WITHOUT F EAR OR FAVOUR Nepal’s largest selling English daily Vol XXIX No. 121 | 8 pages | Rs.5 O O Printed simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj 33.2 C 12.5 C Saturday, June 19, 2021 | 05-03-2078 Bhairahawa Jomsom Nepal talks about vaccines from China. And the Chinese are not happy Concerns from Sinopharm and Chinese Embassy forced Health Ministry to ‘refute’ media reports. But everyone, including prime minister, is giving statements on the jabs. ANIL GIRI issues was concerning because these KATHMANDU, JUNE 18 are very sensitive issues.” The Health Ministry on Thursday From Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli issued a statement, refuting reports to Foreign Minister Raghubir about buying vaccines from China. It Mahaseth, who is also a deputy prime not only said no deal had been reached minister, to Nepali embassy in but also went on to blame the media Beijing—all are giving statements for disseminating information on vac- about the Nepal government’s plan to cine procurement from China. buy vaccines from China’s Sinopharm, The Post on Wednesday reported 4 million doses in total. But the first that the government is buying 4 Chinese do not seem to be happy. million doses from Sinopharm under Multiple officials the Post spoke to a non-disclosure deal as proposed by confirmed that China communicated China’s state-owned vaccine manufac- its displeasure to Nepali agencies. The turing firm. Some Nepali online por- officials told the Post that Sinopharm tals later followed up the story. had communicated its displeasure at In what was quite unusual on the the publicisation of vaccine procure- part of the ministry, it issued the ment by the government of Nepal. statement in English. Similarly, the Chinese embassy in “The government of Nepal has POST PHOTO: RAJ KUMAR KARKI Kathmandu also had reminded requested the government of the Farmers celebrate a timely paddy plantation in the Mahabharata region of Sindhuli made possible by abundant rainfall with the onset of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs People’s Republic of China to give monsoon. The planting season is an occasion for celebration with dancing and singing folk songs to the beats of Panchai Baaja. of the nature of the deal, accord- preference to Nepal on vaccine coop- ing to the officials. eration. The process to secure “There was quite a lot of inter- vaccines from different countries est in the media before an agree- including China is still ongoing,” read ment could be reached, which the statement. “Media reports on worried us. We were worried if quantity, price, delivery, and other rel- INSIDE Mountain districts are we would get the vaccine or not,” evant information about the vaccine Dr Krishna Prasad Paudel, procurement are premature, specula- spokesperson for the Health tive and misleading. The ministry Rise in water level of Mahakali Ministry, told the Post. “The way refutes such unfounded and baseless river puts several settlements receiving more rainfall the media quoted the price of the media reports.” at risk of flooding vaccine and other logistical >> Continued on page 3 DARCHULA: The water level in the Mahakali river has risen following this monsoon incessant rains for the past three days, raising fears of floods and inun- dation in nearby settlements. “The Manang sets a new record for daily rain, witnessing water level in the river is increasing day by day, as it hasn’t stopped rain- heavy flooding. Meteorologists say the phenomenon ing. The river has breached the tem- porary embankment in several plac- is unprecedented for an otherwise dry region. es,” said Gaji Karki, a resident of Dattu in Darchula. According to the Police Post in Dattu, the water level in the river is inching closer to cross- ing the danger level marked at six metres. Security personnel said the river’s water level is already at 5.8 metres. The authorities rebuilt the embankments in Khalanga swept away in 2013 to prevent floods in the district headquarters but a majority of settlements along the Mahakali river are protected only by temporary embankments. (Details on Pg 2) Lockdown drags on but no relief package for urban poor KATHMANDU: It has been over a month and a half since prohibitory orders were imposed in the Kathmandu PHOTO COURTESY: HOMNATH PANTHI/ARMED POLICE FORCE Valley and many other districts to In the first week of monsoon, Manang received unusually heavy rainfall that caused flooding. contain the Covid-19 pandemic, but little has been done to provide relief CHANDAN KUMAR MANDAL records of rainfall since 2015, when to the urban poor, most of whom have KATHMANDU, JUNE 18 data for the district started to be lost their livelihoods to the lockdown. available. Neither the federal government nor An analysis of data on natural hazard Normally, Humde receives 234mm