<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161152/636d1e7a9c7e80680e0af40fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="550"/>City life and the many benefits it represents, including better healthcare, reliable transport and quality education, are the main pull factors for migration. The social networks of cities continue to be one of the principal drivers of economic productivity across the globe.Yet <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/dirty-kathmandu-air-gets-dirtier/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">cities can also harm</a>. Air pollution, traffic congestion, over-crowding and noise are some of the defining features of the lives of many city-dwellers across the world today -- and not everyone is affected equally.We often dismiss these negative ‘externalities’ as the unavoidable consequences of economic development, and of city life. But if we understand them well enough, both the good and bad aspects of city life can be disentangled and addressed.One of the emerging areas of interest in cities is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/a-green-city-is-a-smart-city/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">how much public space is allocated to motorised traffic</a>. Who benefits? Who is impacted? How do motorised vehicles affect society?Are there better ways to design urban transport systems and traffic flows? Kathmandu Valley, with its exponential growth, must address these questions.The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/traffic-jam-again-in-kathmandu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">city’s old narrow streets</a> are crammed with cars, motorbikes, and people, as man and machine contest for space. Metre-wide paths have become rat-runs for motorbikes to try to avoid congestion. This allocation of public space to cars and motorbikes raises important questions of what value authorities and inhabitants place on <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/making-nepal-accessible-to-all/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">inclusivity and equality</a>.It is vitally important to understand how this plays out from the point of view of individual citizens. Consider, for instance, the perspective of a child playing on the street outside the house, or a senior citizen walking to the shop, or a woman carrying her baby while taking her first child to school.We also know well that <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/wide-open-spaces-kathmandu" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">open community spaces</a>, preferably incorporating nature, are vital components of any vibrant, just and social city system. Cities need places where people, regardless of social status, can mix, meet and connect. Yet in many cities, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/open-spaces-and-open-society/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">this is not factored sufficiently</a> into often haphazard urban design.In Kathmandu, while people do value open space and nature, that value has not yet been reflected in urban design. A case in point is the steady <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/let-tundikhel-be-what-tundikhel-was/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">encroachment of Tundikhel</a> and planned re-development of Rani Pokhari and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/our-kamal-pokhari/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kamal Pokhari</a> by the municipality office. It is not just private companies but agencies of the state that are also trying to build up green spaces for commercial purposes.Such plans are detrimental especially to the people with the least resources. Recent research by UNOPS found that the ‘lack of open space negatively affects the poor, who live in very crowded conditions, with no <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16442#.Yb6xN9NBzOQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">recreational areas, parks or open spaces</a> nearby; while the lack of green space, the high amount of dust, and high pollution all impact the small amount of public space that does exist’.Local leaders in some parts of the world are responding to these connected issues with innovative solutions. In Barcelona, the Superblock concept of urban design seeks to recover space for the community, improve biodiversity and move towards sustainable mobility. It carves out ‘islands’ of traffic-free space by routing traffic around multi-block areas.These ‘superblocks’ have better cycling and public transport links, to help replace car journeys. They also seek to create a more democratic, fairer city, with more participatory spaces and one in which children can play safely in all its squares without risk from cars.In Bogota, where development has historically occurred without planning just like in Kathmandu, inclusivity and empowerment of women through public spaces and urban mobility are now key objectives, supported by a clear plan. Municipal leaders are framing roads as manifestations of inequality, occupying a disproportionate amount of public space set against the number of people who use them. Accordingly, the city aims to redistribute road space towards use by public transport and pedestrians.Barcelona and Bogota provide just two examples of how cities are grappling with important sustainability issues today. But even if problems are well understood, how, practically, should cities move forward? Transitions to a more sustainable design are long-term processes. They are typically guided by inspiring visions of desirable, sustainable systems and deep engagement with communities.In both Barcelona and Bogota, the creation of such a vision, informed by community perspectives, was a vital step. To get started, pilot projects by innovative and forward-looking municipalities can be used to act as seeds of transformation. If benefits and outcomes are shared and communicated, pilot projects that produce innovations can be expanded and aligned with future national policy interests.Lalitpur is branding itself as the first <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/re-cycling-kathmandu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">cycle friendly</a> municipality of Nepal and its mayor Chiri Babu Maharjan has designated bicycle lanes in the city. Chitwan is also taking a lead to make its streets people-centric, not cars and motorcycles. These examples can be models for other municipalities.The central government, on the other hand, can develop policies to promote public transport and incentivise <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-electric-transport-future-is-here/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">electric mass transit</a>, which will clean up Kathmandu’s air pollution, utilise Nepal’s <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-precious-electricity-going-waste/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">surplus hydroelectricity</a> and cut its petroleum import bills.Cities are places of complexity, involving multiple actors, interests, interactions and processes. The meaning of sustainability is contested, especially in cities. Transport and public space-related issues such as those highlighted here compete for policy attention alongside other often equally important agenda. So it is crucial to communicate their implication on the economy and public health.In a city like Kathmandu, however, where cyclists, pedestrians and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19658#.Yb63bNNBzOQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">electric trolley buses</a> used to once roam, and where local shopping is the norm, a serious look at how to reduce the impact of vehicles and motorbikes on city dwellers would likely find fertile ground for beneficial change.Mark Perrin is a Senior Fellow at Nepal Economic Forum (NEF) and Technical Lead at Himalayan Circular Economy Forum (HiCEF).

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Cars vs people in Kathmandu

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d13c09c7e80680e0a993bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="930"/>S ipradi Trading, the sole distributor of Tata Motors in Nepal, has launched an exchange camp for passenger vehicles starting from 19-23 November. It will be available at all Tata showrooms across the country. Customers can get instant valuation for their cars, exchange rates and also test drive one of the many new models including Ultroz, H5, Nexon, Nexon EV, Tiago, and Tigor.

