PRACHANDA IN LONDON; MAOIST CENTRAL COMMITTEE MEET SUNDAY TO BE AFFECTED

PRACHANDA ARRIVES IN LONDON

Kathmandu, 12 Nov.: Maoist Chairman Prachanda arrived in
London from New York Friday, Nabin Pokhrel reports from the Britiish capital in Kantipur.
He was welcomed at the airport by Ambassador Suresh Raj Chali
Nothing is known of his visit; he leaves Sunday.
The Maoist chief visits the embassy Saturday.
Prachanda arrived from New York where he held discussions
with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
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SUNDAY’S MAOIST CENTRAL COMMITTEE MEET TO
BE AFFECTED

Kathmandu, 12 Nov.: Sunday’s scheduled Maoist central
committee will be affected, Kantipur reports.
Chairman Prachanda is on a foreign trip.
The committee met briefly 3 November.
Maoist Spokesman Dinanatah Sharma said the meeting could be rescheduled.
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CAPITAL’S MINIMUM TEMPERATURE 13 DEGREES CELSIUS

Kathmandu, 12 Nov.: Minimum temperature in
the capital Saturday was 13 degrees Celsius.
The maximum temperature was 23 degrees Celsius.
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18 KILLED IN SUNSARI TRACTOR ACCIDENT CREMATED EN MASSE IN DHANUSHA

Kathmandu, 12 Nov.: Eighteen pilgrims of Tarapur Sirsiya in Dhanusha
killed when a tractor plunged into Chatara canal in Sunsari Thursday were created en masse along Hardinath river in Dhanusha Friday.
The bodies were transported back to Dhanusha from Sunsari for cremation.
District lawmakers and local officials grieved with family members at the tragedy.
One person said he lost 10 close relatives in the accident.
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THREE INJURED IN WILD BOAR ATTACK


Kathmandu, 12 Nov.: Three locals including a female student sustained serious injuries after a boar attacked them in Kabilas
VDC Friday, RSS reports from Nuwakot..

Sunita Nepali, a ninth grader at Nawasanjiwani higher secondary in Kabilas-4 and a local of Panchakanya-9, Mishraphant, including other locals were seriously hurt in an attack by boar in Kabilas-5, Saharetar, informed school headmaster Rameswor Mishra.


Among other injured are Krishna Khadka of Panchakanya-9 and Chitra Bahadur Shrestha of Kabilas-2.

The injured were sent to district hospital after providing first aid in local health post. Villagers killed the boar in a wrath, it is learnt.
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CONFLICT VICTIMS DENIED RELIEF

Kathmandu, 12 Nov.: Some families of the people missing or murdered during the conflict have already received relief assistance from the government twice, Rudra Khadka writes in
Reublica from Nepalgunj..

However, not all of them are so lucky. The families of Bhojraj Dhakal of Pipari, Kohalpur-8 and Khusiram Tharu of Naubasta are still struggling hard to get what they are entitled to in lack of “proper connection”.

On 10 September 2002, Dhakal was forcefully taken away from his house by Maoist combatants while he was busy attending annual death ritual of his father. Tharu, on the other hand, was picked up by the Army in 2002 while he was returning home from India. Dhakal was 36 and Tharu just 22 years of age when they were taken away.

The Maoists had said that they would leave Dhakal within a few minutes. Nine years down the line, Dhakal´s whereabouts is still unknown.

Over the years, Dhakal´s mother Bishnumaya made several rounds of government offices, and the offices of non-governmental and human rights organizations seeking justice but to no avail.

After Dhakal went missing, his wife married another man leaving behind her three children with Dhakal. The responsibility of the children then fell upon the old lady.
Dhakal´s name figures in the list of missing collected by the government and non-governmental organizations.

However, Bishnumaya has not yet received any kind of assistance as promised by the government. "Some other conflict victims at my own village have received relief assistance and that gave me some hope," said the 67-year-old lady. "However, even after knocking on the door of several organizations, I have failed to get anything," she added.

As per the relief provision for the victims, Dhakal´s children are entitled to get Rs 10,000 to 14,000 on annual basis for education in addition to Rs 25,000 to the family.
At the relief distribution centers, nepotism in direct involvement of the representatives of several parties is rife these days.

Commenting on the case of Dhakal, Chief of District Peace Committee Taraprasad Khatri said that Dhakal´s family had already received assistance during the first phase of distribution.

In case of Tharu, his mother Batasiya has accused the administration of deliberately misplacing his file. His whereabouts since the abduction by the Army 9 years ago is unknown. His mother too has not received any kind of support so far.

Meanwhile, in Banke district, the families and relatives of 58 missing persons have received relief assistance till now. Similarly, the relatives of 238 murdered during the conflict have
been provided the assistance.
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JEMC ASKS MoE TO PAY FOR UNSOLD TEXTBOOKS

Kathmandu, 12 Nov.: Janak Education Material Centre (JEMC), a state-owned publishing house that prints school textbooks, has asked the Ministry of Education (MoE) to shoulder the responsibility for its unsold textbooks, Republica reports.

