Briefs (Spotlight Weekly)

King Gyanendra (left) holding talks with Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji in Bejing

NEPAL AND QATAR have agreed to increase the number of flights between the two countries from seven flights a week to eleven flights a week along with four cargo flights. According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), the agreement to this effect was reached during a meeting of aviation officials from the two countries in Doha, Qatar on July 8. The officials also agreed to review and amend the past Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs). The new agreement has also opened up three intermediate points and three beyond points for specified airlines operating from Nepal. The intermediate points include Muscat (Oman) and Karachi while a third is yet to be decided. The beyond points include Bandarseri Begawan (Brunei) and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) while the third destination is yet to be decided.

THE FEDERATION OF Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has urged the government to take the issue up to the Indian government to set up three more Quarantine Check-Posts along the Nepal-India border. In a statement on Friday, the FNCCI said such check-posts should be established along major bordering cities including Biratnagar-Jogbani, Bhairahawa-Sunauli and Mahendranagar-Banbasa. More check posts will facilitate agriculture exports from Nepal into India, the FNCCI said. So far, there is only one check post at Panitanki across the border from eastern Nepal, reports said.

THOUSANDS OF BIGHAS of cultivated land located in Nawalparasi district have been submerged due to construction of an embankment on the Gandaki river at Tribeni on the Indian side, reports said. Many bighas of land of the northern parts of Uttar Pradesh state of India have also been submerged. According to an agreement, 400 cu sec of water can be transported to the Nepali side but during the monsoon with the blocked siphons, thousands of bighas of land situated on the Nepali side are being affected by flooding instead. The doors of the siphons and canal are kept locked by the Indian side.

NEPAL ON FRIDAY opened its Asian Cricket Council (ACC) tournament campaign with an emphatic 105 run victory over Oman, reports said. After 50 overs they were 153 for nine, with Shakti Gauchan top scoring with 37. Gauchan, who was adjudged the man of the match, hit a boundary in 95 balls innings. In another match, Hong Kong demolished Thailand by 231 runs for their second win from two matches. The tournament involved ten non-Test playing countries from Asia and the Middle East and also includes Qatar, Kuwait and Singapore. UAE, Hong Kong, Nepal, Singapore and Malaysia have been earmarked as "fast track" countries by the AC with a view to preparing them for one-day international status.

SECURITY FORCES have shot dead nine Maoist rebels in separate encounters over the last two days, authorities said. According to the Defense Ministry, five rebels, including two women guerrillas, were killed in an encounter when the security forces raided a shelter being used by the insurgents at Nursery forest at Machagarh in mid-western district of Bardiya. Three more rebels were killed in Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's home district, Dadeldhura, One more rebel was killed during security operations in eastern terai district of Siraha. The forces recovered weapons, socket bombs and explosives from the sites of encounter, the Ministry said.

OVER RS. 20 MILLION worth property have been damaged due to attacks and arson by Maoist rebels at forest offices in the far-western region a few weeks back, GORKHAPATRA daily reported quoting officials said. According to Far-Western Regional Forest Directorate, the rebels had destroyed office buildings and properties of 50 Forest Range Posts and 11 Ilaka offices during the attacks. As the forest officials have shifted to relatively safe destinations, timber smugglers have once again started their illegal activities, a news report said. Meanwhile, a telecom tower at Chharchhare hill in Sindhuli district, that was destroyed by the rebels some four years back, is yet to be repaired. People in some one dozen villages in the eastern part of the district remain without telephone facility due to the destruction.

TWENTY-TWO out of 37 public enterprises (PEs) incurred operation losses in the year 2000/01, a latest study said. According to the annual report on Financial Status of Public Enterprises published by the Finance Ministry, PEs in the financial sector incurred a total operational loss of Rs 2.26 billion, mainly due to the huge loss of over Rs two billion incurred by the Rastriya Banijya Bank. Similarly, the PEs in the services sector recorded a loss of Rs 959.6 million, mainly due to the poor performance of the Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC). So much so that the return on investment for the government from the PEs also declined to 1.27 percent in the review year from 1.99 percent in the year 1999/00. In the year 2000/01, the government received dividend worth Rs 245.7 million against its equity share investment of Rs 19.33 billion.

