Stating that the ongoing row between two Sherpa mountaineers has tarnished the country's image somewhat; experts have urged the need for a permanent solution to help resolve all disputes related to mountaineering. Prominent personalities from the mountaineering sector, including the two Sherpas in question - Lakpa Gelu Sherpa, and Pemba Dorjee Sherpa -expressed views to this effect at a program organized in the capital Recently. Ang Tshiring Sherpa, President of Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA), stated that any attempt aimed at setting a record on Everest should be informed to the concerned ministry beforehand. The ministry, he added, should make necessary measures for verification purposes. "The use of altimeters and stop-watches would be helpful to check the fastest ascent claims," he said, adding that under the current verification system, it is very difficult to verify the claims.

Ang Karma Sherpa, General Secretary of Nepal Mountaineering Federation (NMF), said that the issue between the two Sherpas was merely a personality clash, and such disputes defame the country's images. Shanker Pandey, Chief of the Tourism Industry division of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, expressed his hope that the seven-member committee formed to resolve the dispute would suggest effective measures to be adopted in the future to overcome such problems. The debate arose when Pemba Dorjee Sherpa rewrote the record for fastest Everest ascent with record timing of 8 hours 10 minutes, beating the previous record set by Lakpa Gelu Sherpa last year. After Pemba Dorjee set the new record, Lakpa Gelu expressed doubts, stating that the former lacked enough evidence to support his claim.

OTHER NEWS

• Himalayan Festival held in UK: The Himalayan Yeti, a Nepalese Association in the UK, organized the 3rd Nepal Himalayan Festival in Manchester City in order to promote understanding of Nepalese culture and inform the British public about Nepal, states a press statement received here recently. Addressing the inaugural session, The Lord Mayor Councilor Audrey Jones said," When most people think of Nepal they think of mountain, but this festival will show there is much more than that, with its beauty and spirituality of the people, unforgettable sights, sounds and sentiments", adds the release.
  
  
• Waste turned to wealth: : It would be hard to believe, but it is a fact that various communities in Pokhara are preserving and promoting the waste generated in their respective localities as their property. Since people in the areas recognized their waste materials as a new source of income, they have now started classifying the garbage and treating it as wealth. In addition to keeping their localities clean, this new system adopted by the locals is good enough to produce compost for their vegetable gardens.
  
  
• Check out how an eco-friendly home looks like: Kathmandu may be among the filthiest cities in the world; its neighborhoods may rank among the most polluted ones. But no generalization please. The city boasts many clean homes, too. And now it looks like it's entering the era of eco friendly homes. Well, such homes may not have gained as much currency as eco friendly vehicles, but there are at least two in our midst - and their owners practice what they preach. The environment friendly measures and techniques adopted in these are simply exemplary and inspiring. Consider it. In these houses, solid wastes are either recycled, or processed into compost; water is trapped where it falls - meaning rain water is harvested - drinking water is treated with rays of the sun and waste water is managed and reused. The houses belong to environmentalist Bhusan Tuladhar, managing director of Clean Energy Nepal (CEN), and Dr Roshan Raj Shrestha, executive chairman of Environment and Public Health Organization (ENPHO)."The eco measures adopted in these houses are simply exemplary."
  
  
• Mission hospital founder Dr Carl Frederick felicitated: The founder of the Mission Hospital in Palpa, Dr. Carl Frederick was recently felicitated by Rotary Club of Palpa for his selfless contribution to the health sector of Nepal. Dr. Frederick is in Nepal to participate in the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Mission hospital Palpa, which he established 50 years ago, as any ordinary clinic with just a hut. In the course of time this has evolved into the Palpa Mission Hospital at Bhusaldanda. "Due to Dr Fredrick's social work here in Palpa, remarkable changes have been observed in the social, environmental, and health sectors in the region," said Dhirendra Prasad Shrestha former mayor of Tansen, at the function. The doctor who was born in Hamburg, Germany moved to America when he was three, and later chose Nepal as his workplace.
  
  
• Forex earning from tourism up by 82pc: In a bizarre revelation, gross foreign exchange earning in convertible currencies from tourists visiting the country has drastically climbed up in the year 2003 as compared to the previous year. According to statistics compiled by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the central bank of the country, the total earning during the review period had surged by around 82 percent as against the year 2002.
  
  
  

By Hari Shrestha, Resident Representative in Kathmandu