<figure><img width="3242" height="1773" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d13979c7e80680e0a992ejpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Estimated from various sources</figcaption></figure>A country is being offered its largest ever infrastructure grant, but is torn between <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/mcc-ball-in-nepals-court/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">accepting it or not</a>. The donor nation appears more eager to give the money than the recipient to take it. That, in a nutshell, is what is happening to the $500 million Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) grant from America to upgrade Nepal’s power grid and highways. Political leaders opposed to the MCC have weaponised it to strike at rivals to such an extent that they cannot now backtrack – even though  generated power is already being wasted because of the lack of transmission capacity.The tussle over the MCC in Nepal has geopolitical undercurrents because of growing <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/sino-american-impacts-climate-action/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sino-US tensions</a>.  Frequent visits to Kathmandu by US functionaries are an indication of just how important the project is for Washington – even though its official line is that it is up to Nepal to take it or leave it.  <figure><img width="1200" height="800" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d139a9c7e80680e0a992fjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The US Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu and his deputy Kelly Keiderling are both in Kathmandu this week to meet Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and other leaders. These visits follow <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/mcc-row-rocks-nepals-ruling-coalition/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a 4-day trip in September</a> by Fatema Z Sumar, Vice President of Compact Operations at the MCC.The Americans seem <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/mcc-row-damages-nepals-credibility/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">genuinely mystified</a> about why a country like Nepal that needs all the help it can get to develop its infrastructure, and which stands to lose billions in wasted hydroelectricity in the coming years because of the lack of transmission lines, should be so hesitant about their grant.   Officially, the US Embassy said in a statement this week that Lu and Keiderling were in Kathmandu as part of a regional trip to discuss ‘climate change, Covid-19 response and strengthening democracy’. The MCC was pointedly not mentioned. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/the-cost-of-no-mcc/">The cost of no MCC</a><a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-precious-electricity-going-waste/">Nepal’s precious electricity going waste</a>, Anita Bhetwal<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/missing-links-in-nepals-mcc-debate/">Missing links in Nepal’s MCC debate</a>, Jeevan R Sharma and David Seddon <img width="828" height="1446" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d139d9c7e80680e0a9930jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figure><img width="3600" height="3640" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d13a09c7e80680e0a9931jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Lu has been posted before in New Delhi, and is a South Asia hand. Diplomatic sources say MCC is definitely going to figure prominently in his discussions here, which will be a follow-up to the short interaction Prime Minister Deuba had with US President Joe Biden in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/copout-at-cop26/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Glasgow</a> two weeks ago during <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/good-cop-bad-cop/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">COP26</a>. Deuba also met the deputy chief of the MCC Alexia Latortue, and told her that he and the leaders of his five-party coalition supported the MCC moving ahead.On his return from <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-greenwashing-in-glasgow/">Glasgow</a>, Deuba told the press that he and Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal had written to the Americans assuring them that they would push MCC ratification. Dahal subsequently backtracked, saying he had only agreed to amendments to the contract. One source said Dahal told party insiders he did not want the controversy to weaken the coalition, and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/who-wants-early-elections-and-why/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">cost votes in elections</a>.The private sector has warned that Nepal faces huge losses if the five-year compact is not approved.  “We will lose Rs142 billion annually if we do not upgrade our infrastructure for power distribution, the MCC is designed to help us with that,” says Dinesh Shrestha of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI). <img width="1200" height="800" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d13a49c7e80680e0a9932jpeg.jpg" alt="">At present, Nepal is generating 2,000MW of energy, but in the next three years this figure will soar to 4,500MW, not taking into account power generation from smaller plants. Peak demand is at 1,500MW which is increasing by 20% every year. Even then, Nepal will have excess of 4,700MW by 2025, which it risks wasting unless there are new transmission lines – with or without the MCC.Most of the $500 million MCC grant is earmarked for the Kathmandu-Hetauda-Butwal 400kVA transmission line to distribute electricity from existing and new hydropower plants in central and eastern Nepal, and also connect to a high-capacity line to Gorakhpur so Nepal can sell surplus monsoon electricity to India. Says <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/manpower-and-hydropower/">hydropower</a> investor Gyanendra Lal Pradhan: “If the Kathmandu-Hetauda-Butwal transmission line is not built under the MCC, investors will have folded, and even banks that have backed the projects will be in deep waters. It will be tragic for a country with such immense hydropower potential.”It has been four years since a coalition government consisting of the Nepali Congress and Maoists signed the MCC contract in Washington, which is awaiting ratification by Nepal’s Parliament. In her last visit, the MCC’s Fatema Sumar said the US was not prepared to wait indefinitely for Nepal to gets its act together. <img width="1200" height="800" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d13a79c7e80680e0a9933jpeg.jpg" alt="">“Countries knock at our doors all the time for capital, as it is getting harder and harder to obtain development funds,” Sumar said in Kathmandu in September. “We are holding $500 million for Nepal. We cannot wait forever. When will it be the right time for Nepal?”The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/knowing-whats-good-for-nepal/">project was held hostage</a> by prolonged <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/they-fail-we-fall/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">political infighting</a> first between Prime Minister Oli and Dahal, and now between radicalised members within the ruling coalition. With the 2023 elections approaching, leaders who were themselves responsible for using the MCC against rivals do not want Parliament ratification to affect their poll prospects. Dahal’s explanation to his party that he wants the MCC pushed to after elections proves this.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/post-truth-politics-in-nepal/">Post-truth politics in Nepal</a>, Nirnaya Bhatta

