Kathmandu, January 26, 2007

The government is planning to construct roads having a total length of 18,000 km within three years, Rajendra Pandey, Minister for Local Development, said today.

The government has drafted a three-year plan to build the roads, he said, adding the construction will begin next year. The roads will connect villages with cities, he said, adding such roads can play a key role in linking urban and rural areas and help transport village products to cities.

“Once the roads are built, poverty level will go down to 21 per cent as local people can earn through selling their products in cities, “ Pandey said, inaugurating a three-day second civil engineering exhibition and civil engineering competition on the premises of the Institute of Engineering (IOE), Pulchowk Campus. There is a need to reconstruct 12,000 km road in rural areas and the government is constructing 6,000 km road from next year, Pandey said. He said the government has the fund of Rs 14 billion at its disposal and is pulling all strings to get the resources of Rs 7 billion for the programme. Minister Pandey said, “The country lacks employment opportunities, which is why the youths go abroad in search of better prospects.

The country will be developed if their knowledge is utilised here.” He added, “The government is ready to provide all possible help to the college to produce skilled human resources.”

Krishna Mohan prize for FNJ president

Kathmandu, January 26, 2007

Maiti Nepal president Anuradha Koirala and president of the Federation of Nepalese Journalist (FNJ), Bishnu Nisthuri, were given this year’s Krishna Mohan-Nudup Peace Prize (KNPP) for their contribution to building peace in the country.

At a function organised by the Krishna Mohan-Nudup Memorial Academy (KNMA) to mark the fourth death anniversary of then Inspector General of the Armed Police Force Krishna Mohan Shrestha and his wife Nudup, Subas Nembang, Speaker of the legislature-parliament, gave away the award to Nisthuri and Koirala at Bagdol, Lalitpur, where Nudup, Krishna Mohan and and his bodyguard were shot dead.

After receiving the award, Koirala said: “This kind of award inspires us to do more in the field of women’s right.” She proposed that Krishna Mohan Shrestha be declared a martyr. Bishnu Nisthuri said: “Those who killed professionals and politicians might have been surprised to see that talks can settle every problem.” Recalling the contribution of Krishna Mohan, Subas Nembang, said, “The country is going through a democratic process to attain durable peace. This achievement should be credited to the police officers like Krishna Mohan.”