Their Majesties visit Goa

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KATHMANDU, Mar. 27: Their Majesties the King and Queen enjoyed boating in Goa, India today, in connection with the scheduled programmes of Their Majesties' visit to India.

Crown Princess opens NESOG Congress

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU Mar. 27: Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Himani Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah inaugurated the 6th International Conference of Nepal Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (NESOG) today.

Speaking at the inaugural function of the three-day conference, Health Minister Upendra Devkota said Nepal's health sector faces a challenge which is as high as Mt. Everest. "Ninety percent of the deliveries are still carried out at home and without the assistance of trained medical attendants," he said.

He said that the NESOG was an effective organisation to improve this situation. He asked the hospitals to design a curriculum for six-month-long trainings to mid-wives and others involved in deliveries, so that they could be carried out safely and in hygienic condition.

He said the Ministry of Health was working to keep its promise of improving the country's health sector. "The ministry is really serious in this matter," he said.

Speaking at the conference, president of the society Dr. Sudha Sharma said that women who are suffering from menopause problems need not worry.

The conference, themed 'Life and Health at Menopause', focuses on women's health issues especially relating to safe motherhood, adolescence, care of women and on improving the overall health situation of women in Nepal.

On the occasion, Sharma handed over the presidentship of the NESOG to Dr Saraswati Upadhyaya.
General Secretary of the Society, Dr. Pramila Pradhan said that the society aims at improving the situation of women's health by promoting safe motherhood. She said the society runs health camps in the rural areas to provide health facilities to women.

Professor Hiroaki Soma of Japan said that the Japanese government was going to run mid-wife training in Nepal. He added that the Japanese Government was willing to help Nepal in the health sector especially to improve the health of women and children.

Efforts on for effective civil service:Pandey

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Mar. 27: The government has begun home work to make the civil service effective, dynamic and accountable so that the bureaucracy is able to face the challenges of the new century.
At a meeting of the Commission for Administration Reforms, chaired by Minister for General Administration, and Information and Communications Ramesh Nath Pandey here today, experts pointed out the need for timely amendments in the existing acts in order to transform the administration into a permanent government.Pandey is also chairman of the Administrative Reforms Committee.

They also admitted that the current structure of the civil service had failed to deliver reliable services to the people. They called on materialising the concept of 'Governance Reforms' by bringing timely changes in the Civil Service Act. The minister said that to make the civil service efficient, effective and accountable to the people, there was a need to make amendments in the Act. Minister Pandey said that the discussion was being held to give concrete shape to the administrative reforms programme through collective wisdom. "The government is committed to establishing an administration that is free from politics. We should develop a system in which civil servants give topmost priority to national interest," Minister Pandey added.Stating that power decentralisation is a must for an efficient and effective administration, he said that laws should be formulated to delegate power to the district-based offices.

"The government is not making any changes in the acts to fulfil its immediate interest. It is doing this by taking the larger interest of the nation into consideration," he explained.

Pandey informed that the commission would submit the recommendations at the meeting of the Administration Reforms and Monitoring Committee, which will be held in mid- April. The Prime Minister will chair it.He also instructed to make suggestions to the proposal made by the then council of ministers in February 2002 to abolish the employee's unions.At the meeting also attended by Foreign Minister Narendra Bikram Shah, Finance Minister Badri Prasad Shrestha said that the employees could face a situation in which they cannot obtain salaries if the pension fund is not managed scientifically.

Dr. Shrestha said that the government should pay attention to administrative reforms so that the administration is dynamic and economical to handle. Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare Gore Bahadur Khapangi said that the Public Service Commission should bring changes in its examination system so as to increase the participation of ethnic people in the civil service.
Khapangi said that the government should adopt a policy of reserving 50 per cent of the seats in the civil service to women. However, Minister for Health and Science and Technology Dr. Upendra Devkota said that the reservation policy would weaken the notion of competition. Dr. Devkota said that employees should be given the right to continue in their job until their bodies allow them to do so.
Chief secretary Dr. Bimal Koirala pointed out the need to effectively implement 'Governance Reforms' to make the administration accountable to the people. He said that the offices, which are directly concerned with the common people, should be given more rights to carry out everyday responsibilities.Secretaries in the different ministries said that the acts should integrate past experiences and models of other countries, attract manpower with knowledge about development concepts and bring changes in the traditional structures while amending them.

'Kerosene ration cards soon'

By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, Mar. 27: Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Mahesh Lal Pradhan has said that the price of petroleum products was hiked with great penitence after all alternative solutions were blocked for Nepal Oil Corporation.