JEMC Director Arjun Bilash Panta and Ram Chandra Silwal, managing director of the JEMC, on Thursday asked newly-appointed Education Minister Dinanath Sharma to ensure that textbooks printed by the state-owned publishing house do not remain
unsold.

“We are capable of printing as many books as the education ministry demands,” Silwal said. “But, the ministry must create an environment for us to compete with private publication houses. Else, the ministry should take up the responsibility for all our unsold textbooks.”

A large number of textbooks printed by the JEMC remain unsold every year.

Last year, about 4.2 million pieces of textbooks remained unsold. Worse still, over 10 million pieces of textbooks had piled up in JEMC go-downs the previous year.

“A large amount of textbooks remain unsold every year despite several precautionary measures and efforts to improve our management because of unscrupulous private publication houses,” Silwal said, adding, “They use low-quality papers to print textbooks so that they can offer more commissions to book dealers. The ministry should either stop this or pay for our unsold textbooks.”

The MoE has made it mandatory for the JEMC and private publication houses to use 70 grammage-papers. However, according to Silwal, most of the private houses use substandard papers and are able to offer up to 45 per cent commissions to dealers.

“We can not offer such a huge commission because we must adhere to the government´s standard. And, we are not subsidized, either. So, our books remain unsold,” he said.

The JEMC officials briefed the new education minister about their problems at a time when the MoE is planning to issue permits to private publication houses for printing and distributing textbooks in other development regions as well. Currently, private houses are allowed to distribute textbooks only in the eastern and western regions.
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•
• MAOISTS CONFIDENT OF PLA INTEGRATION; PARTIES, NA THINK ITS POSSIBLE
•
Kathmandu, 12 Nov.: Though political parties have agreed to integrate a maximum of 6,500 Maoist combatants in the Nepal Army, there are various claims and counter claims on the final number of the PLA fighters who would sign up for integration,
Phanindra Dahal writes in The Kathmandu Post.
A tentative figure of combatants willing to join the Army will emerge from the regrouping process that will begin at the seven main cantonment sites from November 16. However, a clear picture will only emerge after the combatants segregated for integration pass the criteria set for their integration.
Maoist leaders have circulated around a fixed number for each of the seven main cantonments and they have instructed local commanders to ensure that a 'sufficient number' will choose the integration option, according to Maoist leaders. "Our preliminary observation suggests that 8,000 to 9,000 combatants will choose the integration option during the regrouping process," Barsha Man Pun, a key negotiator of the November 1 peace deal and a member of the prime minister-led Special Committee, said.
The PLA Headquarters has sent instructions to the seven divisions under it directing them to ensure that at least 35 percent of the combatants choose the integration option. Of the 19,488 UNMIN-verified combatants, at least 6,821 must choose integration to achieve the target.
PLA Spokesperson Chandra Prakash Khanal said they have kept the ceiling higher than what has been agreed in the seven-point deal to ensure that the final selection does not fall below the 6,500 mark. Combatants will get a three-year relaxation on age and one-level concession on education, but they must fulfill the physical requirements, complete the bridging course and required training to serve in the Army.
According to PLA commanders, a vast majority of the combatants are attracted to the voluntary retirement package that offers a cash package of Rs 500,000 to Rs 800,000 each. The Mohan Baidya faction of the Maoists has asked combatants loyal to them to choose the voluntary retirement option and enter politics.
"The deal has transformed integration into a recruitment process. There is an overwhelming attraction for the retirement package because our friends don't want to take the risk of failing the standards required by the Nepal Army," said a senior commander of a cantonment in Western Nepal. "If the party does not issue a whip and allows combatants to make a free choice, the integration option will fail to attract even 4,500 combatants," he added.
Sources in the Army predict combatants who will opt for integration will number between 3,000 and 4,000. At the same time they know that the Maoists may pile pressure on the combatants and see to it that close to 6,500 of them will choose the option.
A Nepali Congress leader involved in negotiating the peace deal said Maoists should not be "under estimated." He claimed that 7,000 combatants would opt for integration, while around 6,000 will be integrated in the new directorate.
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PITIABLE CONDITION OF BIR HOSPITAL—NEPAL’S OLDEST
Kathmandu, 12 Nov.:- Stepping into the premises of Bir Hospital, one catches a glimpse of the stone mosaic of Hanuman decorating the building’s front. Hanuman is synonymous with courage, but this image of bravery seems at odds with operations at Bir Hospital of late, where services have been faltering in the wake of serious infrastructural issues. The state-funded hospital, with a history of over 120 years, which used to be the first choice in terms of medical services in Nepal a decade ago, is now the very last option for most people, Manish Gautam writs in The Kathmandu Post..
