Kathmandu, November 27, 2006

Nepal Telecom and Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) have been hiring people as temporary hands on the recommendation of politicians or bigwigs.

This was revealed today when the Parliamentary State Affairs Committee (SAC) discussed with the State Minister for Water Resources Gyanendra Bahadur Karki and other officials the issue of NT and NEA placing advertisements a year ago to fill certain vacancies but not holding any exams for those who had applied.

Over 69,000 people applied for 900 vacancies in NEA, and 1,600 in NT for 140 posts.

NEA alone collected over Rs 10 million as revenue from the applicants, who, infuriated by the unfair ways of recruitment, had lodged a complaint at the SAC.

On the other hand, there is an issue of staff appointed on temporary basis in Corporations including NT and NEA seeking permanent appointment just because they have been serving those bodies for a long time.

Karki told the SAC members that the advertisements for filling the vacancies were placed just to internally give permanent appointment to the temporary staff. “It is unfair that the authority created vacancies because politicians needed their kith and kin to get permanent government jobs.

Advertisements have been placed and exams not held as exams involving a large number of applicants could not be managed,” Water Resources Secretary Tika Dutta Niraula told the SAC.

Chocolates give a bitter experience

A total of 27 students of Shanti Shramik Higher Secondary School at Chyasal, Lalitpur, were hospitalised when they fell sick after eating chocolates in the school this afternoon.

The students have already returned home after getting preliminary treatment at Patan Hospital. Sushila Koirala, a four-grade student of the school, distributed the chocolates to her classmates to celebrate her birthday today.

“The students started vomiting en masse and we rushed them to Patan Hospital,” Braja Bhushan Ray, principal of the government-run school, said. “Later, we came to know that Sushila distributed the chocolates to all of the students,” he said.

Sushila’s elder sister Urmila said a stranger had given her the chocolates yesterday. “She ate three chocolates yesterday but that didn’t harm her,” she told this daily. “But today all the students who ate the chocolates vomited just five minutes later,” she added.

Madhav Kumar Nepal, Superintendent of Police at Metropolitan Police Range, Lalitpur, said that police were investigating into the case. “It is learnt that today was not Sushila’s birthday.

We are trying to know why she distributed the chocolates and how did she got them,” he said. He said food poisoning could be the reason of the mass vomiting.

Police said they found a store in the house belonging to Ratna Byanjankar, where chocolates, like the ones distributed by Sushila, were kept.