Briefs (Spotlight Weekly)

Crown Prince Paras and Crown Princess Himani grace the program organized by the Armed Police Force

NEPAL GOVERNMENT HAS DECIDED to offer US$ 100,000 as relief assistance to Sri Lanka after a huge earthquake – 9 in richter scale - that had the epicenter in the Indian Ocean triggered giant tsunamis killing tens of thousands in the coastal areas ranging from Maldives to Malaysia. Sri Lanka was one of the worst affected. Over 25,000 people are reported to have died in Sri Lanka. It has already announced ‘national disaster.’ Likewise, the government has also decided to offer US$ 50,000 as relief assistance to the Maldives.

NEPAL RED CROSS SOCIETY (NRCS) has appealed the people to come out with help to aid the victims of tsunami disaster in the South and South-east Asian region, which is reported to have claimed the lives of over 70,000 people in seven nations in the rims of Indian Ocean. The NRCS has set up a fund at its account in Standard Chartered Bank and Nepal Bank. It has urged others to deposit the amount they would like to provide in its account. Likewise, NGO Federation of Nepal, too, has announced to hold a campaign to collect relief funds to help the disaster victims.

THE TOTAL ANNUAL EXPENDITURE on advertisement in the country stands at around Rs 2.25 billion. According to a study by Bhoj Raj Aryal, a lecturer at the Tribhuwan University who recently earned his Ph.D degree on ‘Affect of Advertisement in Electronic Media,’ out of the total ad expenses, 32 percent are used in print media, 18 percent in electronic media and the remaining 50 percent in hoarding boards, displays, pamphlets and so on. The study points that 67 percent of people living in and around Kathmandu Valley have access to television. The study states that languages used in advertisements in electronic media are not simple and easily understandable.

CLOSE ON THE HEELS OF DEVASTATING tsunamis triggered by big earthquake in South and South East Asia, geologists here have pointed to the high risk of quake to the Kathmandu Valley. They have also appealed to the general public to build their homes as per the code framed by the municipality. They have said that if a quake exceeding 8 in Richter Scale was to hit the valley, almost 70 percent of the buildings could topple. “The soft soil in the valley heightens the risk,” said geologist Amod Mani Dixit. Seventy years ago when a big quake hit the valley, almost 60,000 buildings were affected and 4296 people died. According to the Kathmandu metropolitan city authorities, over 5000 buildings are constructed every year in the city. “And the foundations of over 70 percent of these buildings are very weak,” said Devendra Dangol, chief of the mapping section of the municipality.

EXPERTS HAVE SAID THAT HALF DOZEN VDCs of eastern hilly region could be inundated if the proposed Kosi High Dam is constructed. The concerns were raised at a time when Nepal and India are trying to prepare its Detailed Project Report (DPR). Speaking at an interaction program held in Dharan to discuss the cost-benefit of the project among the people who are likely to be affected by the dam, experts said the dam would inundate villages in surrounding Okhaldhunga, Ramechhap, Taplejung and Sankhuwasabha districts. The project proposed to construct 271 m high dam.

AFTER DAYS OF UNCERTAINTY, THE Bangladesh government has finally postponed the 13th Summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) as per the request made by Sri Lankan government. The Summit was scheduled to be held on January 9-11 but government of Sri Lanka requested for its postponement in the wake of deadly tsunamis that killed over 25,000 people in the island nation. Three members of the SAARC – India, Sri Lanka and Maldives – have suffered from the tsunamis. The new date of the summit will be scheduled in consultation with the seven member states. According to SAARC Charter, the Summit cannot be held if any one of the member states is unable to participate.

INDIA HAS REQUESTED NEPAL GOVERNMENT to provide adequate security to its citizens and properties after the Maoists exploded a bomb at the Indian Consulate Office in Birgunj on Thursday (December 30) morning. The explosion had shattered the glasses of windows of the Consulate as well as the adjoining Land Reforms Office in Sripur. The Indian embassy immediately wrote a letter requesting security to the Foreign Ministry, which has been forwarded to Home Ministry.

THE DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION OFFICES (DAO) of Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur districts have started to distribute printed citizenship certificates. The government has started this procedure with the help of High Level Information Technology Commission of the Home Ministry and National IT Center. This new system has been introduced in order to provide the service quickly and reliably as well as to facilitate the record-keeping. On the first day, DAOs of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur distributed printed certificates to 65, 23 and 20 persons respectively. This system is expected to reduce the hassles in the procedure of citizenship issuance. The government has vowed to expand this service gradually to all the districts. In future, the government plans to accept applications for citizenship via email, too.

THE CONFEDERATION OF NEPALESE INDUSTRIES (CNI) has made a generous offer of assistance worth Rs 1 million to help the tsunami victims of Sri Lanka. The CNI handed over 3 tons of goods valued at Rs 1 million to the Sri Lankan ambassador to Nepal Grace Asirwatham. Various members of the CNI chipped in with whatever assistance they could offer. Binod Choudhary, president of CNI, handed over 1,000 cartoon of noodles. Sarika Khetan donated 300 pieces of clothes; Nand Kishore Ghiraiya gave 50,000 tablets of medicines and Rakesh Chachan provided 10,000 tablets of medicines. Likewise, Ratan Sanghai and Narayan Bajaj came up with 150 pieces of garments each. Shiv Kumar Adukia gave 650 blankets; Pradip Somani, Sunil Bansal and Dipak Sawarthia gave 65 blankets. Similarly, Madhusudan Agrawal handed over 5,000 tablets of medicines along with 12 sleeping bags. Mohan Khetan donated 2,250 food packets. Pawan Golyan and Ashmi Rana gave 200 shawls and 100 sweaters. Hari Sharma donated 20,000 tablets of medicines; and Sanjay Dugar donated 100 cartoons of mineral water. Atmaram Murarka and Satish More gave Rs 11,000 and Rs 5100 cash respectively while Kumar Thapa chipped in with 1 cartoon foodstuffs.

RASTRIYA PRAJATANTRA PARTY (RPP) - NATIONALIST has handed over a memorandum to the Prime Minister urging to take up the issues of border encroachment by India. In a memo, the party states that the Nepali patriotism demands that the government firmly put its issues before Indian authorities. In the memo signed by Rajeshwore Devkota, president of RPP (Nationalist), the party has pointed to border encroachment in places like Kalapani, Susta, Bara-Parsa, Chhinamasta (Saptari district), Parasan (Kanchanpur), a section of Mahendra highway near Kosi barrage, Junge pillar (Mechi border) and so on. It has expressed concern over the indifference of the Nepali government to raise such an issue of national importance and territorial integrity.