A group of armed Maoists shot to death Ganesh Palikhe, chief of Janapriya Multiple Campus in Pokhara. Along with Palikhe, his two security guards were also killed when six armed Maoists opened fire at them as they prepared to get off their vehicle. Two and a half months ago, Palikhe, who is a well known educator and campus chief of one of the largest public colleges in the country since 1992, had saved his campus from being set to fire by activists of pro-Maoist student wing. He had retaliated against the Maoist students and even handed over one of their cadre to the security forces. He had drawn widespread praises from his act. But he had also drawn fierce criticism from obvious quarters. Palikhe has been involved in teaching profession since last 38 years. Over 2500 students studied in his campus. Of them, 400 were studying in different scholarships. He personally also sponsored the studies of 10 students. Leading dailies report.
I Will Not Resign: Dr. Giri
In response to news reports that a company he helped establish and get bank loan had defaulted loan payment, vice chairman of Council of Ministers Dr. Tulsi Giri said that he is yet to receive any notification (about the default) from the bank. “When the bank has not notified me, there is no question of my resignation,” he told journalists. According to the news report he had taken bank loan of Rs 2 million for a private company he promoted. Soon after he left Nepal only to bounce back this year as a vice chairman of the Council of Ministers. Dr. Giri has claimed that he was made to believe by his partners that the loan amount had been settled. The issue has embarrassed the government that has publicly vowed to take action against black-listed defaulters of bank loans. Compiled from reports.
Another Attack In Bus
In a continuation of Madi-style attack on passenger buses, the Maoists attacked a bus carrying local passengers in which there were some security personnel as well in Narke area of Kavre district. Six army personnel and two civilians were killed in the incident. Two more civilians were injured. The Maoists attacked the bus when it reached Narke of Dhulikhel-Nepalthok section. “Policy-wise we have instructed soldiers not to board passenger bus,” said a high-level army officer in the capital. “But at local level sometimes such mistakes occur due to different difficulties,” he added. Meanwhile, in Gorahi of Dang district, the student wing of the Maoists exploded a bomb at Deep Sikha Boarding school destroying two classrooms. The explosion terrified the students staying at nearby hostel. Kantipur daily reports.
Dr. Giri In Black List
At a time when the government appears set to take action against willful defaulters of bank loans who are in the black-list of Credit Information Center , the vice chairman of the current Council of Ministers Dr. Tulsi Giri himself is in the list. According to documents and records, Dr. Giri has not yet paid back the loan he received for Himalaya Plastics Private Limited company from Nepal Bank Limited. Twenty years ago, in 2042, he had received Rs two million loan under personal guarantee. Other partners of the company include Basanta Kumar Gatani and Ram Prasad Gatani – both of whom are also in the black list. A year after he took the loan, Dr. Giri left the country. And now the company stands to pay back around Rs 17.4 million. “I was told by other operators of the company that the loan has already been settled,’ Dr. Giri responded when confronted with the report. He added that he would soon communicate with the bank and his lawyers to determine whether it is now his moral duty (to pay back the loan). Kantipur daily reports.
Koirala Continues Consultations In New Delhi
Nepali Congress (NC) president and former prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala has continued his consultations with the Indian leaders in New Delhi . In this connection, he met with former prime minister duo Chandra Shekhar and I.K. Gujral, former minister George Fernandes, general secretary of Communist Party of India (CPI) A.B. Bardhan and communist leader Harkishen Singh Surjeet. The Indian leaders expressed hope that common program formulated by the seven parties would be able to resolve political and constitutional problems faced by Nepal . Meanwhile, The Himalayan Times daily adds that Surya Bahadur Thapa, president of Rastriya Janashakti Party (RJP) and former prime minister, will embark on a weeklong India visit on June 24. Leading dailies report.
