INDIAN ARMY CHIEF TO BE APPOINTED HONOURARY GENERAL OF NA Kathmandu, 11 July: Visiting Indian Army Chief Gen. Bikram Singh will be conferred the rank of honourary general of Nepal Army (NA) by President Dr.. Ram Baran Yadav Wednesday on the second day of a five-day official visit. Gen Singh will discuss bilateral assistance with Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, who also looks after the defence portfolio. India is keen to resume suspended arms supplies to Nepal . New Delhi took the move during the royal rule. But Premier Bhattarai wrote personally to New Delhi earlier this year not to immediately resume supplies even stocks with NA were being depleted. The premier, in fact, acted to deprive his own state army with vital supplies when needed most. Army chiefs of Nepal and India are appointed honourary general of opposing aries when bilateral ties are cordial. Nnnn HANDLING DEAD ILLEGALWORKERS IN GULF A PROBLEM FOR NEPALI MISIONS Kathmandu, 11 July: Many were taken aback when they recently learnt that one Mohan Bahadur Basnet family of Dallu, Kathmandu, knew about the death of their only son, Ganesh, three and half years after he was murdered in the UAE, Kosh Raj Koirala writes in Republica.. Though this particular incident is unusual one, it is not a rare case given the increasing tendency among Nepali migrants workers of quitting the original employer company for relatively better salary, according to government officials dealing with such cases. Foreign Ministry officials, who have experience working in diplomatic missions in various Gulf countries, say many cases of death of Nepali workers go unnoticed if the victims´ status is illegal. Chances are very minimal for such incidents to come to the government´s notice unless their fellow workers inform local Nepali embassy about the deaths. The workers become "undocumented/illegal" if they choose to change their employer company. Foreign Ministry spokesman Arjun Bahadur Thapa, who previously served as Nepali ambassador to UAE, said there is a tendency among many Nepali workers of leaving the original employer for a better job. “The new companies they join illegally do not normally have details about such workers,” he said. The problem has gone from bad to worse, according to officials, as many companies choose to employ ´illegal´ workers for they do not have to pay for insurance and other perks and facilities. Though it appears to them that their salary is relatively higher in the new company, the workers remain stand to lose. Officials said the embassies face huge difficulties to send home the bodies of such illegal workers as their employers normally do not provide necessary documents to facilitate the process. And the legal process for sending home the body can take months. Though it is relatively easy in case of documented workers, the poorly-staffed Nepali missions are finding it hard to facilitate the process of sending the bodies back home with the number of deaths of Nepali workers increasing in various Gulf countries. According to figures provided by Nepali missions, altogether 254 Nepali workers died in Saudi Arabia alone and 70 others in the UAE in 2068 BS (mid-April 2011 to mid-April 2012). Likewise, 123 Nepali workers died in Malaysia in the year 2012. The death of Nepali workers in Bahrain, Oman, South Korea and Israel in the year 2068 BS stood at 11, 10, 9 and 3 respectively. The chief of consular section at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dilip Paudel, said road accidents, industrial accidents, suicide and chronic diseases account for the most number of deaths of Nepali workers. Many workers suffering from chronic diseases such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, gastritis and heart-related diseases are often found dying in their sleep. Officials said cases of suicide by Nepali workers in Gulf countries is also on the rise. “Many of those committing suicide are found suffering from family breakdown, frustration at work and loans taken at high interest back home,” said Thapa. “Many others die as they work in high temperatures during day and sleep in the freezing cold in air-conditioned rooms at night.” nnnn ________________________________________ ENERGY MINISTRY DELIVERS A SHOCKER TO KOREAN DEVELOPERS Kathmandu, 11 July: Last week, as the promoters of Upper Trishuli-1 were preparing to meet in Montreal, Canada, to work out the detailed design of the 216-MW hydropower project, they got the shocker. Their application for licence to generate power had been cancelled through a secretary-level decision, The Himalayan Times reports. "We had 60 employees on the project site, drilling holes to get information for the detailed design, when we received the news," said Yi Bo-Seuk of Korea South-East Power Co. "It is regretful that the project was cancelled without any prior information. We are shocked and surprised," he said. When they landed in Kathmandu, they learnt that their licence was the only one to be cancelled out of the numerous applications, that too despite sincere progress in implementing the project. The government cited Rule 12 of the Electricity Rules while scrapping the licence. "As the company didn't come up with the progress report seeking extension of the licence, the ministry scrapped the survey licence as per the existing rules and regulations," said a high-level official at the Ministry of Energy. "It will be better if the company goes to the court. The ministry's decisions are based on rules," he said. Energy Secretary Hari Ram Koirala was not available for comment. Nepal Water and Energy Development Company is contesting the validity of the claims cited by the MoE and plans to go to court if their concerns are not addressed. According to the NWED, the feasibility study was completed and a report was submitted to the MoE through Department of Electricity Development. A Letter of Intent to purchase electricity to be produced from the project was given by NEA on 20 December 2011. Similarly financial commitments were received from IFC, ADB, Proparco, DEG and Himalayan Bank Limited, NWED Executive Chairman Kim Kyung-Sik claimed. The company, earlier this year, had further asked for permission from the ministry to start developing the access road from January next year. Energy Secretary Koirala took the decision to scrap the licence on June 29. Two days later, the IDS Energy and China Hydro submitted the application at DoED seeking the project's licence. On July 3, the government sent a letter to NWED, saying their licence for generation of power had been cancelled. A senior officer of the IFC of the World Bank Group said it could come to no further commitment from the group if the decision was not reviewed. "Nepal government is giving a very strong signal to the investors in the outside world that this could happen to you," he said. "Why did the government pick this project out of so many?" Government officials said it was just a beginning. "The licence of projects lingering for more than five years without any progress will be cancelled in coming days," the official added. KOSEP, which intends to finance 50 per cent of the project cost, is a fully government owned venture of the Korean government. Interestingly KOSEP has a $6 billion project in Saudi Arabia where most of the work is done by Nepali labourers. Nnnn 1,200 NEPALIS STRANDED IN MALAYSIA Kathmandu, 11 July: More than 1,000 Nepali migrant workers are said to be stranded in Malaysia for the last one week, The Himalayan Times reports from Dhading.. Around 1,200 youth who had flown to Malaysia for employment have been left in the lurch after the company they were supposed to join refused to provide job and salary as per the deal they had reached. "They are now threatening to kill us, as we refused to work for less salary than we had been promised," said Ramhari Shrestha, one of the stranded workers, of Salyantar, Dhading, over phone. It is learnt that the stranded job aspirants, most of whom had flown to Malaysia through Kathmandu-based AB Manpower, were supposed to work at an electronics company in Johr Bahru of Malaysia. Rajendra Adhikari of AB Manpower refused to comment. nnnn