KATHMANDU, JUL 01 -
After three months’ respite, the Kathmandu Valley Town Devel-opment Authority (KVTDA) in collaboration with the Metro-politan Traffic Police Division resumed its road expansion drive in the Capital on Saturday.
KVTDA recommenced demolition of ‘illegal’ structures after the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Wednesday directed the concerned bodies to step up expansion and reconstruction of roads inside the Kathmandu Valley.
Despite strong protests from local residents, roadside structures except residential buildings constructed illegally along the Lazimpat-Maharajgunj-Galfutar road section were bulldozed on the first day of the drive.
The local people protested the government’s move saying that the structures were constructed following due legal procedures.
Traffic was diverted as the police blocked the area for four hours to complete the work.
The Metropolitan Police Range (MPR) Kathmandu had made special security arrangements to thwart possible untoward incidents during the demolition process.
MPR chief SSP Jay Bahadur Chand said some 850 police personnel were deployed in the area.
“However, we need not use the force,” said Chand, adding that eight persons, who were detained for trying to obstruct the work, were released later.
A joint struggle committee comprising local residents has been staging a hunger strike against the government’s move from Friday, demanding that they be compensated for the damage incurred.
“We have legal documents of our buildings. The government is depriving us of our property,” said Sunil Manandhar, a local.
Some 10 bulldozers had been mobilised since early morning from Lainchaur and Panipokhari areas to pull down boundary walls, garages and other temporary structures that were constructed within 9 meters on either side of the road from the centre.
Roadside cafes, commercial shutters and the boundary wall of Nepal
Police Academy were destroyed in four hours. However, no residential building was razed.
Following local residents’ stern protests, the government decided to expand the road section by only nine meters on both sides against its earlier decision of widening the stretch by 11 meters.
The road expansion drive was launched last November with a view to easing traffic congestion in the Capital. However, the drive was halted for three months in the area due to strong opposition from local people, in some cases, backed by political leaders.
“Keeping in mind the PMO’s directives and requests from the local residents, we tried to minimise the damage while expanding the road,” said Bhai Kaji Tiwari, chief at KVTDA. “We are planning to start the second phase of the drive after 35 days.”
The government has been expanding roads based on the land survey of 1977. Some 315 structures including private buildings will have to be pulled down if the government presses ahead with the broad-road initiative as per the law.
KVTDA officials said a stretch totaling around 45 kilometers has been expanded since the campaign started seven months ago and additional 31 kilometers will be widened in the next few months.
Source: http://www.ekantipur.com/2012/07/01/top-story/road-expansion-resumes-amid-protests/356410/
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