Transport Master Plan for Achham dist formulated

Nepalgunj, May 9 (RSS): A 20-year transport MASTER PLAN has been formulated for the planned development of Achham district, a hilly district in the farwestern development region.

Chairman of Achham District Development Committee (DDC) Krishna Prasad Jaishi disclosed this at a press conference organised in Mangalsen, the district headquarters, recently.

The master plan, prepared with the assistance of the Link-Helvetas project, has given priority to the construction of 11 district level roads with the objective of extending transport services to various VDCs of the district.

The total length of the 11 proposed district level roads is 339 kilometres.

Similarly, the MASTER PLAN has given the second priority to the construction of a total of 326 kilometres 17 additional district level roads.

Construction of the Mangalsen-Gairitanda-Belkhet rural road which is in the first priority list on the 20-year-long district transport MASTER PLAN has been already started by the rural community infrastructure programme, the DDC has stated.

The other rural roads which are on the first priority list in the master plan are the 26.44 kilometres Mangalsen-Gairitand-Kamal Bazaar rural road, the 29-kilometres Gairitad Binayak-Belkhet rural road and the five-kilometre Timilsen-Kalika Ramaroshan rural road.

The road construction which is being carried out under the rural community infrastructure development programme will take place for a period of five years. The rural infrastructure development project was started in fiscal year 1998/1999.

The technical assistance for the project, which came into operation on December 14, 1995 as per an agreement between His Majesty's Government and the World Food Programme (WFP), is being provided by the German Technical Assistance Agency-GTZ.

The rural community infrastructure development programme has been implemented with the objective of improving the condition of food accessibility to the families in the food-deficit areas, development of community infrastructure and enhancing the self-reliance of the rural communities.

Chinese PM visits Nepal May 14-16

Kathmandu, May 9 (RSS): At the invitation of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Zhu Rongji and Madame Lao An will pay a three-day official visit to the Kingdom of Nepal from May 14 to 16, 2001.

Their Majesties the King and Queen will receive in audience the Premier and Madame Lao An at the Narayanhity Royal Palace on May 15, according to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Prime Minister Koirala and the Chinese Premier will hold official talks at the Prime Minister's office, Singha Durbar on May 14.

Later, in the same evening, Prime Minister Koirala will host an official dinner in honour of the Premier and Madame Lao An at the State Hall, Singha Durbar.

Speaker of the House of Representatives Taranath Ranabhat and chairman of the National Assembly Dr. Mohammad Mohsin will call on the Premier.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Chakra Prasad Bastola and leader of the opposition in the House of Representatives Madhav Kumar Nepal will also call on the Premier.

The visiting Chinese Premier will lay a wreath at the Martyrs' Memorial and the programme also includes a sightseeing tour of Patan Durbar Square.

On completion of the official visit, the Premier and Madame Lao An will leave Kathmandu on May 16, 2001.

Appointment

Kathmandu, May 9 (RSS): Following a decision of His Majesty's Government (Council of Ministers), Dr Prafulla Kumar Kafle has been appointed chairman of the Beema Samiti.

Dr Kafle is ex-deputy governor of Nepal Rastra Bank.

Load shedding lifted

Kathmandu, May 9 (RSS): Load shedding outside Kathmandu Valley has also been lifted completely from today, according to Nepal Electricity Authority.

Measurers to consolidate democracy emphasised

Kathmandu, May 9 (RSS): Speakers at an interaction on "Democracy: Prime Minister's responsibility and the role of constitutional bodies" organised today by the Foundation for Parliamentary studies and Development, spoke of the need for all political parties to come together in one place for seeking an exit from the present crisis and for the preservation of democracy.

On the occasion, former speaker Daman Nath Dhungana said the political parties mandated by the people should focus their attention on solving the people's problems while remaining within the parameters of the constitution.

President of Nepal Bar Association Sindhunath Pyakurel noted that it is because of the people who are in power that various problems have arisen, while senior advocate Mahadev Prasad Yadav pointed out the need for all to think of ways to overcome the crisis facing democracy.

Interaction programme

Former president of the Nepal Bar Association and one of the framers of the present constitution Mukunda Regmi observed that it is not from the streets but through constitutional means that a Prime Minister should be removed.

Legal expert Krishna Prasad Bhandari urged the Prime Minister to take advice from those who have the interests of the nation in mind while former president of the association Harihar Dahal spoke of the need for discussions between the Prime Minister and the constitutional bodies.

Former MP Hiranyalal Shrestha opined that since the Prime Minister has already come under suspicion, he should resign, while advocate Radheshyam Adhikari noted that in a multi-party democracy, constitutional bodies have a crucial role to play.

Various other speakers including senior advocate Anup Raj Sharma and advocate Bishwokanta Mainali also spoke at the function chaired by former Law Minister Bhim Bahadur Tamang.