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Power politics

<img width="640" height="371" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131128/636ceee89c7e80680e09ae58jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>Widely criticised for its hefty tax on battery-powered vehicles in last year’s budget, Prime Minister Oli’s government under a new finance minister has backtracked to scrap the controversial tax hikes on e-vehicle imports.Last year, Finance Minister Yubaraj Khatiwada slapped excise duties on e-vehicles of 30-80% depending on their capacity, and levied customs duty of 60%. He justified it saying electric SUVs were luxury items, and the government needed to augment revenue to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.The move priced e-vehicles out of the market at a time when sales had just started to pick up, and various brands of electric vehicles were gaining popularity because of their expanded range. But Khatiwada’s move  spiked prices of electric vehicles by 120-140%, making them less competitive vis-a-vis fossil-fuel alternatives.  The government’s move appears to be geared to reducing the import of petroleum import bill, and also to increase electricity consumption as Nepal’s new hydropower plants come online this year, giving an energy surplus. Saturday’s new budget presented by Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel has completely repealed excise duties on e-vehicle imports while cutting customs duties down to the earlier 10%. This takes the tax formula back to 2016 when cuts in excise and customs duty had made battery-operated vehicles gain popularity.Paudel also announced that renewal and road taxes will be waived for five years if an existing petroleum vehicles switches to battery power.The new policies are based on Nepal’s ambitious plan to phase out petrol-diesel vehicles with e-vehicles by 2031, especially as lockdowns increase public consciousness on Nepal’s growing air pollution problem caused mainly by vehicular emissions.Analysts say that the government had no choice because most countries that Nepal imports cars from, including India and China have announced phaseouts of new petroleum vehicles in the next decade. Following the budget announcement, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) signed a contract with Chinese firm Wanwang Digital Energy Corporation for the installation and maintenance of 50 e-vehicle charging ports across Nepal. The finance minister’s budget speech also announces tax cuts on electric consumer goods and home appliances, including induction stoves, rice cookers and electric kettles. The excise on those items have been removed and the customs duty has been slashed to only 1%.With the Upper Tamakosi’s 456MW soon being hooked to the grid, and another 800MW are expected to be added from new hydropower plants on the Bhote Kosi and other rivers. The NEA has already made Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) to buy about 6,000MW of electricity from private operators, but a lot of this will depend on the commissioning of transmission lines under the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/power-politics-delays-mcc-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/power-politics-delays-mcc-in-nepal/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622449784871000&amp;usg=AFQjCNER1b-E4jV_wM6LmsXEHmhipEELsQ">Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) project</a>.The budget also had other environment-friendly policies like a ban on the manufacture, distribution and use of plastic bags thinner than 40 microns. The government will also subsidise plastic industries to upgrade machinery so they do not have to produce thin plastic bags that cannot be recycled.The budget has slashed taxes on agricultural equipment to promote farm mechanisation. It also announced tax breaks for those donating for Covid-19 charities, as well as reduced taxes on medical equipment used for treatment during the pandemic. Industries investing in new oxygen plants will get a 50% subsidy from the government, while existing factories will get a 50% discount on their electricity bills.In order to boost post-Covid tourism revival, the government has decided to scrap visa fees for visitors to Nepal. Chinese and SAARC nationals already had free visas, now visitors from other countries will also not have to pay $30 for 15 day visas. The budget has also slashed the tax that hotels, travel agencies and other tourism-related service industries have to pay.Buoyed by remittances from Nepalis abroad which has defied predictions by actually increasing by 16.5% this year, Finance Minister Paudel predicted a 6.5% economic growth in the coming fiscal year despite the pandemic.

New Nepal budget sparks electric comeback

<img width="640" height="371" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111152/636b86e29c7e80680e06787bjpeg.jpg" alt=""/>Widely criticised for its hefty tax on battery-powered vehicles in last year’s budget, Prime Minister Oli’s government under a new finance minister has backtracked to scrap the controversial tax hikes on e-vehicle imports.Last year, Finance Minister Yubaraj Khatiwada slapped excise duties on e-vehicles of 30-80% depending on their capacity, and levied customs duty of 60%. He justified it saying electric SUVs were luxury items, and the government needed to augment revenue to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.The move priced e-vehicles out of the market at a time when sales had just started to pick up, and various brands of electric vehicles were gaining popularity because of their expanded range. But Khatiwada’s move  spiked prices of electric vehicles by 120-140%, making them less competitive vis-a-vis fossil-fuel alternatives.  The government’s move appears to be geared to reducing the import of petroleum import bill, and also to increase electricity consumption as Nepal’s new hydropower plants come online this year, giving an energy surplus. Saturday’s new budget presented by Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel has completely repealed excise duties on e-vehicle imports while cutting customs duties down to the earlier 10%. This takes the tax formula back to 2016 when cuts in excise and customs duty had made battery-operated vehicles gain popularity.Paudel also announced that renewal and road taxes will be waived for five years if an existing petroleum vehicles switches to battery power.The new policies are based on Nepal’s ambitious plan to phase out petrol-diesel vehicles with e-vehicles by 2031, especially as lockdowns increase public consciousness on Nepal’s growing air pollution problem caused mainly by vehicular emissions.Analysts say that the government had no choice because most countries that Nepal imports cars from, including India and China have announced phaseouts of new petroleum vehicles in the next decade. Following the budget announcement, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) signed a contract with Chinese firm Wanwang Digital Energy Corporation for the installation and maintenance of 50 e-vehicle charging ports across Nepal. The finance minister’s budget speech also announces tax cuts on electric consumer goods and home appliances, including induction stoves, rice cookers and electric kettles. The excise on those items have been removed and the customs duty has been slashed to only 1%.With the Upper Tamakosi’s 456MW soon being hooked to the grid, and another 800MW are expected to be added from new hydropower plants on the Bhote Kosi and other rivers. The NEA has already made Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) to buy about 6,000MW of electricity from private operators, but a lot of this will depend on the commissioning of transmission lines under the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/power-politics-delays-mcc-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/power-politics-delays-mcc-in-nepal/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1622449784871000&amp;usg=AFQjCNER1b-E4jV_wM6LmsXEHmhipEELsQ">Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) project</a>.The budget also had other environment-friendly policies like a ban on the manufacture, distribution and use of plastic bags thinner than 40 microns. The government will also subsidise plastic industries to upgrade machinery so they do not have to produce thin plastic bags that cannot be recycled.The budget has slashed taxes on agricultural equipment to promote farm mechanisation. It also announced tax breaks for those donating for Covid-19 charities, as well as reduced taxes on medical equipment used for treatment during the pandemic. Industries investing in new oxygen plants will get a 50% subsidy from the government, while existing factories will get a 50% discount on their electricity bills.In order to boost post-Covid tourism revival, the government has decided to scrap visa fees for visitors to Nepal. Chinese and SAARC nationals already had free visas, now visitors from other countries will also not have to pay $30 for 15 day visas. The budget has also slashed the tax that hotels, travel agencies and other tourism-related service industries have to pay.Buoyed by remittances from Nepalis abroad which has defied predictions by actually increasing by 16.5% this year, Finance Minister Paudel predicted a 6.5% economic growth in the coming fiscal year despite the pandemic.