Som Tamang, of Nawalparasi, had travelled for almost 20 hours on a bus with his ailing mother in order to reach the hospital. But at Bir, he was told his mother needed a CT scan for which she would have to go to a private hospital. “They said the machine in the hospital itself wasn’t functional,” Som says.
This has been a regular occurrence since the machine broke down six months ago. And getting CT scans at private institutions can cost approximately double of what they charge at Bir. “It’s fine for those who can afford it, but not everyone can,” says DP Singh, head of the Emergency Department.
The machine has become a bone of contention among officials at Bir. While some insist that the old one can still be repaired, others are lobbying to buy a new scanner altogether. “The bickering has stalled progress on acquiring the machine,” says a source at the hospital.
Initially in 2010/11, a quote of around Rs 9 million to repair the machine was drafted by hospital authorities, which wasn’t accepted by the National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS)—the government agency that runs Bir Hospital—saying that they hadn’t followed the necessary procedure. And according to NAMS Registrar Mukunda Raj Panthi, that amount was excessive; it would’ve bought a new machine had one been available in the market. So now, authorities have come to an agreement to repair the old scanner at around Rs 2.5-3 million.
The government had also allocated a sum of Rs 100 million to buy a better, more advanced 64-slice CT scan for the fiscal year 2010/11. But the actual purchase has been temporarily suspended as the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had first requested for the file following complaints, and once that was resolved, another complaint was registered at the Supreme Court.
In a similar vein, Bir’s new 15-bed ICU, which opened on April 14, 2010, has only one functional bed at present. Although five beds with ventilators had been intended for use, four have been compromised. A tender had been invited for the purchase of ventilators and other equipment, but the file was submitted too close to the deadline date, and NAMS soon halted the tender. With this, the Rs 60 million-budget was instantly frozen.
Also languishing is the C-Arm Machine, used to inspect the steel plates and screws installed in the bone; nobody has taken initiatives to repair it. “I used the machine for seven years and it was working,” says Dr Ashok Man Bajracharya, head of the Orthopaedic Unit. “But around two and half years back, it was taken to the operation theatre in my absence and after about four months, the official said it had stopped working because rats had chewed off the wires.”
Indeed many units in the hospital have similar woes with equipment. But authorities are too preoccupied with blame games. Bir’s Director, Dr Buland Thapa, states that he cannot be held responsible for the mismanagement, claiming that the system itself is inherently flawed. But Dr Thapa, who leapfrogged over about 20 eligible colleagues who were ahead of him to snag the position, has been constantly dragged into controversies since his appointment from the Maoist side in June 2009.
A case in point was the inspection conducted by the National Vigilance Centre (NVC) this year into NAMS and Bir, which revealed gross mismanagement of at least Rs 50 million in the hospital’s accounts. The report reads that the hospital and NAMS executed transactions of around Rs 40 million in the last fiscal year without any legal basis and found payments of more than Rs 10 million issued on quotation, through journal vouchers, on 15 July—the last day of the fiscal year—to 15 different traders in the Valley.
Not only were much of the staff discovered skipping work after midday, a sudden surge in the number of temporary workers and irregular remunerations in Bir and NAMS was also noted. The report demonstrates that nepotism was rife in hiring employees—who were categorised into ‘contract’, ‘wage basis’ and ‘incentives’—and there were disparities in salary. Records of employees hired under ‘incentives’ from March 14 2005 to October 28 2009, for instance, show only 13 new hires. However, after Dr Thapa was appointed Director, 57 were hired in 2010 alone and 40 more after that. “Dr Thapa hired 11 people on January 18, 2011 and 15 more on March 25, without consulting hospital members,” NVC officials said.
There are additional concerns about finances. This year, for example, around 2,600 people came for their check-ups as part of the criteria for the Employment Permit System to work in Korea. “A total of Rs 10.6 million was received by the hospital from these check-ups,” says a highly-placed source at Bir. “However, Rs 3.5 million out of that was distributed among some 200 officials without any legal provisions.”
Dr Sinendra Raj Upreti of the Health Ministry says that while he has heard of this illegal disbursement, he can’t confirm it. “The Teku Hospital has officially asked for legal provision to distribute the money but not Bir,” he says.
Aside from issues with money, the rampant politicisation of appointment is a major obstacle at Bir. The present VC and Dean were appointed from the Congress quota, the Rector and Director from the Maoists’ and the Registrar and other members from the UML. Political affiliations mean that there is constant friction amidst the staff.
Troubles are thus obvious at the hospital, but Health Ministers have not done anything particularly noteworthy in this regard, despite hopeful post-inspection promises. For now, equipment and administration continue to lag behind in what is the oldest—and once the country’s most sought after—hospital facility.
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