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Tata's Exchange Camp

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101152/636b78c99c7e80680e0646bejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125"/><figcaption>Photo: BIKRAM RAI</figcaption></figure>Nearly 2,800 people were killed on Nepal’s roads in the past year: that averages at seven fatalities per day. No data is available for the number of people who suffer such accidents, but thousands are injured seriously enough to be disabled for life. Yet, this <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Nation-road-kill,621" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pandemic of road accidents</a> gets much less media attention than COVID-19.Actress and model Mahima Silwal was headed to Chitwan for her wedding  along with her sister Sharmila on 12 February when their scooter was hit by a speeding bus. Mahima was pronounced dead at a nearby clinic. Her sister later died in a Kathmandu hospital.On 26 February CPN-ML General Secretary C P Mainali and several of his family members were injured in a car crash near Bardibas. On 2 March, former Constituent Assembly member Dharma Prasad Ghimire was killed in a crash in Bagdogra of India.News of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-deadly-roads-take-their-toll/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bus crashes and traffic accidents</a> do not even make it to the news line-up of the mainstream media anymore, unless they are celebrities. <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/maps-showing-increase-in-road-accident-fatality-rates" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yet the numbers killed</a> on Nepal’s roads in the past ten years exceeds the total 17,000 who died during the armed conflict. In fact, road traffic accidents ranked as the number one cause of death among children between 5 and 14 years of age in Nepal.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/when-panic-goes-viral/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">When panic goes viral</a>, Editorial“There has been a big expansion of new roads, but unfortunately highway infrastructure and road discipline enforcement have not kept pace. We need to work on implementation day-by-day,” Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Basanta Kumar Nembang told Nepali Times in Stockholm while attending the Third Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety here.Along with 140 countries attending the conference, Nepal committed to meeting the World Health Organisation (WHO) goal to halve the number of road fatalities by 2030. According to the WHO’s own statistics, at least 7,000 people were killed worldwide during the two days of the conference – whereas the total known fatalities due to COVID-19 in the past two months was 4,635 as of Thursday.The WHO was holding the Stockholm conference even while the coronavirus was spreading out of China to the rest of the world, but road traffic accidents have long been an endemic cause of mortality and morbidity the world over. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in Stockholm that it was “an outrage” that so many people were dying on the world’s roads every day.“Most road traffic deaths and injuries can be prevented, using tried and tested strategies, and everyone should be a part of the solution,” he told the gathering. But even as the conference came to a close on 20 February, the issue was already being eclipsed by the worldwide coverage of the COVID-19 spread.Since then, there have been at least 150 deaths on Nepal’s roads – mainly from overcrowded jeeps falling off poorly-built mountain roads, or buses overspeeding on highways <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/nation-nepal-highways,622">lacking basic safety features</a> like centreline guard-rails. In the cities, 90% of fatalities involve motorcyclists or pedestrians, indicating poor safety enforcement and low awareness.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-deadly-roads-take-their-toll/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepal's deadly roads take their toll</a>, Gopal GartaulaWHO says the fatality rate is highest in low- and middle-income South Asian countries like Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Poor countries account for 93% of highway fatalities in the world.The United Nations observed 2011-2020 as a Global Decade on Road Safety, proposing to stabilise road traffic deaths and injuries around the world. There were mixed results, with partial success in ensuring better legislation, safer roads and vehicles, mandatory use of helmets and seatbelts. and reduced speeds.The <a href="#1001 March 13datairap.orgabout-us" target="_blank" rel="noopener">International Road Assessment Programme</a> is trying to raise awareness by rating roads by their safety records, and by giving ‘vaccines for roads’ to increase safety features. But very little of the infrastructure promoted by the program exist on Nepal’s roads, most of which are rated only one star out of five. Haphazard road construction in the past decade has not just disfigured the countryside with landslides, but also increased the rate of accidents.More than 200 children were killed on Sweden’s roads every year in the 1970s, but that figure now hovers at about 15. Opening the conference, Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf said there were tested ways of saving lives.“Road safety should now be linked to other sustainability challenges, such as global health, climate change, equality, poverty and human rights,” the king said.There are now nearly 2.4 million vehicles on Nepal’s roads, and a majority of them are two-wheelers, with 800,000 motorcycles in Kathmandu Valley alone. As the number of vehicles increases, so will the fatality rate.Puspa Raj Pant, a Nepali researcher at the University of West of England in  Bristol, is concerned about the lack of pedestrian crossings, cycle lanes and traffic signals in Nepal as well as lights or crash barriers along winding mountain roads.“We have vaccines to fight killer diseases, but no medicines to reduce road fatalities,” he said. “Education, improved infrastructure and safer vehicles hold the key to improving road safety.”

The other global pandemic: road fatalities

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108181144/636a95a69c7e80680e05dc1cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1053"/><figcaption>Photo: MADAN PURASKAR PUSTAKALAYA</figcaption></figure>Nepal’s development dilemma has always been that we have got things backwards. <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Nepal-last-car-carrier,1216">Cars were carried over the mountain passes</a> on porter back to Kathmandu before it even had roads.The people of Pokhara saw aircrafts before they saw automobiles. We set up a university before we built a network of schools. We make plans to distribute wealth before we have found ways to create wealth.That is perhaps why Nepal’s rulers and politicians are great with populist slogans, but not so great on delivering them. And the media reports unquestioningly on these grandiose plans. King Birendra’s Panchayat Era goal was for Nepal to reach the ‘Asian Standards’ by 2000. We boasted of Nepal’s 83,000 MW hydropower potential over candles and kerosene lamps.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/can-nepal-be-the-powerhouse-of-asia/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Can Nepal be the powerhouse of Asia?</a>, Anil ChitrakarThere was nothing wrong with the slogans, what was missing was the homework, the technical expertise, managerial skills and a real understanding of the market. Today Nepal has many of these ingredients for success in place.The recent financial closure of the Upper Trishuli Hydroelectric Project hopefully sends out the message that it takes nine domestic and international agencies to work together to build a 200+ MW hydropower plant. Unless we show real growth in the domestic and regional markets, no one will invest, and if no one invests, we cannot open up new energy markets. Both have to be managed like two side of the same coin.The energy sector is highly compartmentalized -- there are too many agencies that take too long to analyse projects and provide necessary approvals. Nepal’s energy system from idea to market is in the hands of too many people. We need to complete each part of the process, but much more efficiently.We require a level playing field to scale up the production of affordable and clean hydropower, and the Nepali state needs to step up to use our tax money to absorb  many of the costs that have been unfairly piled up on every unit of power generated.Access roads to potential sites, the evacuation of the generated power and distribution to demand centres are the obvious costs. There are the unjustified costs of building schools, health post, mitigating environmental impacts as well as ‘donations’ to all the ‘gold earring wearing’ political cadre in the locality.In the same way, the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/look-whats-cooking-in-nepal/">subsidy given to LPG and other fossil fuels</a> must be removed and a pollution tax imposed to support hospitals to take in more people with respiratory health problems. These are all different facets of the energy market. We can start by replacing cooking and driving fuel that pollute and contribute to climate change.Nepal has a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/from-a-fossil-past-to-an-electric-future/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">huge fossil fuel import bill</a> that sends money to oil producing economies. The current balance has been maintained by sending young people to work in those countries who send money back home. Hydropower can help break this vicious cycle. We need our young men and women back home.It will not be easy because it seems that the happiest day in a Nepali’s life is when a visa to the US or Australia gets approved. The government is happy because it does not have to create jobs at home, the banks are glad with the cut they make from all the transactions, and the airlines are happy. Even the person selling plastic covers for passports gets business.Having <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-turns-to-solar-and-batteries-to-meet-peak-demand/">readily available and affordable clean source of energy</a> and a young, dynamic population is the best thing going for Nepal. When history books are written a hundred years hence, this could be the milestone when Nepal went from being a poorly-managed country to one of the best-run emerging economies. Norway and Nigeria both have oil, and yet look at where the two countries are: the real variable is governance, not oil.There is a global trend to elect rich people into public office because they are rich and presumably know how to become rich. In the USA, Chile, Lebanon, Hong Kong and Spain people are sending a clear message from the streets that wealth is important, but is not everything.Democratic values and principles should not be sidelined by simply pointing at the rising numbers in the stock market. As the <a href="http://www.nepalenergyforum.com/power-summit-2019/">Independent Power Producers  Association of Nepal (IPPAN)</a> hosts the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/can-nepal-be-the-powerhouse-of-asia/">Power Summit 2019 from 21-29</a> November in Kathmandu, let us all take this long term and broader view.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvT3iTi8yw4Anil Chitrakar is President of <a href="http://www.siddharthinc.com/">Siddarthinc</a>, and his fortnightly column in Nepali Times, ½ Full, looks  at Nepal’s potentials.