<img width="640" height="350" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181156/636bea2e9c7e80680e087903jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>A combination of low river flow, high winter power demand and old-fashioned mismanagement have meant that Nepalis are once more suffering from <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-cost-of-light/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">power cuts.</a> Forced to bring out the candles once more, Nepalis have taken to social media to pour their outrage at the government for <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/kulman-ghisings-tenure-at-nea-in-doubt/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">not renewing the tenure of Kulman Ghising</a>, the head of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) who was credited with ending ‘load shedding’ after he was appointed in 2016.The return to power cuts follows Ghising stepping down in September, and the current political crisis. Energy Minister Barsha Man Pun, who is a Pushpa Kamal Dahal loyalist, was among seven Cabinet ministers who resigned to protest Prime Minister K P Oli’s dissolution of the House on 20 December.Nepalis used to suffer up to 16 hours of power cuts a day during some of the worst periods between 2006-2016. An <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/corruption-in-electricity-industry-of-Nepal,3408" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">investigation by this newspaper</a> had shown that it was largely because of NEA officials and the head of the load distribution centre being paid off by industries to provide them dedicated 24-hour electricity feed.  <figure><img width="1050" height="629" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181156/636bea309c7e80680e087904jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Kulman Ghising was credited with ending the loadshedding after being appionted NEA head in 2016.</figcaption></figure>As a result, electricity was rationed for households across the country and the remaining supply could not keep up with demand. Things got worse in winter when Nepal’s run-of-the-river schemes could not generate their optimum power. After Ghising took over the NEA, he <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/Power-struggle-Kulman-Ghising,3399" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">cut off the dedicated feeds</a> and redistributed the saved power to the public. He also slapped a bill to the industries for a backlog of payments, and it is thought that these powerful individuals then pressured the Oli government not to renew Ghising for four more years.Ghising was also lucky because his tenure coincided with new private power producers generating hydroelectricity, and an import agreement with India. But he also launched an aggressive campaign to upgrade the grid, reduce system loss and pilferage from 26% to 15% during his tenure, and manage the grid more efficiently.   However, NEA spokesman Madan Timsina said electricity supply has been interrupted because of poorly maintained transmission lines. “This is not load shedding, yes generation capacity cannot keep up with peak demand in the mornings and evenings sometimes, but the situation has not got to a point where we have to ration power,” he told Nepali Times.  However, an official at the NEA load centre told us that on Monday, the demand for electricity reached 1,434MW which is about 500MW more than the dry season generation capacity. Usually, this deficit is being met by <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/from-the-nepali-press/more-than-half-of-nepals-electricity-imported-from-india/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">imports of thermal power from India.</a>  Every evening this week, the load centre has been struggling to provide uninterrupted electricity supply but has not always succeeded. The NEA official said: “When there is just no other alternative, we cut off the supply for between 15-20 minutes in each locality just to manage the load. This is not a new thing.” This week, Kathmandu Valley’s peak demand hit 377MW, which is actually 50MW less than last year. The reason is the economic slowdown due to the pandemic. Yet, the NEA is finding it difficult to meet even that lessened demand.    “Our transmission lines, distribution network and transformers and are old and they cannot meet high demand, that is why there are sometimes problems on those lines and we have to cut power,” Timsina added. The peak hours in winter for power demand at between 6-7pm, when people are using electricity for cooking and heating, or plug in television and other appliances. It has not rained since September, and the rivers receded,  lowering the electricity available.  Since Nepal has only one reservoir-based power plant at Kulekhani, there is no backup when supply does not meet peak demand. Although private power producers in Nepal have an installed capacity of 725MW, these weeks they have not been able to generate even half of that. NEA’s own plants like Kulekhani, Kali Gandaki and others are producing 500MW. The NEA has been importing 600MW of electricity from India to meet the shortfall in the evenings this week. The utility expects the situation will to improve only in February after the winter rains arrive, and the snow starts melting with warmer weather.  The irony is that NEA and private hydropower plants can generate up to 1,400MW during the monsoon, which this year has exceeded demand reduced during the pandemic. In fact, this monsoon Nepal <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-power-glut-with-covid-19-shutdown/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">actually exported some power to India</a> in July-August, and lot of electricity was wasted as ‘spill’ during the night time. The NEA’s head of Customer Service said the reason for power cuts this week was because of a weak distribution system, and not undersupply. He said: “Sometimes there is an overload in some neighbourhoods, and sometimes in others, and the system cannot handle it, leading to breakdowns in supply.” The other reason is the delay in bringing a crucial 132kVA transmission line in the southern edge of the Valley from Thankot to Chapagaon and Bhaktapur because of local opposition. This means it is difficult to keep the system stable – especially through lines feeding parts of Patan and Baneswor.   This contradicts the statement to us by the official at the NEA’s own load centre who has blamed a shortfall in supply. Whatever the truth, the Nepali public seems to have made up its mind that the ‘power mafia’ working in cahoots with the government kicked out Kulman Ghising because he was becoming too popular. And without him the country has gone back to 'the dark ages'.

