Except about king He had no interest in this.......
Parties, press main defaulters at NT BY YUVRAJ ACHARYA
KATHMANDU, April 14 - The press and political parties - the two pillars of the democratic polity - are unfortunately among the prominent defaulters of Nepal Telecom's telephone tariff.
Of the 2975 blacklisted subscribers, 36 are political parties or their sister wings. Some of the ministers in the current cabinet are also among the blacklisted.
NT's blacklist includes almost all political parties and some influential leaders. Nepali Congress, UML, RPP and fringe left parties are among those who owe money to the state-owned telecom.
Nepali Congress--Nepal's largest political party, which has ruled the country for the longest period of time since the restoration of democracy in 1990- is blacklisted for not paying Rs 23,172. Three telephone numbers at NC's Teku head office -- 244296, 230091
and 230086 - are in the NT blacklist.
But it is CPN-UML and its splinter faction CPN-ML which top the list of defaulters. Trilochan Dhakal, former chairperson of All Nepal Peasants Association, (Tel No. 240877) alone owes Rs 188,789 to NT.
UML leader Kiran Gurung, who later joined CPN-ML after the party split, also owes Rs 147,956 for using six telephones-241417, 241570,242229,245230, 247510 and 246103.
Yogesh Bhattarai, Jivan Ram Shrestha and Kalpana Rana respectively owe Rs 35,137, Rs 44, 875 and Rs 14,851.
Even Pradip Nepal, who is Minister for Education and Sports in the present Cabinet, features in the NT's black list for not paying Rs 17, 088 for using Tel No 240335 in the party's Bagbazaar office many years ago.
Similarly, NT is yet to recover tariff from fringe left parties like CPN- United (Tel No 410954), People's Front Nepal (Tel No 230556 &4259780). Rastriya Prajatantra Party is blacklisted for not paying Rs 67,416 to NT. The party's telephones are, however, registered in the names of office secretaries Ram Bhakta Pokharel, Shiva Hari Poudel and party leader Jog Meher Shrestha.
Interestingly, the parties which exist only on paper are among the most notorious defaulters. Social Democratic Party headed by Ganga Prasad Chaulagain owes Rs 86,288 for using a single telephone line-479072.
There are more than half a dozen "paper-parties" which have misused phones and never paid
tariff.
Nepali media, which should have made political parties accountable, is not far behind in misusing NT's telephones. In some cases they are far worse defaulters compared to many political parties. Nawajawan Weekly, which was never published, has not paid tariff amounts of Rs 210,427 to the NT. Another non-existing monthly magazine called "Indu" owes Rs 100,970 to NT.
Pitambar Gautam, who defaulted Rs 14,006 as publisher/editor of Janasandesh Weekly formed the Nepal Sarvodaya Samajbadi Party and defaulted another Rs 17,457.
Magazines and newspapers such as Rara weekly, Janata, Hijo Aaja Dainik, Bhuichalo, Safari Nepal, Nawaras, Satya Katha, Hamro Saugat, Janachetana, Aparanha, Bishleshan, Dainik Nirnaya Paper, Jana Ekata, Jhilko, Khabarpatrika, Patrika Satdine, Yugbani, Manthan, Sambodhan, Janasatta, Rastra Nirman, Hindu Rastra, Antarbarta, Darshan, Suryadaya, Chhapa and Naya Chetana, are others in the NT's black list posted
on the website
http://webill.ntc.net.np/ blacklist/.
Surprisingly, the Indian government's official news agency, Press Trust of India (PTI), has also been in NT's blacklist for a long time for not paying Rs 81,655.
NT officials blame the telecom's past system for tariff dues. They claim there was massive misuse of telephone by parties and the press in the past.
"Now the system has improved and we collect tariff every week from subscribers who use more than Rs 10,000 in a week," said Surendra Kumar Thike, spokesperson for NT.
An official at the financial management section of NT's Kathmandu regional office said some of the blacklisted subscribers might have paid the bill since the office is yet to receive records from the valley exchange office to update its website
