WITHOUT F EAR OR FAVOUR Nepal’s largest selling English daily Vol XXVIII No. 211 | 8 pages | Rs.5 O O Printed simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj 35.6 C 13.0 C Wednesday, September 23, 2020 | 07-06-2077 Dhangadi Jomsom Why the state shows haughty contempt for a social crusader The way Dr Govinda KC is being treated for his peaceful protests and campaign for the larger good of society indicates that the government is growing increasingly intolerant of its citizens who demand system and good governance, analysts and observers say. TIKA R PRADHAN & BINOD GHIMIRE ment reached with KC who had demand- KATHMANDU, SEPT 22 ed that the bill be passed in its original form without any changes that were On Tuesday afternoon, a video went viral made to suit some interest groups. on social media. The #IAmWithDrKC Establishment of at least one state-run hashtag started to trend on Twitter. teaching hospital in each province and Nepalis on social media condemned the conducting MBBS classes at the Karnali Oli administration and Nepal Police. At Academy of Health Sciences are among the heart of all this was an orthopaedic the demands of KC. surgeon—a lanky 63-year-old man with It’s not that KC has not faced allega- days of beard in frail health—who has not tions against him, mostly by his detrac- eaten solid food for the last nine days. tors—at times for veering off his original He has been on his 19th fast-unto-death campaign and making some political since July 2012. demands. But many say there is no need What worries the Oli administration is for the Oli government to view those not that he would die of hunger, but his demands as a campaign against it, as the conviction and belief, observers say. doctor has been fighting for the system, Those who speak for the larger good of justice and larger good. society have often been looked upon Over the last few years, Dr KC has with contempt by the Oli government and emerged as a beacon of hope in a country what it did with KC on Tuesday is just a where the system is deteriorating, continuation of that tendency, according crony capitalism is flourishing and the to them. government is using its electoral man- “The way the government and its law date to rule with iron fist, say analysts enforcement agency treated Dr KC today and civil society leaders who have been shows the state is becoming more author- part of and witness to Nepal’s political itarian and autocratic by the day,” said transformation. Rajendra Maharjan, a political commen- “It’s worthless to talk about a govern- tator and columnist for Post’s sister paper, ment that refuses to listen to its citizens,” Kantipur. said Devendra Raj Pandey, a civil society In the video that was circulating on leader. “In a democracy, the government social media on Tuesday, policemen are fears the citizens. But the current govern- seen using force on KC to take him out of ment humiliates its citizens.” an ambulance as the visibly frail doctor Since coming to power, the Oli adminis- puts up a futile protest. tration has made good governance its The doctor was forcibly taken to the refrain but when it comes to delivery, it National Trauma Centre as soon as he has been struggling. The Oli administra- landed at the Kathmandu airport from POST PHOTO: KESHAV THAPA tion and its functionaries display an Nepalgunj. Dr Govinda KC is wheeled out of National Trauma Centre after he was forcibly taken there instead of TU Teaching Hospital where he wanted to go. uncanny disdain for the citizenry, making “Dr KC was taken to the trauma centre a mockery of the electoral mandate it was in an ambulance by the police from the In another video that emerged on social at the behest of the administration. He ment of the day but there hardly has been awarded three years ago, analysts say. Kathmandu airport,” said Himalaya media, KC has charged the government was then forced to abandon his health- an implementation of the deals. According to leaders who have closely Karki, an aide to the surgeon. with kidnapping him to bring him to the care mission. It was due to Dr KC’s unflinching deter- followed Dr KC’s satyagraha over the “That ambulance was supposed to take trauma centre against his wish to go to In the last eight years, KC has staged 18 mination that the National Medical years, KP Sharma Oli has been intolerant him to Tribhuvan University Teaching the TU Teaching Hospital. rounds of hunger strikes during which Education Bill was prepared. The ruling of KC’s peaceful protests ever since he Hospital in Maharajgunj, but authorities Last month, security personnel restrict- various parties led the government. The Nepal Communist Party, however, bull- became the prime minister for the first had made a plan to take KC to the trauma ed KC from providing medical services to doctor ended his hunger strike every time dozed a different bill through the House time in 2015. centre instead.” the people in remote areas of Jumla, also with some agreements with the govern- in January last year, ignoring an agree- >> Continued on page 2 Covid-19 pushes Gautam Buddha Airport project further behind schedule A revised deadline was set for December but it’s likely to take at least five to six months more as the contractor is not ready to send technicians amid virus fears, officials say. deadline several times. The latest deadline for the project completion was set for December this year, which is now not likely. “The contractor is unlikely to send its workers to install the equipment anytime soon. They have informed the Nepali authority that the technicians to install the equipment could come only after Nepal records zero cases of coronavirus,” an official at the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal told the Post on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak on the matter. “It’s not possible for Nepal to have zero cases for months.” Officials familiar with the develop- ment said several rounds of discus- sions have taken place between the contractor and the civil aviation body. “The contractor is saying that even if it sends its technicians, there must be a guarantee that they are not infect- ed by the virus,” said the official. “No one can guarantee such things.” PHOTO COURTESY: CAAN According to officials, if the techni- A view of the under-construction international airport in Bhairahawa. cians fail to come by the end of this year or early January, it’s highly SANGAM PRASAIN asked to wait until the virus cases likely that Pokhara International KATHMANDU, SEPT 22 come to zero. Airport will come into operation On March 7, the Aeronautical before the Gautam Buddha Nepal’s much-delayed second interna- Radio of Thailand (AEROTHAI), the International Airport. tional airport project in Bhairahawa state-owned company of Thailand, The Pokhara airport has set a com- has fallen further behind schedule due had won the tender for the second pletion deadline of July 10, 2021. largely to the Covid-19 pandemic, package of the airport project, at $4.83 Before the Covid-19 pandemic hit according to project officials. million, which it had pledged to com- the country, the airport in Lake City, With over 90 percent of construc- plete by 2019. due to its faster progress, was sup- tion works completed, the Gautam Nepali officials say that the project posed to be completed six month earli- Buddha International Airport pro- may take at least five months to com- er than its actual target. ject’s second package—installation of plete—three months for installation “Covid-19 affected the airport pro- communication, navigation and sur- and two months for testing and com- ject too,” said the official at the civil veillance, air traffic management and missioning, flight calibration of navi- aviation body. meteorological equipment—has been gation and communication systems, “However, the international airport pushed into further uncertainty. together with flight procedure design. project in Pohara is on track to achiev- Sources familiar with the matter Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, ing its completion deadline.” told the Post that the contractor of the addressing the nation on the occasion Rajan Pokhrel, director general of second package has informed Nepal’s of the Constitution Day on Saturday, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, civil aviation authority that “it’s too had even said that flights would have told the Post that they have been risky” for them to send their techni- taken off from the Gautam Buddha requesting the Thai embassy in Nepal cians to Nepal at this moment and International Airport had the Covid- to facilitate the process to bring tech- 19 pandemic not hit the country. nicians to Nepal as the Bhairahawa Located in south central project may get significantly delayed. Nepal, the airport will be the “We are making efforts,” said gateway to the international pil- Pokhrel. “Nothing concrete has come grimage destination of Lumbini, up so far, though.” the birthplace of Gautam On September 12, the Cabinet had Buddha. The airport will have a allowed projects to bring technicians 3,000 metre-long and 45 metre- from foreign countries, since several wide runway. The facility was projects are in limbo as skilled work- initially slated to be ready by ers are stuck in different countries December 2017. due to the lockdown measures The project, however, has suf- imposed by Nepal to prevent the fered multiple hurdles, which spread of coronavirus.