Kathmandu, February 16, 2007

Devotees celebrating Mahashivaratri this evening stoned the royal cavalcade in front of the main gate of the Pashupati temple, police said. The devotees were protesting the decision of the Pashupati Area Development Trust to bar them from offering prayers to Lord Shiva when King Gyanendra entered the temple. The PADT had said it would not bar devotees from offering prayers even during the royal visit. Enraged at the decision, the people shouted anti-king slogans and stoned the motorcade. A police official said the devotees threw the stones when the king was coming out of the temple after offering his prayers. “Power was cut at the time when people started throwing stones at the royal cavalcade. The King was, then, taken back inside the main temple area. He remained there for more than 30 minutes,” a police official said. “Security men used little force to disperse the people around the temple. People threw stones at the king’s cavalcade after he came out of the temple for the second time. Despite the disturbances, personnel of Nepal Police and the Armed Police Force (APF) led the royal cavalcade outside,” the official said. The queen did not accompany the king today as in previous years . The king arrived at at the Pashupati area at around 7 pm and left at around 7:45, a source said. Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Pradeep Gyawali, who is the chairperson of the PADT, confirmed the incident.

Karnali folk demand better health services

Kathmandu, February 16, 2007

People of Karnali today demanded strict health policies and their effective implementation to provide basic health facilities to people living in the region. Speakers at a programme here said people from the Karnali zone were excluded and lagged behind because of the feudal and centralised government. Illiteracy, lack of awareness and food and economic backwardness are the major reasons for the poor condition of health of people living in the Karnali region, they said. “People living in Karnali don’t have very good health as they are living in a region that is always neglected by the state,” member of the interim legislature Devi Lal Thapa said. “The government should come up with strict health policies to improve the health condition of the people there,” he added. According to him, the placement of doctors, nurses and health assistants in the region should be made on time and they should be given appropriate salary and benefits. “The state must also provide scholarships to local students,” he said. General Secretary of Nepal Medical Association, Dr Kiran Shrestha, said, “The basic health service provided by the state in the Karnali region is very minimal.” Shrestha added that the state should prioritise providing health training to locals so that common people of the region could get basic health services.