Kathmandu, November 27, 2007

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, who conferred with party leaders today, has been told to stick to the position which was endorsed by the mahasamiti meeting of the party and refrain from giving in to the agenda of other parties.

The unchanged informal position of the party comes two days prior to the resumption of the winter session after a 10-day adjournment sought to evolve consensus on the nagging issues of early republic and election system based on all-out proportional representation. “There is no way why we should change our position.

No one has the authority to suggest a system to us. Our position will not change. We will be meeting tomorrow also,” said NC Central Working Committee (CWC) member Laxman Ghimire when asked about the position of the party two days ahead of the resumption of the winter session.

The meeting of the party, which was organised along informal lines and included an analysis of the current issues, witnessed senior leaders of the party coming down heavily on the idea proposed by former US President Jimmy Carter. The meet also saw a party team briefing the leadership about the talks held with parties demanding implementation of the directives.

Carter had, among others things, suggested, that the NC would do well to yield to the growing demand for election based on all-out proportional representation by agreeing to election which is conducted by reserving 30 per cent seats to election system held under the “first-past-the-post system”, while 70 per cent are left to all-out proportional representation.

Garbage disposal a headache for KMC

Kathmandu, November 27, 2007

The heaps of stinking garbage that has been piled up for the past five days at different corners of the City will be collected from tomorrow morning after disruptions ranging from few days to weeks for the last few months. But for how long?

Even the government authorities are not sure. “Many of our working days are spent in talks with the locals to resolve the dispute over the dumping site. We have become more like negotiators than municipality officials,” said Dinesh Thapaliya, chief executive officer of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC). Nagarjun Thulogao Secondary School at Jeetpurphedi agreed to let the municipality’s trucks pass through their area after an agreement to provide a primary teacher the school and provide Rs 100,000 for the upgrading of the school building within 15 days.

Though the cabinet has already declared garbage dumping as an essential service and strikes affecting such services are prohibited, government has failed to contain the protests related to the transport and dumping of garbage.

Many times, locals block the transport of garbage over petty demands that have to do nothing either with the affected people or with the people of the Valley.