Kathmandu, March 22:

The 12th Nepal Information Technology Show and Conference CAN Infotech 2006, which is to be inaugurated on Thursday in Kathmandu, has literally shown the door to Madan Puraskar Pustakalay (MPP), the developer of NepaLinux, a pioneering operating system designed in Nepali language.

Speaking to The Himalayan Times, Kedar Sharma, outreach coordinator at Madan Puraskar Pustakalay (MPP) said that despite MPP’s keenness to participate in the event, the organisers of the event have denied it any space within the commercial exhibition area.

MPP is now planning to set up shop outside the gate of Birendra International Conference Centre (BICC), the venue of CAN Infotech 2006, and continue to interact with IT enthusiasts.

NepaLinux is regarded as a milestone in Information Technology (IT) industry of Nepal, which has been developed by Bhasa Sanchar Project with support from the European Commission. The team has been led by the Open University, UK.

Biplav Man Singh, president at CAN, responding to queries from The Himalayan Times, said that his organisation and MPP could not arrive at a ‘suitable understanding’ about an Madan Puraskar Pustakalay stall within the exhibition area.”

“As an alternative and as a consideration for MPP’s contribution to the Nepali IT industry, he added, “We had asked MPP to place its stall in ‘Swaviman’ where non-governmental organisations are displaying their work. But it has not agreed to our proposal,” he said.

Expressing his disappointment, Kedar Sharma said, “We had been assured by the Computer Association of Nepal (CAN) that we would be provided with a space for our stall.”

“MPP had also approached the organisers formally for the same, but till now nothing has come our way,” he said.