Anil Chitrakar

Cars before roads in Nepal

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141156/636a60169c7e80680e056e5fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125"/><figcaption>LAND OF LAND ROVERS: The three Land Rovers, including the 1955 vintage ‘Oxford’ (foreground) being worshipped over Dasain at Patan Darbar Square before continuing their 19,000km journey from Singapore to London. The convoy is now traversing the Tibetan Plateau. Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>The monsoon rains were tapering off in eastern Nepal as three gritty Land Rovers pulled into Nepal at Kakarbhitta just in time for the Dasain festival.The <a href="https://www.lastoverland.com/">Last Overland </a>Expedition from Singapore to London was retracing the tracks of the journey 64 years ago by The Oxford and Cambridge Far Eastern Expedition. Six fresh graduates in two Series 1 Land Rovers named ‘Oxford’ and ‘Cambridge’ after their alma maters traversed 29,000km over 19 different countries in six months from London to Singapore. It was the first time ever the trip was done by road and inspired many others to follow.The 64 year old Oxford, passionately restored by motoring afficionado Adam Bennett, rumbled into Patan Darbar Square last week just in time for the Dasain puja when Nepalis worship all machines: from carpentry tools to ploughs, motorcycles, cars and even planes.https://youtu.be/iE5rz6sXv8shttps://youtu.be/nf0G7qRhb8kExpedition leader Alex Bescoby and the drivers sprinkled vermilion powder, draped the radiators in marigold garlands, lit incense and rang the bell to summon the gods to ensure that the rest of the expedition would be breakdown-free.It was Bescoby who dreamt up the return trip from Singapore to London for the original Land Rover with Tim Slessor from the First Overlanders, now 88. Among the eight members this time is Tim’s grandson, Nathan George, fresh out of university, and following his grandfather’s tyre tracks, but in reverse. Nathan is as old as Tim was on the London-Singapore trip in 1955.The Southeast Asian leg of the journey from Singapore through Malaysia, Thailand, Burma and into India, followed the same route as the original expedition. Many of the dirt tracks are now highways, and cities have sprung up where there were none.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141156/636a60199c7e80680e056e60jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="484"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141156/636a601c9c7e80680e056e61jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="482">In Darjeeling’s famous Mane Bhanjyang, the vintage Oxford Land Rover posed (right) with the historic toy train just as it had in 1955 (left).<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ9D_2ECsSo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Last Overlanders</a> were flagged off alongside 90 other Land Rovers in Singapore on August 25, and plans to reach London on 14 December – a journey of 19,000km. All along the route, Oxford and her escorts draw curious onlookers. In Darjeeling the convoy was greeted by local Land Rover enthusiast <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DnY66hUrGE">Samantha Dong</a>, taken in a procession across town and ‘Oxford’ got another photo-op with the historic toy train.Of the two Rovers in 1956, Oxford undertook the offshoot up from the Grand Trunk Road in Patna to Kathmandu on the newly opened Tribhuvan Highway.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141156/636a601f9c7e80680e056e62jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1381" height="780">This time, the route goes from India to Tibet via Nepal because of tension on the borders between India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. British nature broadcaster David Attenborough, who got the BBC to support the First Overland for the BBC, says the first route by Slessor’s crew would be impossible to undertake today.“I doubt that it would be possible now to do that because the world has divided itself against itself,” Attenborough said. “And there are plenty of places now where you will not be allowed to cross the frontier.”After crossing into China at Rasuwa, the Land Rovers are speeding along the highway past Lake Mansarovar, as we speak. They plan to traverse Kashgar on the old Silk Road into what the crew call ‘The Stans’, past the Caspian Sea into the Caucasus, Turkey and on to the Channel.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141156/636a60229c7e80680e056e63jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125">Before leaving Kathmandu, Alex Bescoby mused: “The lines on the map are just that. What we are discovering is this beautiful spectrum of humanity where each culture or religion doesn’t stop at the boundaries, it spills over and merges and mixes and it’s really just opened my eyes to how incredibly fluid they are.”Follow the Last Overland journey here: <a href="https://www.lastoverland.com/">https://www.lastoverland.com/</a>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/thelastoverland/?igshid=617qk5elmbbw">@thelastoverland</a>Gurkha Welfare TrustThe Last Overlanders team caught up with the <a href="https://www.gwt.org.uk/">Gurkha Welfare Trust</a> in Pokhara, one of the charities it is <a href="https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/thelastoverlandgwt">raising money</a> for. They met 106-year-old Lal Bahadur Gurung (pictured in the cover of GWT, right) a World War 2 veteran of Libya, Egypt and the fierce battle of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Monte_Cassino">Monte Cassino</a> in Italy in which 245 Nepali soldiers were killed.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141156/636a60269c7e80680e056e64jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="906">

