Govt officials set to skip Geneva UN rights meet

2 THE KATHMANDU POST | FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2013
VISUAL STIMULUS
A female artist at work in Kupondole, Lalitpur, on Thursday. The artwork aims to raise awareness on
malaria. POST PHOTO: LAXMI PD NGAKHUSI
Paras health shows no sign of progress
POST REPORT
KATHMANDU, FEB 21
RAMCHANDRA GIRI
MALAYSIA, FEB 21
FORMER crown
prince Paras
Shah remains
under intensive
care in a
Thailand hospital
as he showed
no sign of
progress.
Shah’s friend Sunil Khadka said
on Thursday that Shah is still
Sapana is Nepal’s
Cedaw candidate
THE government
has selected human
rights activist and
former Constituent
Assembly member
Sapana Pradhan Malla as
Nepal’s candidate for the
Convention for the
Elimination of
Discrimination Against
Women’s (Cedaw) 2015-
2018 term.
In 2010, Pradhan Malla
had registered her candidacy
for the same post but
was defeated by a narrow
margin. Thursday’s Cabinet
meeting decided to register
her candidature. Elections
for Cedaw, which will take
place towards the end of
2014 in New York, will pick
23 members from countries
that are party to the
convention.
“This is an important
high-powered platform.
The 23-member expert
group is a big stage for
women empowerment and
justice,” said a senior foreign
ministry official.
During the Cabinet
meeting, some ministers
expressed reservations over
Pradhan Malla’s nomina-
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unconscious and on ventilator. He
was admitted to Samitivej Hospital
in Bangkok on Tuesday after he suffered
a cardiac arrest. Shah has a
history of heart disease—he underwent
a surgery after suffering a mild
attack in September 2007.
“Doctors attending him say
they cannot say anything about his
health condition yet,” Khadka said.
A CT scan performed on Shah’s
brain on Thursday showed a mild
form of infection, as earlier. Doctors
could conduct a magnetic reso-
tion, raising
questions over
why only candidates
affiliated to
the CPN-UML
were being
picked repeated-
Some ministers
expressed
reservations over
her nomination,
raising questions
over why only
candidates
affiliated to
UML were being
picked
repeatedly
ly. “I defended Pradhan
Malla at the Cabinet meeting
as a well-known face in
the international arena for
defending women’s rights,”
said Deputy Prime Minister
and Minister for Foreign
Affairs Narayan Kaji
Shrestha.
Whereabouts of
kidnapped youth
still unknown
BHUSAN YADAV
BIRGUNJ, FEB 21
BIRGUNJ police are yet to
locate the whereabouts of
21-year-old Brijesh Mahato
who was allegedly kidnapped
from his Birgunj
home on December 11 last
year.
Deputy Superintendent
of Police Rajendra
Bista said search
teams have been
mobilised in other
districts after the
initial investigation
showed that
Brijesh was being
held hostage within
the country.
Five days after Brijesh’s
abduction, an unidentified
person had called his family
and demanded Rs 1.5
million in ransom. The
caller had demanded the
family to deliver the money
at bordering Indian town of
Raxaul.
Asarfi Mahato, Brijesh’s
father, said he does not
have the money demanded
by the abductors for his
SAMIK KHAREL
KATHMANDU, FEB 21
THE ongoing road expansion
drive in Kathmandu is facing a
host of criticism after authorities
proposed a plan to demolish a
government school building while
sparing a five star hotel.
According to new expansion
plan, a Shanti Vidya Griha School
building will be demolished to save
the Malla Hotel. The original proposal
had planned to demolish the
Lainchaur-facing facades of both the
school and the hotel. Now, the
school will have to bear the brunt of
the expansion in order to compromise
for the hotel’s encroachment of
public space.
While the original plan had mandated
that this Lainchaur road
nance imaging (MRI) to probe for
infection and injury if there are any.
Irregular heartbeat of the
patient, however, could create difficulty
in the MRI process, a source
said.
