. TWO MOTORCYCLISYS KILLED IN SIRAHA Kathmandu, 20 June: Two persons on a motorcycle were killed and another was onjured Wednesday in Siraha after a collision with a four-wheeler, first reports saidm according to police. Other details of the accident weren;t immediately available. Nnnn MORE THAN 6,000 NEW RECRUITS IN NEPAL POLICE Kathmandu, 20 June: More than 400 Nepal pilgrims going to Badrinath and Kedarnath in Uttarkhanda in north=wet India have been stranded. They have been stranded following heavy floods and landslides. Nepalis went in groups MORE THAN 6,000 OPENINGS IN NEPAL POLICE Kathmandu, 20 June: Nepal Police Wednesday sought applications to recruit 138 inspectors and 6,001 jawans. Decision was taken recently to take enlist new recruits. Nnnn RELIEF TOO LITTLE TOO LATE Kathmandu, 20 June: Accusing the local administration of failing to ascertain the details of the damage caused by the recent floods and not being able to provide relief materials on time, flood victims today refused to accept the relief package sent by the State, Narendra Bhattaa writes in The Himalayan Times from Baitadi.. More than 2,500 residents of the district headquarters Khalanga and surrounding areas have been displaced by the floods in the Mahakali River since Sunday. The arrival of a few officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs via a chopper today, three days after the incident, has stoked the anger of flood victims here, prompting them to gather at the district headquarters and submit a five-point memorandum to the government team led by MoHA Under-Secretary Pradip Koirala. The flood victims have demanded that the government take immediate initiatives to guarantee food, shelter, clothes and compensation to the flood victims, introduce a rehabilitation package for them and construct embankments to save the remaining human settlements from being washed away by the floods. Primary data shows that the floods in the Mahakali River have swept away 105 concrete houses, 17 squatters’ shanties, four temples, 13 government office buildings and have displaced more than 2,500 people. By today, 200 tents, 400 blankets, eight cartons of drugs, 22 quintals of rice, seven quintals of pulse and six quintals of sugar have reached Darchula but they are yet to be distributed after victims’ refusal to accept the relief package. “This is too little, too late. We have refused to receive the relief materials in protest of the nonchalance of the government,” said Ramesh Dhami, a displaced local. Rs 40,000 each to family of deceased The government on Wednesday decided to provide Rs 40,000 each to family of those who lost their lives in the floods and landslides. A meeting of the Central Disaster Management Committee held in the presence of Chairman of the Interim Election Council Khil Raj Regmi also decided to increase the Prime Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund to Rs 400 million from earlier Rs 190 million. Similarly, the Disaster and Rescue Fund has been increased to Rs 100 million, said Home Minister Madhav Prasad Ghimire. The government on Tuesday had decided to allocate Rs five million to flood-hit Darchula and Kanchanpur districts. 1,500 rescued Around 1,500 people who were stranded at different places in Kailali due to floods in the Karnali River since Tuesday afternoon were rescued on Wednesday by locals and police and army personnel. An army chopper rescued 105 persons from Tikapur, Shahipur, while police rescued 96 persons from Shahipur itself by a rubber boat. Likewise, 250, 80 and 75 families have been rescued from Narayanpur, Baliya and Dhanawaphanta, respectively. Nepal Red Cross Society said the flood victims have been provided with food. Five dead in Palpa, Taulihawa Three persons of a single family died after a landslide buried their house in Birkot, Pokharichhap, in Palpa on Wednesday afternoon. The deceased are Manisara Baraghare, 46, her daughters Nirmaya, 13, and Manisha, 10. Two persons were killed in Taulihawa. A rain-swollen local Mainarikhola swept away one and another drowned in a pond. nnnnn NC, MADESH PARTIES MAY JOIN HANDS Kathmandu, 20 June: It may look unlikely at this point of time but if what sources are telling this daily are anything to go by, there is a likelihood of an alliance between the Nepali Congress and Madhesi forces for the upcoming Constituent Assembly election, Ram Kumar Kamat writes in The Himalayan Times.. According to sources, some national and international forces are exploring the possibility of bringing together these two forces which have of late seen each other as political bete noire for their differences on federalism. NC leader Bimalendra Nidhi and a top leader of a Madhesi party both admitted to this daily that an NC-Madhesi forces alliance is possible. “It is better for us to support Madhesi party candidates in Madhes than others. In democracy parties have their own views on governance and that should not prevent them from forging an alliance,” Nidhi added. Madhesi forces want one or two pradeshes in Madhes but no north-south division. The NC advocates five pradeshes across Madhes. “An alliance with the NC is possible only when it makes some amendments to its stance on federalism, inclusion and identity politics — the core issues of Madhes,” Columnist Chandra Kishore said. An NC-Madhesi alliance could bring long-term political advantage for both the forces because that will prevent the