Don’t Push The Govt In The Name Of Human Rights: Dr. Giri
Addressing a program organized to mark the fifth anniversary of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), vice chairman of the Council of Ministers Dr. Tulsi Giri has requested the human rights organizations not to pressure the government in the name of human rights when it was fighting terrorism. “Why are foreigners such as officials of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights in Nepal bothered about our internal affairs such as the formation of the NHRC team?” questioned Giri. His response was directed at the recent comment of Ian Martin, chief of OHCHR in Nepal , concerning the problems the OHCHR was facing to work in the human rights front following the newly appointed NHRC team. “Although grave human rights violations are reported in countries such as the USA , Russia and other nations, only smaller countries like Nepal face the risk of coming under Item 9 at the UN’s Geneva Convention,” he further said. Compiled from reports.
Govt. Secretary Commits Suicide
In what appeared to be a fit of depression, government secretary Dinesh Chandra Pyakurel has committed suicide at his residence on Thursday (June 9) morning. He had apparently consumed poison and even slit his wrist. Family members said that of late he was suffering from some sort of depression. Pyakurel along with eight other government secretaries, had been sent to ‘reserve pool’ three months ago. He used to be Secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies before. Having entered the government service as an assistant engineer, Pyakurel had been consistently promoted. At different times, he was appointed as Director General of Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, executive director of Melamchi Water Committee, Secretary at the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works and Secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office. “He seemed to be much depressed since he was sent to reserve pool,” said another secretary also sent to the reserve pool. In a suicide note he left behind, Pyakurel has said he was taking his own life and no one was to be blamed for the action. “He was found unconscious in the study room when we broke into the room after he did not come out till 7:30 in the morning,” a family member said. He was rushed to hospital where he was declared already dead. Leading dailies report.
RPP Against House Revival
Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) has decided that it is against both the revival of House of Representatives and the election to constituent assembly. The party also termed the demand for the House revival by the seven parties as inflexible attitude resulting in lack of dialogue. It has decided that major demand, in present circumstances, ought to be the formation of all party government. “Remaining within the parameters of constitutional monarchy and multiparty democracy, we will try to bring the constitutional forces at a meeting point,” said RPP president Pashupati SJB Rana. Although the three-day meeting of the party’s central committee made these decisions, dissident faction boycotted the meeting and called for special convention. The dissidents are demanding that the party stand behind the King fully. Leading dailies report.
Army Used Excessive Force In Kanchanpur: RNA
The Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) has stated that army personnel used excessive force in an incident at Jana Jyoti campus in Kanchanpur on April 29. The RNA’s far western regional division headquarters had formed the ‘Court of Inquiry’ to investigate into the incident. The inquiry headed by Brigadier General Daman Bahadur Ghale concluded that forces had used excessive force and the report has suggested that Dilip Tumbahamphe, an army man, be presented before the Military Court under the Military Act 2016, and be sent to three months in prison with prevention of grade increment for two years for his atrocity during the incident. The report states that the army men arrested one Mahesh Pant from a house where he was hiding and he was shot at when he put his hands in his pockets raising suspicion that he was taking out some weapon. Shooting at a person who was totally in control of the forces, was definitely use of excessive force, the report said. The Himalayan Times daily reports.
Police Intervene In Journos’ Rally, 51 Arrested
Police intervened at a peaceful assembly of journalists rallying to protest the restriction on press freedom and stoppage of FM news broadcasting at Bhrikutimandap on Wednesday (June 8) and arrested 51 of them. The journalists were trying to take out rallies in prohibited areas defying the government’s order when the police intervened and locked them up within the premises of Bhrikutimandap. Around 50 journalists including president of Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) Bishnu Nisthuri were arrested from the spot. Various political parties and organizations have deplored the arrest of journalists terming it as a move to end the press freedom. Leading dailies report.
