Crown Prince to in augurate trade fair today

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POKHARA, Mar. 9: His Royal Highness Crown Prince Paras Bir Bikram Shah Dev is scheduled to inaugurate the Western Region Industrial Trade Fair-2003 amidst a ceremony at the local Basundhara Park, Baidam, tomorrow.All necessary preparations for the trade fair have been completed, according to the first vice-president of Pokhara Chamber of Commerce and Industry Rajendra Lalchan. The trade fair will last till March 14.Altogether 242 business stalls related to industries, business, handicrafts, information technology, automobiles, agriculture, tourism and floriculture have been planned for the fair.

Similarly, various cultural programmes have also been planned for the occasion.

Ilam Festival to be organised in April

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KATHMANDU, Mar. 9: A three-day ‘Ilam Festival- 2003’ is being organised in Ilam district from April 14 for promoting tourism in the district.

A press conference was organised here today by the festival organising committee to inform about preparations going on for the festival with the slogan “ Ilam: The Nepal of Destination Nepal”.

It was informed on the occasion that the organising committee has made preparations for organising various festivities and programmes at different places in the district as part of the Ilam festival.

Ilam, which is resplendent with natural resources and diversity, is a scenic tourist destination in east Nepal. The district is known for producing potatoes, cardamom. Ginger, amliso and olan.

On the occasion, spokesman of the organising committee Dharma Gautam and director of Nepal Tourism Board Subhash Niraula shed light on the Ilam festival.

Former MP Jhala Nath Khanal also highlighted the natural, religious, cultural and other specialities of Ilam district.

Mandal reiterates govt’s support to Myanglung

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TERHATHUM, Mar. 9: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Local Development Badri Prasad Mandal has said that the government would leave no stone unturned in putting into service all its means and resources to mobilise the cooperation of all sectors in providing assistance to the people of Myanglung who have been affected by natural calamity.

The Deputy Prime Minister made this remark while inaugurating the office of the Myanglung Town Development Committee and the Myanglung Bazaar reconstruction project here today.

Deputy Prime Minister Mandal arrived here today in connection with acquiring information on the reconstruction of Myanglung town which was devastated in a huge inferno on December 8, 2002.
On the occasion, he said His Majesty’s Government was doing the necessary homework to develop Myanglung into a model hill town of the entire Eastern Region as per His Majesty the King’s directives to the government for the reconstruction of the town.

At the programme, Minister for Information and Communications Ramesh Nath Pandey said that His Majesty’s Government will bear 75 per cent of the interest on loans taken earlier by the affected people while the Agricultural Development Bank(ADB) will bear 25 per cent of the same.

He also disclosed that a decision has been taken at the central level for issuing loans through the adb to the fire-affected families for housing and to assist them in starting business.

Member of the Raj Parishad Standing Committee Chakra Bahadur Shankar expressed the view that the local people should also prod the government for the reconstruction of the town.

At the programme presided over by Myanglung Tamfula Town Development Committee Chairman Govinda Dhungana, various speakers including secretary at the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works Bharati Sharma, Tamfula Myanglung Town Development Committee member Sanjaya Tumbahangfe, the outgoing DDC chairman Kishor Chandra Dulal stressed the need for expediting the reconstruction works.

Home Minister Dharma Bahadur Thapa and member of the National Women’s Commission Amrita Agrahari were also present at the programme.

Cooperation from all needed for permanent peace: Pun

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POKHARA, Mar. 9: Minister for Physical Planning and Works Narayan Singh Pun has underlined the need of cooperation from all the political parties, the civil society and each and every citizen to help transform the cease-fire between the Government and the Maoists into a durable peace agreement.
Addressing a reception organised in his honour by the Ex-Servicemen’s Club, Bagar, here today, he said the talks process would be expedited soon after agreements on the code of conduct are reached between the two sides within a day or two.

Peace is what the people desire, he said , stressing that now no one would be able to block the peace process. He said neither power nor peace could be achieved by means of the power of the gun.
On the occasion, Minister Pun also disclosed that some 1500 metric tonnes of food grain is being provided to those involved in the Maoist activities with assistance of the donor agencies as immediate relief to them.

He stressed that the solution to the present imbroglio in the country should be sought on the precondition of fulfilling the basic needs of the people rather than getting entangled into unnecessary constitutional debates.Club president Karna Bahadur Gurung chaired the programme.