The long road home

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101132/636a22ff9c7e80680e0417c1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="1050"/><figcaption>Photos: BIKRAM RAI</figcaption></figure><ul><li>At least seven people were killed when a bus heading to Narayangad from Beni lost control and fell 70m from the road down to the Kali Gandaki River in Kusma Municipality of Parbat district on Thursday.</li> <li>A bus plunge from a crumbling highway in Tulsipur last month killed 22 and maimed 15 -- most of them students and teachers from a technical school in Ghorahi on a field trip.</li> <li>A mini truck skidded off a dirt tract in Nuwakot and plunged several hundred meters in Dupcheshwar rural municipality on 14 December, killing 22 out of the 40 on board the lorry. The passengers were returning home to Sisipu after performing funeral rites for a fellow villager.</li> <li>In just one day that week, Devi Prasad Rai of Kerabari in Morang lost his life when a bus hit him near a fuel station. Dhan Prasad Giri, 63, and his 29-year-old son were killed by an Indian-registered truck. Nirmala Karki of Gauradaha of Jhapa was hit by a school bus and died.</li></ul><iframe id="datawrapper-chart-PxGlE" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important;" src="//datawrapper.dwcdn.net/PxGlE/1/" height="549" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>In the past five months alone, 1,176 people have been killed across Nepal in what police call ‘road traffic accidents’ (RTA). This is an increase from last year, and with more vehicles driven by negligent drivers on poorly-built roads, fatalities have <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/maps-showing-increase-in-road-accident-fatality-rates" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gone up sharply in the past decade</a>.The district-wise data of total fatalities from 16 July 2017 were collected by a Nepali Times team over two days this week, and shows that the majority of road traffic mishaps have occured in crowded urban areas in the Tarai and Kathmandu Valley. But even Dolpo has had three serious accidents, killing 20 since the first roads were built four years ago.In the last 10 years, 22,461 lost their lives in RTA, according to Nepal Police. While most were men, women made up 3,577 of the fatalities, and of the total, 2,440 were men and women below 18 years of age.Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/traffic-accidents-continue-to-increase-worryingly-in-Nepal,2799" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Road kill</a>, Surendra Phuyal<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/accident-prone-Mugling-Narayangadi-highway,3828" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Unblocking an artery</a>, Sanjeev SharmaPolice records blame 95% of accidents in Nepal on negligence of drivers. Mechanical failure, poor road condition, careless pedestrians and bad weather accounted for the rest. However, even though over-speeding, over-loading are major causes, the number of accidents caused by poor road maintenance, and the presence of animals and pedestrians on highways are probably under-reported.This means the blame ultimately goes to lax Police monitoring, and <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/traffic-accidents-continue-to-increase-worryingly-in-Nepal,2799" target="_blank" rel="noopener">government apathy</a> in completing road construction and maintaining minimum safety standards.The Department of Transport Management, the governing body responsible for safe and reliable transportation does not even seem to acknowledge that road safety is its responsibility, taking an ‘accidents happen’ attitude.<iframe id="datawrapper-chart-gIV87" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important;" src="//datawrapper.dwcdn.net/gIV87/1/" height="400" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe><iframe id="datawrapper-chart-espux" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important;" src="//datawrapper.dwcdn.net/espux/6/" height="400" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe><iframe id="datawrapper-chart-ED7Lj" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important;" src="//datawrapper.dwcdn.net/ED7Lj/2/" height="393" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>There is no effort to enforcing and implementing existing laws to ensure safety, and none of the officials interviewed for this article appeared to recognise that the rising number of road traffic accidents was a national emergency that needed a strategy for mitigation.Article 257 of the Vehicle and Transport Management Act 1993 authorised the Department of Transport Management to appoint transport supervisors to fine or seize driving license of individuals violating traffic rules.Read also:<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/cartel-carnage-highway,3243" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Highways of death</a>, Santa Gaha Magar<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/maps-showing-increase-in-road-accident-fatality-rates" target="_blank" rel="noopener">6 years of road traffic accidents</a>, Sunir PandeyBut 26 years on, not a single transport supervisor has been appointed. Article 67 of the Act also clearly states that the co-drivers also need to obtain licenses from the Department, but none has been issued so far, admits Tirtha Khanal, head of the Vehicle Monitoring and Provincial Coordination Division.“We are a small five-person office. It is impossible for us to monitor such a huge number of vehicles in Nepal,” said Khanal. There are more than 3.2 million motorcycles, cars and trucks registered across Nepal and the figure is growing exponentially.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101136/636a23029c7e80680e0417c2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="1050"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The Act further states that all vehciles must have passed pollution tests and possess a vehicle inspection report, and drivers are required to take a half-an-hour of break after four hours on the road. Passenger vehicles are also restricted from carrying more people than the total number of seats, and long-distance vehicles should have two drivers with change in shift after 6 hours.In March 2018, the government amended the Vehicle and Transport Management Rules and banned buses older than 20 years. But eight months later, these polluting old vehicles are still on the roads.Read also: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/lack-of-trauma-centres-along-nepal%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%E2%84%A2s-highways-worsened-fatality-rate,1383" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Highways of death</a>, Sunir Pandey<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Nation-road-kill,621" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Road kill</a>, Duncan MaruThe Department of Transport Management spent Rs60 million to build the Vehicle Fitness Test Centre in Teku in April 2017. Built to originally conduct a complete health check-up of vehicles including emissions, and condition of brakes, chassis, headlights, spring balance and wheel load, most of the testing equipment do not work and the tests cannot be carried out.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101136/636a23059c7e80680e0417c3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="800">“At the moment we are only able to do emission tests, and fasten loose bolts, most of the equipment do not work and we don’t have plans to repair it anytime soon either,” says Chief Engineer Ramchandra Paudel bluntly, as if it is no one’s responsibility. There are no vehcole test stations outside Kathmandu Valley.The only good news is that the number of drink driving cases and fatalities caused by them have gone down significantly in Kathmandu Valley. Called ‘MaPaSe’ by its Nepali acronym, the Police’s campaign against driving under the influence of alcohol has saved thousands of lives since 2012.  Between July 2017- June 2018 there were 32,234 men and 58 women drivers who failed breath analyser tests.On a daily basis, 1,500 traffic police officers work to manage the traffic in Kathmandu Valley and in the last five months they penalised 185,436 individuals for violating traffic rules -- 1,236 per day. Similarly, 472,407 vehicle drivers and owners were fined in the last fiscal year.A whopping 3 million people have been penalised for violating various traffic rules in the last 5 years and this has resulted in the government earning more than Rs1.238 billion.

