News & Views

Determined for action

At a time when the public looks to be losing faith in the Nepal police, effort to find and punish the guilty policemen behind the Tribhuvan International Airport "Dollar Case" may call for a fresh beginning. IGP Achyut Kharel told that "the guilty will be punished according to the gravity of their involvement once the investigation commission submits its report on the matter."

As per the primary findings police personnel, including officers, have already been put under suspension for trying to smuggle abroad US $ 583000.

Telephone station destroyed

The Nepal Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) said that the Maoists insurgents destroyed telephone station located at Ratamata Lek causing communication cut off with the Maoist hotbed of Rolpa, Rukum and Jajarkot.

Meanwhile, the NTC has said that it cannot repair the telephone station until it receives proper security for its technicians, adding that it has repeatedly approached the government for that purpose. "If the government can provide us the security, we can repair the station within a week," said an NTC official. NTC officials in Kathmandu said they have not been able to assess the extent of the damage and that the only information reaching them was through the sentries manning the substation.

According to the Home Ministry Spokesman, the government will gear up with proper security once the repair works are begun. They have been hamstrung by the lack of communication with the districts.

153 die by famine in Humla

The people of remote mountainous district of Humla in western Nepal , who have been suffering from famine and hunger for months needs immediate food supply for saving further death. As per Chief District Officer of Humla there are 153 death since Baishakh 1 due to hunger and disease related to famine.

Kantipur Publications, alongwith entrepreneur Dipmani Rajbhandari and Neco-AV have decided to immediately rush 16 quintals of rice and medicines as relief assistance to the people of Humla who have been worst hit at the earliest possible time.

The food will be distributed free of cost with the cooperation of local district administration, local political leaders, members of the Red Cross, intellectuals and social workers to the worst affected and needy families who cannot afford to buy food. The announcement of food aid comes as a major boost to the embattled residents of Humla who have been facing mass hunger since the beginning of September last year. The State Minister for Health Bhakta Bahadur Balayar has gone on a field trip to Humla itself, taking along the director of the Communicable Disease Department.

Row between Girija & Wagle

Premier Koirala and Minister Wagle had a hot debate in the cabinet meeting on the appointment of chairman of the Commission for the Landless Settlers, it is learnt. Marshal Julum Shakya, Tarini Dutta Chataut and Basant Gurung are some of the names likely to be appointed as chairman of the Commission. Strong lobbying is underway within the Nepali Congress to grab the post which is considered significant for mobilizing people at grass root level in 55 to 60 districts throughout the country.

Premier Koirala has differences with Minister for Land Reform and Management Chiranjibi Wagle over the appointment, according to a reliable source. The posts of district chairpersons in 20-25 district offices of the body are still vacant due to the unresolved row over the issue.

Leftist groups united

The joint struggle launched by nine leftist groups has been maintaining its campaign for gaining support from the people at the grass root level. Opposition party CPN UML is not in the group but all other important factions of the lefties are manning the political front. "Together we can beat our comrade rival UML and ideological enemy NC" they said in public speeches across the nation.

Launching their agitation through presentation of memorandum to the PM in Kathmandu, the joint front has intended to cover all districts in the near future. All the 9 parties have assigned their representatives leaders for such protest meetings.

Kanak M Shakya is no more

Democratic activist Kanak Man Shakya, 68, died of kidney failure at Bir Hospital. Member of Rajparishad late Shakya, who joined Nepali Congress in 2007 B.S. was in self exile in India for nine years during the struggle for restoration of democracy. He returned to the country after the announcement of general amnesty in 2028 B.S. Late Shakya was also the executive member of the Lumbini Development Trust. He is survived by his wife, 2 sons and 2 daughters.

Kalapani issue deepens

The pro-CPN(ML) student body ANNFSU said it will start Kathmandu-Kalapani March on June 5. Aimed at mobilizing public opinion against the Indian occupation of the strategic tri-junction at Indo-Nepal border in far west, the protest march will begin at the heart of Kathmandu in Ratna Park, the student leaders said. Secretary Bamdev Gautam will flag off the march on June 5, said the student leaders, adding journalists will accompany the marchers.

Meanwhile, the Indian Government has implied that Nepali territory at Kalapani, bordering India and Tibet, belongs to India and has been on the Indian side since the 19th century. The Indian Embassy, in a press release issued, stressed that this was acknowledged by successive British Indian and Nepali governments. The press release also claims that there is no Indian army presence in the border.