Ojha stresses protection of indigenous communities

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RATNA NAGAR, Mar. 9: Minister for Education and Sports Devi Prasad Ojha has spoken of the need of cooperation from all sides for protection of the indigenous communities that are battling for survival.
Minister Ojha expressed this view while addressing a gathering of teachers, civil servants and local people following an inspection of the Antyodaya indigenous community residential school at Khairahani in east Chitwan today.

This is the first school of its kind in Chitwan district for educating the indigenous Praja community children.

The Education Minister also pledged assistance toward the development of the school.

Chief District Officer Tratna Kaji Bajracharya also committed necessary cooperation for the development of the school.

Social worker Kishor Chandra Dhungana had established the school nearly three years back with the money that he made by selling his plot of land.

Also today, Minister Ojha inspected the medical college teaching hospital and Nepal Polytechnic Institute Ltd. in Bharatpur.

SIPP begins campaign to establish banks

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Mar. 9: The Small Industry Promotion Programme (SIPP), under Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), has begun a campaign to establish links between the service providers and consumers.

The project will be implemented in coordination with the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies and Swisscontact.

“The purpose of this campaign is to inform entrepreneurs about the relevance of business services and to encourage then to buy them,” said the project manager of the project Leon Houdret addressing a launch ceremony of the project here today.

He said that the information on services in the market will be made available by encouraging the interested service providers on designing, advertising, accounting and auditing, courier delivery, computer maintenance and software development services, business consultancy, legal services, market and technical information, supply of industrial production and installation of different types of equipments to improve their databases and the range of their services to their clients.

SIPP programme manager Navin Dahal said that the project would help the service providers to sell their services in the market and to the consumers to have access to the right information. He said, however, these services would be concentrated more in the urban areas. The project will be managed by Swisscontact, although there will be participation of the private sector.

Tenth Plan based on need

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Mar. 9: Minister for Finance Dr. Badri Prasad Shrestha has said that the government is fully aware of achieving the target of the ongoing Tenth Five Year Plan. None of the plans can be successful only by setting targets. There should be a commitment, discipline and regular monitoring mechanism to make plan a success, he noted.

Finance Minister Dr. Shrestha while speaking at a talk programme organised by the Management Association Nepal (MAN) asserted that the focus would be on the implementation of the plan. Unless the programmes envisaged in the Tenth Five Year Plan are properly implemented, “the target for economic growth from 4.3 to 7.2 per cent “cannot be achieved so far.”

Unlike other development plans, the Tenth Five Year Plan has prioritised its programme on the basis of need. Hence each programme will be closely monitored and the fund will be released only when the outcome of the programme is satisfactory, Finance Minister Shrestha said adding, “We are striving for gaining economic growth.”

The Ministry of Finance in its revised estimates projected the economic growth rate of 2.5 per cent while 2.1 per cent inflation is estimated.

Vice Chairman of the National Planning Commission (NPC) Dr. Shankar Sharma affirmed that the plan was based on reality that encompasses the interests of various groups in the society. He also noted that implementation of the programmes in the Plan will be given emphasis in order to narrow down the level of poverty and achieve the economic growth.

Chief Secretary of His Majesty’s Government Dr. Bimal Tenth Plan based on needKoirala said that the success of the plan largely depends upon the good governance. But crisis of governance and distrust have trigged a difficult situation, Dr. Koirala said.

Inspection team claims ‘fifty per cent reforms’“The country is in the vicious circle of mis-governance,” he said adding, “Unless we break this vicious circle of mis-governance we cannot do anything.”
All should be honest we should develop our culture for positive change, he added.

Prof. Suresh Raj Sharma, vice chancellor of Kathmandu University pointed out the need to accord priority to human resource development. Quality human resource help promote economic growth.
The government in the Tenth Plan should come forward with new education programmes, he added.
Richard Vokes, country director of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said that the plan should have been more focused on the vital areas. Various sectors and sub-sectors that bear economic importance should have prioritised, he added.

The government in the Tenth Five Year Plan has targeted to achieve GDP growth rate in between 4.3 to 6.2 per cent and it has set the target to narrow down the poverty to 32 from 38 per cent.

The Ministry of Finance in its latest report has estimated the economic growth of 2.5 per cent and the rate of inflation is 2.1 per cent. Similarly the trade deficit has been recorded at 31 per cent.

