British special representative meets Chand

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KATHMANDU, March 12: British Special Representative for Nepal Sir Jeffrey Russell James paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand at his office at Singha Durbar this afternoon.
Matters of bilateral relations and cooperation were discussed during the meeting.British Ambassador to Nepal Keith George Bloomfield and senior officials of the British Department for International Development (DFID) were also present on the occasion.Meanwhile, Special Representative of the United Kingdom to Nepal Sir Jeffery Russell James and British Ambassador to Nepal Keith George Bloomfield called on General Secretary of the CPN-UML Madhav Kumar Nepal at the latter's residence at Koteshwar Fulbari today.On the occasion, discussions were held on relations between the two countries, Nepal's peace efforts and matters of mutual interest, it is stated by the party.CPN-UML standing committee member and foreign department chief Jhalanath Khanal, DFID Asia Pacific Region Director Martin Dinham and Deputy Director marks manuel were also present on the occasion.

Nobody can stand as wall between King and people

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BIRATNAGAR, March 12: Minister for Information and Communications and General Administration Ramesh Nath Pandey today made public a volume 'Abhinandan Granth' (volume on civic reception) on the historic civic reception accorded to Their Majesties the King and Queen on behalf of the people of the Eastern Region in Biratnagar on Jan. 3.

The compilation published by 'His Majesty King Gyanendra and Her Majesty Queen Komal Civic Reception and Felicitation East Region Committee, Biratnagar-2003' is 220 pages long. The first chapter of the compendium divided into seven chapters contains materials related to the civic reception of Their Majesties, the second chapter contains colour photographs of the event, the third chapter the articles of different persons and the fourth chapter the views of various newspapers and magazines on His Majesty's address on the occasion.

Similarly, the fifth chapter contains the bio-data of Their Majesties the King and Queen, His Majesty's address to the function, the Royal proclamation, interview and lyrics by G. Shah, the sixth chapter contains the historic black and white historic pictures of His Majesty the King on different occasions and the seventh chapter articles by the office-bearers of the civic reception main committee, the sub-committee and the members.

Launching the volume, Minister for Information and Communications Ramesh Nath Pandey, who was the chief guest at the function, said the civic reception accorded to Their Majesties the King and Queen by the people of the Eastern Region was a grand success. He said that the civic reception was an excellent example of the immense reverence of the people of the Eastern Region towards the institution of the Crown.

He added that the civic reception which was organised in continuation of the glorious tradition of the past has proved that nobody can stand as a wall between the people and the King in Nepal.
He said the thesis of the Nepali history up to this point is that the relations between the King and the people have always been cordial.

The Minister for Information and Communications also said that the following Their Majesties' civic reception at Biratnagar, there has been an immense enthusiasm among the Nepalis to felicitate Their Majesties the King and Queen that in this connection a series of petitions for such civic receptions have been flooding in. He said that in this connection, Their Majesties the King and Queen would be travelling to Dhangadhi in the near future.

His Majesty the King has time and again expressed His Majesty's full commitment to democracy and multiparty system, he said, adding His Majesty wishes that the political parties should also behave in consonance with the multiparty system at a time when the Nepali people are fully exercising multiparty democracy. He said this is the time to evaluate as to who committed what sorts of errors in the last 12 years of democratic exercise and to take concrete action for removing such errors.
He stressed that we should all contribute from our respective quarters to bail the country out of crisis by making the King and the institution of the Crown as the point of convergence.

Pandey reiterated that the Nepali people were on the side of peace and wished that the ceasefire currently holding in the country transform into a state of permanent peace. On the occasion, chairman of 'His Majesty King Gyanendra and Queen Komal Civic Reception and Felicitation Committee' Pt. Megh Raj Sharma said that the civic reception was a grand success thanks to the immense reverence of the people towards the institution of then Crown and the King.

