Nepal

Kathmandu, April 30

Prime Minister and Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Co-chair KP Sharma Oli today defended allegations against his partyGeneral Secretary Bishnu Paudel in Lalita Niwas land grab case.

Addressing the partyparliamentary meeting in Baneshwor, PM Oli said Paudel had bought eight anna land in Baluwatar in 2005 during ex-king Gyanendrarule. &Our party was not in the power then. He had bought that land and got it registered in his sonname without knowing that it was government land.& Oli also said that some people were trying to defame the party by spreading rumour that Paudel had encroached the government land by abusing power.

Oli said that the investigation carried out by his government revealed that the land in Baluwatar was illegally occupied by some individuals. Otherwise, the issue would have never come to surface. However, instead of thanking the government for laying bare the issue, some people are criticising it for the good work, he said.

The government has formed a probe committee under former secretary Sharada Prasad Thrital to investigate Lalita Niwas land grab case. &Investigation is under way and the truth will come out soon,& he added.

PM Oli said the government would also investigate the wide-body aircraft purchase deal. He tried to clarify that his government had not signed the deal to purchase the aircraft.

Talking about the rape and murder of 13-year-old Nirmala Panta in Kanchanpur, PM Oli said that the investigation into the case was under way. &Initially, the investigation did not go in the right direction due to unwanted pressure from political parties and organisations,& he said. Oli also claimed that the peace and security situation in the country had improved.

On a different note, Oli made it clear that the government would not revoke the ban on Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal. PM Oli said the government could not compromise on national security. &We are always open for talks, but the government will not tolerate any activities that disrupt social harmony and peace,& he said.

Oli also warned that the central government would not remain a mute spectator if any provincial governments tried to bypass it by undermining the rule of law in the country.

READ ALSO:

• Oli slams Deuba

Kathmandu, April 30

While waste management remains a growing challenge in cities across the country, including Kathmandu, a recent survey has revealed that 90 per cent of industries which produce toxic waste are operating sans a waste management system.

According to ‘Environment Statistics of Nepal-2019&released recently by the Central Bureau of Statistics, 89.3 per cent of industries didn&t have solid waste management facilities. The survey was conducted in 4,076 industries under 20 different categories.

As per the existing laws all industries are required to instal an inbuilt system to manage all kinds of waste that are hazardous to the environment.

Among them, only 18.9 per cent of industries that are categorised under ‘Chemical and Chemical Products& had waste management facilities. Environmental experts said that chemical industries were likely to produce more hazardous waste than other industries or waste products from households. The survey was conducted in 132 industries.

The survey found that only 19.8 per cent of rubber and plastic industries which also produce equally toxic waste were equipped with waste management system. Out of 237 such industries, only 47 had installed a mechanism to manage solid waste.

Food and Beverages industries, according to the survey report, produce the largest amount of industrial solid waste. However, only 12.7 per cent of such industries have solid waste management mechanism. Out of total 1,065 food and beverages industries, only 135 have installed the mechanism to properly dispose waste.

The status of reuse and recycle in these industries are even worse as only 2.8 per cent of all the industries follow the reuse and recycle process. Meanwhile, only 3.9 per cent of total 4,076 industries have obtained pollution control certificate from the International Standard of Industrial Classification.

Solid Waste Management Act 1997 requires the government to ensure that industries control different kinds of pollution like water pollution, air pollution and noise pollution. However, the Department of Environment, a responsible body to keep track of waste being produced from industries said that it could not force the industries to abide by the law.

Information officer at DoE Shankar Prasad Poudel said, &We are authorised to check pollution level of any industries. We can also write a letter to such industries if found producing waste higher than the permissible amount. But, it is now the jurisdiction of the local government to take action against errant industries.&

Poudel also said that the department severely lacks environment inspectors to inspect all industries across the country. Currently, there are 11 inspectors working under the DoE.

Local Government Operation Act has provisioned that all kinds of pollution or waste management issues of industries should be handled by the local governments in their respective areas. But, it still remains unknown how many local governments have introduced bills regarding mechanism to control waste produced from industries under their jurisdiction.

Hari Kumar Shrestha head of Environment Department of the countrylargest local government Kathmandu Metropolitan City said that they are yet to formulate an act regarding the issue. &Besides, we are not sure if we have enough resources to regulate industries in term of waste management,& he said adding that the department has been, as of now organising awareness campaigns at industries urging them to safely dispose waste products on their own.

Environmentalist Narayan Prasad Sapkota said, &Industrial solid waste management must be treated as a serious issue by the government as these waste are directly connected to air and water resources.

KATHMANDU: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Tuesday said Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba approached the governmentdevelopment works with a jaundiced eye.

Oli said so while speaking at NCPparliamentary party meeting. &Our government is doing better work than previous governments. But the opposition is never tired of criticising the government,& he said.

He asked opposition party leaders to see for themselves development work outside the capital to know what the government had done before airing their views.

Kathmandu, April 30

With its three ventilator machines going defunct, nearly 15 patients at the National Trauma Centre had to wait for their turn for surgery for two days.

Of the four ventilator machines three have been dysfunctional for two days due to gas leakage problem, affecting nearly 30 patients who required a long duration surgery.

According to Executive Director of the Trauma Centre Dr Pramod Yadav, two machines were repaired only today.

Talking to THT, he said, &Two machines were repaired today and they have started providing service, while one has yet to be repaired. We need biomedical engineers from India to get the machine repaired.&

He also said that machines which had been bought four years ago required servicing every three months. The three machines had stopped working due to lack of regular servicing.

&Service charge per machine is Rs 1.5 million. Due to costly servicing the machines haven&t been serviced yet. It is also true that the country lacks human resource to repair the machine,& said Dr Yadav.

Another part of the problem is that the hospital administration failed to sign an annual maintenance contract with the machine dealer.

&If the hospital had signed an AMC, it would have been easier to get the machines serviced and repaired,& he said.

Nearly 20 people have been benefiting from the machines daily.

&We did not refer patients to other hospitals despite problems with the machines. But they had to wait in a queue for two additional days to get the service,& said Dr Yadav.