VDC SECRETARIES RESUME WORK FRIDAY Kathmandu, 1 March: More than 3,600 VDC secretaries resume work Friday after a two-day strike following government willingness to consider demands. Secretaries demanded local elections not held for more than w decade. Government officials are doing the job of elected persons, mainly party workers. ON the absece of security, village secretaries were working from district headquarters. nnnn POLICE INSPECTOR PROBING JOURNALIST MURDER DENIED PROMOTION Kathmandu, 1 March: Inspector Binod Sharma didn’t get a promotion Sunday, Prakash Adhikari and Pratika Baskota write in Kantipur from Dailekh. Inspector Sharma’s work was appreciated when four Maoists were arrested for possible involvement in the murder of journalist Dipendra Thapa. Police headquarters Sunday promoted 58 inspectors to rank DIG and Sharma’s name was not included in the list. Government was unhappy with the police investigation of the murder even though Sharma’s work was first appreciated. nnnn NEW ARCHAEOLOGICAL OBJECTS RECOVERED IN TILAURAKOT Kathmandu, 1 March:: A number of archaeological objects have been found from the excavations carried out in the ancient fort located in the Tilaurakot palace of Kapilvastu, Manjima Dhakal writes in The Rising Nepal from Kapilvastu.. The finds provide sufficient evidence that ancient kingdom of Kapilvastu ruled by King Suddodhan was located here, say the archaeologists. These objects were unearthed by a joint excavation team of Lumbini Development Trust (LDT) and the Archaeology Department of Durham University of Britain which started works from February 3. The excavation of the fort located at the northern side of Tilaurakot palace is a part of a five-year excavation project. Speaking at the closing of the fort excavation project, coordinator of the excavation project Kosh Prasad Acharya said that more than 60,000 fragments of earthenware and over 30,000 other archaeologically important objects were discovered. The finds include terracotta bangles, valuable handles, charcoal, terracotta images, coins, animal images and pieces of beads, among others. In 1962, an Indian archaeologist Dewala Mitra had conducted an excavation at this location. But she had written a controversial excavation report concluding that it is not possible to go beyond the Third Century. Indian Archaeologist has excavated same structure in 1962 AD and makes public a report where she mentioned that excavating more than three centuries ago is not possible. However, re-excavation of thirteen layers already excavated by Mitra and fresh excavation of the fort area found rich treasure of archaeological objects, said Ram Bahadur Kunwar, archaeological officer at the Department of Archaeology. Excavation of the natural level of the ground discovered objects that dated back to Third Century, Kunwar said. The finds also facilitated for time determination, he added. Basanta Bidari, senior archaeologist said the excavation has indicated that the place used to have human settlements even before the Sixth Century, the time of King Suddodhan, father of Siddhartha Gautam. The specimen of the finds will be sent to Britain for lab studies. We have to wait until the results of the tests come out. The team was excavated these objects in a safe way making sure that no objects were damaged in course of the digging. Last year, the Loharsariya Stupa are located in the southern side of Tilaurakot, was excavated. A nine-member team including Professor Cunningham, vice chancellor of Durham University, had carried out the excavation. The team was coordinated by Acharya. Mark Manual, Ms. Jennifer Tremblay, Christopher Davis of Durham University, senior scientist Basanta Bidari, archaeological officers Krishna KC, Himal Upreti and Ram Bahadur Kunwar were other members of the team. nnnn PUSHKAR SHAH TO LEAD CYCLING GROUP ON GREAT HIMALAYAN TRAIL Kathmandu, 1 March: A team of cyclists led by Nepali world cyclist Puskar Shah is scheduled to paddle the 1700 kilometer long Great Himalayan Trail (GHT) from April 5 to May 20, The Rising Nepal reports. The GHT is the longest trekking trail of the world recently discover along the high hills and Himalayan mountains from far east to far west of Nepal. Organizing a press conference here in capital on Thursday, Shah made public the team’s cycling plan along the high altitude trekking trail. The main aim of the GHT cycling is to promote the newly discovered trail among national and international potential tourists discovering a cycling route so as to eventually improve livelihood of the peoples residing along the trail, he said. As all the routes in GHT are not feasible for cycling, we will trek only along certain areas, he said. Our cycling route might be different in some places to that of previous trekkers along the GHT, he added. Shah, who had already paddled across 150 countries of the world in past 11 years, said that cycling along the high Himalaya in own country would be a different experience and opportunity for learning. World Cyclist Foundation Nepal is managing the GHT Cycling plan in the name of Tour de Great Himalaya Trail. The foundation targets to build 30 eco community lodges along the trail in next five years in collaboration with local communities and schools in the region. According to the plan, an eco community lodge will be made by the foundation in the distance of one day’s cycling. The foundation has planned to mobilize local communities and local government bodies, schools, and trekkers for the sustainability of the project. The foundation has urged all to support the plan of building eco community lodges by contributing Rs. 100 for every kilometer of cycling trail. The organizers informed that no conclusive support has been obtained to the project yet. However, Rotary International and non-resident Nepalese from various countries have shown their interests in funding the plan. The cycling team will have six members including Shah. nnnn