Ganga and Jamuna: Birthday marked

Singapore, May 9 (AFP): Jamuna and Ganga Shrestha, the Siamese twins separated in a marathon four-day operation in Singapore a month ago, celebrated their first birthday Wednesday showing positive signs of recovery.

Doctors said the Nepalese-born twins were breathing without help, were taking solids, and were able to play with birthday toys.

"They have been downgraded from intensive care to high dependency care because they have improved, but they are still in the intensive care unit," a spokeswoman at Singapore General Hospital said.

"But the hospital won't be doing anything special for their birthday because they still require constant observation."

The twins were kept in a drug-induced sleep for a week after the operation to allow their vital organs to stabilise from the trauma.

Doctors said it was still too early to confidently say the girls did not suffer brain damage from the operation, but the movement in their arms and legs and the absence of brain swelling and infection gave room for optimism.

Jamuna and Ganga, who were born conjoined at the head and with inter-locked brains packed into the same skull cavity, were separated in an operation which doctors described as the most complex of its type.

It was expected to take up to 36 hours but stretched to more than 90, with the meticulous separation and reconnection of blood vessels taking much longer than anticipated.

Doctors used electrodes to stimulate the brains to determine which part belonged to which twin to ensure they received their correct speech and logic centres.

Jamuna, who later spent another full day in surgery as doctors replaced a skin graft that had not taken properly, was said to be recovering much faster than her sister.

"She is back to her cheerful self and laughs quite a bit," her mother Sandhya Shrestha told the Straits Times.

Ganga continued to suffer from a persistant infection although her head wound was healing.

The doctors donated their services for the complex surgery, while an appeal to cover the estimated 100,000 Singapore dollars (56,000 US) cost of the operation, medication and other hospital expenses raised 650,000 dollars.

The surplus funds will be held in trust to cover further treatment the girls need until they are five years old, including ongoing plastic surgery to reshape their heads. Ganga also requires treatment for a cleft palate.

Their impoverished parents, who come from the mountainous village of Salyan, about a one-day bus ride from the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu, could never have afforded the operation.

It is rare to have Siamese twins joined at the head. The most recent success in separating twins sharing the same skull took place in Brisbane, Australia in October.

In 1997, Siamese twins similarly fused to Ganga and Jamuna were separated during a 28-hour operation in South Africa.

Race for 'Big Buddha'
Buddha's mega-statues in the offing

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, May 9: The race for building the biggest Buddha is underway in India and China. India has begun the construction work of a 500-foot tall Buddha statue in Bodhgaya of Bihar, and China has announced plans to build another Buddha statue, which would be 9 feet taller than its Indian counterpart, at Jiuhua Mountain of China. Jiuhua is one of the four major Buddhist shrines in China.

Both the statues will dwarf two of the world’s famous landmarks - Big Ben (315 ft) and the Statue of Liberty (150 ft) by a good margin.

According to Xinhua, the Chinese structure when completed will be the largest statue of Bodhisattva in the world.

India is constructing the Buddha statue at Bodhgaya, where Buddha attained enlightenment, under what it called as Maitreya Project.

According to a BBC report, the organisers say the five-year project will cost around US$ 200 million, which will be raised through an international consortium.

The report says, the statue of Maitreya Buddha, the Buddha of the future, is built according to specifications described in scriptures as told by Gautama Buddha 2,500 years ago.

The report also said the 16-hectare complex of the site would have monasteries, guesthouses, meditation pavilions and holy objects. There will also be hospital and schools. According to reports, the Indian government also plans to build an airport nearby to promote tourism.

Designers of the statue say it will be build using the latest technology and will have a bronze outer shell supported by an inner steel framework. The UK company, Casting Development Centre in Sheffield, chosen to design and build prototypes said the statue will be feat of modern engineering.

They statue due to be completed in 2005 will sit on a throne 17 storeys high, housing a huge temple. Its feet will rest on a lotus. They say the statue will last for 1,000 years.

Meanwhile, the Chinese appear to be planning to outdo the Indians both in height and in time. According to a Xinhua, the Chinese news agency, the construction work will start in September and will be completed by 2004.

The Chinese Buddha of Compassion will consist of 1,100 pieces of copper cast and will weigh around 1,000 tonnes, the agency said.

The Chinese project will cost about US$ 55 million with 18 million dollars being spent on the statue itself.

Xinhua said the inspiration for the Bodhisattva statue has been taken from an ancient Korean prince-turned-monk, who resided on Jiuhua Mountain. It said Jin Aiaojue, from the Korean Peninsula’s Xinluo Kingdom, is recorded as having retired to the mountain to become a monk in 719 A.D. and spent 75 years there until his death at the age of 99.

Meanwhile, Zopa Rinpoche, the spiritual advisor of the Maitreya Buddha is quoted as saying, " Since Maitreya Buddha is the representation of the love of all the Buddhas, building the statue can be of great benefit to all living beings."

The building of both the Buddhas has come in the aftermath of the destruction of Bamien Buddhas in Afghanistan.