Vice-chairman of the committee and former minister of state Radha Prasad Ghimire, Chief District Officer and advisor of the volume publication committee Dolakh Bahadur Gurung, member-secretary of the committee Tilak Prasad Rijal, convenor of the volume editorial committee Deb Kumari Thapa, convenor of the volume publication management committee Tara Chandra Khetan and joint convenor of the volume editorial committee Pramod Pradhan also expressed their views on the occasion. At the programme, chief guest Minister Pandey and special guest Minister for Land Reforms and Management Badri Narayan Basnet gave away letters of commendation, letters of appreciation and citations to various persons of the civic reception main and sub-committees, various institutions and organisations and distinguished persons contributing for the success of the reception.

'Parties should be pressed for peace'

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BIRATNAGAR, March 12: Minister for Information and Communications, and General Administration Ramesh Nath Pandey has stressed that the big political parties should be pressed for their involvement in the government's efforts towards establishing permanent peace. Talking to RSS and the 'Gorkhapatra' here today, he said the Nepalis have become very conscious and that their desire for peace was evident.

He said history would condemn those not accepting the people's wish that nobody should in no way vitiate the environment for peace. He said the issue of who will establish peace in the present context when the environment for permanent peace has become conducive was not important but it was important to protect Nepal and the Nepalese from the long and horrendous situation of killings, violence and destruction and to reorient them on the path of peace and reconstruction.

The country is moving along this way at present, he said and added that not only the political parties but all the citizens should participate in this process.

Refugee categorisation work in progress: MoFA

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, March 12: The work of categorising the already verified Bhutanese refugees is progressing smoothly, Dr. Madan Kumar Bhattarai, spokesperson at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) told The Rising Nepal Wednesday.

"I have not received the latest figure on how many of the verified refugees have been categorised," said Bhattarai. But, he said that it would take some time before all the refugees are categorised. The Joint Verification Team (JVT) began categoring the 12,000 plus verified refugees since February 24 in Thimphu. A four-member Nepalese JVT is in the Bhutanese capital for the purpose.

The 12th Ministerial Joint Committee (MJC) meeting held last month in Kathmandu had decided to categorise the verified refugees at the Khudunabari camp, one of the seven UNHCR-administered camps in Jhapa and Morang. The refugees in the camps were verified more than a year ago. Bhutan and Nepal had agreed to categorise the refugees into four groups- bonafide Bhutanese, Bhutanese with criminal records, Bhutanese who willingly left the country and non-Bhutanese during the third round of the MJC meeting in 1993. There are more than 100,000 Bhutanese refugees of ethnic Nepalese origin living in seven UNHCR-administered camps in east Nepal. They fled the land of Thunder Dragon over the last 13 years to escape ethnic cleansing.

Code of conduct likely to come out today

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, March 12: The code of conduct for the peace talks between the government and the Maoists will likely be made public by tomorrow (Thursday). Minister for Physical Planning and Works and coordinator for the talks from the government side Narayan Singh Pun at a programme today on 'Rescuing women and children affected by war' said that 'very good' news was in the offing very soon regarding the talks between the government and the Maoists.

Nepal Television, quoting the Minister, said the Maoists had agreed to the code of conduct presented by the government for the talks.

At a programme organised today by the Samata National Development Academy (SANADA), he said that the issue of women should also feature in the talks with the Maoists. There should also be participation of women's representative in the talks, he added. He said that one should ascertain what the priorities of the country are. "Until the root cause of the Maoist problem is sought and solved, the cease-fire will carry no meaning," he said.

Minister Pun also presented a relief assistance of Rs. 5,000 to two women victims of the insurgency - Anu Sijapati and Taradevi Biswokarma on behalf of the academy. Inaugurating the programme, member of the Rajsabha Standing Committee Bhadra Kumari Ghale said that the fighting between the Nepalis has orphaned the people and led the country towards bankruptcy.

