DEPTH OF HOLY GOSAIKUNDHA 18.3 METERS Kathmandu, 10 July: The depth of the holy Gosaikundha is 18.3 meters. The measurement was taken by a government team recently. Nnnn GOVT. INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT PROMISE NOT FULFILLED Kathmandu, 10 July: When the government announced infrastructural support to cement factories utilizing local raw materials in 2008/09, the program had drawn praises from the private sector. Four years down the line, the priority program has completely lost steam “, Bhoj Raj Pouel writes in Republica. "This is sad. The program meant a lot to the private sector," said Pashupati Murarka, vice president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI). Under the program, the government had promised to construct roads, drinking water facility and lay electricity lines to the factory sites. This, the government had claimed would encourage investors to make use of country´s huge limestone reserves, thereby saving billions of rupees spent on imports of clinker. The private sector had welcomed the government´s announcement because the program had committed to relieve investors of the need for spending huge money in constructing basic infrastructures. However, the government over the last four years has constructed only one third of the total 32 km road it had promised to the four cement factories -- Ghorahi, Sonapur, Dang and Rolpa. Though the government had released Rs 175 million for road construction, only 48 percent of the amount has been spent so far. “ "The progress in laying electricity lines and setting up drinking water facili”y," Bishnu Prasad Dhakal, under secretary at the Ministry of Industry told Republica. Promoters of the cement factories accuse MoI for the poor implementation of the program. MoI officials, on the other hand, passed the buck on other ministries. "It is true that MoI is the executing authority, but we rely on Ministry of Physical Planning and Works for the construction of roads, Ministry of Energy (MoE) for laying electricity lines and Ministry of Local Development (MoLD) for installing drinking water facility," said Yam Kumari Khatiwada, joint secretary at MoI. Top MoI officials claimed they have always been exerting pressure on the ministries to implement the progra“. "Sadly, they have never given the program a priority," stated an MoI official. However, top officials at MoPPWTM have their own explanations. "It´s not that this program is not in our priority," said Tulsi Prasad Sitaula, secretary at MoPPWT. "But how can we achieve results without any prior consultation and proper homework?" Industrialists, meanwhile, expressed disappointment at the lack of progress in implementation of the program. "If there is lack of coordination between the ministries, it is up to the government to sort them o”t," said a promoter of a cement factory. nnnn ________________________________________ WORKER TRAFFICKED TO WAR-TORN AFGHANISTAN SAYS VICTIM Kathmandu, 10 July : Until he reached Afghanistan, Chuda Mani Rai, a resident of Kerabari VDC-9 in Morang district, had no inkling what was in store for him. Relying on a nexus of human traffickers, the 18-year-old landed in the war-ravaged country on a visiter visa after almost three months of hassle and uncertainty in Delhi. Om Astha Rai writes in . Chuda Mani, the youngest of 10 Nepali workers rescued by the Nepali embassy in Pakistan with the assistance of the International Organization of Migration (IOM) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), had been told that a van fluttering a UN flag would arrive in Kabul, the Afghan capital, to pick him up. Stepping out of the plane at Kabul International Airport, he started looking desperately for the UN van. “But there was no UN van,” he says. “That was when I first realized that I was in trouble.” Gopal Karki, a key member of the trafficking nexus, tried to assuage Chuda Mani´s fears. “Don´t worry,” said Gopal, whose name in his passport was Kedar Karki. “Everything will be alright.” But, nothing was alright thereafter. Chuda Mani and others were told that he would be taken straight to the US army base in Kabul to work as security guards. At a camp in Kabul, Chuda Mani was trained in the use of the AK-47 rifle. “When I held an AK-47 in my hands, I was on cloud nine,” he says. “I started dreaming of earning US dollars. I was very hopeful that I would soon pay off my debts.” He wanted to fulfill all the dreams of his newly-wed wife Chandra. “I left my wife just a month after marriage,” says Chuda Mani. “All the hassles I was going through were for the sake of my wife, my family and our future.” But when his 30-day visiter visa expired without his getting a job, he realized that he was indeed in big trouble. Karki, the agent, was still telling him not to worry. A few days later, an Afghan police team raided the camp and sought $400 from each of the 10 Nepali workers for overstaying their visas. None of them had money. They were all frightened. In the night, Karki whisked all the workers away from the camp. “We were shifted to a new camp every week. We had no idea where we were,” says Chuda Mani, adding, “After all, our status was illegal by then.” In one such temporary camp, Lil Bahadur Kafle of Ilam district fell sick. He could not breathe. The room where the workers were kept was congested and without any ventilator. “We were all suffocating,” Chuda Mani says. “Only after we smashed a window pane and made holes through a wall covered with cardboard did we have some fresh air. It was horrible.” One and a half months ago, Karki took the stranded workers to a guest house at Bagram, some 40 km northeast of Kabul. He told them that he would return the next morning. But he never did. “The guest house owner gave us rice and vegetables,” says Chuda Mani. “But we could not pay for the food. The owner then started threatening us. He would place a sharp knife to our stomachs and threaten to kill us if we did not give him money. To save our lives, we lied to him several times. Every