But in a bid to provide relief to the common people, Minister Pradhan said that the government had decided to fix two different prices. "The government will provide 10 litres of kerosene per month to every family at Rs. 23 a litre," he said. "This provision will come into effect soon," he added.
A litre of kerosene currently sells at Rs. 28. "The present government is mulling over the challenging task of introducing 'ration cards' in the country. This will help streamline the supply system," Minister Pradhan maintained.

He also said that an independent oil selling institution would be introduced in the future so that consumers can benefit from competition.

Member of the National Planning Commission Dr. Yubraj Khatiwada said that the price rise in the country at present was not more than three per cent. "Although petroleum products have a great impact on the industrial sector, there should be no price hike in industrial production," he said.
"The price of fuel is very high in the international market. Now that the price has gone up, smuggling of POL products will stop."

However, he also maintained that the shortcomings of the NOC should be checked in time if there is to be smooth and regular supply of oil.

Employees at the NOC are happy that their institution will not have to bear heavy losses.
"This price hike was a long felt need. Had the price of POL products been raised two years ago, we would not have suffered financially from smuggling of our fuel to India," acting general manager of NOC said.

"As far as distributing ration cards is concerned, it is certainly a challenging task to provide them to 420,000 households. But we are committed to do so."

President of Nepal Petroleum dealers' Association Saroj Pandey said that politics was behind the demonstrations held on Wednesday to protest the price hike.

"How long can a nation's economy face a deficit from a product that is not domestically produced? If its price is not maintained at international prices, it is sure to thrash the nation's economy," he said.
The NOC on Tuesday had raised the price of petrol to Rs. 56 a litre from Rs. 52, diesel to Rs. 35.50 from Rs. 26.50 and kerosene and cooking gas to Rs. 28 and Rs. 700 respectively, up from Rs. 17 and Rs. 650.

"Although the current hike in the price of POL products will pinch the pocket of the general public at present, it will contribute to the overall economy of the country in the long run," a high-level NOC source told The Rising Nepal.

The source also said that the recent hike was their compulsion as the past governments failed to quote the right price of the POL products as they were only after improving their political image.

Mahara raps past govts

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KATHMANDU, Mar. 27: Leader of Nepal Communist Party (Maoists) and member of the talk team of the Maoists Krishna Bahadur Mahara has said his party was compelled to launch armed rebellion because of the attitude and manners of the governments towards the people following the restoration of democracy in 1990.

Speaking at a talk programme organised by parliamentary studies and development organisation here today Mahara said the main reason for the triumph of the Maoist rebellion in the country is the irresponsible and immoral attitudes of the governments towards the people.

Stating that no agreements so far have been made with anyone regarding the present political settlement, leader Mahara said the truce was the collective necessity of the day rather than the wish of any single side.

The Maoists signed the cease-fire after with the government to hold talks after the government withdrew the price fixed on the heads of the Maoist leaders, red-corner notice issued to arrest them through INTERPOL and terrorist tags levelled against them, he said.

We agreed to hold talks with the government after it agreed for round table discussion, Interim Government and Constituent Assembly in order to move ahead the peace process, Mr Mahara said.
Reiterating his party's stand over the need of Constituent Assembly, leader Mahara said, 'We are of course the advocate of Republican Constitution, but at present we are being presented in a liberal manner considering the country's situation and political state.'

Expressing scepticism over the delay for initiating peace talks and indifference shown by the government towards peace process, he demanded that the peace talks should be started at the earliest.

He sated that the agreements are to be made under the participation of civil society, political parties, Maoists and traditional forces.

Expressing regret on behalf of his party for any defects occurred during the past years, Mr Mahara said, 'We're ready even to apologise for any misbehaviours shown by our cadres and insurgentsto the press.'

Speaking from the chair, former speaker and chairman of Parliamentary Studies and Development Organisation Daman Nath Dhungana said the civil society is eager to see and know the Maoists as the practitioners of parliamentary system.

Pointing out the need to include civil society in the peace talks Dhungana said the Maoists also should come to the people and have faith on ballot rather than bullet.

Also speaking on the occasion were general secretary of the organisation Ganesh Pandit, director Dr. Surendra Bhandari and intellectual Hiranya Lal Shrestha.

Lhakpa to install brass made Nepalese flag atop Everest

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Mar. 27: Lhakpa Gelu Sherpa intends to install a Nepalese flag made of brass weighing five kilos atop Everest to mark the Golden Jubilee celebration of the first ascent of the world's tallest peak.

Lhakpa aims at scaling the Everest in less than 15 hours, a world record. He said he would reach camp Two in four hours, south col, from where the final assault on the top is made, in the next four hours. The previous record of 16 hours 50 minutes was set by late Babu Tsheri Sherpa in 1999.
Lhakpa hopes to summit the 8,848-m peak this autumn twice. First, he will go with the Jubilee American Expedition led by Paul Giorgio. Lhakpa's brother will accompany him to the summit. He is making the second bid at his own initiative.

