KANGCHENJUNGA REGION HIT BY QUAKE

QUAKE HTS KANGCHENJUNGA REGION

Kathmandu, 15 Dec.: An earthquake measuring 4.9 on the
Richter scale magnitude hit Taplejung in the East Wednesday
morning at 2.03 t.
Its epicenter was near Kanchanjanga, the 8476 meters high world’s third tallest peak located on the Nepal/ Sikkim border.
No damage of property or life is reported as yet.
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WINTER FIRE IN MANANG DESTROYS FOREST COVER

Kathmandu, 15 Dec.: A wildfire has been raging in forests of Bagarchhap VDC of Manang, the district beyond the Himalayas, RSS reports from Lamjung.

The fire started Tuesday afternoon in Kyuyar forest in Ward No.5 of Bagarchhap and not put out even by Wednesday night, said District Police Office Manang.

The fire has spread all over the forest as the location is steep and there has been no snowfall, said DSP Nawin Raj Rai.

Although police team had reached the site from Border Police Post Kote and District Police Office Chame, they returned as they could not control the fire.

As stones and trees were falling from the site of fire, they could not go up to put it out, said the police.

There are dhupi and pine trees and continues to spread, said BP Lama of Chame.

Although there is no risk as there is no human settlement, wild animals might have died, police supposed.
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WORK PLAN FOR MAIST INTEGRATION REHABLITATION FRIDAY

Kathmandu, 15 Dec.: The Secretariat under the Special Committee (for supervision, integration and rehabilitation of Maoist combatants) has come up with a tentative programme and work procedure for the management of recently regrouped Maoist combatants, Lekhnath Pandey reports in The Himalayan Times..

The Secretariat was asked by the Special Committee to prepare a time-bound operational plan for the management of regrouped PLA fighters by Friday. Among the 16,964 PLA fighters regrouped, 9,690 have expressed their wish for integration and 7,286 have opted for voluntary retirement scheme. Only six have chosen rehabilitation packages.

In its proposal, the Secretariat has suggested a formal ceremony to mark the beginning of the implementation of integration, rehabilitation and retirement process.

The Secretariat has also suggested that money for those going for retirement be provided through account payee cheques, rather than giving them cash or through PLA commanders. It has also recommended setting up of mobile banks so that the combatants can open an account.

“We suggested this method after we found that several combatants were worried whether the money meant for them will really reach their hands,” said Sanadan Prasad Kurmi, a Secretariat member. Combatants going for voluntary retirement are entitled to receive Rs 5-8 lakh depending upon their services and ranks in PLA. A combatant will get half of the amount s/he deserves during his/her discharge from the cantonment. The remaining half will be handed to them next fiscal.

Likewise, the Secretariat has proposed that transport facility up to bus stops nearest to their homes be provided to combatants and they be awarded Rs 7,000 in cash as transport allowance. The money distribution to the fighters is expected to conclude in 12 days from the day Secretariat members begin the process.

On integration front, the Secretariat has advised the Special Committee to ask the Nepali Army to set up recruitment camps at the most convenient locations from PLA cantonments. It has suggested that arrangements relating to transportation, lodging and food be handled by the Secretariat in coordination with the government till the selection and recruitment process ends.

Sources said the Secretariat is yet to decide how long it will take to integrate the Maoist fighters into the army. “We will mention it after getting feedback from the national army,” said Kurmi, adding that informal discussions with the army were under way. The Secretariat will submit its work plan at a Special Committee meeting slated for Friday evening.

Remaining fighters regrouped

The Secretariat under the Special Committee on Wednesday categorised three PLA combatants who were unable to attend the regrouping process due to some reasons. “We have categorised three combatants, including a woman, who was admitted to a hospital for delivery when regrouping process was on. The regrouping was held at the Secretariat office in Naya Baneshwor. The Secretariat had slated December 14 and 15 for the regrouping of those combatants who had missed the regrouping process. As many as 24 unverified combatants turned up at the Secretariat office on Wednesday, saying they were absent in the regrouping process due to health, social, cultural and other reasons. But most of them were not carrying authorised certificates to substantiate their claims. “They have been asked to come again with an authentic document within a month,” said Sanadan Prasad Kurmi, a Secretariat member.
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BOOTLEG KILLS 102 IN INDIA

Kathmandu, 15 Dec.:: Toxic home-brewed alcohol thought to have been laced with the highly dangerous chemical methanol has killed 102 people in eastern India, a local official told AFP in Kolkata on Thursday.

"The death toll has touched 102," the district magistrate of 24-Parganas district in West Bengal state, Narayan Swarup Nigam, said by telephone.

Those affected are from 10 villages in the area near the border with Bangladesh, with the three nearest hospitals packed with gravely sick victims, many of them labourers or rickshaw pullers too poor to afford branded alcohol.

Nigam said that methanol had been detected in at least 20 victims, raising suspicion it could be to blame.

It said most of the victims were poor people including construction workers, rickshaw-pullers and street vendors.

The victims drank adulterated liquor late Tuesday night and the deaths occurred earlier Wednesday, police said.

The state administration rushed emergency medicines and doctors to the government-run Diamond Harbour hospital, located near the village, other officials said.

The police also arrested four alleged bootleggers and as local residents ransacked village breweries and staged protests, the West Bengal state administration ordered action against people selling toxic liquor.

"I want to take strong action against those manufacturing and selling illegal liquor," state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee told a regional Bengali-speaking television station in Kolkata.

The local government also offered cash compensation to relatives of those killed, the news agency added.

The moonshine deaths were the highest since July 2009, when 122 people were killed in western Gujarat state after consuming toxic alcohol.

Deaths from cheap alcohol are common in India, where nearly 170 people were killed in 2008 in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu after drinking the same batch of adulterated alcohol.
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