Inspection team to start surprise checks

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDu, March 12: Coordinator of the Public Service and Inspection Team (PSIT) Bharat Mani Jangam said that the team has not been formed to create terror among the bureaucrats. "Rather our job is to monitor the functioning of the bureaucracy and to do follow-ups," he said at an interaction programme organised by Forum for Intellectual Debate in Kathmandu today.

He promised to help create an honest, responsible, disciplined and efficient administrative mechanism and hand it over to the next elected government. "If anyone thinks our job of instilling discipline and honesty in the civil servants is wrong, let it be so; the team is determined to strengthen the administrative machinery."Jangam said that the team has so far been working to make the civil servants comply by the rules and regulations. But from next week, it will start making surprise checks, inspections, he said. "We will also be going through the records."But he said some people were raising objections, for fear that our work will expose their conduct and activities. "But we will not leave the administrative machinery in a state of breakdown."Chief of the Nepali Congress organisation committee Krishna Sitaula said that the civil servants need to be brought in line not by the stick but by encouraging them. But he said the team must not violate the concept of a lawful state. On the occasion, leader of the Communist Party of Nepal - United Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML) Radhakrishna Mainali said that since politicians in the past had politicised and destroyed the administration, it needed to be reformed and improved. He also said the inspection team should keep itself away from media limelight if it really wants to help the bureaucracy become efficient and efficient.He also said that the team should carry out its monitoring works impartially. General secretary of the Nepal Sadbhavana Party Devendra Misra said administration means sitting at the table and working. Hence, the administrators should be disciplined and efficient. Jog Mehar Shrestha of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party viewed that the team was formed to bring the bureaucracy that has been destroyed over the past 12 years in line.

Project review meeting held

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KATHMANDU, March l2: The first project review meeting of the Capacity Development Project being implemented at the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) under the joint auspices of HMG and UNDP since April 2002 was held at the NHRC office today.

NHRC chairman Nayan Bahadur Khatri and members Dr. Gauri Shankar Lal Das, Sushil Pyakurel and Deputy UNDP Resident Representative Alexander Tissot addressed the meeting participated in by the representatives of seven different countries including Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Switzerland.

The meeting was held to review the various activities carried out by the Capacity Development Project last year and deliberate on the achievements made in that connection as well as to solicit the suggestions of HMG and the donor group.

Projected economic growth hard to achieve: experts

By Raj Kumar K.C.

KATHMANDU, March 12: Given the present economic parameters, economists say the government's projection that the economy will grow by 2.5 per cent is unrealistic. The estimated GDP growth which the Ministry of Finance projected last week lack economic justifications since the economy has shown no visible changes. Therefore, it is difficult to justify how economic growth can jump from -0.63 per cent to 2.5 per cent.

According to Prof. Bishwombhar Pyakurel, the economic indicators of the last seven months do not support this estimation. "There is no economic justification for the economic growth," he said. The government's revenue, the expenditure trend and other other economic indicators do not support the forseen GDP growth, he said. Trade deficit has widened to Rs. 8 billion. Imports have increased by 13 per cent while exports are down by 35 per cent. In such a situation, it is hard to see how a 2.5 per cent economic growth is possible, Prof. Pyakurel said.

Finance Secretary Bhanu Prasad Acharya last week claimed that the GDP growth was possible largely due to the high remittances from workers working abroad. Prof. Madan Kumar Dahal, chief of the Central Department of Economics, admits that the estimated growth is based on the assumption that foreign remittances will be high. Presently the national economy is heavily supported by remittances, he said.

But other economists say remittances alone will not help elevate the growth rate. Remittances have gone up by 10 per cent, as a result of which the volume of foreign exchange has increased. According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), remittances in the first seven months was Rs. 7.79 billion. But this figure is what comes through the official banking channels. Nearly 90 per cent of all earnings are believed to be sent through the unofficial hundi system. Suman Aryal, an officer at the Central Bureau Statistics (CBS), expressed ignorance about how the MoF projected the economic growth rate. "We are collecting data and we will be making public the statistics in about a month and a half," he said.