Power cuts are back in Nepal

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101156/636b7a0d9c7e80680e06473ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="352"/>Nepal’s demand for electricity has decreased dramatically since the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepal-locked-down-now-what/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">country went into lockdown</a> on 24 March in response to the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/this-is-a-test/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">COVID-19 pandemic</a>.The Nepal Electricity Authority said that power consumption has fallen significantly following the shutdown of factories, hotels, and businesses. NEA has therefore stopped <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/from-the-nepali-press/more-than-half-of-nepals-electricity-imported-from-india/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">electricity imports from India</a>.The peak demand for electricity, which averaged 1,200 megawatts before the lockdown, had dropped to 945 megawatts on Tuesday evening. The demand further slipped to 446 megawatts on Wednesday morning, climbing back up to 628 megawatts on Wednesday afternoon.Kathmandu Valley, where electricity consumption is the highest, saw peak demand decrease to 290 megawatts on Tuesday evening from a normal average of 350 megawatts. On Wednesday afternoon, the peak demand stood at 182 megawatts.The amount of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-cost-of-light/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">electricity imported from India</a> has also decreased due to the fall in the demand, even though  Kulekhani has ceased operation.NEA managing director Kulman Ghising said only 150 megawatts of electricity has been supplied through the cross-border Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur transmission line during peak hours since the lockdown began, with supply set to further drop to 50 MW from Thursday evening.Ghising attributed the dramatic decrease in electricity consumption to the closure of most factories, schools and offices. He added that some of NEA’s power stations will have to be shut down due to reduced consumption at night.“The load has decreased due to factories, businesses, as well as ongoing development projects ceasing operation”, said Ghising, “It is also that time of year between winter and summer peaks.”Ghising also urged the public staying in their homes to use <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/look-whats-cooking-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">induction stoves to cook</a>  saying that there is sufficient electricity to allow for the unhindered use of kitchen appliances.Acknowledging the possibility of temporary power cut-offs due to weather and technical issues, Ghising reassured the public that NEA staff would be on hand at all hours during the lockdown to handle repairs and get the electricity up and running in no time.

Nepal power glut with COVID-19 shutdown

Home Minister Sudan Gurung resigned on Wednesday following increasing coverage of and criticism over his investment in companies linked to controversial Nepali business figures Sulav Agrawal and Deepak Bhatta, who are currently under investigation for money laundering.
‘I am resigning from the position of Home Minister effective today to ensure impartial investigation into matters associated with me, and to make sure that there is no conflict of interest,’ Gurung wrote, saying that morality and public trust mattered more to him than office.
Gurung ended his message to the nation in English as he invoked the security forces, writing: &nbsp;‘For my country and For the respect of our security forces and For the youths of Nepal.’
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Gurung has become the second member to depart the Cabinet, serving for less than a month, despite the Nepali electorate’s hopes that Nepal would finally get a stable government after the RSP’s sweeping victory in the March elections.&nbsp;
Prime Minister Balendra Shah had sought clarification from Gurung on Wednesday after new details emerged about his shares in two micro-insurance companies, Star Micro Insurance and Liberty Micro Life, which are said to have been issued their licence by the Nepal Insurance Authority at the behest of Bhatta and Agrawal.
Gurung denied financial misconduct, saying that his investment in the two companies was included in his asset disclosure and insisting the misunderstanding is because of how the shares have been categorised.&nbsp;
Leaders within the RSP had called for an internal investigation into Gurung as they sought to maintain the party’s platform of clean governance and transparency. As such, Gurung’s position had become increasingly untenable, especially since former Labour Minister was sacked without being given an opportunity for clarification over a disciplinary breach involving his wife’s appointment to the Health Insurance Board.&nbsp;
On social media, Sah on Tuesday seemed to express dissatisfaction over the PM’s request for Gurung’s clarification.&nbsp;
Judging by the comments under Gurung’s resignation post, a significant part of the Nepali public seems to be firmly on Gurung’s side, blaming the mass media and what they call mouthpieces of old parties for driving him out of the Cabinet.&nbsp;
This is a reflection of his meteoric rise and the continued support he has maintained since he stepped into the spotlight as the leader of Nepal’s youth movement in the aftermath of the September protest.&nbsp;
Gurung has made headlines constantly ever since he burst onto the national stage, which includes questions over the degree of his and his organisation Hami Nepal’s involvement in the September 9 unrest, calls to divulge details behind Hami Nepal’s finances, and not paying five years of rent for an illegal lakefront property in Pokhara.&nbsp;
There have also been unsubstantiated claims, despite Gurung’s denial, about his ‘ties’ to the Free Tibet movement, which has made the Chinese— as well as Nepalis— wary.&nbsp;
As Home Minister, Gurung cultivated an image of a tough but approachabe leader, overseeing a series of high-profile arrests of previous political leadership and business figures even as he posted photos of sleeping in a sofa in his office, and engaged with the public on the streets and on social media.&nbsp;
As it stands, the Home Ministry was a bone of contention between Shah and RSP Chair Rabi Lamichhane before it was awarded to Gurung, who is a close ally of PM Shah. Analysts had noted that with Gurung in charge, the Home Ministry would be a hook for Shah if Lamichhane, with his share of controversies, stepped out of line.&nbsp;
Following Gurung’s resignation, the Prime Minister’s secretariat has said that the PM would take charge of the portfolio for the time being. But it will be interesting to see if and how fresh negotiations for the Ministry unfold within RSP.&nbsp;
And with his supporter base largely intact, it remains to be seen how much of an impact this setback will have on Sudan Gurung’s political aspirations.&nbsp;