Unified CPN-Maoist from gaining further influence in the region. In the last CA election, Maoists emerged as the largest force in Madhes with around 24 per cent votes in proportional representation and 42 seats under first-past-the-post system — out of 116 constituencies in the region. National and international forces are said to be exploring the possibility of a democratic alliance because they think that such an alliance can only prevent UCPN-M from getting absolute majority. Political analyst Tula Narayan Shah said the Federal Democratic Republican Alliance will make UCPN-M Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal more powerful, and therefore, non-Maoist forces — international forces included — are unwilling to let FDRA continue. “Non-Maoist forces think a democratic alliance between the Madhesis and the NC will be more useful to check UCPN-M’s monopoly in future power equations,” he added. nnnn MONSOON HAVOC IN NEPAL, INDIA Kathmandu, 20 June: Military helicopters dropped emergency supplies Wednesday to thousands of people stranded by flash floods that tore through towns and temples in northern India and neighbouring Nepal, killing more than 160, officials Said, AFP reports from New Delhi.. Thousands of pilgrims and tourists have already been evacuated after floods and landslides caused by early monsoon rains wrought devastation through India's Himalayan foothills, they said. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the priority was rescuing those still stranded and helping the more than 10,000 people already evacuated, describing the floods as "most distressing". "There has been large scale devastation," the prime minister said after flying over the flooded region late Wednesday with ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi. He said the government would give $170 million to the worst-hit state of Uttarakhand for rescue and relief operations, adding "all possible resources" have been deployed to deal with the "ghastly tragedy." Torrential rains at least three times as heavy as usual have hit Uttarakhand, often called the "Land of the Gods," where Hindu shrines and temples built high in the mountains attract many pilgrims. Some 65,000 people are still stranded, five days after the rains hit on Saturday, Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde told reporters in New Delhi. Houses, multi-storied buildings, cars, bridges as well as roads have been swept away or damaged after rivers burst their banks, forcing authorities to deploy military as well as civilian helicopters to evacuate people and drop essential food and other supplies. "At least 110 people have died. The state government and the army are trying to rescue thousands of tourists who are stranded near the submerged valleys and Hindu shrines," said Yashpal Arya, the disaster relief minister of Uttarakhand. At least another 28 people have been killed in the neighbouring states of Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, officials said. Prime Minister Singh said the total official death toll is 102 "but it is feared that loss of lives could be higher". Over the border in Nepal, at least 22 people were killed in recent days in landslides and flash floods also triggered by monsoon rains, officials said, prompting the government to step up relief efforts. In northern India, close to 10,000 soldiers along with 13 teams from the National Disaster Response Force have been deployed for the rescue and relief effort, a statement from the prime minister said. Soldiers from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police have been building rope and log bridges across swollen rivers to try to reach those stranded, said Ajay Chadha, chief of the paramilitary force. Local officials said 40 relief camps have been set up to house evacuated locals and tourists. Some 18 air force helicopters are ferrying many of those rescued to the camps, with a control centre set up in the holy town of Badrinath. Tourists have been travelling to Uttarakhand in recent weeks to undertake pilgrimages before some sites are shut down for the monsoon season, which does not normally start for another two weeks. State disaster relief minister Arya said portions of a revered Hindu temple have been washed away, leaving thousands of pilgrims stranded. "The Kedarnath temple is submerged in mud and slush. We just hope that it does not collapse," Arya told AFP. In Uttar Pradesh, 18 people, including a family of five, were killed in rain-related accidents on Monday. A doctor and his family were driving through Saharanpur district, when their car was swept away in a flash flood, officials said. In Himachal Pradesh, flash floods destroyed more than 500 houses and government buildings and at least 10 people were killed in landslides, officials said. The monsoon, which covers the subcontinent from June to September, usually brings some flooding. But the heavy rains arrived early this year, catching many by surprise and exposing the country's lack of preparedness. Nilabja Ghosh, an economist working on climate change and agricultural methods in Uttarakhand, said the weather office had not issued any early warnings about the heavy rains. "If the weather office had issued an early warning then authorities would have had the time to restrict tourist movement and shift residents to safer zones," said Ghosh who works at the Institute of Economic Growth in New Delhi. nnnn