Meanwhile, Shah’s wife and former
crown princess Himani is
expected to arrive in Bangkok on
Thursday night. Shah’s sister
Prerana Singh, cousin Puja Shahi
and her husband Rajiv Shahi,
among others, arrived on
Wednesday to be by his side.
son’s release. “How was I to
manage that kind of money
on such short notice?” he
said.
The entire Mahato
family was in Basantapur
when Brijesh was abducted
from their home. Brijesh
was last seen by some of
the neighbours leaving
with four men on a motorcycle.
“We contacted
his friends and
called our relatives
inquiring about
Brijesh, but no one
had any idea where
he was. So we went
to police for assistance.
There is no news
about him so far,” Asarfi
said.
Birgunj residents have
been terrorised by growing
number of abduction cases
of late. Five months ago,
17-year-old Raju Prajapati
was kidnapped from
Ghantaghar. His status
remains unknown even
though his family already
paid Rs 1 million ransom to
the abductors.
stretch would be expanded by 22
meters, the expansion has been
reduced to 18 meters.
According to the expansion master
plan, from the centre, both sides
of the road have to be nine meters,
which would demolish around one
metre each from the hotel and the
school premises. However, authorities
have now planned to shift the
expansion track and only demolish
parts of the public school, leaving
the hotel intact.
According to Kathmandu Valley
Town Development Implementation
Committee (KVTDIC) Chief Bhai Kaji
Tiwari, the original plan was
changed to avoid paying a huge
amount as compensation to the
hotel if its structures were demolished.
“The road expansion drive has
always been hit by a cash crunch. We
Nepal to set up residential
missions in Bahrain, Oman
POST REPORT
KATHMANDU, FEB 21
WITH a view to addressing
grievances of thousands of
Nepali migrants working
and living in Oman and Bahrain, the
government on Thursday decided to
open residential missions in these two
countries.
Bahrain is host to an estimated
40,000 Nepalis, while the Nepali
population in Oman has crossed the
30,000 mark.
Thursday’s Cabinet meeting also
decided to open Consulate General
offices in the Chinese city of
Guangzhou and Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah.
Owing to the growing trade between
China and Nepal, the Nepali business
community had long been demanding
a consulate in Guangzhou. Similarly,
Nepalis in Saudi Arabia, along with the
foreign employment sector, had been
demanding a consulate in Jeddah as
the Nepali mission in Riyadh has long
been unable to address problems
faced by the growing number of Nepali
workers. The meeting also decided to
establish diplomatic relations with
Uzbekistan and Samoa.
Currently, the Nepali Embassy in
Doha, Qatar, is mandated to look
after Bahrain, whereas the Nepali
Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,
looks after Oman.
“Oman and Bahrain have recently
emerged as favoured destinations for
foreign employment. Keeping this in
mind, the government decided to
open missions in these two countries,”
Minister for Information and
Communication Raj Kishor Yadav said
after the Cabinet meeting.
The government will send requests
to the respective countries—Oman,
Bahrain, China and Saudi Arabia—
seeking permission to set up the missions
and consulate offices.
Currently, Nepal has 29 residential
missions abroad, including two permanent
ones in New York and
Geneva, and three consulate general
offices in Lhasa, China; Kolkata, India
and Hong Kong.
Last year in April, a panel led by a
joint secretary at the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs (MoFA) had recommended
that new missions be established
in Oman, Bahrain, Spain,
Portugal, Italy, Indonesia, Turkey,
Bhutan, Afghanistan and the Maldives,
along with three consulate offices in
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Mumbai, India
and Guangzhou, China on mid- and
short-term basis. Owing to a significant
rise in the Nepali population in
Oman and Bahrain, the panel had suggested
immediate opening of the missions
there.
