GOVT. POSITIVE TO DECLARE 2013 A YEAR AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING Kathmandu, 3 Oct.: Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai has expressed the commitment to announce 2013 'the Year against Human Trafficking' to combat trafficking of women and children, RSS reports.. Addressing a workshop organised here on Tuesday by Sancharika Samuha and Forum of Women, Law and Development (FWLD) on 'Announcing a year against human trafficking', Prime Minister Dr Bhattarai assured that he would take special initiative to take action against those involved in human trafficking. The announcement of the year is important; he said adding that the year would be announced by making necessary study to that end. Recalling that the government took initiative to combat gender-based violence by declaring 2010 as the year against violence against women, Prime Minister Dr Bhattarai said trafficking in humans would not be resolved for long without the socio-economic development of the country. On the occasion, Charimaya Tamang from Shakti Samuha handed over signatures collected in an effort to pressurise the government to declare the year against human trafficking. Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare Badri Neupane said human trafficking is a crime against humanity and shared that the government had made arrangement of accommodating women survivors in rehabilitation centres. Maiti Nepal Chairperson Anuradha Koirala said that it was quite disappointing that Nepalis were involved in trafficking their fellow country men and women, voicing concern that the government has been apathetic towards the day-to-day victims of human trafficking. Former lawmaker Sapana Pradhan said the Year against gender-based violence was successful and stressed the need to announce the Year against human trafficking. Also speaking on the occasion were Sancharika Samuha Chairperson Nirmala Sharma, advocate Sabin Shrestha and others. Nnnn MEDIA GOOGLE “If the parties are feeling the pressure, if any, it is because of the President’s public posturing. The parties’ decision to shelve protest plans for the time being was not because of the President’s pressure.” (Prof. Vijay Kant Karna, The Himalayan Times, 3 Oct.) nnnn 13 DRUG INSPECTORS FOR 13,500 PHARMACIES Kathmandu, 3 Oct Thirteen drug inspectors have to monitor more than 13,500 pharmacies operating legally across the country. Hundreds more pharmacies might be operating illegally in the remote districts and villages and the responsibility for curbing their activities also falls on those inspectors, the Department of Drug Administration (DDA) said, Arjun Paudel writes in Republica. Moreover, the latest DDA inspection report shows that free medicines supplied by the government are being sold in the market, vaccines are being stored without maintaining proper temperature levels, and unauthorized drugs are being sold by unauthorized individuals. The DDA office is responsible for checking all such anomalies but the national drugs regulatory body is itself reeling under a severe manpower crunch. “Apart from the inspection of pharmacies, we have to do the regular work at the office,” said Padam Poudel, a DDA drugs inspector. He said inspectors have to visit national and international pharmaceutical companies as well to monitor ongoing manufacturing practices and check for the quality of the drugs. They have to prepare reports, take statements from pharmacists, and initiate legal action against any guilty parties. However, the office has not filed any case against the guilty. The office concedes that it is impossible to conduct inspections at all the pharmacies with the existing manpower. DDA said that drug inspectors working at its central office have monitored only 929 pharmacies in the last fiscal year. The regional offices have inspected an additional 500 or so pharmacies. “We used to cover only the pharmacies in the big cities and at the headquarters of districts with easy access to transportation,” Poudel said adding, “We cannot say what is happening in the far-flung localities.” “It is impossible to do anything more with the existing manpower,” said Bhupendra Bahadur Thapa, a drugs expert and former DDA director general. He said DDA must conduct inspections of all pharmacies, drugs companies, their products and the quality levels but due to lack of manpower they are doing only as much as they can. “They set the target that can be attained by the existing manpower,” Thapa added. According to him, the government has given huge responsibilities to DDA but not the required manpower. No new post has been created since the past 33 years. Instead of creating additional posts, the government cut the jobs of 14 drug inspectors 19 years ago. DDA sought an additional 150 employees 17 years back to meet its responsibilities. A master plan was also worked out to create additional posts, but to no avail. Thapa said that if the master plan was anything to go by, employees would have been recruited 11 years ago. The office said that the ministry was persuaded to recruit employees in three phases. “It seems the government will not become serious until there is a big mishap in the country,” Thapa said adding, “DDA has been given an impossible task and there is no accountability to be seen anywhere.” Nnnn ________________________________________ PETROLEUM ACT MUST TO REGULATE LPG BOTLERS Kathmandu, 3 Oct.: National Consumer Forum has blamed the government for floating the idea of mergers of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) bottling plants in haste and without much preparation, The Himalayan Times reports. India –– where the total population exceeds 1.15 billion –– has only five bottling plants to supply cooking gas, said chairman of the forum Prem Lal Maharjan. The government, according to him, on one hand floats the idea of mergers and on the other continues issuing licences to new bottlers. “It is following a dual policy. It should stop issuing licences to new bottling plants if it really wants mergers to take place.” State-owned fuel supplier and other concerned agencies have already issued licences to 62 bottling plants, Maharjan said. “Of the total licence holders, 42 bottling plants are in operation at present.” Similarly, 83 new plants are waiting to receive a licence to operate new bottling plants, he claimed. The government’s role has been nothing more than to issue licences to bottling plants, he reiterated, adding that almost all bottling plants have failed to maintain basic safety measures and standards, but the government has been pretending to be unaware about the problems. The government should float the idea of mergers after completing preparations from its side, added Maharjan. A separate legislation is a must to enforce any plan to reform the petroleum sector, he said, adding that the government must introduce a separate Act and regulation at the earliest. The forum has also doubted whether the government’s plan to implement separate colour cylinders for domestic and industrial use will materialise. “The government will not be able to overcome the immense pressure of the private sector regarding separate colour cylinders,” he claimed. “The plan will face problems of black marketing and cartel from entrepreneurs if implemented by the government.” Entrepreneurs will be involved in black marketing because the government has not developed any specific guidelines for action against those involved in malpractices, he said. Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has estimated that the domestic market consumes a total of 1.2 million cylinders of LPG every month. The 42 bottling plants in operation own approximately 4.5 million cylinders, according to NOC’s data. nnnn