The overall economic indicators show that the economy is still not sound. Overall trade deficit has widened to 31 per cent. Exports to India have gone down 21 per cent in the first half of the running fiscal year (2002-2003). The Ministry of Finance recently stated that the regular and development expenditures have been revised downward due to lack of sufficient programmes to spend the development budget.

According to a high-ranking official at the NRB, the government's projection of a 2.5 per cent economic growth will be hard to achieve as the economy is still grappling for survival. According to the NRB report, the monetary statistics for the first five months has showed a Balance of Payment (BoP) deficit. Gross foreign exchange reserves of the banking system increased by 1.1 per cent to Rs. 105.6 billion in mid-December 2002 which was sufficient to finance merchandise imports of 11 months and merchandise and services imports of 10 months.

Based on the cash flow data, total government expenditure declined by 1.9 per cent to Rs. 23.3 billion as against a rise of 9.8 per cent in last fiscal year. Of this, according to the NRB report, regular expenditure increased by 6.6 per cent to Rs. 19 billion in comparison to a growth of 14.6 per cent last year. Development expenditure, however, declined sharply by 33.2 per cent to Rs. 2.9 billion as against a decline of 13.1 per cent last fiscal year. Major indicators of the stock market also registered a decline during the review period.

The NEPSE index slumped by almost 70 points (25.6 per cent) to 207.25. Market capitalisation of the listed companies also went down by 16.9 per cent to Rs. 33.8 billion. The value of share transaction also decreased during the year.

Ceasefire restores peace in Gorkha

By Krishna Sharma

BUNGKOT, Gorkha, March 12: With the recent announcement of a cease-fire between the state and the CPN-Maoists, Gorkha is finally at peace with itself after nearly seven years. Agitated with never ending conflict, not only the general people, but supporters of CPN-Maoist and the party workers are also happy about the recent truce and wish for a permanent peace in the country.

Resham Lal, a Maoist cadre in Gorkha, said that the path of violence was not the priority of the warring group. "Our war against the past governments must have sent a message that the 'peace loving' people will revolt violently if there is bad governance and personal interests override the larger interests of the nation," he said.

The armed man was heading for Chihandanda, a hilltop to the south east of Gorkha district headquarters, to an interaction with officials of the local government. He, however, refused to answer why he was carrying the weapon when there was ceasefire. The local people look relieved that the fighting has stopped. "It sooths us to hear that the attacks and killings have come to a halt and preparations for the peace talks are underway," said a local at Pokharidanda in Bungkot. But the free movement of the Maoist militia with arms still looks menacing, he said requesting anonymity.Bungkot VDC in the western hilly district of Gorkha is considered to be a stronghold of the Maoists. An entry gate has been erected there and the police have always feared to enter. Only last year, a policeman was killed in an ambush while leading a police team towards Batase, a small trading village to the south of Gorkha Bazar."The seven-year-long insurgency has brought nothing but fear and economic hardships to us," a local said.To this, an elderly woman running a grocery, said the conflict between the state and the warring group forced her only son to flee home in 2001. "He was good at studies and was doing well. But when the Maoist tried to force to join the militia, he disagreed and ran away lest he would be forcibly conscripted into their 'army'." She does nor know about whereabouts."Had he been here, he would be running the store, and I would leading my life a little more comfortably," the woman in her 60s sighed.Villagers who had gathered for the interaction at Chihandanda out side the Saraswati Primary School were thrilled to hear that there would be a permanent peace in the country."I do not understand why we braced to kill or be killed while there is no genuine reason. We can solve any problem peacefully through political means," an old said.Asked if the Maoists were still collecting money forcibly, the villagers said they were doing so occasionally. Every evening locals in this part of Gorkha gather at the shops, tea stalls and other public places to listen to the radio to see if there has been any breakthrough in the government-Maoist talks.

