Bhaktapur (Thimi), Mar. 31:A team of Nepalese journalists made an on a the spot tour of the National Tuberculosis Centre and the saarc Tuberculosis Centre organised by the Japanese Embassy with an objective of familarising the journalists with the various programmes and projects run under Japanese cooperation in Nepal.
The team included journalists, planners, health researchers and officials of Japanese Embassy.
Welcoming the team, advisor to the Tuberculosis Controls Project under the Japan International Cooperation Agency (jica) Dr. K. Osuga said jica had been working in phases in the tuberculosis control works of Nepal since 1987.
Dr. Osuga said the second project of jica will end in July adding that the jica has initiated the process of launching a new project to control chest and lung diseases.
At the programme senior chest specialist of the National Tuberclosis Centre Dr. Kashi Kant Jha informed about the methods used in the treatment of tuberculosis.
Answering queries raised by the journalist, he said since the launching of the dots programme in 1996, the lives of 60,000 people have been saved in Nepal.
In 1962, Japanese doctor Noburu Iwamura had provided services to the rural public health and tuberculosis control works as a volunteer.
After his work in 1976, Japanese govenment launched the first phase tuberculosis control programme in Nepal from 1987 to 1994 through jica.
During the programme, jica build the National Tuberculosis Center and the Pokhara based regional tuberculosis center and provided tecnical know-how and equipment.
During the first phase of the project, the Japanese experts had trained 1700 health workers including 24 doctors of the national and regional tuberculosis centers.
Under the second phase programme, the dots method of treating tuberculosis launched who was incorporated in the national tuberculosis control programme.
The project has also been cooperating in the production of education-oriented materials for tuberculosis control, to coordinate other Japanese assisting agencies with hmg, supplying necessary medicines and materials to the centres, expanding the laboratories and microscopic centers and assisting in various training programmes.
Kathmandu, Mar. 31:The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has decided to observe a nation-wide Trade Industry Day (TID) on Chaitra 28 (April 10), the day FNCCI is officially registered over three decades ago.
“The TID is being observed with a view to add to the dignity of industry and commerce and to highlight this sector’s contributions in nation building, FNCCI President Pradeep Kumar Shrestha told a press conference here this afternoon.
Shrestha said that the TID would be a ‘day of commitment’ of the private sector to prove that it was the real economic force of the country.
The TID would feature programmes throughout the country to make people aware of the contributions of industry and commerce in national development. It would also feature a brainstorming on the strategies to be taken in future for the development of this sector. Felicitation of trade and industry pioneers will be another aspect of TID.
Shrestha said that the TID would serve as a forum to deliberate on how FNCCI and the private sector as a whole could play a proactive role in consolidating the national economy. Shrestha heads a ten-member TID main organising committee.
The objective of the TID is to give the nation a message that the private sector has a vital role to play in the national economy, FNCCI’s former President Anand Raj Mulmi said.
FNCCI first vice-president Rabbi Bhakta Shrestha said that the target of the TID should be production increase and quality improvement.
TID Publicity Committee co-ordinator Rajendra Khetan said that the committee would co-ordinate various programmes on electronic and print media to make TID a result oriented event.
The TID will be observed annually.
Kathmandu, Mar. 31:Out of a total 133,899 cases filed at the Supreme Court, Appellate Courts and districts courts in the country, 57,282 cases have been cleared while 76,617 are still pending.
According to the annual report for Fy 1998/99 published by the Supreme Court, among 4,293 writ petitions filed at the apex court, 1,280 have been cleared while 3,031 are pending.
Similarly, 1,414 out of 8,675 appeal have been cleared while 7,261 are pending, l05 review petitions have been cleared and 438 are pending, 2,280 petitions for repetition have been cleared and 4,560 are still left, and among 402 petitions for approval for appeal 219 have been finalized and 183 are pending.
Likewise, among 3,296 writ petitions filed at appellate courts, 2,049 have been cleared while 1,247 are pending, and out of 26,237 cases under origional jurisdiction and right to appeal 11,026 have been finalized and 15,211 are pending.
Similarly, out of 52,338 cases of defraudment 23,884 have been settled while 28,454 are pending and out of 31,197 criminal cases 15,056 have been finalizes and 16,144 are still pending, according to the report.
Kathmandu, Mar. 31:New arrangements have been made to regulate visitors’ entry into Singha Durbar complex before 14:00 p.m. during office hours.
As per the arrangements, the heads of the Parliament Secretariat, various ministries, departments, projects and other units within the Singha Durbar complex or the officials authorized by them are required to write the name, family name, address and purpose of the visit of the visitor on a letter pad of the office concerned, sign it and send it to the police unit at the main gate of Singha Durbar.
