Mahendranagar, Dec 21, 2006

The central general meeting and the statute convention of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) started here today.

Speaker of the House of Representatives (HoR) Subas Nembang inaugurated the convention. Speaking on the occasion, Nembang said the seven parties, the Maoists and the civil society should have a common view to end the current differences on opinions.

Saying that the main objective was not achieved as per the sentiments of Jana Andolan II, Nembang said, “I also met Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala so as to end the latest political disruption.”

Saying that the bill on the right to information would be tabled in the House, Minister of State for Information and Communication Dilendra Prasad Badu, said, “The bill will be directly sent to the House from the cabinet.

It will be tabled in HoR within five days.” Minister of State for Labour and Transport Management Ramesh Lekhak said the political complexities could be settled through discussions. Saying that the constituent assembly (CA) polls ought to be held by mid-June, Badu urged the Maoists not to stymie the government decisions.

Human rights activist Krishna Pahadi said prolongation of the interim phase and transition would be harmful. He warned that the peace process would grind to a halt if any problem arises in the relations between the political parties.

Power for villages near Everest soon

Five villages near the Mount Everest will have electric lights in four months. The tourist area is deprived of electricity, which has been a challenge to the conservation of Sagarmatha National Park, one of four World Heritage Sites of the country.

A model micro-hydro power project, being installed at Toktok in Chaurikharkha VDC of Solukhumbu, will supply electricity to some 100 households. A powerhouse is being built at Toktok village near Ghatte Khola at a height of 2,700 metres.

“The 70 KW power project is going to be complete by April. We are working on war-footing and we hope it will be complete by the deadline as the peace process has made the job easy these days,” Ugan Manandhar, alternative energy officer at WWF Nepal, told this daily today.

WWF-Nepal designed the project to use the source of alternative energy for rural electrification to improve the livelihood of people by bringing about income-generating activities and correlating it with conservation.

“Unlike the widespread opinion that hydroelectricity deteriorates nature, we are trying to show that micro-hydro project indeed can support nature conservation,” he said.

According to him, the locals will use electricity for cooking purposes instead of firewood and thus will help keep the forest and nature in the buffer zone of Sagarmatha National Park intact.