Children fear to go to school in Nirmala’s town
Laxmi Badu, a ninth grader at the local Saraswati Higher Secondary School, has been repeating the same thing again and again to every prying journalist. A classmate of Nirmala Pant, whose half-naked dead body was found in a sugarcane field in Bhimdatta municipality of far-western Nepal on July 26, Badu says she is still “deathly scared” while passing through the sugarcane field en route to school. These days Badu walks that road only in the company of her little brother. “I used to walk fearlessly, but no more,” she says.
Manisha, the elder sister of Nirmala, says she does not feel like studying any more. “I had never heard of something so horrific. It has affected me deeply,” she says.
“Whether I am eating or doing my homework, I cannot stop thinking about Nirmala and what happened to her,” she adds. “I still cannot sleep at night.”
The three Pant sisters were separated by two years each. The eldest, Manisha, is 15, Nirmala was 13, and the youngest, Saraswati, is just 11. As their parents are now in Kathmandu to lobby for quick resolution of the case and punishment for the culprits, the two remaining sisters are now under the case of their step-mother, Laxmi.
“They have taken it hard. The three sisters were inseparable,” Laxmi says.
Parwati Nath, an eleventh grader at the Siddanath Amar Higher Secondary School, is also petrified of venturing out alone. “I used to freely roam about without a worry, but after hearing of repeated incidents of rapes and murders of women and girls, I am really scared,” she says.
It is not just the school-going girls who are under stress. Their parents are as worried. “After what happened to Nirmala the whole climate is steeped in fear,” says Dhananjaya Joshi, a teacher at Siddanath. “Parents are now having second thought about sending their wards to school.” He says he too is worried whenever his children are out.
“Many students now refuse to come to school,” says Jagannath Pandey of Saraswati School, Nirmala’s alma mater. “My reading is that they will continue to be fearful unless Nirmala’s murderers are apprehended and punished.”
In fact, most of the local students who have to cross the sugarcane field near the local Nimbukheda River en route have stopped coming to school. “We were supposed to take new admissions for Grade XI but after the Nirmala incident no new student has come,” Pandey says.
In the words of Puhspa Chand of Bhimdatta-6, also a teacher at Siddhanath School, and a parent of two, “children fear what happened to Nirmala may next happen to them.”
It is not reassuring that since Nirmala’s rape and murder, other similar cases have come to light in Kanchanpur. For instance one Rajendra Bista of Beldandi rural municipality was apprehended on Sept 15 on charge of raping two minors. In yet another disturbing incidence, a father was sent to prison for raping his 12-year-old daughter.
“Instead of going down, the number of these disturbing criminal activities is increasing,” says Punam Singh Chand, an advocate and human rights activist. “The state should be more responsible. That said only collectively can we fight this scourge”
China interested in airport at Rara
Chinese investors have shown an active interest in physical infrastructure development of Karnali province, including in a high-altitude airport at Rara region, near the famous eponymous lake. The investors say their interest was piqued after witnessing Karnali’s rich national resources and its investor-friendly climate.
Chinese investors have been touring various places in Karnali at the invitation of the provincial government. According to Province Chief Minister Mahendra Bahadur Shahi, following their survey, the investors have shown a keen interest on big-ticket infrastructure projects.
Minister Shahi, who is preparing to go on an official trip to China, says he wanted to prepare the Chinese about what they could expect in his province. He says the Chinese are ready to invest in what is still “a virgin land in terms of development”, and as per the needs of the province. On Sept 16, representatives of China’s North-West Civil Aviation Airport Construction Group, as well as some other potential investors, had toured various places in the province.
The company, which is owned by the Chinese government, has shown an interest in building a big airport in Karnali, possibly at Rara. North-West is the company that is also involved in the upgrade of Bhairahawa airport to make it suitable for international flights.
Chief Minister Shahi informs that North-West representatives were studying the feasibility for a high-altitude airport at Mugu district’s Rara. As Karnali needs foreign investment to develop its tourist, electricity, road and airport infrastructures, the Chinese were invited for the same purpose. “The Chinese are ready to invest in priority areas we select,” he says. “We will now coordinate with the central government to arrange for foreign investment.”
He said efforts are underway to invite more potential investors from abroad. Besides Rara, the Chinese team has already surveyed Madanechaur and Birendranagar, both in Surkhet, as possible airport sites.
Likewise, as the province plans to build big hotels, resorts and airport at Rara, with the larger goal of developing Karnali as a tourism hub, investments in these areas have been sought.
Moreover, as the province is still unconnected to the national power grid, it has also requested investment to make Karnali self-sufficient in electricity. “We see local electricity generation as a prerequisite for Karnali’s industrial development,” Shahi says.
Potential investors have already surveyed several hydropower sites in the province. If the provincial government can come up with a viable plan, the investors have assured Shahi that they will provide ample support.
