MAOISTS CALL SYANGJHA BANDH TO ABORT FORMER KING’S VISIT Kathmandu, 23 Sept. : Ruling UCPN Maoist have called a Syangha bandh until noon Sunday. Former King Gyanendra visits the district same day and time as preparations by supporters have been made to welcome him at Putali Bazzar. The Maoists move is to abort the visit as the former king is scheduled to arrive in th district at 11 in the morning from Pokhara were he is based to make a 10-day tour of six districts of Gandaki and Dhaaulagiri anchals. Ten ruling and opposition parties, as planned earlier, didn’t abort his visits of Bagling and Parbat districts where he offered puja at temples Saturday. He received rousing reception from supporters and well-wishers. But his visit Friday of Myagdhi was aborted amid a strike call. The then king talked briefly with reporters with reporters Saturday in the districts he visited. ”The future should be good, peaceful an developed. This should be be ensured. I’ve understood everything.. Let’s see. “You know the situation in the country. It’s not satisfactory .All those brothers and sister I’ve met are concerned,” the former king said.... nnnn BUDDHA BOY MOVES INTO HOUSE OF DEVOTEE Kathmandu, 23 Sept.: Budha Boy Ram Bahadur Bomjan has moved into a hose of a devotee GopalYonjon at Phattarkot in Sarlahi from 17 September. Government has stopped him from using and was evicted from forests in in Bara and Sindhuli. Nnnn MEDIA GOOGLE ‘I am not a claimant for prime minister. Bit if I get the job. I’ll run it better than ithers.” (UML leader KP Sharma Oli, Nagarik, 23 Sept,.) “The country is facing a political crisis due to the parties’ shortsightedness, (RPP-Nepal Chairman Kmal Thapa, The Himalayan Times, 23 Sept.)” nnnn. THREE UCPM MAOIST LEADERS IN FAR-WEST Kathmandu, 23 Sept.: Three influential Unified CPN-Maoist leaders of the Far-western Region have recently resigned en mass demanding adequate attention to the Region, Tika R. Padhan in The Himalayan Times.. The leaders have also expressed serious concern over the indifference on the part of the leadership and gradual disintegration of the party. Khagraj Bhatta, who is close to party Vice-chairman Baburam Bhattarai; former minister Bhim Bahadur Kadayat, who is close to Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Jagat Parki, close to another Vice-chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha had resigned en masse from the member of the Seven National Convention Organising Committee. According to Bhatta, they had submitted their resignation to the party Chairman Dahal five days earlier. He said Dahal has been urging them to withdraw their decision. Bhatta said they have raised three main issues as their demands. “Firstly, we have realised that the party has been deviated from its goal and ideology but the leadership has remained indifferent to it and hardly did anything to correct the course,” he said. He said that the party’s ideals have been jettisoned. Secondly, Bhatta said the Seti Mahakali State Committee of the party was always neglected from the state. “We hoped that our party will do some justice, but that remained only a dream. Nothing has been changed since our party-led government was formed,” he added. Bhatta further said they have demanded 20 per cent of the total budget of the country must be allocated to the far-western region. The party remained indifferent even when the leaders of far-west had been seriously raising such issues many a times, he said. Lastly, the three leaders have demanded appropriate representation of the leaders from the far-west as far as responsibilities of the party are concerned and also in the government positions. “Leaders from the far-west have been neglected everywhere. They are refrained from leadership both within the party as well as in the government,” he said. Asked why only three leaders had resigned, Bhatta said they have the support from all the leaders of the far-west and the people have been showering congratulations and best wishes for the step they had taken for the welfare of their place. The leaders, however, are committed to their demands and claimed they would never compromise unless their demands were met. “We have been discussing the demands that are to be addressed right away and those which could be addressed gradually,” he said. The central Maoist leaders of the far-western region were very disappointed after they were ignored when the party selected the leaders to join the government. nnnn 600 NEPALIS STRIKE IN MALAYSIA Kathmandu, 23 Sept : About 600 Nepali workers have staged a protest against a Malaysian employer firm demanding quality food and better accommodation. The action has brought the company´s operations to a standstill for the last three days, Prabbakar Ghimere writes in Republica. The agitating workers at Maxter Glove Manufacturing Company based in Perak of Kelang Neru near Kuala