Three die of electrocution

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RAJBIRAJ, Jan. 2: Three persons died and four others sustained injuries due to excessive flow of current caused by the sudden explosion of a transformer at Inarwa Fupbadiya VDC, Saptari district.
Mishri Lal Chaudhari, 55, and Tarini Prasad Chaudhari, 35, died on the spot and Chandrakala Chaudhari succumbed to her injuries while undergoing treatment at Sagarmatha Zonal Hospital.
Shambhu Chaudhari, Bachu Chaudhari and the wives of Pritam Chaudhari and Gindi Sardar are undergoing treatment at Kalyanpur health-post. The incident occurred at about 8 pm when the power supply in the VDC was disrupted.

New species of bird sighted

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Jan. 2: A new species of bird has been found for the first time in Nepal. The Moustached Warbler (Acrocephalus melanopogon) was spotted and recorded at Shukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve in eastern Nepal on December 22, 2002.

The latest find puts the total species of birds found in Nepal at 859. Before this, Tibetan Sandgrouse (Syrrhaptes tibetanus) was recorded from Damodarkunda area of Upper Mustang on June 19, 2002.
The bird was sighted and was scientifically recorded by a team of ornithologists led by Dr. Hem Sagar Baral of the Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN). Other scientists involved in the survey team were Tika Giri, Badri Chaudhary and Som GC, BCN said Thursday.

Three birds of the species were sighted by the scientists, and they expect that a larger colony might inhabit the area.

The bird was seen at the edge of the Rani Tal marshes of the Wildlife Reserve. The team of bird experts was on a study mission sponsored by Koshi Camp and Silent Safari. "The team is optimistic that they will find the bird in a large number," according to BCN.

Moustached Warbler belongs to Sylyiidae family and Acrocephaninae subfamily. It has a distinct broad white supercilium and a dark stripe through eye. It has dark ear-coverts, and white streak through head and back. It has dark whitish throat, light rufous and unstreaked rump. According to bird experts, its call is louder than any other warbler found in Shukla Phanta.

This species, according to the ornithologists, mostly inhabits open edges of marshy grassland. They have been found in India and Pakistan within the Indian subcontinent as winter visitor. They breed in small numbers in the northern areas of the subcontinent.

Bird experts at the BCN believe that this species is either a passage migrant or winter visitor to Nepal.

Accord on tourism for poverty alleviation

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KATHMANDU, Jan. 2: A five-year Letter of Agreement (LOA) has been signed between the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MOCTCA) on behalf of the tourism for rural poverty alleviation programme, and the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) to prepare the Sagarmatha National Park Management and Tourism Plans.

The LOA was signed by joint secretary at the MOCTCA Kashi Nath Sharma and Dr. Swoyambhu Man Amatya, Director General of DNPWC on December 31.

The programme will support the park and local authorities to build up their institutional and management capacity in conservation and sustainable rural tourism and improvement of park and tourism infrastructure.

The programme also includes social mobilisation in conservation and tourism among the local people in order to generate income for their sustainable livelihood, and focus will be pro-poor, pro-community, pro-woman and pro-environment.

The programme will be implemented by the CNPWC at the central level and Sagarmatha National Park (SNP) at the field level, according to a press release.

The programme will support the overall management of the park, which is an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In addition, the programme will provide direct benefit to more than 6,000 local people in Chaurikharka, Mamoho and Khumjung VDCs which lie within the buffer zone of the SNP and wider communities.
The budget allocation for the programme is US $ 1.2 million.

The financial support is funded by the British governement's Department for International Development, UNDP and the SNV supported Tourism for Rural Poverty Alleviation Programme Nep-99\013.

Security measures for Lumbini area discussed

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BUTWAL, Jan. 2: Need for more security measures to be adopted in Lumbini area, the birthplace of Lord Buddha, has been realised.

The need becomes more apparent due to the escalating encroachment, fire, destruction, illegal felling of trees, poaching, damage of pole lamps, theft of electric wires and the possibility of inundation in the Lumbini area.

The increased criminal activities in the area since few years back, has made the Buddhist monks and Bhikshus living in the monasteries in the area.

According to Lumbini Development Trust Council member Govinda Chitrakar security does not mean only the physical security as such but it also includes the security and preservation of things of moral, cultural and archaeological significance.

Preservation of different posters, idols, thanka paintings, arts and archaeological remnants found as Buddhist heritage is the prime concern today, he said.