Home Minister Sudan Gurung resigns

Sudan Gurung is dancing. It is 2009. He has an emo fringe falling over one eye and is spinning on a polished floor. His dance shows dedication — moves that take years of bruised elbows to land. The clip is 16 years old, and had been sitting in the dead archives of YouTube and old Facebook pages, watched by almost nobody. This month <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@4gr4j/video/7621892206902725909">it has 1.9 million views</a>. Gurung became Home Minister on 27 March and resigned on Wednesday, barely a month into office. His<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@aayvik/video/7626069452177542408"> pre-political life had been put back into circulation</a> at industrial speed -- the b-boying, the DJ sets, and the YouTube video of him dancing in a music clip.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026042202040_71df4d531423e7c941abde95fb8106346c70ab0afb71bbeb520cc570f14ba178.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2026042202040_71df4d531423e7c941abde95fb8106346c70ab0afb71bbeb520cc570f14ba178" data-rendition-name="original" width="2300" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="When aura meets audit"> </figure>  The youth of Nepal, well-versed in snappy TikTok edits and aura compilations, turned the archive into a meme economy almost overnight. TikTok remixed the footage to trap beats. The comments settled on a nickname that crossed into everyday speech within days: 'Homie Minister'. <div class="embed-block"><blockquote class="tiktok-embed" cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@yalexthwreal/video/7622325255792512276" data-video-id="7622325255792512276" style="max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px;" > <section> <a target="_blank" title="@yalexthwreal" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@yalexthwreal?refer=embed">@yalexthwreal</a> <a title="sudangurung" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/sudangurung?refer=embed">#sudangurung</a> new home minister of Nepal😎 <a title="fyppppppppppppppppppppppp" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/fyppppppppppppppppppppppp?refer=embed">#fyppppppppppppppppppppppp</a> <a title="sudangrg" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/sudangrg?refer=embed">#sudangrg</a> <a title="home" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/home?refer=embed">#home</a> <a title="minister" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/minister?refer=embed">#minister</a> <a target="_blank" title="♬ original sound - •⪨н є α я т ❤н α ¢ к є я ⪩• - Music Universe 🎧" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-•⪨н-є-α-я-т-❤н-α-¢-к-є-я-⪩•-7308733170064231170?refer=embed">♬ original sound - •⪨н є α я т ❤н α ¢ к є я ⪩• - Music Universe 🎧</a> </section> </blockquote> <script async src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js"></script></div> As Home Minister, Gurung was in charge of the Nepal Police, Armed Police Force, Department of Immigration, and the country's internal security apparatus. Calling him 'homie' collapsed the distance between that office and the Discord server where the movement that brought him into power had organised itself. What is harder to explain is why the nostalgic clips did the narrative work for Gurung's political standing right up until the moment the paperwork did not. A teenager on a dance floor in a Thamel club, filmed before smartphones had decent cameras, was functioning as political currency for a powerful home minister, while a share registry was quietly filling the other column. The footage was not an argument. Gurung was not doing anything in it that related to home affairs. He was just dancing. The comments compared him to <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@4gr4j/video/7621892206902725909">Korean film heroes</a>. A separate <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@tandavyt7/video/7622151050128018708">48,000-like edit</a> was captioned 'Our New Home Minister Aura'. The replies were full of people saying they got chills listening to him speak. Even after his resignation, most comments on his Facebook page were supportive, saying he had been punished for pursuing truth and justice.&nbsp; Political legitimacy in Nepal has been built out of many things over the last 70 years, but it has never been built out of this. The question was always: what happens when the job starts demanding things his style, boldness, and swag cannot provide. Political aura in Nepal used to be a slow harvest, now it isn't. B P Koirala spent eight years in prison under the Panchayat. He wrote fiction at Sundari Jal. The writing survived, the prison sentences survived, and that experience became the template for what a serious Nepali politician looked like: someone the state had tried to break and failed. Legitimacy was accumulated by having their lives taken away, and refusing to bend the knee. The old mechanics of legitimacy produced politicians who could be audited. The record was made of words, dates, votes, and years behind bars. A voter who wanted to know what a leader stood for read his writings. A journalist digging for inconsistency could find it. The system was slow, often corrupt, and frequently boring. But boring was part of the job description. A minister was supposed to be slightly dull — evidence that the person was doing the unglamorous work of reading files and sitting through committee meetings. Today, boring is a disqualification. The attention economy rewards velocity and visual charge, and a politician who cannot generate either does not exist in the feed, and that means does not exist at all. The legacy parties are still issuing press statements criticising the new guard in the grammar of paper trails and procedural failure. But the audience has stopped reading, users scroll for their next viral bite. Sudan Gurung, unlike the old parties, understood exactly which grammar the feed rewarded. On his first evening as Home Minister, he posted a photo of himself sleeping on a sofa inside the ministry. Caption: creation cannot be greater than the creator, government is not above the people. The image travelled further in 12 hours than any ministerial press release has ever done.