Lhakpa, 35, who has already conquered the Everest nine times - six times from the Nepalese side and three times from the Tibetan side - is the father of two sons and a daughter. His mountaineering career started in 1991 with a French team and reached the summit of Everest for the first time in 1993 with a British expedition through the south ridge. His last expedition was in 2002.

According to him, 75 per cent of the cost of his expedition will be provided by the Americans. Ang Tshering Sherpa, president of Nepal Mountaineering Association, has provided three oxygen cylinders, each of four litres. Its second vice president, Bikrum Pandey, has provided Rs. 15,000 on behalf of his firm, Himalaya Expeditions.

He will start the journey in between May 15-25 depending upon the weather. Six Sherpa guides will accompany him.

The flag he has made is six feet high. Asked whether the flag would remain upright over a long time, he said, "I placed gas cylinders on the top in 2001, and in 2002 I saw them standing still upright with more ice packed around it. This only makes me believe that the flag will remain standing."
He said that thereafter, a photograph of the flag should serve as proof of having climbed the Everest.
While Lhakpa attempts to break the speed record on the Everest, Pemba Dorji from Rolwaling also hopes to make it to the summit in 16 and a half hours.

RNAC starts Ktm-S'pore flights from March 31

By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, Mar. 27: The Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC) will resume its Kathmandu-Singapore flights from March 31, and extend it to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. RNAC had stopped flying to Singapore about one-and-a-half years ago.

RNAC will operate two flights a week on the Kathmandu-Singapore-Kuala Lumpur-Kathmandu route.
The national flag carrier aims to tap the potential Southeast Asian market and to cater to Nepalese going to Malaysia for employment. Around 80,000 Nepalese are working in Malaysia.

The flight leaves for Singapore on Mondays and Thursdays at 23:30, and it will leave for Kuala Lumpur from Singapore the next mornings. The flight will arrive in Kathmandu at 11:25 A. M. on the same day. The two-way fare to Kuala Lumpur is Rs. 35,000 and Rs. 18,000 for one way.

"We have decided to operate flights on this route on the basis of a study report which says it is viable," Mohan Prasad Khanal, newly appointed managing director of the national carrier, told The Rising Nepal.

The flight operation will be helpful in providing connecting flights to those who want travel to and from Australia, America, New Zealand, and other countries.

With the addition of Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, RA flies to 10 destinations in eight countries of Asia.

'No rise in public transport fare made'

RSS

KATHMANDU, Mar. 27: The Department of Transport Management says that the fare of any type of public transport or vehicles has not been increased at present.

No entrepreneur/organisation has the right of unilaterally fixing the transport fare as per the existing rules and regulations of the country and keeping the difficulties of the entrepreneurs also in mind, a meeting would be held immediately to take a decision in this regard, Chhabi Raj Panta, Director General of the Department, told RSS.

His Majesty's Government has constituted a seven-member recommendation committee under the convenorship of Director General Pant in order to review existing transport fares considering the effect of the government's decision to hike the price of petroleum products in view of the recent developments in the international arena.

The committee also comprises representatives of the Nepal Transport Entrepreneurs Federation and the National Transport Entrepreneurs Federation.

Sudip Acharya of the Valley Traffic Police Office said that the previous transport fares remain in place in the context of no formal information regarding increase in transport fares from any quarters and since no public transportation vehicles can unilaterally fix the transportation fares.

Water rules
Beautiful words, poor implementation

By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, Mar. 27: Nepal is well ahead of many other countries in formulating rules and regulations related to water, but what is needed is their proper implementation, Minister of Water Resources Dipak Gyawali has said.

Speaking at a public hearing on water supply in the Kathmandu Valley today, the Minister said that people have been suffering from various problems related to the supply of drinking water and irrigation. These problems should be addressed gradually, he said.

The interaction was organised by NGO Forum for Urban Water and Sanitation on the occasion of the World Water Day.

The Minister even claimed that it would be possible to supply electricity to the whole country within three years if the Ministry of Water Resources were to get subsidies similar to that enjoyed by Nepal Oil Corporation.

He, however, defended the recent hike in the price of petroleum products, saying it was done to save Nepal Oil Corporation from financial breakdown.

It is not possible to bear a loss of Rs. 740 million every month, he said. "But even after the hike, the corporation is still bearing a loss of Rs. 100 million every month."

Bharati Sharma, Secretary at the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works, said that the government had plans to provide drinking water to all Nepalese by 2012. The government should focus on logistics, physical and economic support to meet the goal, he said. Six million people still do not have access to clean drinking water in the country.