Nepal’s deadly roads take their toll

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171112/63692f299c7e80680e03c090jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1250" height="1094"/>In 2008, I returned to Kathmandu with an overwhelming desire to drive a car, but not just any car: a Porsche. Serendipity this week turned this dream into reality.In the parking lot of the Hyatt Regency in Kathmandu there suddenly appeared 30 vintage cars worth $10million in spectacular condition, including two 1925 Bentley competition cars, a 1955 Chevrolet, a half dozen Datsun 240Zs, a 1959 Mercedes 220S. And three Porsche 911s.They had slipped in unannounced. The Nepal Tourism Board had no idea, neither did any of the newspapers in town. Not even the country’s pre-eminent motor enthusiast magazine had heard of the <a href="http://www.endurorally.com/pages/himalayan-challenge-2018-reports" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Endurance Rally Association’s Himalayan Adventure</a>.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171112/63692f2c9c7e80680e03c091jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="948" height="1454"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>This was a golden opportunity to <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/bringing-in-two-miilion-tourists,3551" target="_blank" rel="noopener">promote Nepal</a> as a destination for high-end adventure tourism. If a group of millionaire adventurers can drive overland to Kathmandu, we can attract more of their creed to this beautiful country. To my surprise, none of the drivers had ever heard of Kathmandu’s Darbar Square, or those in Patan or <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/bhaktapur-shows-the-way-by-rebuilding-itself/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bhaktapur</a>. So, we hijacked the rally in the name of Nepal tourism promotion.There were two hurdles: pre-holiday traffic, which would mean at least a 1-hour drive each way, as well as the fact that Hanuman Dhoka is pedestrianised. But beautiful cars parked in front of ancient temples would send a strong signal to motoring enthusiasts all over the world that Nepal is, indeed, the land time forgot.The Nepal tourism authorities, preoccupied with forthcoming holidays, told us not to waste our time and it would take a month to get permission. We had less than four hours. Nepal Police pistons heads were much more excited. “Thirty vintage cars in Kathmandu? Really? We’re on our way.”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGHVDcnYuWMBefore long, a police escort guided the vintage vehicles through gridlocked Kathmandu traffic, radioing ahead to clear intersections. We made it to Darbar Square in under 15 minutes. There, a friendly official recognised the historic importance of the two Bentleys and granted us free passage. Near New Road, Nepal’s oldest retired fire trucks dating back to 1923 and 1919 suddenly had good company.“This is one of the coolest things I’ve ever done in my long career as a rallye driver,” said Bill Cleyndert of Norfolk in England.“It is something you only see in movies. It’s like we’re filming Mad Max Revisited Kathmandu or The Nepalese Job,” added a visibly excited Daniel Spadini, a Swiss watch manufacturer and proud owner of a blue Citroen DS20.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171112/63692f2f9c7e80680e03c092jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="972">Christof Ley of Frankfurt said later he would love to join the fire truck expedition. Next morning, as the Endurance Rally proceeded on to Chitwan, social media was ablaze with hundreds of posts from participants and spectators.“Nepal is the land time forgot,” an official from Nepal Airlines once told me. “Things here happen at their own pace. They just have a way of working out.” I have discovered this is sage wisdom while waiting for what has become known as the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/fire-trucks-for-kathmandu,3827" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fire truck expedition</a> to get adventurers driving fire engines through Nepal.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171112/63692f329c7e80680e03c093jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1020">This project <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/fire-in-the-belly/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has been languishing</a>, waiting for a suitable sponsor to pay the shipping costs. My team and I had been waiting, hoping that one of the countless gods would eventually send us a sign.One of those signs was the Endurance Rally in Darbar Square. This week the world came to know once more that in Nepal, things have a way of working out.Read also:<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/Connecting-dots/who-needs-fire-trucks-book-kathmandu,1099" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Who needs fire trucks?</a>, Dinkar Nepal<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171112/63692f359c7e80680e03c094jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1052">

Bentleys in Basantapur

CG Motocorp, the authorised distributor of Suzuki Four wheelers in Nepal has introduced what it calls ‘bold, sporty and trendy’ CelerioX to Nepali market.Sporting an aerodynamic design and a newly designed X-theme based graphic around the grille in front, the car features protective cladding on side body and rear bumper and skid plate details on rear. Other convenient features are dual airbag, anti lock braking system, a driver side seat belt reminder, music system with audio mounted control and keyless entry.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141140/636516ad9c7e80680e02c22bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="680" height="494"/>“Celerio has successfully carved itself as a perfect Family car for Nepalese family. With CelerioX, Suzuki aims to give this well-accepted model a bold, stylish and sporty makeover as per the changing preferences of our Nepalese customers”, says Karan Chaudhary, Executive Director, CG | Motocorp.CelerioX comes with all new Paprika Orange as its signature colour, as a reminiscent of the youthful energy and sportiness. Other colour variations are Arctic White, Glistening Grey, Caffeine Brown and Torque Blue.With a claimed mileage of maximum of 23.1 kmpl, the car is priced at Rs 2699000.

CelerioX in Nepal

The newly-formed Himalayan Art Council is set to launch Nepal’s National Art Protection Platform that seeks to preserve <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-history-of-heritage">Nepal’s unique cultural heritage </a>using<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/artificial-censorship"> AI-powered tools</a>. The Council seeks to safeguard <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepali-art-going-places">Nepali art works</a> from neglect, theft and counterfeiting as well as preserve existing artwork and celebrate living masters by giving them a cultural space to continue the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/sacred-survival">sacred art traditions</a>. "We are introducing a new digital platform designed to preserve, verify and elevate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-new-generation-of-alternative-artists">Nepal’s art for generations to come,</a>” says a statement from the Council, adding that the digital platform will use AI told for authentication and blockchain to keep track of works of art. Artists can now be protected by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/ayo-ai?fbclid=IwAR1uwmTVq4gUB70ljfRezjzukD9ArWXPuMnUikopeQ8PoiZMjicToPSwhKE&amp;=1">AI tools</a> that detect forgeries, identify their work even when unsigned, and ensure they receive proper recognition and credit. The archives will be searchable with translated inscription and interactive guides. Says curator Meena Lama: “AI and blockchains are tools that give us the power to detect fakes and identify unsigned paintings and track every piece. With these tools we can restore trust, secure authorship and give artists the dignity they deserve.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53" data-rendition-name="original" width="1300" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum."> <figcaption>Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum.</figcaption> </figure>  The Council is also holding an exhibition of Nepali cultural masterpieces with 50 historical <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-the-art,671">thangka and paubha </a>by past masters and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/between-the-sacred-and-everyday">contemporary works by current artists</a>. This curated collection is a living tribute to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/when-yaks-go-so-does-culture">Himalayan culture</a> with economic depictions of deities, mandala and sacred narratives. The exhibition at <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/a-portal-into-patan-s-past-and-present">Patan Museum</a> also provides an opportunity to meet painters and custodians of art and culture. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/golden-deities">Golden deities</a>, Sewa Bhattarai ‘The exhibition is only the first step in a long journey to ensure that Nepali art is no just seen but fully understood, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Narratives-of-Faith-and-Memory-Remembering-the-Lost-Sculptures-of-Kathmandu-exhibition,987">protected and remembered</a>,’ the Council says. Artist Kailash K Shrestha of Artudio has spent decades promoting thankha and paubha traditions because of their beauty and devotional meaning. But he also says artists are underpaid, exploited and ignored. He adds, “AI and blockchain are not just buzzwords, they are powerful tools that can protect Nepal’s artists from fraud, verify authenticity and build a permanent record of provenance.” Traditional Art Exhibition Till 17 May Patan Museum

