Travel, trekking agents’ bank guarantee to go up
Environment, liaison officers in firing line

By Navin Singh Khadka

Kathmandu, Jan. 23: If a new plan under government-consideration comes into effect, there will be no environment officers accompanying tourist groups like they have to now in certain trekking areas nor will there be liaison officers with mountaineers climbing peaks within 6,500 metres. For this freedom, however, trekking agents will have to pay a price – increased bank guarantee for their operation.

The move toward cancellation of the provision of environment and liaison officers comes in the wake of widespread complaint from trekking and mountaineering entrepreneurs that the two types of manpower had never worked and that they had only complicated matters in trekking business.

"The unsatisfactory performance of environment and liaison officers is one of the reasons why we believe the provision should be scrapped off," said an official with Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation. "We have recommended our higher ups for the cancellation and the decision will come out very soon."

The two slots are being done away with since many of the one-time controlled trekking and mountaineering zones – that tourists were allowed to visit only with environment and liaison officers respectively — now have the basic tourism infrastructure, officials say.

If the idea gets underway, visitors need not take along with them environment officers to Upper Mustang, Upper Dolpa, Humla and Manasalu – the controlled areas group visitors are allowed to visit paying royalty.

Trekking agents resent environment and liaison officers because those who have "performed" these regulatory roles so far are not professionals knowledgeable about conserving ecology. They are few hand-picked clerks from the officialdom – mainly from the Department of Immigration, trekking agents say – who in most of the cases do not even accompany tourists to the trekking and mountaineering areas.

"Our clients feel that they are being robbed while paying between Rs 50,000 and 60,000 to environment officers while their output is nil," said Suman Pandey, President of Trekking Agents Association of Nepal (TAAN). "Tourists feel there is no return of investing on this manpower actually provisioned for environmental protection."

Trekking operators do complain even when the two authorised personnel are with the tourists in the trekking trails. "They are the biggest menace we face while we are with our clients in the trekking areas," said Pandey. "These are the persons who would not go if there is slight adventure during the trip and they are the ones demanding luxury if they at all accompany the group."

With feedback like that on the two blacklisted positions, if the government calls them off, majority of trekking agents will surely call it "good riddance." There, however, also are concerns if the fragile ecology of the controlled zones would be under risk if visitors’ movement in these areas is not regulated. "Of course, there is a risk there," said Rabi Jung Pandey, a tourism expert with Tourism for Rural Poverty Alleviation Project supported by United Nations and Dutch and British Governments. "In the name of getting rid of the environment and liaison officers, there should be no compromise on environment protection."

MoCTCA officials said they are aware of the potential risks and therefore, they claimed, they are trying to make trekking agencies responsible. "One control mechanism we are developing is by increasing the bank guarantee of trekking agencies so that we can penalize them if they are found to be operating in the field irresponsibly," the official said.

Under the existing 20-year old regulation, trekking agencies need to pay Rupees 25,000 and travel agencies Rupees 50,000 as bank guarantee for their registration. What would be the revised version of these guarantee money is not known. "This is being worked out for now," said Shankar Koirala, Joint Secretary who heads the Industry Division of the MoCTCA.

There are above 400 registered trekking agents in the country – a pioneer in adventure tourism — catering to trekkers and mountaineers who comprise of 30 per cent of the annual inbound visitors who are in declining trend in recent years from the highest record of 500,000 in 1998.

Traffic rules ease movement, not road jams

By Ananta Gautam

Kathmandu, Jan. 23: The vehicular movement coming to a standstill or moving at a snail’s pace because of the traffic rules is not exactly traffic jam. It is simply a process and strategy of traffic department to maintain smooth traffic flow, not only in our country but anywhere in the world.

"Citizens here are confused as to what exactly a traffic jam is" said SSP Keshav Prasad Baral, chief of Valley Traffic Police Office (VTPO). He, however, said that the red light traffic signal and the indication of the white gloved traffic police are not creating traffic jam and disturbance to the people. It is all to manage the disorderly vehicles and its pressure."

Jay walking without paying heed to the passing traffic and ignoring the zebra crossings meant for pedestrians, narrow roads, vehicles making a U-turn disturbing the movement of other vehicles, maximum number of vehicles on the road and the lack of awareness and negligence among the vehicle drivers are the major reasons of the obstruction of traffic movement especially during rush hours.

Baral said that there are other problems like absence of strict boundary mark of the roads, vendors spreading their wares not only on the pavement but on the road itself, hawkers, shops cutting out onto a part of the road and the petrol pumps which increase the possibility of traffic jams on busy roads.

In spite of these facts, the citizens always curse the traffic department while they don’t pay attention to their own activities and faults which adds to increasing the problem.

Traffic related problems are most acute in Kathmandu Valley and some other cities in the country. The increasing number of vehicle registration has added to making it chronic.