Lumpur, were recruited through a Nepali manpower agency named Lucky Human Resource Solution. “We got information that some 100 workers that recently joined the company are leading the protest, demanding better food being provided by the company´s canteen. The strike has nothing to do with salary and benefits offered by the company,” Rishi Sharma, proprietor of Lucky Human Resource Solution in Lalitpur told Republica on Saturday. Sharma said agitating workers are getting up to around Ringgit 1,000 per month including 546 as basic salaries as per the job contract. Sharma also said there has been dispute between the workers supporting the agitation and those opposing it. “We are in regular contact with the management of the employer company. We will exert pressure on the company if the workers´ demands are genuine,” Sharma added. Sharma said around 600 Nepalis and 500 Bangladeshis are working in the company that has been producing surgical gloves for overseas export. Nepali workers have also barred Bangladeshis from going to work. Amal Kiran Dhakal, Nepali labor attaché to Malaysia told Republica over the phone that the workers resort to the protests alleging that the employer company provided substandard food, deducting the amount from their salary. “According to a protesting worker the employer company provided "low quality food" and had deducting certain amount from their salary for that. They have been protesting against the poor living condition inside the hostel. "We are heading toward the company tomorrow (Sunday) to take stock of the situation in a bid to resolve the problem,” Dhakal said. Dhakal said he urged the workers not to be aggressive and keep in mind the laws of Malaysia that restrict labor protest without prior information to the employers. Dhakal also said the Malaysian laws enshrine authority to local employers to take action against the agitating works who become absent for more than two consecutive days without prior notification to the employers. Protests of Nepali workers in Malaysia, the most popular destination among Nepali jobseekers, have been reported frequently. Two years ago, Nepali workers had protested against the JCY SDB BHD- a multinational company, blaming the firm of negligence in providing timely treatment for a worker who later died in a local hospital. The three day long protest had led to the crackdown on the agitating workers by Malaysian security personnel. Nnnn ________________________________________ ________________________________________ KOHSI VICTIMS DEMAND COMPENSATION FROM INDIA Kathmandu 23 Sept. Flood victims of Saptakoshi River in Saptari district on Sturday once again demanded the Indian Government provide them due compensation for their lands that was affected uring the construction of the Koshi barrage five decade ago, Jitendra Jha writes in Republica from Rajbiraj. Organizing press meet in Rajbiraj on Saturday, Koshi Victim Upliftment Society complained of the Indian government´s apathetic behavior in providing the compensation as per Koshi agreement between the two countries. “It has been over five decades since the construction of the Koshi barrage however the victims in Nepal are yet to receive compensation,” said Kasim Ansari, chairman of the society. “Indian delays in compensation has added insult to the injury of the Koshi victim,” he added. Recently, the joint meeting of the Udayapur and Saptari district administration offices prepared a list of the lands to be recompansated and submitted to the Indian side after determining the rate of the lands affected by the barrage. However the Indian side is yet to inform when they will provide the compensation. “It took India 50 years to determine the rate of the land for compensation. How can we rest assured that the distribution will be made in a certain time frame,” Ansari doubted. Nagendra Jha, the advisor of the society said that the victim cannot remain assured that they would get the compensation given the Indian government´s apathy on the issue. He emphasized on continuing the pressure programs. As per the Koshi Agreement, Indian government was to provide compensation to 5,400 bighas land affected by the dam construction and subsequent inundation. Later in 2009, the extended meeting of the Koshi Coordination Committee in Patna of India added 2,600 bighas more for the compensation, according to Jha. Jha further informed that beside the compensation of the lands, the agreement provisioned that the India had to built schools, hospitals, drinking water system and electricity among other facility for the victim of the Koshi barrage. “As per the agreement, India has to be responsible for controlling the floods in the tributaries of Saptakoshi for 199 years as well as security of the household near the dam”, Jha added. He also blamed the Nepali government for failing to act strictly while demanding compensation. Nnnn