Nepal is being undervalued in world market: Dale

Iain Dale, Ambassador for British Business was in Kathmandu from May 9 to 13, looking at investment opportunities. During his stay, our reporter talked to Mr. Dale as to how trade and economic relations can be strengthened between the UK and Nepal.

Nepal is the most beautiful country in South Asia, however, she is being undervalued from the rest of the world. She possesses huge potential in the field of tourism, clothing and handicraft sectors, but hasn’t been able to capitalize the potentials - this explains why Nepal has lagged behind in her development endeavour, says Mr Dale. "Nepal should be able to explain the world community, especially the investors about her enormous potentials to make Nepal a more economically viable and financially secured place."

Presently, according to Mr. Dale, Britain is expanding its trade and investment with 60 countries of the world. However, Nepal is not in priority list for British investment, he informed. There are wonderful areas to cater to the tourists here and tourism can be one of the potential sectors for Nepal’s overall development, Mr. Dale views. Visiting Nepal for the third time, Businessmen Mr. Dale hopes to extend his business wings here, in tourism sector.

Explaining the objectives of his visit, Mr Dale mentions that he helps British companies to search out long term investment opportunities in Nepal. Besides investment, I’m also working to promote export and import to and from Nepal. He says, "when I get back to the UK, I will write a report and submit to the embassy and Department of Trade and Industry."

"Export to Nepal is not only the area British are concerned about but we also want to promote export from Nepal. In doing so we want to be a vibrant participant in Nepal’s endeavour for development." When asked him what kind of support he was looking from Nepalese government for investment, Mr Dale says, as far as the government’s attitude is concerned, cultural shift in dealing with the foreign investors is necessary. Similarly serious thinking is vital from the policy making level to make successful inroads in this competitive world. Reacting to the recent Asian financial crisis, Dale termed it as ‘natural’. Such ups and downs are normal in European business community too, he said.

Hike in Gurkha pension

The British Government could increase the pension of former Gurkha army that have service in the British army by 40 percent on June 10, said the Nepal Ex- Servicemen’s Organization. This was disclosed by the organization at a press conference, but added that it has yet to be confirmed. Chairman of the organization Deepak Gurung said the pension should be increased by 500 percent in accordance with the tripartite treaty, then only would they equal the pension being received by their counterparts that have served in the Indian army. At present they only get about Rs. 2,000 monthly in pension, and is in vast contrast to the pension received by their British counterparts. The British Embassy had informed that the pension would be increased on April 1, 1997. But following demonstrations by another organization operating under the Communist party’s umbrella, the decision was suspended, they claimed.

Another oldest man in Nepal

Mr Adhik Lal Mahato aged 139 years old from Bhokraha Village of Sunsari district, Nepal became another oldest man after the death of the oldest man of the world late Bir Narayan Majhi.

As per his daughter in law, Mr Mahato is suffering from arthritis and is having hearing problem. His teeths are fallen twice but he speaks clearly and memory of the pasts are still fresh.

Accident in Hydel Project

The Trishuli Hydel Project has to close down for immediate repair work causing stoppage of power supply to Kathmandu. The accident occured in the afternoon of 21 May in power generation areas.The timely action saved from major disaster. To cope with limited power supply, the Nepal Electricity Authority has introduced load shedding in the morning and evening; twice a day.

The technical team formed by the government to look into the accident at the Trishuli power project presented its preliminary report to Minister of Water Resources Shailaja Acharya, which says excessive hammering done on the butterfly valve during the maintenance last year may well have led to the accident. On May 22, sudden floods inundated the power house that supplies over 24MW to the Central Grid, destroying parts of the facilities completely when butterfly valve at No 1 Unit burst open.

Girija to initiate British Government for Gurkhas

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala assured Ex-British Gurkhas for their welfare and increase in pensions and other perks. Mr. Koirala said that his government will initiate discussions with British Government and solve the matter amicably in the near future. Mr Koirala said he will do all possible things for the betterment of Nepalese worked as ex British army. Mr Koirala had hosted a receptions in honour of Nepalese Victoria Cross (VC) winners in his official residence at Maharajgunj.

PM visits Maoist areas

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala embarked on a whirlwind tour of the Maoist affected districts of Rolpa, Rukum, Jajarkot, Salyan and Gorkha "to take first-hand stock of the situation in the area."

PM Girija Prasad Koirala took his ideological battle to the Maoist heartland which is the first such trip by a sitting Prime Minister since the rebels launched a "Peoples’ War" campaign two years ago. Koirala addressed many mass gatherings during his tour where he called on Maoists to join the democratic process.