Attention needs to be paid for the preservation also because the area contains Ashoka Pillar and marker stone to prove the birthplace of Lord Buddha, he said.

Lumbini, which covers an area of 459.99 hectare encompasses plants of 114 species, birds and animals of different species and 40 houses of varying sizes.

Security situation in the area should be consolidated as this is one of the main tourist sites in the country where thousands of domestic and foreign tourists visit annually for its cultural, religious, archaeological, aesthetic and environmental importance, says local Buddhist intellectual Lok Darsan.
'Any tourist visiting the area should be able to realise that he/she is fully secured,' he said.

Attention should be paid also to the increasing pollution in the area which has a direct impact on bio-diversity and the number of tourists visiting, says chief of Lumbini Crane Reserve Centre Rajendra Suwal.

Management of fire apparatuses, construction of high wall around the area, management of security guards at Bihars and stupas and necessary works for controlling the possibility of inundation due Khurdhalotan embankment are the major problems which at least should be settled sooner, the local people opine.

Two terrorists die in rescue operation

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Jan. 2: Two terrorists died during a rescue of a kidnapped teacher of a school at Rawatkot of Dailekh district on Wednesday. One of the terrorists died in the action of the security force, and the other fell from a cliff, but the teacher was safe, the Defence Ministry said today. The forces found socket bombs and explosives from the bodies of the terrorists.The security forces have reached a local of the Badalapur of Bardiya to the local hospital. The man had his right hand severely wounded in an attack of the terrorists.

Road renovation project starts in Pokhara

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KATHMANDU, Jan. 2: Under its aid to Nepal programme, the government of India undertook an important road renovation project in Pokhara, according to a press release from the Indian Embassy.
Financial assistance of rupees 15.50 lakhs was made availabe by India for renovation of the road from Budhachowk to Remghat in Pokhara.

Local people contributed rupees 16.39 lakhs and were also fully involved in all stages of this project.
The project was executed in close co-ordination with the Tole Sudhar Samiti Ram Bazar and Budhachowk Batabaran Samiti which played an important role in ensuring timely completion. Department of Roads, HMG and Pokhara Sub-Metro Municipal office were responsible for technical supervision.

The road was formally inaugurated by Jawed Usmani, Minister (Economic Cooperation) of the Indian Embassy today in a special ceremony organised by the local people. Senior HMG officials in Pokhara were also present.

Usmani also inaugurated two drinking water projects costing rupees 3.5 lakhs which will benefit over 4,000 persons in Balewa Narayansthan VDC, Baglung district and the other in ward no. 10 Ramghat, Pokhara.

Security forces hold interaction with local people

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BIRGUNJ, Jan 2. A joint team of the security and the offices related to the development activities went to Thori and Nirmal Basti Village Development Committees of Parsa district Thursday and held interaction with the local people about their problems.

About 7,000 people living in those areas are being badly affected by Indian dacoits and smugglers.
The local people demanded the re-establishment of area police office at Thori area to control the smuggling and poaching of wildlife and kidnapping during the interaction with the officials.

The Indian dacoits and smugglers are said to be active in the area after the police post established in the area was transferred from that place last year due to the security reason.Former chairman of Thori Village Development Committee Narayan Indra Acharya said security is the prime concern of the people of that area as there is no any security post.Chief District Officer Bishnu Raj Kushum said such inspection team will be continued to understand the difficulties of the local people .The team was led by Chief District Officer Kushum.

Man files complaint at NHRC against faith healer

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KATHMANDU, Jan. 2: A man has lodged a complain with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) after his elderly woman, who visited a local tantric faith healer in the hope of getting cured of a disease but was instead accused by the so-called Kalmasan tantric healer of witchcraft and subjected to mental and physical torture.

Sixty-three year old Deb Maya Adhikari of Keraghari, Panchkhal VDC-3, Kavre district, had gone to the so-called tantric some days back seeking treatment for a disease she had been suffering from for four years.

Relating to journalists at the Informal Sector Services Centre (INSEC) today the torture she was subjected to in course of her treatment, Adhikari said when the disease became more pronounced instead of subsiding even after three or four spells of exorcism, he accused me of practising witchcraft.

The so-called Kalmasan faith healer became enraged at Adhikari's son Hedamba Raj.

The tantric healer beat me for two days on the pretext of exorcising a witch and I tolerated it, but the disease did not subside, she added.

A video record of the torture which the so-called tantric healer meted out to the old woman on Dec. 28 in Banepa all in the name of exorcism was also shown on the occasion.