NO NATIONAL GAMES CITING ELECTIONS Kathmandu, 20 June: The seventh national games held once every two years won’t be conducted this year because of elections, Ajya Phuyal writes in Nagarik. The sixth games were held in Dhangadi and Mahendranagar in the far-West. ‘We will not hold elections that is not held in other countries on election year as well. National games is not possible this year,” said National Sports Council member-secretary Yubaraj Lama. Games were scheduled to be held in Falgun in the eastern region. Nnnn . SWIMMERS SELECTED FOR BARCELONA MEET Kathmandu, 20 June: Sirish Gurung and Miraj Prajapati have been selected for the FINA World Swimming Championship to be held in Barcelona, Spain, from 19 July to 4 August 4. Shreya Dhital has been selected for the championship as well. They were selected on the basis of their performances at the 18th National Open Swimming Championship that concluded Wednesday in the capital. National records were established during the meet. nnnn CONSTITUENCY DELIENATION COMMISSION MEMBERS YET TO RECEIVE APPOINTMENT LETTERS Kathmandu, 2-June:: Six days after the Interim Election Council´s announcement to form a five-member Constituency Delineation Commission (CDC), members of the commission have yet to receive their appointment letters, Gani Ansari writes in Republica.. The Interim Election Council on Thursday had announced November 19 as the date for Constituent Assembly (CA) polls and had decided to form the commission under former justice Tahir Ali Ansari. Geographer Netra Dhital, sociologist Dambar Chemjong and administrator Madhu Nidhi Tiwari are the members of the commission, while Secretary at the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Minister Raju Man Singh Malla is member secretary of the commission. According to sources, handover of appointment letters has been delayed as Ansari is currently busy as the coordinator of the probe commission formed to investigate the murder of former Lawmaker Sadrul Miyan Haque. The government on May 23 had formed a three-member probe commission to investigate Haque´s murder. The commission has been given a month to submit its report. “CDC members would have begun their work, had the appointment letters been given to them,” the source said, adding, “It will take three to four days to hand over the appointment letters.” However, Malla said that they have finalized the appointment letters on Wednesday. “We prepared the appointment letters today (Wednesday) and the members will come tomorrow (Thursday) to receive it,” he added. When Republica tried to verify if the members were informed about the development, a member on condition of anonymity said, “I have not received any information about it.” Talking to Republica, Ansari said they will begin their work in CDC in the next two to four days. “The investigation [into Haque´s murder] is about to complete. We will begin the works on constituency delineation in two to four days,” he stated. The chief justice administers oath of office and secrecy to the coordinator of CDC while other members would be sworn in by the coordinator in presence of the chief justice. The CDC has been given one month to submit its report. The commission is entrusted with reviewing the existing 240 election constituencies in accordance with the latest census report. Though, the government has given the CDC one month to submit its report, then CDC had been given two-and-a-half months to finalize the report. “First it took one-and-a-half months to prepare the report,” said a former member of the commission seeking anonymity, “The commission was given an additional one month following dispute over the report.” According to Article 154 A of the Interim Constitution, the government may constitute a Constituency Delimitation Commission to determine election constituencies for the purpose of electing of members of the Constituent Assembly, and the commission shall consist of a retired justice of the SC as chairperson, a geographer, a sociologist and an administrator or management expert as members and a special class officer in the service of the government as member-secretary. Nnnn DARIES OPERATING WITHOUT PERMITS Kathmandu, 20 June : Most dairies in the Valley are found to be operating without a license from the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC). A study by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) shows that there are some 800 dairies in operation nationwide, and of these, only 26 have a license, Kriti Bhuju writes in Republica. . Though the study shows that many dairies have no license, DFTQC has not been able to take any action against those operating without license. “It is true that many dairies are operating without license, and they will face legal action,” said Pramod Koirala, spokesperson of DFTQC, adding that they have not been able to monitor all of them due to lack of infrastructure and manpower. Meanwhile, Dairy Industries Association (DIA) and Nepal Dairy Association (NDA), organizing a press meet in the capital, demanded that the government first take action against those operating without license and then only monitor the other aspects of the industry. “The government must first monitor the dairies which are operating without license and then only check other issues as there are only a handful of dairies that are operating with license. But the government, citing various reasons, is taking action against those that have license,” said Arniko Rajbhandari, general secretary of DIA and director of Nepal Dairy. Dairy entrepreneurs said that the government is raising the issue of coliform presence in dairy products and sealing the private dairy units while it has not taken any action against the government´s own Dairy Development Corporation even though milk produced there also contains coliform. As per existing standards, there should be zero coliform presence in pasteurized milk. Spokesman Koirala, however, said they will take action against all dairy firms, be they in the private or public sector, but for now they are sealing those found to have excessive levels of coliform. Megh Raj Bhandari, chairman of NDA, said that as the standard is zero coliform, DFTQC should either take action against daries whose products contain coliform or not take action against any. “There is no parameter for judging what is high and what is low. The law says zero coliform, so anything more than zero should be intolerable and action should be taken against all, but there has been bias and only the private firms are suffering,” said Bhandari. Herambha Rajbhandari, a dairy expert, said it is very difficult to make pasteurized milk free of coliform as there is problem with the collection system. “There is no chilling center in every place where milk is collected, but if the milk is boiled the coliform gets destroyed,” he said adding that in India up to 10 grams of coliform is allowed. According to the entrepreneurs, coliform is a group of bacteria which includes five different types. Of thee, three are not harmful and the harmful coliform is are destroyed during pasteurizing. “If the government is to start closing dairies whose pasteurized milk contains coliform that may not necessarily be harmful, then the pasteurizing of milk should be stopped,” said Rajbhandari. DFTQC seals 3 Bhaktapur dairies The Department of Food Technology and Quality control has sealed three dairy firms in Bhkatapur. A monitoring team from DFTQC has sealed Kharipati Dairy, Sainju Dairy and Bhaktapur Dairy, saying that their products contained excessive levels of coliform. The team monitored Kharipati Dairy´s Gayatri brand milk, Sainju Dairy´s Amrit and Kantipur brand milk and Bhaktapur Dairy´s BDPL brand. All these products were found to have excessive levels of coliform. Pramod Koirala, spokesperson of DFTQC, said they have sealed only those dairies that are found to have excessive coliform levels. “But we will also take action against those whose milk is of low quality and has low fat and SNF,” he said. On Friday also, DFTQC sealed three dairy firms -- Aadhunik Dairy at Balaju, Sanjivani Dairy at Pandu Bazar, Bhakatapur and Idea Plus dairy at Chapagaun-- after high levels of coliform were found in their milk samples. Meanwhile, issuing a press statement, DFTQC has requested the public not to consume Gayatri, Amrit, Kantipur, BDPL, Sanjeevani and ADP brands of milk until further notice. Nnnn