Contaminated water behind typhoid

By Our Correspondent

Bharatpur (Chitawan), June 9: Water distributed by the Nepal Drinking Water Corporation in Bharatpur Municipality has been found to be contaminated with the Coliform bacteria, which causes typhoid.

The bacteria were detected in tests conducted jointly by the District Public Health Office, Chitawan and Bharatpur Hospital. The test was conducted after an outbreak of typhoid in several areas of the municipality.

Tests were conducted on water samples from four places of ward Nos. 10, 11 and 12 of the municipality. Water samples at two places of ward No. 10 were found to contain the bacteria, while the results from the two other wards are yet to come.

Division Chief of Nepal Drinking Water Corporation Krishna Lamichhane, however, said no such bacteria were found at the source of the water. He, says the water may have been contaminated due to pipes reptured at some places.

Maoists desert terrorist organisation

By Our Correspondent

Charikot, June 9: Members of the self installed Maoist government in the villagers are now thronging the district administration office to renounce their affiliation with the terrorist group. They have also pledged to lead normal lives.

Last week seven members of the terrorist organisation surrendered to the administration. Till now 458 people have abandoned the terrorist camp, promising to lead a normal life, according to the district administration office, Dolakha.

Those who have deserted the terrorist organisation are - Sakjimaya Thamai, member of the so-called area people's government; Dhruba Khatiwada, people's militia of Lapilang; Gyanu Thamai, district member of the Revolutionary Student Organisation; Min Bahadur Tamang, member of Peasant's Organisation and Purna Bahadur, chief of the people's government of Lapilang-3. They said that they would embrace multi-party democracy and would never support the terrorist group.

Likewise, Lal Bahadur Khatri, chief of the so-called people's government of Arang VDC and Hark Bahadur Khatri, ward chief of Lapilang-7 have also surrendered themselves before the administration. They said that the Maoists terrorists had registered their names as members of the so-called people's government against their will.

600 Nepalis to be recruted in Indian army

By Our Correspondent

Dharan, June 9:Sixty thousand Nepali nationals are currently serving in the Indian Army while the number of retired ones stand at 130,000, says Dharan-based Pension Distribution Office of the Indian government.

The Office informed that this year the Indian government would recruit about six hundred Nepali youths in the Indian Army.

The Office will select the people for recruitment from Ilam, Taplejung, Dhankuta, Terhathum, Udaypur, Solukhumbu, Okhaldgunga, Khotang and Sunsari.

Unlike in the previous years, the selection will take place in Dharan this year due to the Maoist activities. Earlier, the Indian government used to set up camps in the districts for recruitment.

Mid-Western Region deprived of postal services

By Our Correspondent

Surkhet, June 9: Tens of thousands of people in the Mid-Western Development Region have been deprived of postal services due to the destruction of almost all the post offices by the Maoist terrorists.

The terrorists have destroyed 192 area and additional post offices in the region. There are 448 additional and 109 area post offices in the region totaling 557.

The people have lost links even with the district headquarters after the terrorists destroyed the area post offices located outside the headquarters of Banke, Bardiya, Surkhet and Dang districts along with the rural post offices of other districts.

According to the Surkhet-based Regional Post Office, in Kalikot and Jumla districts, only a few post offices, except for the ones located in the headquarters, are operating. With the suspension of the postal services, 55 parcels destined for Mugu, Kalikot and Dolpa have been lying in the Surkhet Regional Post Office for the last two months.

Surkhet Regional Post Office Director Dinanath Lamsal said people living in this region had been deprived of postal services as the state-owned post offices were out of operation. The region does not have postal services run by the private sector yet.

He said the terrorists were involved in looting and tearing up the documents while being transported to their destinations and also threatening the staff.

According to the Regional Postal Services Office in Surkhet, the terrorists have looted Rs. 20,009 in Surkhet, Rs. 10,654 in Jumla, 2,547 in Humla, Rs. 4,150 in Mugu, and Rs. 1,950 in Rukum, or an amount of Rs. 49,465. The Department of Postal Services has so far incurred a loss of over Rs. 60 million. The department loses a revenue of Rs. 500,000 every month.

According to Lamsal, almost all the employees of post offices located in the villages, some 2,472 employees, have returned to the district headquarters.

Bank loan recovery unsatisfactory in Gorkha

Gorkha, June 9 (RSS): Loans totalling about Rs. 43,561,000 provided by one branch office, three sub-branch offices, eight Small Farmers Development Projects and one Small Farmers Cooperatives under the Agricultural Development Bank, Gorkha have little change of being recovered.

The branch office, Gorkha has invested Rs. 21,150,000 as against the goal of investing Rs. 30 million from Jeth 1, 2058 to Baisakh, 2059.

The bank has recovered Rs. 21,771,000 in principle and Rs. 6,267,000 in interests.

The bank has retrieved Rs. 621,000 more than the invested amount, said bank manager Shankar Pandey. The bank has focused its attention on retrieving the loans rather than making investments, he added.

According to him, Rs. 27,529,000 was invested and Rs. 18,427,000 as principle and Rs. 4,836,000 as interest was retrieved from Jeth 1, 2050 to Baisakh, 2058.