time he pointed the knife at our throats, we promised to pay him the next day.” “We were not held hostage, but our situation was somewhat similar,” says Subash Chandra Rai, of Khotang district. “They would ask me why I was not a Muslim. I could not even lie. They knew I was either Hindu or Buddhist.” When surrounded by some rowdy locals, Chuda Mani once tried to lie. He said he was Muslim. But when he failed to prove that, he was chased away. “They even pointed a pistol at me,” he says. “I just ran.” Chuda Mani paid Rs 400,000 to Milan Thapa, another key member of the trafficking nexus, to reach Afghanistan. Some others paid Rs 450,000. Most of them had taken loans. They have now returned empty-handed. They have even lost their passports. “Until we were taken back to Kabul after being rescued from Bagram, I was not certain if I would ever meet my wife again” says Chuda Mani. “I suffered a lot; I lost my money, my passport; but I am at least free now. I hope I can start life afresh.” The rescued workers on Monday urged Paurakhi Nepal, an NGO working for migrant workers, to help them claim compensations from the agents. Agni Gurung, a paralegal officer at Paurakhi, says, “We will provide legal support to the rescued workers to get their money back.” nnnn ________________________________________ EGYPT’S TOP COURT SAYS ITS DISSOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT FINAL Kathmandu, 10 July: Egypt´s highest court insisted Monday that its ruling that led to the dissolution of the Islamist-dominated parliament was final and binding, setting up a showdown with the country´s newly elected president, AP Reports from Cairo. The announcement on state TV came a day after President Mohammed Morsi recalled the legislators, defying the powerful military´s decision to dismiss parliament after the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that a third of its members had been elected illegally. However, both sides appeared together Monday at a military graduation ceremony. Morsi sat between the head of the armed forces Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi and Chief-of-Staff Sami Anan. The three sat grim faced for most of the ceremony, but Tantawi and Morsi exchanged a few words while seated on the reviewing stand. The court´s judges made the decision in an emergency meeting even as the speaker of the dissolved legislature, Saad el-Katatni, called for parliament´s lower chamber, the People´s Assembly, to convene on Tuesday. The court´s ruling did not cover parliament´s upper chamber, known as the Shura Council, which is largely toothless. Both Morsi and el-Katatni are longtime members of the Muslim Brotherhood, a fundamentalist group that has long been at odds with the military and with other Islamists holds the majority of parliamentary seats. The move to restore parliament appeared to be an effort to exert Morsi´s authority as president despite a series of moves by the military before his election aimed at limiting his powers. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces took over governing the country after Hosni Mubarak was ousted by a popular uprising last year and the ruling generals have come under criticism for being slow to hand over power to a civilian administration. Morsi´s executive order made no mention of the court´s ruling, restricting itself to revoking the military´s decree to dissolve the chamber. That appeared to be an attempt to avoid being seen as flouting a legal decision. Presidential spokesman Yasser Ali, speaking on Monday, said Morsi´s decision did not violate the court´s ruling, according to the Middle East News Agency. In a separate report, the official Middle East News Agency said the court was due to look into several cases Tuesday questioning the legality of Morsi´s decision to reconvene parliament. The parliament building remained under police guard Monday, although scores of Morsi supporters gathered outside on the street. Many Islamist lawmakers have said they would attend Tuesday´s session. Secular lawmakers, however, were leaning toward a boycott. "How can we go and attend in violation of a court ruling?" said Imad Gad, a liberal lawmaker. "There must be respect for the law and for state institutions." The Brotherhood, long repressed under secular regimes, has emerged as Egypt´s most powerful post-Mubarak political force, winning nearly half the seats in parliament and putting their candidate in the president´s office. Morsi´s order left Egypt´s political and judicial actors scrambling. Morsi also called for new parliamentary elections within 60 days of the adoption of a new constitution, which is not expected before late this year. The generals who make up the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces held an "emergency meeting" soon after the president´s decision was announced Sunday, but issued no statement. The military announced a "constitutional declaration" last month giving itself legislative powers in the absence of parliament and stripping Morsi of much of his presidential authority. In a rush of decrees shortly before formally handing over power to Morsi on June 30, the generals also took control over the process of drafting a new constitution and the national budget. Morsi came to power after narrowly defeating Mubarak´s last prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, in a runoff last month. Declared the winner June 24, he symbolically took the oath of office five days later at Tahrir Square, birthplace of the revolt that toppled Mubarak´s regime on Feb. 11, 2001. He took the formal oath the next day before the Supreme Constitutional Court and again at Cairo University before hundreds of his supporters, including many of the dissolved legislature´s lawmakers. In his inauguration speeches Morsi hinted at his displeasure over parliament´s dissolution and his own diminished powers, pointedly seating el-Katatni, the speaker of parliament, in the front row during the Cairo University ceremony. nnnn ________________________________________