Considering the scarcity of water in the Kathmandu Valley, he said that the government has been working to solve the water crisis by completing the much talked about Melamchi project as soon as possible. The project will provide clean drinking water to the five municipalities of the Kathmandu Valley.

He said that if the current leakage of 38 per cent can be reduced to a minimum through improvements in the distribution system, it would help ease the situation to a great extent.

The government is working to form a special water supply board to deal with the existing problems of the valley, he informed.

Richard Vokes, Resident Representative of Asian Development Bank, said the poor classes are less benefitted due to lack of proper management in the water distribution system.

"Melamchi, which is a comprehensive project in itself, could be the solution for Kathmandu's water crisis. But the supply system should be properly managed by integrating the community as well," he said.

General Manager of the Nepal Water Supply Corporation (NWSC) Kaushal Nath Bhattarai said the corporation is focusing on increasing production, leakage control and equitable distribution to deal with the water shortage problem.

He said the NWSC is looking for short and mid-term projects to address the problem at hand before the water from Melamchi starts flowing.

The Manahara, Balkhu, Shivapuri and Saibu water projects are currently under construction to address the water crisis. They will add about 30-million litres of water per day during the dry season.
Suman Prasad Sharma, senior engineer at the Melamchi Water Supply Development Board, said that as there is little possibility of supplying ground water over a long period, the Melamchi was introduced. The project can supply 170 million litres of water every day. He said that 18 bridges have already been constructed along the 22-kilometre access road to the project site, he informed.

Bio-engineering feasible to curb road slop risks

By Indra Adhikari

KATHMANDU, Mar. 27: In a mountainous country like Nepal, managing slope risks on roads is a great challenge. As the hilly regions of the country contain 69.7 per cent of the total strategic road network, Nepal faces serious problems on these roads especially in the rainy season. The Department of Roads (DOR) lacks the system and resources for sustainable road slope management.
The major challenge for the construction of sustainable roads is that the foothills are continuously cut by more than 6,000 rivers and streams. This causes frequent landslides on the roads.

At an international seminar on Sustainable Slope Risk Management of Roads that began Tuesday, engineers and road experts discussed about sustainable management of roads from landslides and floods. The four-day seminar is being jointly organised by the Department of Roads and Permanent International Association of Road Congress (PIARC).

Failures of road slopes are generally blamed for poor investigation, design and construction disciplines. Concepts like bioengineering, green roads, strengthened maintenance division and labour-based construction were recommended in the past to avoid landslide risks and other disasters, but they were not implemented. Bioengineering is a new low cost concept in slope risk management of roads. It controls the movement of sediments and avalanches, protecting the infrastructure near the roads.

Weak rocks, adverse geological structures and deep soils are often exposed during slope excavation and these become unstable during heavy and prolonged rains, causing landslides on roadways.
The geology of Nepal is fragile with active faults and thrusts running parallel to the length of the country, papers presented at the seminar stated. Most of the roads form a linear network through the hills and mountains, giving rise to cross slopes that pose stability problems.

But there is a good example of road construction that has reduced slope risks. "The case of the Char Ali-Ilam road is an encouraging example of the landslide protection works and stabilisation techniques," a paper said. "Good planning and implementation of the countermeasures have helped achieve successful stabilisation of the slopes resulting in the rehabilitation of an important road link between the two cities in the eastern part of the country."

The seminar has recommended various methods to reduce slope risks in the hilly regions in Nepal and other countries. The Highway Management Information System and geo-environmental unit of the Department of Roads should be made capable of managing database, prediction, monitoring and technically backing up the divisions while implementing the yearly plans, another paper has recommended.

The recommendations also include the use of geosynthetics such as polyste, polypropylene, polyethylene, polyamide and polyvinylchloride and other polymer products while constructing roads for slope management.

Plantation alongside the roads has also been stressed. The stems and roots protect soil erosion and slope failure. Plantation also helps improve drainage and reduce seepage.

Other options are to plan cutting slopes that are more than 40 degrees and lower than 20 meters in height. Also educating the farmers not to shave roots near the roads could help reduce slope risks.
If the behaviour of the road users and the local people does not change, slope risks in the roads of the hilly regions will not improve.

With regard to landslide mapping, the Landslide Risk Assessment Project has demonstrated that a reasonable degree of confidence can be placed in the mapping of landslide susceptibility, using simple lithological and topographical factors derived from published geological maps, topographical maps and aerial photographs, another paper said.

To improve the situation, the DOR is developing a guideline in slope disaster management on roads with assistance from the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The seminar is being attended by more than 270 road specialists and engineers from Bhutan, Italy, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, United States of America, Pakistan, Philippines, Indonesia, Tanzania, China and Nepal.

The seminar also discussed problems faced in slope management of roads in the hilly regions of other countries.