The Cabinet also approved changing
the name of the Ministry of
Physical Planning and Works to the
Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and
Transportation. The meeting further
endorsed the working procedure of the
proposed distribution of poverty identity
cards and formed a committee
under Minister for Tourism and Civil
Aviation Post Bahadur Bogati to celebrate
the diamond jubilee of the first
ascent of Mt Everest.
The Cabinet decided to waive
loans taken by peasants and endorsed
a work plan to this effect. It also waived
land registration fees of Rs 2.966 million
for the GP Koirala Foundation in
Mandikatar, Kathmandu.
Cops arrest overseas employment agent
POST REPORT
KATHMANDU, FEB 21
POLICE arrested Rabin Silwal, an overseas
employment agent charged with
multiple cases of fraud.
Silwal, 34, was arrested on
Tuesday by the Central Investigation
Bureau (CIB) from his Kapan-based
residence. He was presented
before the Kathmandu District Court
Kantipur journalist Ganesh Rai (right) receives ‘Rastra Matrabhasa Sewa Puraskar’ at a function in
Lalitpur on Thursday to mark International Mother Language Day. The award, handed out by Ministry of
Federal Affairs and Local Development, carries a purse of Rs 15,000. POST PHOTO: SANJOG MANANDHAR
Plan to save hotel, demolish school comes under lash
The road expansion
drive has always
been hit by a cash
crunch. We cannot
afford to pay such a
large amount to the
hotel, which will be
in millions
cannot afford to pay such a large
amount to the hotel, which will be in
millions,” said Tiwari.
Tiwari further argued that the
CABINET DECISIONS
Consulate General offices in
Guangzhou, China and
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, will
also be opened
Diplomatic relations with
Uzbekistan and Samoa to
be established
Reames Ministry of Physical
Planning and Works as
Ministry of Physical
Infrastructure and
Transportation
Okays working procedure
for poverty identity card
distribution
Forms panel to celebrate
the diamond jubilee of the
first ascent of Mt Everest
Currently, Nepal has
29 residential
missions, including
two permanent ones
in New York and
Geneva
(KDC) on Thursday, police said.
Silwal had been convicted of
separate fraud cases against Keshav
Bahadur Rana and Dhan Bahadur
Tamang but had been absconding.
According to police, Silwal cheated
clients by falsely assuring them
of employment in foreign countries,
including South Korea and
New Zealand.
The KDC had slapped Silwal with a
new plan would also protect the
Amrit Science Campus’ main building.
“We had planned demolishing
the northern side, which also
includes the Amrit Science Campus
hostel,” he said.
After the expansion, the Shanti
Vidya Griha’s prime source of
income, its rented shutters, will be
demolished. Tiwari said that the
school will be compensated to the
tune of around Rs 1.8 million to
build new shutters inside their compound.
The Vidya Griha is ranked
among the best public schools in the
country.
However, students have objected
to the decision and are seeking support
from student unions. Nepal
Student Union (NSU) leaders
claimed that the road expansion
hasn’t been fair. “Our help was
fine of Rs 100,000 for a complaint
filed by Rana on February 5, 2008.
In a separate case filed by Tamang,
the KDC again fined Silwal
Rs 450,000 on January 21, 2009.
After Silwal failed to comply
with both rulings, Tamang had
filed another case at the Appellate
Court, which, on March 10,
2011, charged Silwal with a
Rs 250,000 fine.
sought by these young students. This
expansion design isn’t fair. The
authorities are planning save the
elites at the cost of a government
school,” said Leela Ballabh Dahal,
NSU central committee member.
In order to save the Malla Hotel’s
infrastructure, the open Lainchaur
grounds will also be affected. “They
have planned to move utility poles
into the Lainchaur grounds to save
the hotel,” said Dahal. If the expansion
is conducted fairly by sticking
to the original blueprint, the Malla
Hotel will lose around nine annas of
land, he said.
“We cannot let this happen. If
the plan is not fairly implemented,
we will stage protests against the
Kathmandu Metropolitan City” said
Dahal. The Lainchaur strip of road is
prime property with high land value.