Unwise decision

This is in reference to the news “Private schools in districts shut due to Maoist threats” published in THT on April 18. All Nepalis must have been saddened by this news since it is a direct threat to the education sector involving thousands of students. The student wing of the Maoist, ANNISU-R, which has been claiming to be fighting for the welfare and the right of the

students, has now ordered all the private school to shut down and stop new admissions. Aren’t they contradicting their own stand? The ANNISU-R should understand the problems that will befall the students and their parents by such a call. Also, if the schools close down many employees of these schools would be jobless. If they are really fighting for the good of the students they should know that such a decision would only hamper the studies of the pupils and ruin their future, and in turn make this body only unpopular amongst the people. The ANNISU-R should reconsider the decision.

Pradeep Tiwari, Lainchour

Water crisis

We all know the importance of having access to clean drinking water to live healthy lives. But this basic human right seems to be a far cry for even the people of Kathmandu, not to talk of the rural poor. I live in Ghattakulo, Kathmandu, and the people here have been without clean water since a month now. Even after numerous complains filed at the concerned office, no action has been taken so far to solve this problem. The concerned officials keep on giving us false reassurances. It is only getting tougher for the locals, as the government cannot even

provide water for basic consumption and we cannot afford to keep on buying the bottled mineral water since they are very expensive. The Water Supply Corporation should repair the water pipes soon and help the people overcome the water crisis.

Kulraj Khanal, Ghattakulo

Human rights

In the letter titled “Credibility” published in THT on April 15 Amit Subedi advises our

government to take the matter of the reported human rights violation in Kapilvastu seriously. However, he should be clear as to whether the violation of human rights occurring routinely should be stopped or that the reporting of such ghastly events must stop. It’s a pity that one has to rely on foreign media for news because of the absence of press freedom in Nepal. So to highlight good things about Nepal, the killings of innocent people has to be stopped by the parties to the conflict. In the absence of a mechanism to bring to public notice such killings, more of such incidents will take place. Press freedom has to be restored so that media could report such incidents.

Pratik Pradhan, via e-mail

Flight info

THT covers the aviation industry more than any other newspaper. Sometime back I read in your newspaper about Alpine Air given one-year to start international flights. Air Shangrila and Air Nepal International were also permitted to fly internationally. For landlocked country like Nepal where state-owned airline is not doing well, private airlines should be encouraged.

However, after the initial reports came in, no follow up has emerged and we are unaware if anything has happened to the airline deals. We are eager to know when will they start their flights or if there are any other private airlines waiting to be given the green signal to operate international flights. It would be nice if you could provide detail information to the readers about this.

Sagar Kharel, Kirtipur