provincial or local governments have event frequency shows that between rain during the monsoon months of come up with the relief measures for 1971 and 2020, Manang was the district June to September/October. such people despite reports of people least affected by such events. “As the surface had been already walking for hours every day just to In the first week of monsoon this saturated [with pre-monsoon rain], have free meals distributed by certain year, however, the mountain district not much water could go into the soil charity organizations and community north of the Himalayas witnessed even after infiltration; so the rainwa- people. Last year, when a lockdown heavy rainfall causing widespread ter resulted in floods,” said Kandel, was enforced for the first time, feder- floods and landslides. who is also the chief of the Climate al and local governments announced To understand the reason behind Section under the department. “Also, relief packages for the poor people the uncommon devastation, meteorol- as the region has loose soil, rain caus- hit by the restrictions. (Details on Pg 3) ogists say the rainfall patterns during es fast soil erosion and debris to flow the pre-monsoon months of March to with the floodwater.” May need to be analysed. It was not only Manang but also Vegetables cost more due to “Manang had already received too neighbouring Mustang district, which much rainfall between March and is also north of the Himalayan moun- rain, lockdown restrictions May. As a result, the land was already tains, has seen heavier than usual KATHMANDU: Kathmandu Valley resi- saturated, and the continuous heavy rainfall. dents reeling from the pandemic rainfall caused floods in the district,” During the pre-monsoon period, the received another wallop in the form Indira Kadel, senior meteorologist Jomsom weather station of Mustang of costlier vegetables, with traders with the Department of Hydrology received 202 percent of its normal attributing the jump in prices to and Meteorology, told the Post. pre-monsoon rainfall. This year the incessant rain and lockdown restric- Humde weather station of Manang weather station recorded 142mm of tions. As wholesale markets are run- recorded 232mm of pre-monsoon rain rain compared to the normal 70mm ning low on inventory due to supply this year while the average pre-mon- during March-May. disruptions, prices of kitchen staples soon rainfall in the past six years was Since the monsoon began, Jomsom such as potatoes, tomatoes and sea- 135mm. In other words, the pre-mon- weather station has already received sonal vegetables have risen sharply, soon rainfall was 172 percent of normal. 64 percent of the season’s rainfall with traders said. People in Kathmandu The rainfall recorded in Manang in 86.5mm rain recorded between June 12 are bearing the brunt of an extended the first week of monsoon is also and 16. lockdown. Vendors are finding it hard already higher than normal. Jomsom’s average monsoon rainfall to transport vegetables to market Since the beginning of June, Humde is 160mm. because of stay-home orders. Traders of Manang has already recorded According to Kadel, these two dis- said prices of fresh produce shot up 84 percent of its average monsoon tricts received more rainfall this mon- Evolution Trading Pvt. Ltd. due to short supply caused by trans- rainfall, according to the department’s soon because of a weather system portation controls. Higher freight data. developed after collision between mon- Evo Beverages Pvt. Ltd. charges have also pushed up retail Between June 12 and June 16, soon clouds coming from the Bay of prices, they said. On Thursday, the Humde received 175.8mm of rain. On Bengal and moisture coming from the wholesale price of local cauliflower June 15 it recorded 54mm. The next Arabian Sea, supported by jet Eco-Infinity Pvt. Ltd. was Rs70 per kg at the Kalimati mar- day, it set a new record of 82.23mm, streams—relatively narrow bands of ket, the country’s largest bazaar for surpassing the previous record of strong wind in the upper levels of the fresh produce. But retailers were sell- 41.5mm on June 6, 2020. atmosphere. The weather phenomenon ing cauliflower at Rs140 per kg, dou- The amount of rain on June 15 and lifted clouds up to high mountains. ble the wholesale price. (Details on Pg 5) 16 is among the top three one day >> Continued on page 2 C M Y K SATURDAY, JUNE 19, 2021 | 02 NATIONAL Rise in Mahakali water level puts Bajhang residents refuse Covid-19 tests to avoid riverside settlements at risk of flooding missing out planting season Rural roads in Darchula district have been disrupted due to floods and landslides triggered by heavy rainfall. As many as 19 people have died of Covid-19 in Bajhang, emergencies,” said Joshi. Meanwhile, all rural roads in but officials suspect actual deaths could be higher.