&nbsp; A minister napping on a sofa, phone-shot, zero production, read by the public as evidence of a minister who had skipped the motorcade and got straight to work. Gurung used Facebook to announce the names of former ministers and businessmen he intended to arrest. The feed was used to pre-announce state security action.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260422010456_2fa1918e1dd031d01f38b4001ee306d9414073cec0b795fa43a75cb5a8deb8c7.png" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20260422010456_2fa1918e1dd031d01f38b4001ee306d9414073cec0b795fa43a75cb5a8deb8c7" data-rendition-name="original" width="926" height="868" loading="lazy" alt="When aura meets audit"> </figure>  INFLUENTIAL INFLUENCER This is not how the Ministry of Home Affairs has ever operated. It is how a YouTuber releases a series. Sudan Gurung was a political content creator. As home minister, he was an influential influencer kinetically doing something in the visual medium. Much like Prime Minister Balendra Shah's sunglasses, Gurung's aura, authenticity and swag were a brand asset, instantly recognisable at thumbnail size. Balen's rap career supplies a pre-political archive that authenticates him the same way Gurung's DJ sets and b-boying clips authenticated him. The aesthetic is doing the work a manifesto used to do. The work is authenticity, and the strategy is auramaxxing. The emo fringe predates the ministry. The DJ sets predate Hami Nepal. The b-boying predates the earthquake, the NGO, the September uprising, the interim cabinet, all of it. Whatever Gurung is now, he was already that person before the office existed. This was the real spectacle of the Homie Minister: authenticity. Nepal's youth have grown up watching heavily-polished, talking-point ministers speak in a language aimed at nobody in particular. But that grainy archival clip of the Home Minister from 2009 was honest.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260422010456_5d6dff3a09e8b7e77dc60c3aa567c9e02b6bd5f90f94e20737ec05cc9a09023b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20260422010456_5d6dff3a09e8b7e77dc60c3aa567c9e02b6bd5f90f94e20737ec05cc9a09023b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1800" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="When aura meets audit NT"> </figure>  The effect transcended GenZ. <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@ektapokharel/video/7623242573481561365">A TikTok trend</a> captioned NOT ONLY OUR HOME MINISTER, WE ARE ALSO FROM THAT ERA <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@sonykhadka/video/7624106790266948872">has millennials posting their own</a> archive photos from the same period, aligning themselves with Gurung's pre-political aesthetic. The aura did <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@_thakuri/video/7623397397556645141">cross-generational work</a>. It was a shared legibility, spanning at least 15 years of Nepali youth culture, with the Home Minister standing at its centre.&nbsp; The traditional politician's entire adult life is a performance of identity. Every photograph is lit for the media, every statement is vetted. The persona is the product, and the product has been in development for 30 years. This makes the old guard legible but suspect in the attention economy. A generation raised on authenticity-as-currency reads the decades of careful performance as evidence of something to hide. The polish is the problem. The nostalgic Sudan Gurung party clips inverted this. The polish was absent. The footage could not be performance aimed at the viewer, because the viewer did not exist in 2009 and neither did the political stakes. The clip was therefore read as real, in a way a press conference can never be. It was just a kid dancing, and he happened to grow up to be the Home Minister. But Sudan Gurung's job was never to go viral. The Ministry of Home Affairs requires the person running it to file a complete asset declaration and to avoid holding financial interests in crony entities.&nbsp; None of that work is content. A correctly filed asset declaration does not get remixed into a trap beat. A functioning immigration database is not a TikTok. The paperwork that constitutes actual governance is structurally boring in exactly the way the old parties are structurally boring, and for the same reason. It is the slow, procedural, checkable apparatus that the old system was built to produce and that the new system has not yet learned to replace. And it is painstaking follow-the-money paper trail investigative journalists in the legacy media who uncovered the evidence. You cannot auramaxx your way out of a share registry. You cannot post your way past a conflict-of-interest statute. No amount of fire outfits and wild DJ transitions does anything for you when a journalist pulls the initial shareholder list of Star Micro Insurance and finds your name at number 49, with Rs2.5 million in shares alongside investors linked to Deepak Bhatta and Sulav Agrawal — two men currently at the centre of a Rs 3.7 billion money laundering investigation. <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@blox.drop/video/7622173520981658900">Auramaxxing