Rice Shortage In One Dozen Districts
Adequate food grains and rice could not be supplied to over a dozen districts thanks to insecurity. According to Nepal Food Corporation (NFC), such districts include Taplejung, Panchthar, Gorkha, Dhading, Baglung and Sindhuli. Likewise, no transporter has yet come forward to accept the tender bid called by NFC to deliver the food stuffs to districts like Bajhang, Achham, Bajura, Darchula, Okhaldhunga and Khotang. Till now less than 30 percent of the demand (for food stuff) could be met in these districts. Transporting food during the upcoming monsoon season will be even more difficult. “There is no situation to transport food from land route. And we don’t have resources to deliver them by air,” an NFC source said. The Corporation has been providing transport subsidy for delivering food to 30 districts. This year, around 20,000 quintals of rice could remain frozen. NFC delivers 65,000 quintals of rice every year. Last year, around 16,000 quintals remained frozen thanks to inability to transport them to needy places. The government has provided Rs 210 million this year for the transport of food. The cost of transporting food by land is around Rs 13 per kg whereas it reaches up to Rs 53 per kg by air. Last year, the Maoists had looted around 6000 quintals of food when they were being transported by land. Likewise, in the past the Maoists have exploded bomb in NFC depots in Kolti, Arghakhanchi, Achham, Rukum and some other places. In remote hilly and mountainous districts, food shortage normally hits between mid-April to mid-October. Kantipur daily reports.
Two One-Column stories
DISCUSSION ON TO SET UP A REGIONAL GRID
A comprehensive international seminar kicked off in Kathmandu on Tuesday (June 7) with the objective of discussing the possibility of setting up a trans-national power grid covering Nepal , Bangladesh , India and Bhutan .
In a seminar participated by 300 delegates from 20 countries in Asia and Africa , experts discussed procedures and policies to promote hydropower as a vehicle for sustainable development. Inaugurating the seminar, vice chairman of Council of Ministers Dr. Tulsi Giri stressed on the need of strengthening the grid among the South Asian countries for promoting regional power trading. He also suggested energy experts to extend the grid to Middle and Far East Asia.
Addressing the Sixth International Conference on Development of Hydropower, Dr. Janak Lal Karmacharya, the president of International Association of Electricity Generation, Transmission and Distribution and managing director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) said that a greater reliance on renewable energy sources such as hydropower would significantly mitigate climate change.
“The exploitation of hydropower is limited to 22 percent of its potential in Asia and only 7 percent in Africa , creating a huge task of harnessing huge portion of this natural resource,” he said.
Ken Ohashi, the Country Director of the World Bank Nepal Office, reiterated the bank’s commitment to finance huge hydropower projects in the future. He further said that Nepal should learn some lessons from countries like Bhutan , which has made considerable achievements in limited time span on hydropower development. He advised Nepal to have agreement on highest political level with India for the successful implementation of power project aimed at exporting power to India .
FM Holds Consultations With Donors
In a first such consultation post February 1, Finance Minister Madhukar SJB Rana met with the representatives of multilateral and bilateral donor agencies at the Finance Ministry on Tuesday (June 7). At the consultations, the minister assured the donors that the government would not hike the security expenditures by compromising development expenditures. He told them that the government would not increase defense spending in a way that could disturb the fiscal stability or development expenditure. The Finance Minister, however, told them that the security expenditure of the government was an investment for peace and development. This investment, he said, was aimed at improving revenue collection, development and national savings. He reiterated that the upcoming budget will be realistic and would be aimed at increasing the economic growth rate by two percentage points within three years. He informed them that the government fully respected the Basic Operating Guidelines of the donors. The donors had issued the guideline to conduct their operation in conflict-hit areas. The minister told the donors that the economic situation was satisfactory and that there was no capital flight. He said that capital flight was not possible when the deposit and profit of banks were increasing. He also appealed to the donors to help the government in resolving the problems of people displaced by conflict. He said the number of internally displaced persons were between 300,000 to 600,000. Finance Secretary Bhanu Prasad Acharya said that the government was committed towards governance reforms, corruption control and economic reforms.
