KATHMANDU, DEC 10 - Maoist rebels today set fire to a bus carrying pilgrims from Lumbini to Trishuli on the Pasang Lhamu Highway at Madanpur in Nuwakot.
The bus bearing registration number Ba 1 Kha 7381 was carrying pilgrims from Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha. The bus was reduced to a cinder.
A pilgrim said that the rebels, who numbered 20, forced all of them including the bus staff to alight from the bus, doused it with petrol and set it on fire. The incident occurred about 15 km west of Bidur, the district headquarters of Nuwakot. The bus driver said that 40 people were travelling in the bus and they were stranded in Trishuli bazaar after the incident.
Meanwhile, in Sindhupalchowk, people in the Melamchi area defied the weeklong Maoist ban on movement and took part in a mobile service programme offered by the government.
Sindhupalchowk chief district officer Rudra Nath Basyal said that they provided citizenship certificates to a total of 434 people and passports to 25 others in the past two days. Basyal also said that 290 people were provided with free health care services and about 900 farmers were provided with hybrid seeds during the mobile service programme. "The way people took part in our service indicates that they do not support the Maoist cause," he added.
However, vehicular movement on the Melamchi road came to a standstill due to Maoist threats.Posted on: 2003-12-11 04:47

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