Digital protection for Nepal’s art

India and Pakistan are twins separated at birth. Tensions between them have been at a hair trigger ever since independence and has erupted into full scale conflict at least four times in the past 80 years.
The 22 April terrorist attack in Kashmir that killed 25 Indian tourists and a Nepali citizen, threatens to escalate tension between the two nuclear-armed nations. India has squarely blamed Pakistan for the attacks, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given his military “operational freedom” to respond. Pakistan has said it has credible intelligence of an Indian military strike and its officials have promised a “full spectrum” response — a code for a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/thinking-the-thinkable">nuclear retaliation</a>.
For Nepal, the killing of its national in the Pahalgam attack comes as another stark reminder that in conflicts from Afghanistan to Iraq, from <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/how-to-agree-an-armistice-in-ukraine">Ukraine</a> to Israel, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/10-nepalis-from-one-town-fighting-in-ukraine">Nepalis are getting caught in the crossfire</a>. The last time full-scale fighting broke out between <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/peacemongers-at-india-pakistan-border">India and Pakistan</a> on Kargil in 1999, at least 22<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/india-s-trial-by-fire-for-soldiers-from-nepal?%27%5C%22="> Nepalis fighting for the Indian Army</a> were killed in action.
Three of Nepal’s immediate neighbours (China, India, Pakistan) have nuclear weapons, and they do not have good relations. With China supplying weapons, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/war-and-warming">missile technology</a> and other support to Pakistan, this triangular friction could set off a regional conflagration.&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-022-00573-0" target="_blank">Research at Rutgers University</a> has calculated that even a week-long tactical nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan would throw up so much smoke and debris into the atmosphere that it would block out the sun for years, and lead to a collapse of the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/grow-nourish-sustain-together-world-food-day">global food system</a>. This does not take into account the radioactive fallout that prevailing winds would blow up to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/lives-on-the-line-in-the-himalaya">the Himalaya</a>, contaminating glaciers that are the sources of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/saving-what-is-left-of-himalayan-rivers">Asia’s main rivers</a>.
The impact of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/climate-breakdown-linked-to-thame-flood">climate breakdown </a>on High Asia was already ringing alarm bells about its <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/himalayan-icecap-melting-faster-than-thought">shrinking ice cap</a> reducing the dry season flow of water downstream. Water was going to be the next strategic commodity, geopolitical experts warned, and the next wars in Asia would be over water.
That water war is already happening. India retaliated to the Kashmir attack by suspending the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/world/asia/india-pakistan-indus-waters-treaty.html" target="_blank">Indus Waters Treaty</a> of 1960 mediated by the World Bank that has withstood at least three wars between India and Pakistan. The treaty gives India control over the three eastern tributaries of the Indus (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beas_River" target="_blank">Beas</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravi_River" target="_blank">Ravi</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutlej" target="_blank">Sutlej</a>), while Pakistan got water from the Indus and two of its western tributaries (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_River" target="_blank">Indus</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chenab_River" target="_blank">Chenab</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jhelum_River" target="_blank">Jhelum</a>.
Pakistan was assured of 70% of the annual flow, and India could use a reasonable amount of water for<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=15231"> irrigation and hydropower</a>. &nbsp;Within days of its threat, India stopped water flowing down to Pakistan from the Chenab river and is reportedly preparing to do the same on the Jhelum.
The sabre-rattling has reached a crescendo. Besides threats and counter-threats there are also symbolic drills, with the Indian Air Force practicing landing on an expressway in Uttar Pradesh by its Rafale, Su-30 and Jaguar fighter jets to demonstrate ‘operational readiness’. In response Pakistan test-fired its Abdali ballistic missile that can carry a nuclear warhead and has a range of 450km.&nbsp;
The danger is that with ultra-nationalist rhetoric and the beating the war drums by both sides, India’s government and Pakistan’s military may have to ‘do something’ to appease domestic public opinion. But any tactical strike, an artillery exchange, or territorial incursion could quickly escalate out of control.
Expecting an Indian retaliation for the Pahalgam killings, Pakistan is using<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/interfaith-collaboration-for-nuclear-disarmament"> nuclear deterrence </a>and warning of “catastrophic consequences”. The two neighbours came close to a nuclear exchange in 2019 after an attack on the Indian military in Kashmir, and prompt international intervention led by the United States cooled tensions.&nbsp;
This time, the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/trump-shock-wave-hits-nepal">Trump administration</a> is too distracted and not as engaged. Pakistan has denied it was responsible for the terrorist attack and called on Washington to stop a possible Indian retaliation. India and Pakistan have stopped overflights by each other’s airlines, and some international carriers have even stopped flying over Pakistan fearing an air war.
Washington, Beijing, the UN and the EU have all urged restraint. Iran, which has good relations with both India and Pakistan has sent its foreign minister to urge both countries not to go into a tit-for-tat war. Iran has its own nuclear flashpoint to worry about with tensions in Israel, &nbsp;Yemen and Syria.
India and Pakistan both share similar problems of joblessness, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/why-nepal-s-poverty-rate-is-stuck">poverty </a>and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/climate-change-new-threat-to-nepal-s-rhinos">environmental threats</a>. Neither side needs the threat of a senseless war, and we in the neighbourhood do not need it either.&nbsp;
Kunda Dixit
This Editorial is brought to you by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/" target="_blank">Nepali Times</a>, in collaboration with <a href="https://inpsjapan.com/en/" target="_blank">INPS Japan</a> and <a href="https://sgi-peace.org/" target="_blank">Soka Gakkai International</a>, in consultative status with UN ECOSOC.