Making sense of the center-province disputes
As the country marked the third anniversary of the promulgation of the new constitution perhaps no other issue made as many headlines as the real or perceived disputes between the federal and provincial governments. Intentionally or not, the federal government has found it increasingly hard to devolve adequate power and resources to the seven provinces. There are a few reasons for this. One, most of the federal-level ministers and senior bureaucrats, long trained on the old unitary ways, are not used to such devolution. More accustomed to giving directives and having them blindly followed, they are struggling to internalize the fact of decentralization and devolution of decision-making: These days the provincial and local bodies have their own executive and legislative organs and the constitution empowers them to deal with most local issues on their own.
Two, the bureaucrats who were supposed to implement the constitution and ensure smooth functioning of the new federation were never prepared for the transition. They got no training or counselling. As such the provincial authorities are having a hard time convincing them work under the new setup. The Chief District Officers for instance still prefer to report to the center rather than to province chiefs. Since many of the new laws to operationalize the federal system have not been formed, the judiciary also finds it easy to adjudicate in favor of the federal government during disputes.
Three, there is still a lot of trust deficit between the center and the lower tiers of government, even though the same coalition runs the federal government as well as all seven provinces. This owes to the fear among the federal leaders that the provincial chiefs perhaps want to establish alternate power centers. The federal government is also being blamed for allowing local and provincial governments to collect their own ‘punitive’ taxes, even though the constitution explicitly allows this. And when the federal government intervenes, it is castigated for usurping the prerogative of the lower tiers.
There are signs that the seven provinces will increasingly work together to secure greater autonomy for themselves. In a way, the provinces feel shortchanged as the federal and local governments between them are seen as making all vital decisions. It could be a while yet before a modus vivendi can be worked out between the center and the provinces.
Axed in frustration
“It is old”, is often the logic we cling on to justify demand/longing for replacements. It is exactly how Nepal Airlines’ (RA) B757s get portrayed, as one (9N-ACB) is still flying and filling schedule voids as required, while the other (9N-ACA) has been immobile over two years. There is no denying that they had gotten unreliable over time. It might still have been workable in less sensitive role with P2F (passenger to freighter) conversion. Pilots who had long flown these feel sorry to see them disposed. Interestingly, 9N-ACA was the only “combi” version (with wider door to facilitate loading freight) ever built. It was eventually sold to a person with highly ambitious plan for a ‘BB Airways’ flying the regional circuit. (We do not know if BB stands for the initials of the person who bought it.) Now that BBA is seeking permission to scarp the plane instead of flying it, the question is: was it about the ignorance about the intricacies of starting an airline or was it something more? It seems to be both.In reality and as an expert pointed out, the aircraft cannot even be ferried, let alone carry passenger because of expiry of limited-life parts (LLP) components. The LLP primarily includes assessing a) if engine configuration is as per specifications b) reviewing its exhaustive part records and c) an accident and incident statement search. It is more important especially when an aircraft is sold or grounded for long. The buyer naturally needs to be assured about its actual status; the B757 certainly came without a valid airworthiness certificate (AWC) at the time of the sale.
The issue seems to have gotten highly entangled, given the Gordian complexities of our bureaucratic process. The aircraft, as I understand, is yet to be deregistered and is still technically owned by RA, and not BBA. Moreover, ownership cannot be transferred to BBA as it does not have an Airline Operation Certificate (AOC)!
This is not the first time we have heard of BBA; it had leased an aircraft from a Cambodian charter carrier TonleSap few years earlier, and had secured an AOC as any commercial airline is required to do. The AOC has since expired as it stopped flying and BBA has reapplied for the same. First of all, it takes over a year to get the AOC if the process is smooth. But the prospect of the 9N-ACA flying again is looking increasingly remote as the owner will have to pump in about $19m more just to make it airborne. And that was perhaps not anticipated while buying it.
Scrapping an aircraft is a specialty job and a big business, providing replaceable spares to airlines world over. Elsewhere, aircraft intended for decommissioning are flown to specific airports where they are carefully taken apart. Engines are the most valuable items followed by landing gear assemblies. There are various other electronic items that are delicate but still sellable. The most easily disposable items are the seats while the sheet metal fuselage is bulky but less expensive. The first ever jet scrapping instance at TIA relates to a Thai/DC8 that veered off the runway in 1973. But it was a total write off as an engine was torn off on landing.
First of all, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal is obligated to work in tandem with RA or any other Nepal-registered airline to simplify bureaucratic processes where possible. But they are somehow not doing this. This is not to suggest that relaxing aviation safety should be part of this process. With the advantage of hindsight, it would have been better for RA to have ferried the B757 out to appropriate international venues before it was taken out of service. It might have attracted interest of more prospective buyers there rather than putting it up for sale at a way-off location. But in this case BBA cannot blame anyone but itself for being blindly eager to run an airline and now having to axe it of frustration.
Ideally, entrepreneurs need to be nourished rather than be overwhelmed by all obstacles. Had BBA succeeded, it would have created more Nepali jobs and helped a Nepali learn the ropes of running an airline. By attempting high risk ventures BBA tried to chew a bigger mouthful than would have been considered wise.
We cannot produce entrepreneurs but we can create an environment to help them grow. All in the aviation fraternity should work together for the betterment of this sector. RA may get a better price and BBA may succeed in securing the other B757 even while competing at a location other than Kathmandu. But that will happen only if RA first opts to put the other one for sale as well disregarding other plausible options o