was engineered</a> for the mechanics of reaching office. It is the reason Sudan Gurung became Home Minister and Gagan Thapa did not. The question that had not yet been tested, until this week, was whether the same weapon works when the terrain changes. The terrain does change when you assume power. This week, the answer arrived. TWO CLOCKS Two clocks had been running, and they did not sync. The first clock was built for auramaxxing. A clip posted at eight in the morning peaked by noon. A sofa photo was remixed before the minister had left the building. The feedback loop is fast and legible, and a politician playing this clock gets real-time data on what to post next. The old guard never learned to read it, which is a large part of why they lost the election. The second clock was the one the ministry actually runs on. It measures in quarters, court calendars, and the slow grind of investigation files moving between offices. A share registry takes weeks to pull. A money-laundering case moves at the speed of the prosecutor's office, which is to say, it often does not appear to move at all, until one morning it does. The legacy mass media is fed leaks, and the second clock does not care whether the minister is currently trending. The two clocks collided this week, and the second clock got there first. Faster than anyone expected. The first clock put Gurung in the Home Ministry in weeks. The second clock put him out of it in less than a month. On Sunday evening, Diyopost and Janaastha published documents showing Gurung as a founding shareholder in Star Micro Insurance and Liberty Micro Life — companies licensed by the Nepal Insurance Authority in 2022 following what reporting identified as political lobbying by Bhatta and Agrawal. A photograph also surfaced of Hami Nepal, the NGO Gurung chairs, honouring Bhatta as a donor on 21 December 2021. Gurung's first response was auramaxxed. A Monday Facebook post distinguishing ‘rumours’ from ‘facts’, insisting the shares were disclosed within his broader Rs20 million securities portfolio, promising to cooperate with any investigation. "Allegations and truth are not the same thing," he wrote. "Decisions should be based on evidence, not sentiment." It was a coherent clip, but it did not stop the clock. By Wednesday, Prime Minister Balendra Shah had sought written clarification. Leaders within the RSP itself were calling for his resignation. The opposition Nepali Congress had framed the question as one of democratic transparency.&nbsp; Gurung resigned, posting his decision to Facebook as he did everything else. Ethics, he wrote, hold more weight than any position. There is no power greater than public trust. He ended in English, invoking ‘my country … the respect of our security forces … the youths of Nepal’. Even the exit was content. And this is the asymmetry the office exposed. A politician whose legitimacy is built on fast 30 second videos is structurally exposed to a process that runs slower than the news cycle, because the archive of aesthetic proof was not engineered to answer documentary evidence.&nbsp; It was engineered to displace the demand for documentary evidence in the first place. When that demand returns, as it always does once a politician takes office, the digital archive keeps performing, but the documents keep getting uncovered. And the two tracks do not communicate. The old guard knew this clock because they had no other clock to know. What they lost in charisma they gained in durability: a politician built over 20 years of parliamentary record is harder to dislodge with a single document because they have already survived thousands of documents. The new guard has not been stress-tested against its own paper trail. Sudan Gurung has now been tested, and the test is over, and the template has been written in his exit rather than his survival.&nbsp; A politician can enter office on the strength of a dance clip, and the same class of evidence — share registries, company filings, founding-shareholder lists at number 49 — that would have ended the career of a politician in a previous era of Nepali politics has ended his. The second clock got there. The feed did not save him. Or not entirely. Because the resignation itself is now in the feed. The Facebook post. The 46 brothers and sisters. The epic sign-off. Within hours of stepping down, Gurung had already re-enrolled his exit into the same register that put him in office. The clip of the Home Minister dancing in 2009 is still in circulation. The sofa photo still reads as sincerity. The investigation into the micro-insurance shares will move at the speed of Nepal's prosecutor's office, which is to say, at a speed the feed has long since outrun. The movement that installed Gurung in the name of ending elite capture has had its answer about whether its own hero is subject to the same audit it demanded of everyone else. He walked — or was walked — before the audit ran its course. The resignation was framed as moral choice rather than forced exit, and the framing is already winning. Whether that framing holds is the next test. Auramaxxing, it turns out, is a weapon that works in one direction only: it got him the job, and when the documents arrived, it did not save him. But it may yet save the person. These are not the same thing. If the technique is wounded, it is not yet dead. The next Nepali politician with a pre-political archive and a phone is watching how Gurung exits, not just how he entered. And the answer is: you exit the same way you entered: on Facebook. In your own voice. Before anyone else writes the caption. Whether he comes back is the thing to watch. Whether the technique does is already decided. &nbsp; &nbsp;