CIAA takes statements from five police officers

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KATHMANDU, March 12: The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has started taking statements from the five police officers against whom complaints have been filed that they abused their authority and amassed property beyond their means.

The CIAA had conducted separate raids at their residences last Monday on the basis of the complaints against them.

Those who gave their statements at the CIAA today include Senior Superintendents of Police Kalyan Timilsina, Basanta Raj Kunwar and Kiran Gautam, Superintendent of Police Tapendra Dhoj Hamal and Inspector of Police Basanta Rana.

Kulekhani hydels run smoothly despite long operation hours

By Ambar Mainali

MAKWANPUR, March 12: The 60 MW Kulekhani (I) and the 32 MW Kulekhani (II) hydropower stations constructed under the Japanese loan assistance in 1982 and 1986 in Makwanpur district is running efficiently despite long operation hours and only three major maintenance carried out so far in the past 22 years.The usual practice is that such big power stations go for a big maintenance once every five years, according to Dhaneswor Jha, Assistant Manager at the station. The engineers working at the stations recently came up with differing views regarding the maintenance of the powerhouse.Jha claimed that it was high time the government initiated steps to overhaul the station as it was running most of the time and some leakages were seen in the inlet valve and the turbine. Ramesh Tiwari, who is an engineer working with Jha, differed completely and said, "Apart from the minor leakage in the turbine there were no major problems seen so far in the power house and thus there was no need for a major overhaul. The leakage does not affect the turbines except that the rotation of the turbine is affected to a negligible degree. Problems could arise only if such leakage is allowed to take place for long, Jha said."We have been carrying out minor day-to-day maintenance and the power stations have been running smoothly," Shiva Balak Giri, civil engineer at the station, said.The smooth running of the power station is because of the fact that only silt free water is allowed to flow through the turbines, Jha said. The project is of a run-off-the-river type and is very viable, as water has been collected in a big reservoir (Indra Sarobar) of 76 metres deep having seven-kilometre radius from where it is gushed to the turbines. Regarding the confusion about the maintenance, Laba Lal Pradhan, Manager at the project implementation and renovation branch of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), said, "We have been getting reports of regular maintenance and no major flaws have been reported so far."He said the factors that govern whether a particular power station needs maintenance or not solely depends on the condition of the machines. "When the machines are in working order a major overhaul is usually not required," Pradhan said. The electricity generated from the two power stations is connected to the national grid. Of the total 92 MW generated from the two stations 700 kilowatt (0.7 MW) is transmitted to Hetauda and the rest is transmitted to the Syuchatar substation in Kathmandu.The power stations were shut down completely for four months in 1993 due to floods when the penstock of Kulekhani-1 and the Mandu Head works of Kulekhani-II were completely washed away.Following this damage, the major overhauling of the units were undertaken by Fuji Electric Co. Japan under the Special Assistance for Project Sustainability (SAPS). Works were also carried out by the plant staff under close supervision of experts from the Fuji Company.According to Jha, a computerised Preventive Maintenance and Inspection System (CPMIS) has been introduced in the power station since September 1998 for an effective and efficient maintenance.The Kulekhani-1 has a fully underground powerhouse while that of Kulekhani-II is semi-underground."We have been relieved after the Kaligandiki 'A' hydro project started distributing power," Jha said.After the Maoists attacked the Khimti power station, the pressure on Kulekhani-I and Kulekhani-II has increased.The government is mulling to build Kulekhani-III after which the total output of the combined Kulekhani hydro power station would rise to 107 MW."The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has been assisting in the feasibility study of Kulekhani-III," Sushil Bhattachan, JICA programme officer said.Nepal has an installed capacity of roughly 550 MW at the moment, according to NEA sources. Of the total, 96 MW has been generated by private companies, 12 MW from diesel generators, 130 kilowatts from solar power and the remaining by NEA. Only about 15 per cent of the population have access to electricity.