On the basis of the signed paper, the police unit requires the visitor to undergo security check before permitting him/her entry into Singha Durbar complex, according to the Home Ministry.
All the offices within the Singha Durbar complex are required to inform the Home Ministry about the names and designations of the officers responsible for sending such letters to the police unit. The entry pass thus provided will be valid for only one day.
When Parliament is in session, only the visiting pass issued by the Parliament Secretariat will be recognized and persons holding such a pass will be allowed to enter Singha Durbar only one hour before the parliamentary session begins. Any pass other than the one issued by the Parliament Secretariat will not be recognized.
Likewise, since Singha Durbar is the central secretariat of His Majesty’s Government activities like picketing, demonstration, sloganeering and processions will not be allowed within the complex in view of the security and sensitivity of the Singha Durbar complex.
Dhangadhi, Mar. 31:Ordinary folk living in villages near the Nepal-India border here are being harassed and victimized by Indian border police and forest officials who mete out excesses to them from time to time.
Twelve persons including Khunthuram Chaudhari of Shivaratnapur, Hasuliya VDC-5 were detained at Ghusrakoti forest office in Chandanchauki of India by Indian forest officials on the charge of killing wild boar.
Hasuliya village is located near the Nepal-India border, and the incident took place some two months ago.
The 12 arrested by the Indian officials have accused the Indians of perpetrating atrocities and physical assault on them.
They complain that they were arrested under false charges and incarcerated without their having done anything wrong or violated forest rules.
The 12 villagers were released by the Indian forest officials under the supervision of VDC chairman Hom Bahadur Gurung after payment of fines of Indian Rs. 40,000 each.
People returning home after shopping in Chandanchauki, a local marketplace on the Indian side of the border, are likewise harassed by Indian border police who demand money from them.
According to the locals, people not complying with their demands are physically and verbally abused, intimidated, harassed and sometimes arrested for nothing.
Mayaram Chaudhari, a resident of Hasuliya VDC-4, Mohanpur village who was returning home from the Indian town after purchasing tires for his bullockcart was forced to cough up Indian rupees 5,000.
Local people likewise complain that the Indian border police and forest guards also conduct raids on their homes and intimidate herders from the village tending cattle in the forests.
The locals have demanded immediate steps to stop such excesses and mistreatment of Nepalese at the hands of the Indian border police and forest officials.
Kathmandu, Mar. 31:The Ministry of Local Development and the Rural Development Department of United Mission to Nepal (UMN) recently concluded a two day workshop on rural development co-ordination in Dhulikhel.
The workshop participants included DDC chairpersons from Ramechhap, Accham, Dhading and Kaski, vice chairpersons from Okhaldhunga, Surkhet and Parbat and secretaries from the respective DDCs, as well as from Lalitpur, Makwanpur and Morang. Other participants were personnel from UMN, the Ministry of Local Development including the Joint Secretary, and the Under Secretary, and the section officer from the National Planning Commission.
In the first phase of the workshop, UMN project directors presented their projects’ activities and listened to comments and suggestions from the participants.
In the second phase, the participants discussed how to achieve effective co-ordination and communication between UMN and government line agencies at district and central level. They also discussed their respective roles and responsibilities, future planning and how to mobilize local resources effectively.
Joint secretary of the Ministry of Local Development Mr. Surya Saran Regmi concluded that the workshop was successful in moving forward rural development activities. He also pointed out that DDC chairpersons and others were satisfied with the UMN activities in their respective districts. Pointing at the future action plan, he said that it would be worthwhile to include the approach of the Local Governance Act in rural development programmes for better effectiveness. At the end, he expressed his expectation from UMN of strengthening capacity building of local units of government.
Commenting on the effectiveness of the workshop, the DDC chairperson of Dhading district expressed that the workshop will help strengthen relationships for mutual co-ordination and co-operation in order to make rural development activities more fruitful in the future
Kathmandu, Mar. 31:The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (unctad) secretariat is to organise a regional expert level meeting in Kathmandu in coordination with the hmg, National Planning Commission from April 3 to 5 in connection with the third United Nations Convention for the least developed countries to be held in brussels from May 13 to 20, 2001.
The three objectives of the conference are to assess the results of the programmes launched at the national level in the 1990s especially to review the implementation of the international cooperation in the development assistance, loans, investment and trade, to consider the progressive adjustment and ways for sustainable development of the economy of the least developed countries and to consider the clauses on structures and adoption of the national and international policies.
The meeting will discuss and reach conclusions on the common problems faced by the least developed countries in the regional experts level meeting to be participated in by representatives from 14 least developed countries, international organisations and national experts.
The meeting is to be inaugurated by Minister for Industry and Commerce Ram Krishna Tamrakar.
