FORMER MAOIST FIGHTERS VACATING 5TH DIVISION SUNDAY

DPM GACHHADAR GREETED WITH BLACK FLAGS
Kathmandu, 11 March: Youths affiliated to various Madhes parties welcomed Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar with black flags at Bishwokarma Chowk in Janakpur on Sunday.
DPM Gachhadar, who reached the district to attend a programme, was greeted with black flags alleging him of ignoring the Madhesis.
The students had also chanted slogans accusing the DPM of being a Tharu leader and ignoring the aspirations of Madhesis, Greatwayonline.com reports..
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MAOIST FIGHTERS VACATING PLA 5th DIVISION CAMP SUNDAY
Kathmandu, 11 March: A Fifth Division Maoist PLA satellite camp at Dahaban in Rolpa is being vacated on Sunday, RSS reports from Rukrm..
Of the two satellite camps under the Fifth Division, Dirgha Memorial Brigade was evacuated on Saturday.
Jwar Memorial Brigade is being vacated today and the PLA combatants will be taken to Mangalsen Memorial Brigade.
Member of the Secretariat of the Special Committee for the Supervision, Integration and Rehabilitation of Maoist Combatants, Dipendra Bahadur Shah said the combatants residing in Dirgha Memorial camp have been shifted to Sunil Memorial Brigade.
Shah said all arms and ammunition of the satellite camps will be stored in containers. The Armed Police Force (APF) will be given entire responsibility of taking care of the emptied camps.
A team of the APF has already reached Dahaban for the security of the camps.
Earlier, 250 combatants were residing in Dirgha Memorial Brigade and 358 in Jwarbhata Memorial Brigade.
A total of 1285 combatants from the Fifth Division have opted for integration.
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PRACHANDA BODY OVERSHADOWS NEMWANG LUMBINI PANEL
Kathmandu, 11 March : The special committee formed by parliament to monitor implementation of the parliamentary stricture on developing Lumbini as an International Peace City has been rendered dysfunctional for months due to conflict between two state organs - the legislature and the executive, Tirtha L. Bhusal writes in Republica..

The parliament meeting on June 3, 2011 formed the special committee headed by Speaker Subas Nembang.

The stricture for developing the birthplace of Gautam Buddha as an International Peace City by accomplishing the development plans envisioned in the Master Plan for Lumbini Development within a period of three years was endorsed by the House meeting on April 2, 2010.

However, not a single meeting of the committee has been convened since August 16, 2011. Prior to that, the committee had held three meetings.

Some of the members of the committee confide that the committee became ineffective mainly after the present government last year formed a parallel body on Lumbini headed by UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal.

Lawmaker Prakash Chandra Lohani of Rastriya Janashakti Party said the committee has become inactive for months. He said the previous governments did not allocate enough money in the annual budget.

“Moreover, the present government deliberately made the parliament-formed monitoring committee dysfunctional by forming a parallel body on Lumbini headed by the ruling party´s chairman,” Lohani told Republica. He said the Dahal-led committee has eclipsed parliament´s committee.

It is estimated that at least Rs 6 billion is required to accomplish the development activities as per the Master Plan, which was crafted by a famous Japanese architect Kenzo Tange. The speaker-headed committee last year pressed the government to allocate at least Rs 2 billion a year in the annual budget but the government earmarked only around Rs 110 million for the purpose.

Admitting that the committee has remained idle for months, Speaker Nembang said he is planning to activate the body to press the government to allocate adequate money in the annual budget. He claimed that it was the monitoring committee that compelled the previous government to incorporate the project in its policy and programs.

“But, later the government didn´t allocate enough money despite continuous pressure,” said Nembang. Nembang, however, didn´t buy the argument that it was due to the government´s move to form the Dahal-headed steering committee that rendered the parliament-formed special committee dysfunctional.

“We can, instead, summon ministers and government officials as well as the Dahal-headed committee and seek details of the activities undertaken and the progress it has made so far,” he said.

Officials at the parliament secretariat admit that the parliament-formed committee couldn´t work as per the gravity of the issue. “Parliament endorses strictures only on special cases and it should be dealt with accordingly. The concerned ministry should submit a periodic report on the matter to parliament,” said an official at the secretariat. “Unfortunately, the committee, which was formed to press the government, has itself been acting like a government.”

The special monitoring committee was formed after the government didn´t submit any report to parliament for around a year after the stricture was endorsed. “Now, who will monitor the monitoring committee?” said the official.

Last year, when a deal reportedly reached between the United Nation´s Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Asia Pacific Exchange and Cooperation Foundation (APECF) with regard to developing Lumbini as a religious and tourist center was dragged into controversy, the committee in its fourth and last meeting on August 16, 2011 sought details from then government. Then, the foreign ministry clarified to the committee that the government was completely unaware of any deal as such.

The committee headed by former Prime Minister Dahal, however, has stepped up its activities in the recent days. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is visiting Nepal at the invitation of Dahal, chairman of the government-formed High Level Steering Committee for the Development of Greater Lumbini.
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