"Terrorism and chaos will never contribute to the integrated development of society", Koirala said. "All political parties should remain within the confines of the constitution. There is no substitute to approaching the people in a democratic society". "If the Maoists are really concerned about the upliftment of the people, let me tell them that we too are concerned for the same reasons. Why then should two parties with similar concerns approach the issue from opposite directions", he asked.

Political analysts are almost unanimous in their verdict on Koirala’s whirlwind tour: the Prime Minister took the right and courageous step, but unfortunately it will not bring the Maoists to the negotiating table. Neither will it solve the problems caused by the insurgency. That is because the government and Maoists differ on the fundamentals of government itself. Koirala and most other mainstream political leaders are true believers in the ideals of multi-party democracy and constitutional monarchy.

Meanwhile, police shot dead seven Maoist guerillas after they started a special operation in Maoist affected areas, sources at the police headquarters said. Special police teams clashed with Maoist guerillas in Maoist flash points such as Rukum, Salyan, Jajarkot and Dhading. "Only Maoist guerillas have been killed in the encounters," police headquarters said.

As per our latest information, Maoists ambushed a vehicle in western district of Salyan, killing Rabindra Shrestha, the area in-charge of MADAS, an INGO died on the spot when the vehicle he was travelling landed on the land mine set by the Maoists. The driver, who sustained injuries, has been hospitalized.

Shastri appointed Mul Bhatta

The new High Priest of Pashupatinath temple, Ananta Krishna Yog Shastri, was officially appointed to his new position amid a colourful ceremony. Mul Bhatta (high priest) Shastri was passed on the Pashupati mantra, the Pashupati holy book, the highly sacred Rudrakshya (bead) and the key to the vault which contains invaluable items by the outgoing Mul Bhatta, Subramanyam Shastri Markandeya. Former Mul Bhatta Markandeya came out of the temple at 9:45 AM to bid farewell to his erstwhile aides. He had served altogether 31 years in the temple, seven of them as the Mul Bhatta of Pashupatinath, the holiest Hindu shrine in the country. According to tradition, once the former Mul Bhatta moves out of the temple’s sanctum sanatorium during the auspicious handover process he should never ever step into the holy place.

"I am very happy to have the privilege to worship lord almighty", new Mul Bhatta Ananta said after taking over.

Early in the morning today, the new priest performed Gaudan (cow offering) at Aryaghat. Later he took oath as the High Priest of the temple from his predecessor while he immersed his hand in the sacred Bagmati river water.

In another phase of the ritual, the new priest, escorted by Pashupati Area Development Fund officials and other Bhandari priests and traditional Panche Baja (five different musical instruments), worshipped ten different Shiva Lingams situated around the Pashupati Kshetra vicinity.

Shastri worshipped each Lingam bestowing nuts and coins. According to a source, the new High Priest also went to the Royal Palace late in the afternoon to confer His Majesty the king with the Chandan Prasad of Lord Pashupatinath. "This is also a part of tradition", he said.

Gulf Air to Kathmandu

Gulf Air announced at its corporate headquarters in Bahrain the introduction of a new service to Kathmandu, Nepal, commencing from July 4, 1998. The airline will operate twice-weekly non-stop services between the Gulf and Kathmandu , Nepal with convenient connection to and from its European destinations, by Airbus A340 aircraft. The opening of this route by Gulf Air follows intensive market studies.

Nepal is a destination that is very much in demand for both the business and leisure travel sectors and Gulf Air has identified a growing demand for travel to Nepal. With its convenient connections and competitive fares, the airline hopes the service will be attractive to passengers from Europe, who wish to tour Nepal , which is renowned for its natural beauty and serenity. Our Kathmandu correspondent added that the Dutch carrier, Transavia Airline is planning to operate weekly flight to Kathmandu, Nepal from Amsterdam in the near future.

Gorkha Airlines commencing schedule flight

Gorkha Airlines, which has been operating chartered helicopter service till now, is starting a regular domestic schedule flight in the near future. For the operation of regular schedule flight, Gorkha Airlines landed its Germany made aircraft - Dornier 228 here recently. Along with the 19 seater, Gorkha Airlines has acquired another 16 seater Dornier from Everest Air for its scheduled flight. With this new area, the airline will be offering both chartered helicopter service and regular scheduled fixed wing flights.