Nukes in the neighbourhood

Most Nepalis thought they had seen the last of it after <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/11-56-25-april-2015-wkc9q2an">the 25 April 7.8 magnitude </a>earthquake ten years ago. But the Himalaya had more surprises in store. On 12 May, another 7.3 magnitude tremor that some said was an aftershock, but was strong enough to itself be a major earthquake, struck Dolakha.&nbsp; Not many people had heard of Singati till then — a cluster of houses by the Tama Kosi River along a narrow gorge that is the roadhead to Rolwaling Valley.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110520_57b6e316656851f71eca56ca6f98d9bbcc820c1a00d62af3c990725b4361244d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20250508110520_57b6e316656851f71eca56ca6f98d9bbcc820c1a00d62af3c990725b4361244d" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110520_016534fb2b6a79957402281cda768efb83a146786377e39e11df3e251d37159e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20250508110520_016534fb2b6a79957402281cda768efb83a146786377e39e11df3e251d37159e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> </figure>  It was here that dozens were killed on 25 April in the first earthquake. Hundreds of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Singati-rising-from-rubble-rebuilding,3703">Singati survivors</a> had lined up for food and relief supplies in the morning of 12 May when the second earthquake triggered a rock slide that buried a nearby camp. At least 50 people were killed. &nbsp; Three hours later, a US Marine Corps UH-1Y Venom helicopter landed in a nearby cornfield to pick up the wounded, and flew off. The aircraft lost contact with air traffic control in Kathmandu and its wreckage was located high on Kalinchok four days later. Six American servicemen, two Nepal Army soldiers, and five wounded civilians from Singati were killed. Today, Singati bears little physical scar of the multiple tragedies that struck the town ten years ago. Most <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/bungamati-builds-back">houses have been rebuilt</a> as urban-style concrete structures, and Singati has become an economic hub on the road leading up to several hydropower plants and a<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/off-the-beaten-trek-in-nepal"> popular trekking destination</a>.&nbsp; The town looks less like a village and more like a suburb of the Dolakha district headquarter of Charikot, 47km away.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110520_196f341d1df1403ba133e5dfeb837eec20d7cbcb4c8c56b17cc5598810de5df2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250508110520_196f341d1df1403ba133e5dfeb837eec20d7cbcb4c8c56b17cc5598810de5df2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110524_ae66c4a92430f67db51b5e11e017059eedfbac4cb18c8e073f2a50cca1fe904e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20250508110524_ae66c4a92430f67db51b5e11e017059eedfbac4cb18c8e073f2a50cca1fe904e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> </figure>  “The demand for construction material, cement, iron rods and bricks peaked after the earthquakes,” says Suresh Khadka, who owns a hardware business here and now supplies material to the 456MW Upper Tama Kosi hydropower project that is undergoing repairs after it was damaged by a landslide last year. The demand for cement boomed since most residents believe, not necessarily correctly, that <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/in-a-disastrous-state">cement houses are safer</a>. Although Khadka did well selling construction material after the earthquake, he worries that most new structures do not follow seismic-resistant building codes.&nbsp; The construction boom financed by bank loans has in turn forced many from Singati to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/making-overseas-migration-better">migrate overseas for work</a> so they can service their debt.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110524_50caa4530bd5ff9120cf7ab70a62173846d337ef448ff8bac339f3faa375a9e2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20250508110524_50caa4530bd5ff9120cf7ab70a62173846d337ef448ff8bac339f3faa375a9e2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> <figcaption>Suresh Khadka</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110520_ef8b7d3993fc3b5df852bbf952feb3fbabc96d6883b0d5eb74ee5c60f4123b83.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20250508110520_ef8b7d3993fc3b5df852bbf952feb3fbabc96d6883b0d5eb74ee5c60f4123b83" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> <figcaption>Phu Doma Sherpa (right)</figcaption> </figure>  “My family had no choice but to borrow money to rebuild our home since the government compensation was not enough, and ten years later we are still paying off the loan,” says Phu Doma Sherpa, 60. Because of the shortage of qualified masons and proper seismic engineering, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/structural-problems">many of the buildings are of questionable building standards </a>and the traditional architecture has been abandoned, admits Kul Bahadur Budathoki, deputy chair of the municipality. “But these buildings were more expensive than what the government grants could cover, many people here are heavily in debt and the men have <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/every-day-is-closer-to-pay-day">migrated to the Gulf to pay their loans</a>,” Budathoki says.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110520_32f89e97b7e757fc9286c0bbb671f48ea8d4468e9634fa646d7247c650ad8480.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="20250508110520_32f89e97b7e757fc9286c0bbb671f48ea8d4468e9634fa646d7247c650ad8480" data-rendition-name="original" width="1501" height="1079" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> <figcaption>Kul Bahadur Budathoki</figcaption> </figure>  Singati is in a multi-hazard zone. The <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Singati,3091">12 May 2015 earthquake </a>could have led to the collapse of Nepal’s largest glacial lake, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/stairway-to-heaven">Tso Rolpa</a>, upstream. Due to global warming, the glacier has turned into an expanding lake 3.5km long, and its collapse would have unleashed a catastrophic Himalayan tsunami down the Tama Kosi Valley, with Singati directly in its path. Singati has literally risen from the ashes of 2015, with its residents beginning to recover from the trauma and financial toll. But it is not out of danger as <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/climate-breakdown-linked-to-thame-flood">climate breakdown </a>magnifies the risk from future earthquakes.

Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village

<a href="https://www.instagram.com/prabalgurung/" target="_blank">Prabal Gurung</a> left Nepal for New York in 1999 to escape years of bullying, sexism and homophobia, and to pursue his dream of becoming a fashion designer. He <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqN0VaoAI5w" target="_blank">realised his dream</a>, but did not escape discrimination and racism in the new world. Propelled by passion for fashion, Gurung overcame everything America threw at him. He has attained <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/style/story/prabal-gurung-recalls-his-first-met-gala-when-zoe-saldana-was-at-his-side?srsltid=AfmBOooy-H0oGgxMit864FnW_Pmw8mUnV8rYrh-co-f6OyYK6m2ip5hP" target="_blank">fame and recognition</a> for his haute couture dress designs while remaining true to his Nepali roots, and is even more resolute in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSmNauyzACk" target="_blank">fighting prejudice</a> in all its forms. Prabal Gurung’s newly-released memoir <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Walk-Like-Girl-Memoir/dp/B0DG11HCDQ?fbclid=IwY2xjawKZfpxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHuZcIJO2OXyXcRm1oq1iG6wzeoF7VJFrQ7GXOFI0YxuZZ4id_CNvSZSZZIna_aem_pG_mOKG73RTnYvN8JaC4fA">Walk Like a Girl</a> is a saga of harrowing abuse in boarding schools in Nepal and India, only finding himself facing a different kind of bullying in the US. He prevails over it all to be where he is today: an award-winning American fashion designer with his own label. Walk Like a Girl was launched last week in New York at a time when everything Gurung fought for — tolerance, inclusion and diversity — are in retreat in his adopted country because of a president who has espoused a culture of bullying. The book is a searing, raw exposé of how cruel and abusive people can be even at a young age in school. On the other hand, it also shows that there are generous, compassionate and open-minded souls out there. In his book, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4le_uWX7YE">Prabal Gurung</a> calls out those who tormented and tried to hold him back (some of their names have been altered). The moral of his story is: resist, never stop believing in yourself, do not let others define you, never lose sight of your dream, and help those who have been kept out. “Walk like a girl” was a slur used by bullies back in school in Nepal and India for Gurung’s effeminate ways. He fought back then, and he is still resisting by turning those words into something to be proud of.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170544_4ffc9c3f565dd2cfa754d10b224816897b82bb31ebaee91b6d79d469fc96f14e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250519170544_4ffc9c3f565dd2cfa754d10b224816897b82bb31ebaee91b6d79d469fc96f14e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1253" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung NT"> <figcaption>Prabal Gurung at home in Kathmandu in the 1990s.</figcaption> </figure>  “Living through it all was one thing, but writing about it is one of the hardest things I have done in my life,” admitted Gurung during the launch. “I broke down constantly during the six-year writing process.” He continues: “I did not want this to be a victim’s book. I did not want to burden my readers with my emotions. I wanted my struggle to be an inspiration for others facing what I faced. I am grateful to those who bullied me in school, they made me a stronger person ready to face the world.” Indeed, this book is a departure from his earlier one titled simply, Prabal Gurung (Abrams, 2019), which was a lush pictorial autobiography of his career in fashion. Walk Like a Girl is not a typical fashion book, it is an intimate tale of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16997">Gurung’s travails and triumphs</a>, and how he willed himself to succeed. Prabal pays a lavish tribute to his mother Durga Rana. We find out she is a descendant of the first wife of the eldest son of Jang Bahadur Rana who was banished to Palpa in the late 19th century. Prabal’s father served in the Singapore Police and that is where he was born before the family returned to Nepal when he was four. Gurung relates with brutal honesty about the violence his mother endured from his father. Durga raises three children as a single mother in Nepal, and Prabal credits her for his fierce determination to resist patriarchy and injustice, which in time manifests itself in his hyper-feminine and subversive dress designs. Writing the book has been a cathartic experience for Gurung, who says he is now relieved of the burdens of his past. It no longer haunts him, and he does not have to prove anything to anyone anymore. Walk Like a Girl has life lessons not just for the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DJmOcSgxdWz/" target="_blank">fashion industry</a>, but for every other profession. How can my job serve a greater cause? Gurung tells us his work is <a href="https://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/why-designer-prabal-gurung-doesnt-want-just-stick-fashion" target="_blank">bigger than just making clothes</a>, it is about making the world a better place because it could do with a lot of improvement.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170544_d75296ad8bfdc00d88935f40d23543c6fea3d4d6a10e61a99d6cfc6127f2ee5b.png" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20250519170544_d75296ad8bfdc00d88935f40d23543c6fea3d4d6a10e61a99d6cfc6127f2ee5b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1516" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung"> </figure>  This story of chasing the American dream may sound familiar to many immigrants: knocking on doors for jobs, rejections, trying to survive from day to day on expensive rent, and dealing with subtle racism in white America. Gurung finds racism is rife, and he is often mockingly called ‘gaysian’. He writes: ‘There was a strong hypocrisy — this idea of independence felt like a marketting ruse … and for all the talk of feminism in America, these high society women were trapped by the patriarchy just like in Nepal and India.’ After a trek to the Khumbu region in 2013, Gurung is inspired to use the colours, palette and textures of Nepal for his collection exhibited on Manhattan’s 8th Avenue. A major buyer tells him bluntly: “Stick to making pretty dresses … if I need to see a collection like this, I could buy a copy of National Geographic.” The New York Times was equally dismissive: ‘The designer tries to draw connections between blistered techo-fabric used to construct it and the topography of his homeland, Nepal. But, at the moment, he has lost his map.’ One potential investor tells Gurung he cannot design for Americana because “you do not look American”. Gurung wants to use expletives, but restrains himself. After a fundraiser in New York for the Nepal earthquake in 2015, some belittled his effort, saying: “Here comes the saviour."&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/prabal-gurung-by-prabal-gurung">Prabal Gurung by Prabal Gurung</a>, Kunda Dixit The Gurkha DNA must be dominant in Prabal Gurung’s genes because he does not take such mistreatment lying down. When asked by a fashion publicist why he was designing clothes for fat people, he snaps back: “Because of people like you.” He joins the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements, launches the Shikshya Foundation charity in Nepal, and has powerful allies among celebrities who wear clothes he designed: Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Sara Jessica Parker, Kamala Harris, Deepika Padukone … it is a long list.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519150556_48a5f4211991a23fa85b64bbd5377575ca7081d97309d7542035591dda5180fe.png" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20250519150556_48a5f4211991a23fa85b64bbd5377575ca7081d97309d7542035591dda5180fe" data-rendition-name="original" width="1114" height="1534" loading="lazy" alt="Being Prabal Gurung by design"> <figcaption>Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wearing Atelier Prabal Gurung’s design for Met Gala 2025 in which the theme was ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’. </figcaption> </figure>  “I don’t dress women to look beautiful, they already are,” Gurung says. “I try to bring out their innate strength and grace.” <a href="https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17908766880140171/" target="_blank">Admirers</a> tell Gurung he makes it all look so easy, but he used to put up a strong facade to not show his own vulnerabilities in public. “I was closed because of my childhood experiences,” he says. “I was always on guard to defend myself because I never knew where the next punch would come from.” But in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPVepzPA210" target="_blank">Walk Like a Girl,</a> Gurung comes to terms with his vulnerability, and bares his soul. It has not been easy, it took sustained will power and support from his mother, sister Kumudini and a circle of close friends. “I made unbelonging my power,” he says. “Nepal is where I still have my heart and soul. Nepal grounds you. It is where people go to find themselves. But I escaped.” Recently appointed vice-chair of the <a href="https://cfda.com/about-cfda" target="_blank">Council of American Fashion Designers</a>, Gurung says: “I can’t believe I am here, it feels like it is happening to someone else. Writing this book, the healing has finally begun.” <h2>‘Everything is better in color’</h2> The Met Gala was two weeks later, and my table was an example of everything I’d been fighting for all these years as my guests represented everything I believed in: dynamic, powerful, influential women who were unapologetically original and unabashedly graceful. I was grateful to Anna for inviting me to host and dress a table that reflected my ethos—and for her guidance in doing so. I was also aware of the privilege as one of the first-­ever Asian fashion designers—not just from Nepal, but from the entire continent— to get the opportunity to do so. That fact was not lost on me. I reached out beyond the expected Hollywood celebrities and well-­known socialites to curate a table of exceptional women who inspired me. I invited Deepika Padukone and Alia Bhatt for their first-­ever Met Galas, as well as Michelle Yeoh, Mindy Kaling, Camila Cabello, Ashley Park, Denée Benton, KiKi Layne, Quannah Chasinghorse, and Grace Elizabeth. Together we checked many boxes: Asian, Black, Latinx, and Indigenous, each woman undeniably chic and powerful, a dazzling array of skin tones and experiences that proved my decades‑in‑the-­making hypothesis: everything is better in color. Excerpt from Walk Like a Girl Viking © 2025 by Prabal Gurung  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170520_6b91d560e9f072c37d16876901058c073a51ffa05e7ad1b9461d19e1c9c28215.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="20250519170520_6b91d560e9f072c37d16876901058c073a51ffa05e7ad1b9461d19e1c9c28215" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung book details NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170520_345240c21be400e2ce2ec629b52bd82bb53890e5bd86fe95b48340d84b5f1748.jpg" data-media-id="editor_17" data-image-id="20250519170520_345240c21be400e2ce2ec629b52bd82bb53890e5bd86fe95b48340d84b5f1748" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung book details NT"> </figure>  &nbsp;