Kathmandu, Mar. 31: Minister for Foreign Affairs Chakra Prasad Bastola is leaving for Geneva tomorrow.
During his stay in Geneva, Mr Bastola will address the 56th session of the Human Rights Commission.
Nepal is the chairman of the 56th session of the Human Rights Commission.
After attending the meeting in Geneva Minister Bastola will leave for Cartagena, Colombia to take part in the 13th Ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Nations to be held from April 7 to 9, according to Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The major agenda of the 13th Ministerial meeting is to approve and address the current issues before the nam countries as well as to review the progress made on the issues after the 12th nam summit held in Durban, South Africa in 1998.
The Minister will lead the Nepalese delegation to the first south summit to be held in Havana, Cuba from April 10-14, organised at the initiation of the group of 77 of the developing nations and china.
The summit is expected to deliberate on issues of economic and social importance in the context of ensuing north-south dialogues, and promoting cooperation between the developing countries of the world.
The summit is the first gathering of the heads of states and governments from 133 developing countries.
At the meetings, Minister Bastola will be joined by permanent representative (designate) to the united Nations Murari Raj Sharma and joint secretary Pushkar Man Singh Rajbhandari and the senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Dhangadi, Mar. 31:Air passengers to Bhajang and Bajura districts have been stranded here, unable to reach their respective destinations, because of non-availability of air tickets.
Aircraft are the only means of transport for reaching the headquarters of these two geographically most remote districts in the country.
A minimal number of flights available in comparison to an increasing number of passengers in the districts has led to the situation, says Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (rnac) Dhangadi.
The two districts are served by one flight each every week from Dhangadi. Rnac flies every Saturday to Bhajang and every Friday to Bajura. These weekly flights are also cancelled sometimes for various reasons, and as only 11 seats are available to the general public on every flight, people have to wait months to get a ticket, it is said.
People loose time as well as money as they are compelled to stay in hotels while waiting for their turn to fly.
“I have been struggling since the past month to get a ticket from the rnac ticket counter, but in vain”, says Dil Bahadur Bohra. The ticket counter in Dhangadi is always swarming with 80 to 90 persons striving for a ticket.
Rnac had been running two flights a week to Bhajang, but has reduced this to a single flight from today.
People of the district, which is yet to be linked by road, have been demanding additional flights. But the minimal number of airplanes with rnac and adverse weather conditions have led to a reduction, says rnac Dhangadi chief Shambhu Dutta Bhatta.
Meanwhile, local police had to intervene to bring under control a tense situation which arose following a quarrel among people gathered at the rnac counter to buy tickets.
Rnac flies to Chainpur in Bhajang and Martadi, Bajura.
Kathmandu, Mar. 31:The Government of Japan has agreed to provide a grant assistance of Japanese Yen 1589.824 million (equivalent to about Rs. 1020.667 million) to His Majesty’s Government of Nepal.
Two separate exchanges of notes to this effect were signed and exchanged between His Majesty’s Government of Nepal and the Government of Japan here today.
Under the first note, the Government of Japan will provide a grant assistance of Japanese Yen 700 million (equivalent to about Rs. 449.4 million) to His Majesty’s Government of Nepal for the increase of food production under Kr II programme in Japan’s fiscal year 1999.
The assistance will be utilised for the procurement of fertiliser and other related services. His Majesty’s Government of Nepal has to deposit an amount equivalent to two-thirds of the F.O.B. Price of fertiliser in the Kr II counterpart fund in Nepalese currency.
The money deposited will be utilised for the development projects related to agriculture, forestry and other socio-economic sectors.
The Japanese Government has been providing grant assistance for increase of food production programme since 1977.
Under the second note, the Government of Japan will provide a grant assistance of Japanese Yen 889.824 million (equivalent to about Rs. 571.267 million) to His Majesty’s Government of Nepal under the debt relief measures.
The grant assistance is in lieu of repayment of the principal and the accrued interest of the outstanding loans extended by the Government of Japan to His Majesty’s Government of Nepal.
The Government of Japan has been providing such grant to Nepal under its debt relief measures since the fiscal year of 1978.
The debt relief measures is used for procuring commodities which are essential for various development works.
The grant assistance under the notes exchanged today is the fourth portion of Japanese grant under the debt relief measures for the Japanese fical year 1999.
The notes were exchanged by Mr. Ram Binod Bhattarai, secretary at the Ministry of Finance and Mr. Mitsuaki Kojima, ambassador of Japan on behalf of His Majesty’s Government of Nepal and the Government of Japan respectively.
His Majesty’s Government of Nepal has expressed its sincere appreciation to the Government of Japan for this assistance and for its keen interest and continued support for the socio-economic development of Nepal.