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Surkhet: The provincial and federal governments’ plans to expand the runway of a key airport in Karnali Province is in limbo after residents living near the airport protested against the idea.

A budget of around Rs 1 billion allocated for the expansion of Surkhet Airport’s runway has been frozen due to lack of progress in the project this fiscal year. The Karnali state government had allocated Rs 500 million and the central government Rs 510 million for the expansion work. 

Currently, airports in Karnali Province are small and their runways do not support big aircraft. After it was named the province’s capital, the provincial government planned to expand the airport so that big aircraft could also land in Karnali. The runway is only 1,255 meters long and does not support the landing of big aircraft. The government plans to increase the length of the runway to 1,555 meters. 

At the heart of the controversy is the government decision to acquire 30 bighas (12.5 acres) of land for the expansion work. Around 200 households living on the soon-to-be-acquired land are demanding that the government provide adequate compensation for their land. However, officials and the land owners are yet to reach a consensus on the issue.

If the obstruction continues, the project may not kick off even in the next fiscal year, officials warn. The federal government has said it has allocated a budget for the airport for the coming new fiscal year, but the amount allocated has not been confirmed.

However, Civil Aviation Authority, Surkhet, expects work to start from the new fiscal year. Umesh Kumar Panthi from the authority said that the expansion work will be completed as the central government has already allocated a budget for it. 

The Karnali government has also stated that it will continue to push the plan to expand the airport. Minister for Internal Affairs and Law Sita Kumari Nepali, also the spokesperson of the government, says, “We will expand the airport in the coming fiscal year by addressing the demands of the locals.”

She says that the project will be taken forward on the basis of consensus by addressing the demands of the locals. “The government is ready to address the demands of the locals,” she adds. “The airport will be expanded based on consensus.”

Anger seems to be the dominant emotion in Nepal this monsoon. Prime Minister KP Oli is livid with the Nepal-Khanal faction for declining to withdraw its support for the premiership of Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba. The disgruntled faction in turn is not ready to believe anything CPN-UML chairman Oli says anymore. Although they continue to talk to find a collective way out, the two sets of leaders mostly talk past one another; a quick end of the internecine intra-party dispute appears unlikely.

The society is as riled up, most recently over the Rupa Sunar case, with the media-person denied a flat by a Newar landlady for no other reason than that she is a Dalit.  The dispute quickly snowballed into an ugly Newar-Dalit fight on social media. The Supreme Court has thrown out a case Sunar had filed against the landlady but the war of words is far from over. The Nepali society is so bitterly divided that it will only take another tiny spark to ignite an inferno.

Following the case, the landlords and tenants in Kathmandu valley are for the first time seriously thinking of signing rent agreements so that neither can act in bad faith. Formalization of landlord-tenant contracts in all cases will help sort many of the thorny issues that routinely crop between them. But it will arguably also mark a moment when that natural trust between people was broken.

If the political and social climate in the country is heating up, it is no less so outside. Xi Jinping is looking to consolidate the cooperation of BRI countries, most recently through a virtual summit, even as Joe Biden pushes ahead with his new ‘Build Back Better World’ (B3W) agenda, aimed squarely at challenging China’s primacy in Asia. More and more, countries like Nepal find themselves having to pick sides. Yet doing so would be a disaster as the country has been able to maintain its independence all these years only through delicate balancing.  

As the country continues to be ravaged by Covid-19, and with vaccines still in short supply, the summer of rage and blame-games, we are afraid, is far from over.

Caritas Nepal, in collaboration with Catholic Relief Services (CRS), has initiated a COVID-19 emergency response effort.

The three-month emergency humanitarian support project from July to September aims to facilitate and assist 22 hospitals from 12 districts with oxygen cylinders, oxygen concentrators, pulse oximeters, Ventura face masks, PPE SETs including isolation gowns, face shields, shoe covers, safety goggles, surgical head caps, heavy duty gloves, surgical masks, surgical gloves and hand sanitizers.

On July 8, Caritas Nepal handed over medical items to Paropakar Maternity and Women's Hospital. “These equipment will be utilized by our frontline workers while providing service to the mothers and babies who are fighting for their life in Covid section of our hospital,” says Dr. Sunil Sharma Acharya, Physician, Paropakar Maternity and Women’s Hospital.

“We appreciate this effort of Caritas and its member organization for showing this gesture of kindness during this unprecedented situation”

Similarly, Mechi Hospital of Jhapa also received medical items. Says Devendra Pokharel, Regional Manager of Caritas Nepal, Damak Office: “The second wave of corona infections had spread rapidly, with high rate of infection and many patients suffering from low oxygen levels and severe respiratory problems. These equipment will help them.”

Cross-border trade through the Korala border crossing in Nepal’s Upper Mustang, which abuts China’s autonomous region of Tibet, remains halted amid the second wave of Covid-19 in Nepal. This has affected the export of pashmina, a local product of Upper Mustang, to Tibet, rue the locals.

Chinese authorities organize a cross-border trade fair twice a year, in June and August, for residents of Mustang to sell their products such as pashmina and yarsagumba. But the fairs, which were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic last year, have also been put off this year.

“Before the corona crisis, we could sell a kilo of pashmina fiber for Rs 7,000. Last year, it was difficult to sell it even at Rs 2,000. The situation is the same this year, but the state will not compensate us,” says Wangel Gurung, a resident of Choser.

The livestock business is the main source of income for most farmers in Lomanthang and Loghekar Damodarkund villages of Upper Mustang located at an altitude of 4,200 m above the sea level. Farmers of Upper Mustang have been rearing sheep and goats for centuries as the crop yields are not enough to sustain their livelihood throughout the year.

The people of Upper Mustang move to lower altitudes during the winter to trade their produce and involve themselves in animal husbandry in the rainy season.

Narbu Gurung, a livestock farmer of Lomanthang, says all trade has come to a standstill since the border was closed following the Covid-19 outbreak last year.

Upper Mustang farmers used to export around 10 truckloads of pashmina a year to Tibet.

However, with the border closure, they don’t have any other place to send their produce, which is used to make various garments by processing and extracting yarn. 

The Chinese side is closely monitoring the border checkpoint of Mustang due to the fear of importing Covid-19 from Nepal. It has urged its citizens not to go to border areas and Nepali border residents not to visit Korala.

Following the border closure, residents have been forced to ferry essentials via the Beni-Jomsom road. This is more expensive than buying essential items from Korala, they say, hoping the border crossing would be opened as soon as Covid-19 cases go down in Nepal.