Pokhara 4 April: Structures built within the standard boundary of Phewa Lake in Pokhara Metropolitan City of Kaski have begun to be demolished. On Saturday morning, between 5 AM and 9 AM, the metropolitan authority used bulldozers on 32 structures.
According to Purushottam Thapa, Chief of the Pokhara Metropolitan Police Force, the action was carried out following instructions from the Ministry of Home Affairs on Friday night.
Within the 65-meter standard boundary of Phewa Lake, there are about a dozen government structures and more than 500 privately owned structures. Last Thursday, Prime Minister Balen Shah had a telephone conversation with Mayor Dhanraj Acharya regarding the removal of encroachments at the lake. However, the sudden use of bulldozers early in the morning without prior notice has led to complaints from local residents. The metropolitan office had already submitted a progress report on clearing encroachments to the Prime Minister on Monday. The government’s 100-point good governance agenda includes initiating the removal of encroachments at Phewa Lake within three months.
To implement the lake’s boundary standards, a facilitation committee led by Gandaki Province Chief Minister Surendra Raj Pandey has already formed a subcommittee, which has completed demarcation and installed boundary poles along the lake’s edge.
In 2018, the Supreme Court of Nepal issued a mandamus order declaring land registered after 1974 along the lake as invalid, directing authorities to maintain the 65-meter boundary, beautify vacant land, and remove encroachments.
In a meeting held on Wednesday, the facilitation committee also decided to lift restrictions on land located beyond the 65-meter boundary. The government had formed a committee in 2011 to study the encroachment and boundaries of Phewa Lake, which submitted its report on June 3, 2012. Although responsibilities were assigned to all three levels of government based on the Supreme Court’s landmark verdict, implementation had been delayed for seven years.
This long-talked-about demolition, which had been heard about for a very long time, now finally appears to be taking shape under the government’s implementation.
