub health posts staffed by health workers.

Congress reviews foreign aid, local bodies

BY OUR CORRESPONDENT

Pokhara, Jan. 21:The third day of the NC General Convention concluded today with the meeting discussing on the party’s policies and programmes and on the report of the General Secretary of the party, Sushil Koirala. Twenty-two participants took part in the discussion.

The major focus of the policy and programme of the party was on the review of the foreign aid policy and the restructuring of the local bodies.

The policy says the country’s foreign aid has been underutilised and misutilised and the whole foreign aid policy urgently needs to be reviewed.

It has suggested that the foreign aid should be prioritised and utilised according to the need of the country and any foreign loan needs to be used in projects, which gives high return.

Similarly, it has proposed that the money received in the NGO sector should be channelised in the national priority sector. The foreign aid needs to be used for the development of national priority sector such as infrastructure development, education, human resource development and others.

Likewise, the policy has proposed to make the local bodies under the framework of the constitution and there should be a provision in the constitution on the process of election to the Upper House. It has also said the NC sees the importance of the Chhetrapals (Chief Regional Administrator) in each of the five development regions.

Spokesman Narahari Acharya said the final session of the Convention will be held on Tuesday morning with the newly elected president presiding over the first meeting of the newly formed Central Working Committee of the party.

Chamber asks govt to ensure security

Kathmandu, Jan. 21 (RSS): Nepal Chamber of Commerce has urged His Majesty’s Government to guarantee peace and security, and take action against perpetrators of violence so as to help the country’s industrial and trade sector flourish.

In a press release issued here today, the chamber has expressed concern over growing attacks on industries and business houses, looting and robbery, which have made the industrialists and businessmen feel insecure.

Such a situation is inimical to investment promotion, the country’s economic development and tourism promotion, it said.

The recent incidents of a gang of armed persons raiding the Jyoti Spinning Mill in Birgunj and looting about one million rupees by terrorizing the employees and looting of the cash box from the shop of Radheshyam Gupta at Gallamandi in Siddharthanagar have generated serious concern among the business communities, the chamber said.

It has condemned the incidents and demanded that the government provide free treatment to those injured in those incidents.