THE ROYAL NEPALESE ARMY has set up a Human Rights cell under its Adjutant General department, an official announcement said. According to the Defense Ministry, the Unit cell look into reports of abuses that might have resulted during military operations across the country. The Unit will deal with reports in accordance with prevalent laws of the Kingdom of Nepal. Meanwhile, a leading industrialist has demanded that the responsibility of providing security to industries be handed over to the army. Chairman of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI), Binod Chaudhary, called on chief of army staff, General Prajwolla Shumsher Rana and urged him to take over the responsibility of the industrial security, KANTIPUR daily reported.

HOME MINISTER KHUM Bahadur Khadka said on Tuesday that the government could consider resuming talks with the Maoists provided they dropped their demand for a constitutional assembly. "Constitutional Monarchy has been accepted by all parties as well as the people and the rebels should also accept it," Minister Khadka said while unveiling the statue of Senior Superintendent of Police, P. S. Sijapati, who was killed by the rebels sometime back in Dang. Sijapati is the highest-ranking police officer killed by the Maoists. "The Maoist demand for a constitutional assembly is irrelevant," Minister Khadka added. Analysts say Khadka's latest remarks could be a departure from the government's repeated stand that talks could not be held unless the rebels lay down their arms.

THE GOVERNMENT has set up an investigation committee last Monday to find out the facts in connection with the news items concerning pro-Maoist editor, Krishna Sen, and submit a report within 15 days. The committee headed by joint secretary at the Home Ministry, Sushil JH Rana, has co-attorney general Kedar Poudyal and deputy chief officer at the National Investigation Department Sri Purush Dhakal as its members, RSS news agency reported. The committee was formed after the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) announced a 15-day long protest programme demanding judicial probe into alleged death of Mr. Sen in police custody sometime last month. "The so-called government's probe committee is nothing but a farce," the FNJ said.

AT LEAST 46 PASSENGERS were injured when a passenger bus heading towards the capital from Surkhet was rammed by an overtaking truck in Mahadevpuri of Banke district on Tuesday. According to police, the accident occurred when the truck, also heading to the capital from Nepalgunj, tried to overtake the passenger bus in a turning but went out of control and hit the bus. At least six passengers are said to be in a serious condition and are undergoing treatment at a hospital in Nepalgunj.

A GROUP OF MAOIST REBELS set fire on a truck and looted more than Rs. 200,000 in cash in western Gulmi district. According to reports, a group of about four rebels stopped the truck at Baletacsal on Monday night and set fire on the truck after spraying kerosene and petrol on it. Eyewitnesses are also reported as saying the Maoists loots Rs. 200,000 in cash from the driver of the vehicle. Meanwhile, a group of Maoist terrorists have shot to death Nara Bahadur Devkota, a teacher at the Himalaya Secondary School at Saurpani in western district of Gorkha Saturday evening when he was sitting with his family members. Devkota was considered the best English language teacher in the district. The rebels have so far killed five school teachers and one health worker in Gorkha district alone, KANTIPUR daily reported Tuesday.

AROUND 200 MAOIST REBELS surrounded two villages in Shamshergunj VDC in Banke district Tuesday night and killed two innocent civilians, injured a few and looted civilian houses all in an effort to avenge the villagers for resisting the terrorists and handing over two of their comrades to the police last week. The insurgents surrounded the villages from 9 p.m. to 12 p.m., called the villagers outside through an announcement over mikes and started beating up innocent civilians, torturing local people brutally and also threatening them. The dead locals have been identified as Chaun Lal Yadav and Mati Tahauli, whose houses were bombed by the rebels after they were killed. The injured personnel are undergoing treatment at Kohalpur Teaching Hospital in Nepalgunj.

IN WHAT IS SEEN AS AN unusual practice, the government has allocated Rs. 456.5 million for the DANDIA funded Environment Sector Program Support (ESPS) Project. The project aims at promoting electric vehicles (EVs) in the country. Ironically, at the same time, it has hit the Nepalese private sector's efforts to promote EV badly, Coalition for Clean Emergency (CCE), a non-government advocacy group, said. While the budget has continued the pollution tax of Rs. 0.50 per liter of diesel and petrol sold in Kathmandu ñ that remains unimplemented for the last three years—due to confusions as to which Ministry is to implement it, the budget has increased customs duty for electric vehicles. Electrical vehicles, which previously had to pay only 10 percent custom duty, now get only 33 percent tax exemption. This means that an electric car now has to pay over 87 percent customs duty. An ordinary petrol or diesel car has to pay 130 percent customs. Additionally, the EV is also required to pay a 10 percent special fee. Now, a REVA car-- an electric car manufactured in India under US-Indian collaboration—which would previously cost approximately Rs. 700,000 will now cost almost twice as much.