Nepal

Kathmandu, July 30

Nepali Congress lawmaker Devendra Raj Kandel in the parliamentary State Affairs and Good Governance Committee today requested the government to investigate the death of Yukta Prasad Shrestha. Shrestha was the NC Parbat district secretary and former staff of Land Revenue Office Dilli Bazaar. Shrestha was also one of the accused in Lalita Niwas land scam.

Kandel said even though Shresthadeath appeared a suicide, a closer look into the incident did not point out to suicide. &So, I have asked the Ministry of Home Affairs to come up with detail of the incident following an investigation,& he added. Kandel said Shrestha fell from an eight-storey building at Machhapokhari in Kathmandu. &His body did not suffer damage even after falling from the tall building. This has created suspicion over his death,& he said. Kandel also said Shrestha was a non-gazetted second class officer (Kharidar) and that he was linked with the Baluwatar Lalita Niwas land scam. &A junior officer follows direction of his seniors. So, it is possible that he was killed by someone for the fear that he might reveal the truth of the Lalita Niwas land scam,& he said.

NC leader Dilendra Prasad Badu also requested the government to investigate the death of Basanta Bahadur Singh whose body was found hanging in a jungle of Kanchanpur. NC Lawmaker Dila Sangroula asked Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa when the government would arrest the culprit(s) of Nirlama Panta, who was raped and murdered in Kanchanpur.

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Kathmandu, July 30

An unidentified person fired a shot at the house of a former under-secretary, Bishnu Prasad Sharma, in Kalanki last night. Police are investigating the incident.

The incident occurred at around 9:00pm, police said. The house is located near Kalanki Mai Temple. A .22 calibre bullet had pierced the window pane of a room where Sharma19-year-old daughter was studying. No one was hurt in the firing. Sharma informed police immediately following the incident. Superintendent of Police Kedar Dhakal told THT that a team of police personnel deployed at the site recovered a bullet shell.Bullets of the type are usually used in licensed guns for hunting small animals and birds, according to SP Dhakal.

&An investigating team has been deployed in and around Kalanki area, and we are confident about bringing out the truth soon,& he said.

Metropolitan Police Crime Division has summoned engineer Subhakhar Khanal, a neighbour of Sharma, for his alleged involvement in the firing. Police have claimed that he owns two firearms that use .22 caliber bullets. SSP Shyam Lal Gyanwali at Metropolitan Police Office, Rani Pokhari said police had confiscated the guns and sent them to the Central Police Forensic Science Laboratory in Samakhusi, for test.

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Kathmandu, July 30

A medical student at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital remembers how he and two of his roommates were harassed in the name of ragging after they were enrolled in MBBS programme.

They were forced to salute their seniors, sing and dance for them at night in hostel rooms.

Students of a private college said though there were student unions at the college, some seniors were always involved in abusing and humiliating the juniors.

Some girl students of another private college said senior boys used to pass some abusive comments. They further said some boys even used to whistle and sing vulgar songs when walking past them. Sabina, who just passed her Grade XII examinations from a private college said, &Although they passed some abusive comments, ragging was not a nuisance in college,& she added.

Some Grade XII boys said they were bullied by their own classmates who teased them for their physical deformity. Many Grade XI and XII students, however told THT that they did were not the victims of ragging in their colleges.

In an interview conducted by THT with over a dozen students from six educational institutions including private and public, majority of the male students said they were not the victims of ragging. Nonetheless, Nepal police claims that they have booked 1,638 persons for their alleged involvement in ragging in the last two months.

Police had on April 26 initiated a nationwide anti-ragging campaign in a bid to create a sound academic environment at educational institutions.

Inspector General of Police Sarbendra Khanal had inaugurated the campaign through a video conference in Kathmandu.

Nepal police, however, did not reveal the names of the colleges or institutions from where the students were arrested for ragging.

Police said the students were arrested for bullying, ragging, manhandling and defamation. Many were arrested for cyber crime, according to police.

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Kathmandu, July 30

The US Embassy in Kathmandu, in partnership with Kathmandu Living Lab, is organising a two-day South Asia Air Quality TechCamp on July 30 and 31.

The camp TechCamp brings in participants from seven South Asian countries, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, US Ambassador to Nepal Randy Berry said high level of pollution can have lasting impact on the cognitive skills of young children. &Air pollution takes a costly toll on the public health, economy and environment across the region, so we need a regional response. Finding a solution to the current air pollution crisis is a daunting task, so we must be ambitious,& he said.

Participants presented the situation of air pollution in cities they represent including New Delhi, Kolkata, Lahore, Dhaka and Karachi.

The event will provide participants with state-of-the art innovative tools and technologies to help amplify their voice to address air quality issues in the region.

It aims to address political, social, and scientific aspects of the problem and improve the ability of civil society and media to engage governments, empower the public, and take action to improve air quality in South Asia, according to a press release issued by the embassy today.

The camp plans to fund participants in exercising their newly acquired skills and technology solutions into action towards controlling air pollution.

Programs of the camp are interactive and hands-on workshops that leverage private sector technology experts to build technical capacity among civil society advocates, journalists, youth network participants, government officials and others who are working on specific policy priorities, stated the press release.

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