Mahendranagar, December 8, 2005

The Nepal Food Corporation has so far supplied over 65 quintals of food grains to Bajura by air to provide immediate relief to the famine-hit region after news of food shortage in Kolti Depot of NFC was published in The Himalayan Times. Over 1,000 locals of Sappata VDC have already fled to India because of the food shortage. Kolti depot is responsible for the supply of food grains to 11 remote VDCs of Bajura district. Surkhet branch of NFC transported the food grains to Kolti on Tuesday and Wednesday by helicopter, Branch Chief, Laba Shrestha said. “At least 150 quintals of food grains will be transported to Kolti depot,” he added. He said he was told that there was some stock of food grains in Kolti depot even before but he was not aware whether that stock was distributed or not. “The employees there must not have done their bit to distribute the stock. We will investigate into the matter,” Shrestha added. Kolti NFC chief Khadka Bahadur Chaudhari said, “We’ll investigate whether the food grains were not distributed due to negligence of employees at Kolti depot and District Food Management Committee.” “Our job is to transport food grains, but it is the responsibility of Food Management Committee to monitor the distribution,” Chaudhari added. DDC chairman forms FMC to manage the supply of food grains.

SAARC moving in ‘right direction’

Kathmandu, December 8, 2005

Embassy of Bangladesh organised a discussion programme on the occasion of 21st Charter Day of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) on the embassy premises today. On the occasion, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ramesh Nath Pandey said terrorism shouldn’t be given any room to pose threat to the socio-economic development process. “SAARC is moving slowly but in the right direction,” said the minister. Stating that we need to prepare ourselves for new global challenges such as terrorism and environmental challenges, the ministers said: “Terrorism knows no boundaries and possess critical threats to peace, security and stability, it must be fought collectively with out double standard and selective approach.” He added that terrorism violates fundamental values and norms recognised by civilised society and international community. The minister further said that in the age of globalisation, SAARC, which composes with big and powerful, and small and vulnerable countries, should develop links. Former Secretary General of SAARC, Yadav Kant Silwal said implementation of South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) on the scheduled time will be a big achievement for SAARC Meanwhile, ambassador of Bangladesh, Humayun Kabir also said that SAFTA implementation from January 2006 will be a big leap in strengthening regional cooperation in South Asia.