Drug abuse cases on the rise in Kanchanpur
The cases of drug abuse and smuggling have increased sharply in the past three years in Kanchanpur. Youths carrying drugs as brown sugar, charas, and nitro vet are arrested on a daily basis. In one and half month of the current fiscal year alone, 31 youths including three Indians were arrested for drug supply. "The people with illegal drug are arrested every day," said Police Inspector at District Police Office, Bharat Giri, adding that youths are indulged in drug abuse. He warned that if the parents, society and all tiers of governments ignore this problem, it would emerge more seriously and challenging. Till date in the current fiscal year, police confiscated 127.07 grams of brown sugar, 2.24 charas, and 255 tablets of nitro vet. Similarly, 11 cases have been filed against drug trafficking. Inspector Giri added that the data showed rising cases of drug abuse and trafficking. Police in plain clothes have been mobilized for taking under control the wrongdoers, while the police, community police and traffic police offices have been conducting public awareness programmes. In the fiscal year, 2076/77, total 55 cases were registered against drug abuse and supply, while it ratcheted up to 143 in 2078/79BS. The data maintained by police revealed that those involved in drug abuse and trafficking were held from Punarbas, Balauri, Beldandi and Dodhara Chandani which share open border to India. The Police Office has taken under control 33 Indian nationals in this connection since 2076. Even an Indian drug smuggler was killed in the skirmish with police while he was supplying drug at border area of Belauri Municipality. There were 141 cases filed against drug smuggling in the fiscal year, 2077/78.
Haritalika Teej festival being observed across the nation
Hindu women across the nation are celebrating the Haritalika Teej festival with zeal and zest on Tuesday. The day falls on the third day of Shukla Paksha (bright fortnight) in the month of Bhadra. Women celebrate the festival by fasting, singing, dancing and offering prayers to Lord Shiva. The festival also marks the union of Shiva and Parbati. The festival is a three-day-long celebration which combines gatherings‚ singing‚ dancing, eating Dar and rigid fasting. The first day of Teej is called Dar Khane Din. Swastani Bratakatha explains that Godess Parvati did not consume anything except for a banana and water a night before fasting. Following the same tradition‚ women today make delicious food items and eat them in the middle of the night with other family members to mark the Dar Khane Din. The second day is the fasting day. Women spend the day without a morsel of food and a drop of water. The fasting is observed by both married and unmarried women. Married Hindu women pray for marital bliss along with well-being and prosperity of their spouse while unmarried pray to the deity in the hope of getting ideal husband in future. The festival also marks the purification of their body. The third day of the festival is Rishi Panchami. Women pay homage to seven saints or sages and offer praying to various deities and bath with red mud found on the roots of the sacred datiwan bush, along with its leaves. This act of purification is the final ritual of Teej. Women clad in red sari, bangles, mehendi and ornaments throng Shiva temples, especially Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu, to offer prayers. According to the Hindu mythology‚ Goddess Parvati fell in love with Lord Shiva. She wanted him as her life partner. Parvati then fasted and prayed for Shiva. She did not drink even a single drop of water. Pleased by her devotion‚ Shiva granted her wish and finally Parvati was able to get him as her spouse.
Pakistan floods: One third of country is under water - minister
One-third of Pakistan has been completely submerged by historic flooding, its climate minister says, BBC reported.
Devastating flash floods have washed away roads, homes and crops - leaving a trail of deadly havoc across Pakistan.
"It's all one big ocean, there's no dry land to pump the water out," Sherry Rehman said, calling it a "crisis of unimaginable proportions."
At least 1,136 people have died since the monsoon season began in June, according to officials.
The summer rain is the heaviest recorded in a decade and is blamed by the government on climate change.
"Literally, one-third of Pakistan is underwater right now, which has exceeded every boundary, every norm we've seen in the past," Ms Rehman told AFP news agency.
Of those who are known to have died, 75 were in the past 24 hours alone, officials said on Monday, adding that the death toll is expected to rise.
Speaking to the BBC, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said one-third of those killed are believed to be children.
"We're still coming to grips with the extent of the damage," he added.
Officials estimate that more than 33 million Pakistanis - one in seven people - have been affected by the historic flooding.
Heavy waters in the country's northern Swat Valley have swept away bridges and roads, cutting off entire villages, according to BBC.
"Village after village has been wiped out. Millions of houses have been destroyed," Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Sunday after flying over the area in a helicopter.
Those who managed to escape have been crowded into one of many makeshift camps across the country.
"Living here is miserable. Our self-respect is at stake," flood victim Fazal Malik told AFP from a school that was being used to home some 2,500 evacuees in the north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Provinces like Sindh and Balochistan are the worst affected but mountainous regions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have also been badly hit.
This year's record monsoon is comparable to the devastating floods of 2010 - the deadliest in Pakistan's history - which left more than 2,000 people dead.
"A very early, preliminary estimate is that it is big, it is higher than $10bn (£8.5bn)," Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal told Reuters.
Almost half of the country's cotton crop has been washed away and vegetable, fruit, and rice fields have sustained significant damage, he added.
But Mr Sharif said the resumption of a loan by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), worth around $1.2bn (£1bn) over the coming year, would be of major assistance in reviving the economy.
The programme, which Pakistan entered into in 2019, had been suspended earlier this year after Islamabad failed to meet targets set by the lender, BBC reported.
On Saturday the UK government announced it had allocated up to £1.5m ($1.8m) for the flood relief efforts.
Speaking separately, Queen Elizabeth II said said was "deeply saddened to hear of the tragic loss of life and destruction" caused by the flooding.
"The United Kingdom stands in solidarity with Pakistan as it embarks on its recovery," she added.
A rice farmer near the south-eastern city of Sukkur in the Sindh province, told AFP news agency that his fields had been devastated by the flooding.
"Our crop spanned over 5,000 acres on which the best quality rice was sown and is eaten by you and us," 70-year-old Khalil Ahmed said. "All that is finished."
Sindh is so inundated with water that emergency workers are struggling to reach those in need of help, according to BBC.
"There are no landing strips or approaches available... our pilots find it difficult to land," a Pakistani military official told AFP.
Nepalgunj begins collecting details of encroached forest land
Nepalgunj Sub-Metropolitan City has started collecting details of public and encroached lands. Sub-Metropolitan City Mayor Prashant Bista said that the occupied public land would be evacuated by issuing a 35-day notice. The purpose is to preserve the public property, he clarified. "It is the responsibility of the local level to preserve the public land", he said. Mayor Bista further said though the data collection has started it will take around three months to implement it. "The metropolis will carry out study on the buildings constructed without approving maps", he shared, adding, "As public land has been encroached in several places, we will come up with maps of encroached land". All-party consensus would be forged while addressing the issue without being influenced by anyone's force, the sub-metropolis sources said. The sub-metropolis did not have data on public land before.
