Valley
Metro board agrees to consensus decision
Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) board on Friday agreed to take a consensus decision on entrusting Rani Pokhari’s reconstruction to Nepal Army (NA). The board concluded discussions with culture experts, heritage conservationists and architects is the best way forward on the historic pond.Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) board on Friday agreed to take a consensus decision on entrusting Rani Pokhari’s reconstruction to Nepal Army (NA). The board concluded discussions with culture experts, heritage conservationists and architects is the best way forward on the historic pond.
Ward Charperson-16 Mukunda Rijal, who attended the board meeting, said, no one in the meeting entertained the idea of giving reconstruction work of Rani Pokhari to NA.
“Consider the example of Lalitpur and Bhaktapur; the earthquake-ravaged monuments there are being reconstructed with the direct participation of citizens. The same will happen to Rani Pokhari,” said Rijal.
The board’s decision follows widespread criticism over the government’s plan to assign Rani Pokhari reconstruction to NA.
A meeting held earlier this week, Defence Minister Ishwar Pokhrel, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Rabindra Prasad Adhikari, KMC’s Mayor Bidya Sundar Shakya and Director General at Department of Archaeology (DoA) Bhesh Narayan Dahal had agreed to give the reconstruction work to NA.
Culture and heritage experts and citizens condemned the plan saying as a ‘grave mistake’.
The DoA Director General Dahal on Wednesday had told Post “there is no harm in handing the reconstruction Rani Pokhari to NA”
Heritage conservationists, activists and locals have slammed the KMC and DoA for taking such a naive decision just to avoid public criticism over delays in its construction and financial embezzlement.
Critics have not spared the KMC for its inability to reconstruct Rani Pokhari. President Bidya Devi Bhandari had laid the foundation in 2016, after the earthquake on April 25, 2015 damaged it.