NEA preparing for rural electrification

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KATHMANDU, Mar. 9: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is making preparations for distribution of electricity on a community basis to provide electricity services to people living in rural areas who are deprived of electricity facilities from the central grid in order to improve their socio-economic status.
The concept that has been brought forth with the objective of providing electricity services on a simplified, easy, effective and reliable way with community participation is believed will increase opportunities for private investors of partnership in development and employment generation as well as in significantly plugging in electricity pilferage.

Seventy-eight per cent of the people in the country have not got access to electricity despite immense possibilities for hydroelectricity. Only six per cent of the rural people have electricity facility at their homes.

Although NEA has been distributing electricity to some 30,000 households annually, the number of households deprived of electricity far exceeds those with the facility as new houses are built for the increasing population.

Participants at an interaction programme organised by the small hydroelectricity promotion project of NEA and the German International Cooperation Agency G.T.Z here today to discuss on the new concept brought forward by the NEA to make electricity accessible to people living in rural areas said that electricity facility could be extended to every village through local level organisations and community and private companies.

At the programme, the participants stressed enhancing the capability of such community organisations, creating awareness among the consumers, divesting the authority of determining electricity tariff to the organisations concerned, providing electricity at a cheaper rate to the consumers and giving special priority to women empowerment and the lower class people.
The community electricity distribution directory prepared by the NEA clearly spells out the duties and responsibilities of NEA and the institutions concerned, the mode of settling disputes relating to the contract between the two parties and the possible works which the community organisations could lent in the production and distribution process.Community approach in the protection and maintenance of electricity infrastructures and bringing about effectiveness in the distribution system are the salient features of the programme.

Addressing the interaction, Minister for Water Resources Deepak Gyawali said that the new programme has been taken as a road map of providing electricity to the rural people who have been deprived of electricity.

Relating the bitter experience of not being able to provide electricity to no more than 20 per cent of the country’s population despite completion of nearly a century since electrification was started in the country, he said it was high time that we did something in that regard.

He called for the cooperation of all in the government’s efforts in providing electricity to a wider section of the population through the community approach.

Secretary at the Ministry of Water Resources Keshav Bahadur Chand said that since the efforts of the government alone would not be enough in extending electricity services in the rural parts, recourse of the community has been taken for that matter.

Members of the NEA board of directors Dr. Manik Ratna Tuladhar and Ratna Sansar Shrestha and officiating executive director of NEA Govinda K.C. shed light on some of the salient features of the rural electrification programme.

Chief of the NEA Rural Community Electrification Department Ram Chandra Pandey presented a working paper on community participation in power distribution process.

BPKCMH exemplary model of tripartite cooperation

By Ambar Mainali

Bharatpur, Mar. 9: The B.P. Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital (BPKCMH) in Bharatpur, Chitwan, the only hospital of its kind in the country, is an exemplary model of tripartite cooperation among Chinese, Japanese and Nepali experts.

The hospital has been providing health services to cancer patients since it opened in 1992.
Preliminary estimates reveal that 120 persons in every 100,000 die of cancer every year, and there are 35,000 to 40,000 cancer patients in the country, hospital sources said.

The 13 building units of the hospital were constructed with Chinese grant assistance. The Chinese government also donated some hospital equipment. Established under the name of late democratic leader Bisweswore Prasad Koirala, who himself died of throat cancer, the hospital has 100 beds and has modern medical facilities to treat cancer in its preliminary stage.

The hospital has 84 nurses, 26 doctors, 13 of them Nepalese and the remaining Chinese, and two Japanese Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCVs).

The Chinese doctors along with the two JOCVs - Chiaka Ueda and Mami Kodawaki - have been playing a pivotal role in transferring their skills to the Nepalese doctors and nurses. “My mother suffered from cancer, and I always had the obsession to work for cancer patients. This is why I have come all the way from Japan to Nepal,” Kodawaki said.

Popularly known by the Nepali name ‘Pyari, she has left a good impression among her colleagues through her Nepali, which she speaks fluently, and expertise.

Kodawaki is working as a nurse in the Oncology ward. She completed her Nursing Diploma from Date Red Cross Nursing Special School in 1996.

Udea has been working at the Operation Theatre since July 14 of last year. She will serve till 13 July next year. She completed her Diploma in Nursing from Toyama Prefectural Hygiene Institute in 1986.
“Both the JOCVs are known for their kindness and punctuality,” Daya Laxmi Vaidya, Chief Matron at the hospital, said.

The JOCVs are always working and prefer to remain that way even when asked to take rest, Vaidya said.

Japan started deputing JOCVs to Nepal since 1970. Since then 789 of them and 22 other senior volunteers have served here in different technical fields.

