LETTERS

Mum on US arms supply

This is in reference to the news “Pandey claims new vistas of US, Nepal tie-up open,” published in THT on June 28. According to the news, Nepal’s foreign minister Ramesh Nath Pandey claimed that “new areas of cooperation” have opened up between the US and Nepal. He said this after his talks with US principal deputy assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs, Donald A Camp. Though it would be good for Nepal if the US understood Nepal’s grave political situation and helped it to come out of the violence, the minister

was not clear about the resumption of US military aid. This is the main concern of the people at this particular time. It would be better if both the countries moved ahead with more transparent dealings for the sake of the suffering Nepalis.

Jaya Bhandari, Teku

Prepare first

Two weeks have passed but the fuss over the SLC results is not yet over. A new Controller of Examination has been appointed. The RCCC has intervened to probe the case of SLC results. Since the results this year were almost eight per cent less than the results of last year and because of the official insensitivity towards result publication, the SLC Examination Board is being criticised everywhere. It is now said that there was a big competition among examiners who wanted to correct as many answer-books as possible in order to earn more money. If there is going to be a race among teachers themselves, what results could we expect in the first place?

The board should check this immoral practice. No doubt, the examiners should be paid well, but they must be instructed beforehand and the number of papers to be checked has to be

decided in advance so that no injustice is done to the students. The board should also be well prepared before publishing the results and the re-checking system must be carried out

carefully.

Birendra Shrestha, Kirtipur

Apartments

The concept of apartment/colony community development is new in Nepal. It started when in 2001 Ansal Chaudhary, a pioneering developer, established the Kathmandu Residency Apartment at Bagdol. By now there are 12 such settlements with 805 families residing in them. Out of that, only four are apartments and the remaining are of colony types. Given the increment in both size and speed, colony culture is expected to have a significant impact on urban Nepali society. Since people from different socio-cultural backgrounds reside together in these colonies and often share their views, colonies have become a kind of forum for promoting social values. Development of such communities is of great significance to improved urbanisation. But to bring about a clean and viable urban community, it needs

effective interactions between the developers and the owners. Owners should not expect quick implementation of commitments made during contract times. Besides, the developers must strictly follow the building code for ensuring the provision of quality and affordable

housing in a suitable living environment. The government must abridge the policy loopholes by not allowing any frauds and must implement the Apartment Act and its regulations without delay.

Dhiraj Rai, TU, Kirtipur