The bank had to recover loans amounting to Rs. 85,700,000 from the farmers and Rs 400,000 was recovered as principle under the current fiscal year.

The progress in retrieval of loans was less because of the security situation in the country and threats to farmers not to pay the loans, the bank said.

Additional impact on loan recovery was felt because of the displacement of the private and boarding schools as for the loans provided to boarding school hostel management and for vegetable farming in the Prithvinarayan Municipality.

The office has made investment of Rs. 3,108,000 for agro-entrepreneurship, Rs. 8,774,000 for agro-products sales, Rs. 6,412,000 for cottage industry and Rs. 79,000 for foodgrains as well as other heads.

The bank has made the biggest investment in cattle farming in Chyangli VDC amounting to Rs. 2,250,000.

The interests of the investment in the Karmasingh Phant lift irrigation has reached Rs. 3,000,000 of the principle amount Rs. 800,000.

Despite notification by the bank to exempt the interests if the principle is paid, no response has been received, Pandey said.

Some branches in the villages have merged including the Sirdibas sub-branch and some are working in the headquarters for the past two years.

The Arughat sub-branch working from the headquarters has made Rs. 9,209,000 of investment and retrieved Rs 7,581,000 as principle and Rs. 2, 505,000 as interests.

The Taklung sub-branch invested Rs. 4,306,000 and Rs. 4,036,000 as principle and Rs. 1,380,000 as interest were recovered, the Palungtar sub-branch made Rs. 8,904,000 investment, of which Rs 7,293,000 as principle and Rs. 2,540,000 as interest was recovered.

Manager Pandey said unless the law and order situation improves, the recovery of loans made available by the bank will not make any progress.

The bank has been investing in Nepali paper, furniture, rice mill, loaf, brick kiln, electrification, railway, solar panel, bio gas, animal husbandry, poultry, fisheries and oranges and banana farming.

The bank has also provided loans to the farmers and women's groups under programmes run by other bodies in forest, women development, skill development, bio-gas and animal husbandry.

Janakpur locals launch drive against dowry system

By Our Correspondent

Janakpurdham, June 9: The locals of Janakpurdham have started an aggressive campaign against the dowry system that has existed as a scourge in this city of prehistoric value.

A discussion programme was organised here last week as a part of this campaign in which the speakers called for severe measures to discourage the dowry system.

"We should boycott the greedy grooms and their parents who ask for dowries and live with self-respect," schoolgirl Manisha Yadav said addressing the programme.

"Giving dowry to one’s daughter is a matter of willingness and not a compulsion," Pundit Surya Kanta Jha said. "It is necessary to revive the ancient system of self-choice of the groom by the girls to check the bad practice of dowry."

The speakers in the programme stressed on awareness, promotion of culture and purification of values to discourage the evil practice of dowry system.

Professor Dr. Rajendra Bimal said it was necessary to promote good thinking and good values to build an opinion against the anomalies like dowry. He said the horse trading of the groom had given rise to killing of foetuses in Mithila.

Lawyer Yugal Kishore Lal said law alone would not suffice to discourage the dowry system in absence of people with good moral character. Journalist Rajeshwor Nepali stressed on the overhaul of the overall social structure to discourage dowry system.

Woman activist Tulasa Dahal called for a movement against price fixing of the groom and reimbursing the amount from bride’s side. She said even the so-called conscious people were involved in dowry system secretly, adding it had been a cause of social disintegration.

In the programme organised by the Awareness Campaign of Budanilakantha School, the Chie Justice of Janakpur Appealate Court Badri Kumar Basnet felicitated various personalities by wrapping shawls on behalf of the Campaign.

The Campaign has been assisting the poor communities of Dhanusa district by providing medicines, clothes, books and other materials.

NEFFA team returns

By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, June 9: A four member delegation from Nepal Freight Forwarders Association (NEFFA) lead by President R. M. Singh has returned to the capital after taking part in the 29th Executive Council Meeting of the Federation of Asia Pacific Air Cargo Associations (FAPAA) held at Colombo, Sri Lanka from 2-5 June, 2002, Nepal has won the bid to host the 30th EC meeting of FAPAA in the capital next years.

A total of fifty representatives from sixteen-member country took part in Colombo meeting, which was hosted by Sri Lanka Freight Forwarders Association at Colombo World Trade Centre. The meeting was jointly inaugurated by Tilak Marapone, Minister of Defense, Civil Aviation, Transport and Highways and Hon’ble Ravi Karunayaka, Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs once a freight forwarder himself.

Issues like the Practice of lead logistics partners: 4th party Logistics, Government barriers to electronic commerce in ASIA and Future of the Air Cargo Industry in the wake of September 11, 2001.

A Carriers Perspective were comprehensively discussed in various plenaries. Nepal Country Report was presented by delegation leader R. M Singh in which he urged FAPAA to go ahead in facilitating the regional freight forwarders in close coordination with member agencies. The other members in the delegation included association’s Vice President Dhruba Narayan Shrestha, Secretary General Namgyal Lama & International Committee Chairman Mahendra Man Shrestha, according to a press release issued by NEFFA.