RNAC struggling to cope with dearth of aircraft

RNAC, the national airline, is in deep soup...as always. A Boeing-757 from China South West Airlines which begins service from May 23 will be replacing a leased Boeing-727, will only be available for a mere 53 days. In between, one of the two Boeing-757 jets Royal Nepal owns is being packed away to Brunei for a compulsory "C-Check", keeping it out of service for days if not weeks.

Under such circumstances, what is the poor RNAC management to do? Short of leasing or buying more aircraft, nothing much. In this year of Visit Nepal, if there ever was a need for more aircraft, it is now, say Royal Nepal big-wigs. Madhav Raj Sharma, the political appointee who now heads the national carrier, knows how to articulate that wish. "It is difficult to maintain scheduled services with only two aircraft", he told a group of journalists at an impromptu press meet. "We might have to temporarily close down our Paris sector due to shortage of aircraft. What we need now is more jets".

Those who have followed the airline’s record-breaking aircraft search saga will not be surprised to know that the latest attempt also seems to have floundered, there was only one party submitting a tender to supply aircraft for a two year lease period, despite calling for a "global tender" in local newspapers. "But we are a good paymaster", protests Sharma defending his airline’s credibility. "Past mistakes have taken a toll on our reputation, but all our customers are satisfied with our prompt repayment of loans and regular payments for leasing aircraft". That could be true, but for now, RNAC’s prime concern is to add to its meagre fleet.. "We will be dry-leasing a Boeing-757 for two years with the option to lease-purchase it. And we are also going in the direction towards buying another jet outright", says Sharma.

Altogether, he adds, the national carrier has plans to own four jets if the government is favourable to the proposal. But the government is not favourable to the proposal, if past utterances of Finance Minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat is to be believed. But despite past misgivings, Sharma says, "the government has recently shown positive indications towards providing guarantee". Some of those positive indications by the government could do a world of good to RNAC’s domestic operations as well. Because of its "social responsibility" role, the airline has been saddled with a number of unprofitable domestic routes which together amounts to Rs 140-180 million in annual losses. Moreover, aircraft shortage is telling in the domestic sector as well.

Amputee on top of the world

An American professor outfitted with an artificial leg scaled Mt. Everest and became the first amputee to climb the world’s tallest mountain. Tom Whittaker, 49, an adventure education professor from Prescott, Arizona, reached the 8,848-meter summit with four high altitude Sherpa guides. This was his third attempt. His two earlier bids in 1989 and 1995 had been foiled by bad weather and freak storms.

In another sensitive effort, Appa Sherpa reached the summit of the world’s highest mountain for a historical ninth successful ascent to Mt. Everest. Appa, 38, became the only second human to achieve the feat. His idol and neighbour Ang Rita Sherpa, 50, holds the record for summitting the 8,848-meter high Mt. Everest for an unprecedented 10 times.

British generators scandal

Some 200 back-up generators meant to be used as alternative power source for telecommunications network all over the country are not serving the purpose. Nepal Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) imported the generators made by British company Slington two years back that cost the corporation over Rs. 50 million. One such generator, valued at Rs. 8 million with the capacity of 500 KVA, has been installed at the regional headquarters here at Sundhara. But the automatic generator is operated manually and needs a hammer blow to stop it. These generators are supposed to start automatically as soon as the electricity supply is disrupted, but the few that are running are being operated manually.

Experts question the utility of these back-up systems as the existing telecommunication equipment comes with its own power back-up unit that can run for 30 hours after the power outage. Officials would not reveal the total number of such generators and the exact amount spent on them. "These generators, imported during the fifth phase of NTC’s development program (1992-1997), were found to consume excessive diesel, rusty and had been repainted—and even the labels had been rewritten to give them a fresh look," said an NTC technician.

Experts say the control panels and hour-reading meters are the main problems. At times, the generators at the regional office cannot be switched off and one has to use hammer on the governor, according to an NTC employee who did not want to be identified.

What should have been brand new generators were later found to be used and reconditioned before they were shipped to Nepal. A mobile generator costing Rs. 16 million was also imported at that time. But the generator is facing similar problems. Even after two years, many of the generators remain idle. The fifth phase has come to an end but the installation process is still going on. A group of Nepalese technicians visited England for special training on installation of the Slington generators but they have also failed, according to a source.

Nepalese dead in Lebanon

Two Nepalese soldiers working with the UN Force in Lebanon were killed and two injured recently in a car accident in South Lebanon. As per UN spokesman, the accident occurred near the village of Hinniyeh when the drive lost control of the vehicle and went into a ditch. The condition of the other two was not known.