Out of a total of nearly 3,05,395 vehicles in the entire country nearly 1,71,678 vehicles have been registered in the Bagmati Zone till Ashad, 2058 which account for more than 50 per cent of total vehicles.

The rate of registrations of the vehicle in the country has increased by more than 50 per cent in the last fiscal year as compared to 2056/57. Although the Department of Transport Management (DTM) at times stops the registration of vehicles mainly three wheelers and microbus to ply within the Ring Road area of Kathmandu Valley. In spite of such moves, the registration of vehicles has not yet decreased.

In the fiscal year 2056/57, nearly 18,876 vehicles were registered in Bagmati Zone but the number reached 1,07,514 in the fiscal year 2057/58. The data indicates a 400 per cent increase in the number of vehicles in Bagmati Zone in one fiscal year.

According to the received data for 2057/58, 19,055 vehicles (mainly taxi, truck, motorbike, bus, car, microbus, and three wheelers) were registered in the Kathmandu Metropolitan City but this number has reached nearly 11,000 in the last seven months of the current fiscal year.

The pressure of the increasing number of vehicles on the limited stretch of roads in Kathmandu Valley has led to a greater frequency of road mishaps. Nearly 379 people were killed and 6,071 injured while 324 were handicapped due to accidents in the last four years

Most of the accidents have resulted due to the error of the vehicle drivers, passengers, high speed, sudden turns on roads, bad road conditions, ignorance of traffic rules and the condition of vehicles.

Although the registration of vehicles has not yet shown signs of decreasing, the length of roads has not increased in the same ration. Repair and maintenance of roads is also another problem. Very few of the roads are renovated and widened in the Kathmandu Valley on a regular basis, as informed by the concerned authorities.

For the 11th SAARC Summit, 35 kilometers of including 8 kilometers of the Ring Road were renovated and some of them were also widened.

According to the road office for Kathmandu, it has not constructed any new roads for the past few years though some roads have been widened slightly. The same is the case with Lalitpur.

Chief of VTPO Baral alleged, "The concerned authorities have been registering vehicles without the vision for the future and its bad impact on the environment."

The lack of co-ordination is the most striking problem of traffic management. Department of Transport Management, Road Safety Department and Traffic Police should coordinate their activities to solve the overall problem of managing the traffic flow.

He further said, "If the conditions remain the same, in two years time it may become totally unmanageable."

Press conference
Govt, NGOs to join hands for better health services

By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, Jan. 23: Minister for Health Sharat Singh Bhandari today said that the government was working out a plan to work together with the non-governmental and private sectors to improve health sector and to deliver better services to the countrymen.

"The Ministry of Health has launched initiatives to utilise the ‘strength of the triangle’ to improve the management of the health sector," Minister Bhandari told a press conference at his office this afternoon. "We are working to gradually increase non-governmental and private sectors’ involvement to bring about positive changes in the health sector."

He said the management of the sub-health posts had been transferred to the concerned VDCs and management transfer of the health centres was in the process. "The health centres will be managed by a locally formed management committee led by the lawmaker of the concerned constituency. We will keep in view the issue of gender balance while forming the management committees of the local hospitals."

He said that preparations were being made to involve the non-governmental and private sectors in the government hospitals. "We are working to involve the non-governmental and charity organisations in hospital management and to give security, sanitation and other services on contract." He however denied that the services would not be privatised.

Minister Bhandari said the main priorities of the government were to reduce maternal and infant death rates, check the menace of HIV/AIDS, and decrease the incidences of communicable diseases.

He said the year 2002 is being observed as HIV/AIDS Awareness Raising Year with an objective to check the menace of AIDS through awareness campaigns.

He also informed that the government would soon launch health insurance scheme in once district each of five development regions.

Ministry spokesman Beni Bahadur Karki said the government had constituted a high level Health System Reform Committee in order to reform the health sectors. He said the Committee would work to ensure poor and downtrodden people’s access to health facilities on the basis of social justice and gender equality.

The Committee would also work for the proper use of the limited resources, human resource development, review and amendment of Health Service Act and the restructuring the organisational structure of the health service sector.

Minister Bhandari also informed on the occasion that Bir Hospital would soon begin kidney transplantation service in the near future. "The hospital is all prepared to launch the service in terms of infrastructure and management. The service will begin any time soon."

Peace tour

Kathmandu, Jan. 23 (RSS):  Some 50 Buddhists are setting out for a tour of Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha, an apostle for peace and tolerance, tomorrow wishing for peace all over the world.

The four-day long tour will cover a visit to Sri Antu Danda in Pokhara and Tansen in Palpa district to perform worship there.

According to Youth Buddhists’ Group, during the tour, the team is scheduled to hold interaction programmes with the local people at various Vihars.