At the moment 41 JOCVs are working in different parts of Nepal in various development fields.
Vaidya feels that unless the media and other responsible institutions generate awareness amongst the people about the importance of regular medical check ups, it would be difficult to treat cancer.
“Most of the people who come for treatment have old cancers which cannot be treated completely,” Vaidya said.

Eight cancer patients visit the hospital daily. But all the beds are occupied most of the time, and people have to stay in queue before they can get admitted, she said.

“We get roughly Rs. 200 - 300 million annually from taxes collected from tobacco,” Dr. Manohar Pradhan, working with the Pathology Department said.

The government has been levying two paisa on each stick of cigarette sold.

He said the hospital has bought modern equipment for treating cancer patients through these funds.
“The hospital has plans to expand its capacity to 300 beds in the years ahead,” Dr. Pradhan said.
People belonging to the lower middle class and the middle class have been visiting the hospital, according to Dr. Pradhan.

Those belonging to the upper strata of the society continue to go abroad for treatment.” If they came here, they would save a lot of money, besides having access to the same quality of health services available abroad,” Dr. Pradhan said.

The government has declared the BPKCMH an autonomous body, under the provision of the B.P. Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital Act 2053 B.S.

According to Dr. Pradhan, after the installation of the dual and low energy linac HDR Brach therapy supported by cad plan treatment, the hospital will be able to provide all the necessary radiotherapy treatment in-house.

Inspection team claims ‘fifty per cent reforms’

By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, Mar. 9: Coordinator of the Public Service Monitoring and Inspection Team (PSMI) for Bagmati and Narayani zones Bharat Mani Jangam claims that the team has made a breakthrough in containing corruption in the administration sector.

“We have successfully brought about fifty per cent of reforms,” Jangam said.

With the objective of revamping the administration, the government formed the PSMI six week ago. It has set up coordination centres in 13 districts and inspected and monitored eight ministries.
Shedding light on its objectives, Jangam said that the team wants to invigorate the administration in accordance with the existing law of the land. “It wants to usher in a corruption-free, people-oriented and transparent administration.”

Due to bad governance in the last 12 years, indiscipline and anarchy have pervaded the administration. This sector is in a state of impunity. “We want to put the administration back on track by restoring a system of reward and punishment,” said Jangam.

The public service monitoring chief said that the present government has been assigned the task of putting things in order and handing over power to the elected government after conducting the local and general elections.The monitoring team was formed to hand over a transparent and disciplined administration to the new government. To pave the way for this, ending anarchy, anomalies and corruption is its priority, he said.

Jangam said that media houses were found breaching the code of conduct while monitoring them. “All must abide by the code of conduct if a democratic culture is to be restored,” he said.

He said that in the fist phase, the team instructed the employees in all the 13 districts that they must reach their offices in time and conduct office business from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. There must be documentary evidences related to their assigned duty and work such as laws, regulations and routines on the desk of the department heads. “Union activities have been banned in the office premises,” he added.

There must be a system of law which functions under directives, circulars and regulations issued by the office chiefs to ensure prompt delivery of services to the people, said Jangam. “No additional instructions will be coming from our side,” he added.

Stating that the civil servants must be accountable to the nation because it is the nation that has guaranteed their employment, Jangam has asked them to be dedicated to their duties and to work by respecting the law.

“It is high time the civil servants showed unity to strengthen bureaucracy,” he said, adding that mutual confidence is needed to attain this goal. We seek cooperation from civil servants and vice-versa, he said.

He said that if the employees do not extend cooperation to the team, it would be compelled to take steps as per the existing laws.

The team carries out its activities as per the Public Service, Operation, Monitoring and Inspection Ordinance that gives it the right to issue orders against employees. It can seek explanation within seven days and interrogate officials and take them to court if necessary.

The team has also given the responsibility to monitor central level offices.

In the second phase, they will monitor 21 ministries, different corporations, development committees, funds, banks and public enterprises.

The team will see whether the central offices are operating as per the policy and regulation. “If they are operating rightly, this will have positive impact on the offices under them outside the Kathmandu Valley,” he said.

On the achievement of the team, he said, “Now the employees attend office on time. There has been an end to leave the office before the office hour ends. Bribery in the offices such as Land Revenue, Tax Department and Customs have been controlled.”

On the debate of national dress Daura Suruwal, he said that no hue and cry should be raised about it.
The team has issued circulars to different offices to wear the national dress in order to bring uniformity and maintain certain standards, he said.