When Aura meets Audit

Just three weeks in, Prime Minister Balendra Shah has already shed two ministers, and is having to contend with the economic fallout of the West Asia war plus the global order that it has upended.&nbsp;
The new dispensation in Nepal has aroused interest in New Delhi, Beijing as well as Washington. The ouster of Home Minister Sudan Gurung, whose first act in office was to arrest former prime minister K P Oli, has foreign policy wonks scratching their heads.
The US sent Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Samir Paul Kapur on a special mission to figure out what is happening in Kathmandu. In town at the same time was Cao Jing, Deputy Director General of the Asian Affairs Department of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. And Prime Minister Shah is preparing for an official visit to India.
For the Americans, it is mostly about containing China and looking after the welfare of Tibetan refugees, while pushing its own MCC Compact and State Partnership Program (SSP). Beijing is mindful of the post-Dalai Lama era, and does not want instability in Nepal to encourage free-Tibet activities. India lately seems more wary of American activity in what it considers its backyard.
The Chinese appear relieved to see Sudan Gurung go. Only last week, Ambassador Zhang Maoming met Gurung during which he raised the issue of Tibetan and Taiwanese activities in Nepal, seeking firm commitment that Kathmandu would not harbour activities hostile to Beijing.
“Geographically we are close to Tibet and not to the Mainland, so China remains suspicious of us, especially after the TOB and free-Tibet components that emerged from the GenZ protests,” says geopolitical analyst Indra Adhikari.
Kapur, for his part, met RSP Chair Rabi Lamichhane, Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle and Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal. Although investment and infrastructure was on the agenda, the main issue seems to have been about Tibetan refugees. In nearly parallel meetings with ministers, Cao Jing warned Nepal not to be too cosy with the Americans.
For Indian academic and Nepal watcher Sukh Deo Muni, all this harks back to American activity in Nepal during the height of the Cold War. He tweeted: ‘US senior diplomat Paul Kapur's statement in Kathmandu must be understood carefully in New Delhi. He said the US does not want China or any other country to dominate Nepal.’&nbsp;
‘Any other country’ could be a pointed reference to India, and what this means is that Nepal may now have to navigate even more carefully a tri-polar world order reshaped by the West Asia war.&nbsp;
Nepali journalist based in New Delhi Akanshya Shah agrees that the United States may not be seeing Nepal through the Indian lens anymore, while New Delhi does not want heightened US activity in what it considers its sphere of influence. All this is further complicated by recent frostiness in Washington-New Delhi ties.
“New Delhi doesn’t have that familiarity factor it used to with old leadership in Nepal, but it is curious about what the young Balen Shah will do and what kind of relation he will pursue with India,” she adds. “Certain decisions of the Balen government such as ending VIP culture and delivering passport at homes have hugely resonated with the Indian people, he has in some ways become a role model among the youth in India as well.”
India has invited Prime Minister Shah for an official state visit, which will be his first foreign trip as per tradition. Shah graduated in structural engineering from a college in Bengaluru, and knows India well. Shah has injected religious elements into his public exposure as prime minister and this could help project Nepal’s ‘soft power’ in dealing with India.
But he has also been a nationalist on the Limpiyadhura map dispute, and there are other thorny issues like air connectivity, river projects and power exports that need to be ironed out.&nbsp;
Sukh Deo Muni warns that the old Indian diplomatic approach based on religio-cultural stakeholders in Kathmandu may not work anymore. He wrote: ‘India's Modi government must prepare itself well to deal with new Nepalese leadership and their empowered support base, which is self-confident, highly nationalist, aspirant and impatient.’
The RSP’s 22-page National Commitment document said Nepal should abandon its historical ‘buffer state’ identity to serve as a ‘vibrant bridge’ between regional and global powers. Much of this debate is theoretical, and there is much navel-gazing that distracts from regional realpolitik.&nbsp;
“Whether we are a buffer state or a vibrant bridge, in today’s heightened geopolitical scenario we have to have good relations with good neighbours,” explains Akanshya Shah. “What is of paramount importance is that our ties are based on the aspirations of the young generation, so that they are engaged.”
Indra Adhikari goes as far as to say that the concepts of “buffer state” and “vibrant bridge” have both failed and Nepal is neither. “We have had zero roles in mediating or de-escalating the tensions between India and China to call ourselves a buffer state. As a vibrant bridge, we cannot facilitate trade of the two countries. The new government should have researched and consulted more before proposing the same outdated and failed foreign policy concepts.”&nbsp;
What will be much more important for Prime Minister Shah is to continue Nepal’s traditional policy of ‘equidistance’ and convince his interlocutors that it is not an anti-Indian stance.&nbsp;
“At a time when there is increased interest of big powers in Nepal, we need to do a bit of our own homework for the systemic reforms we want,” says Akanshya Shah. “As for India, we first need to clearly define what we want on connectivity, energy and culture. But most importantly, we have to capitalise on the goodwill of India which we haven’t been able to in the past.”
Adds Indra Adhikari: “When it comes to fundamental aspects of foreign policy that ensures and enhances the well being of our citizens, national parties should all have one unified voice that doesn’t change when the government does. Only then the future generations can own it.”

Love thy neighbours (and America)

Krishna Bahadur Ramtel was returning home after visiting a temple when his family insisted on climbing the Dharara viewtower in Kathmandu. He climbed up the narrow steep stairs with his mother-in-law and sister-in-law. His wife was nine months pregnant and chose to stay behind. At the top, Ramtel was holding the balcony bars when the tower started swaying at 11:56AM on 25 April 2015. The 62m tall Dharara, built and rebuilt after previous earthquakes, then collapsed into a jumble of bricks and masonry. “I heard screams everywhere, I told my mother-in-law and sister-in-law not to panic,” recalls Ramtel after regaining consciousness on a pile of rubble (pictured, below). Rescuers extricated his legs from under a brick arch and rushed him to the hospital, which was already crowded with patients writhing in pain.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260423120420_76bbf4eefc3b54464f585ac4fac81ac602cc10f7be56871860114724074847bb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20260423120420_76bbf4eefc3b54464f585ac4fac81ac602cc10f7be56871860114724074847bb" data-rendition-name="original" width="801" height="399" loading="lazy" alt="Dharara survivor"><figcaption>Photo: KRISHNA BAHADUR RAMTEL / FACEBOOK(Photo: Sonia Awale)</figcaption></figure>  His wife survived, but his in-laws did not. Ramtel was devastated, more so for his wife who was going to be a new mother, but lost two family members. His right leg needed an operation, but he made a complete recovery. His child was born soon after, and Ramtel’s wife had to take care of her baby as well as her injured husband. But tragically, she lacked the help of her mother and sister. The 7.8M earthquake 11 years ago this week killed 8,962 people in Central Nepal. Because it was Saturday, Dharahara Tower was more crowded than usual, and at least 180 bodies were later retrieved from the ruins. Most like Ramtel who miraculously survived were on the balcony, while those climbing or descending the staircase were killed. Built by Prime Minister Bhimsen Thapa in 1832, there were originally two towers. But one collapsed and other was damaged in the 1834 earthquake and rebuilt. Exactly 100 years later, another earthquake brought it down again. It was again restored only to collapse in 2015.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260423120420_25be3e1f9f78a3c08dcf16d5ac6663f8fbb860073d1eaf740c02b8dd18e1ea21.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20260423120420_25be3e1f9f78a3c08dcf16d5ac6663f8fbb860073d1eaf740c02b8dd18e1ea21" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Dharara survivor"><figcaption>Photo: ADITYA KHARE(Photo: Aditya Khare)</figcaption></figure>  Only the base of the original tower remains as a memorial inside the Dharahara complex, where a reinforced concrete tower now stands. Dubbed ‘Seto Tower’ by Prime Minister Balendra Shah when he was mayor of Kathmandu is broader than the previous tower and even has a lift that goes up to the viewing deck. But Ramtel says he not going anywhere near Dharara. He says, “That place holds memories that I do not want to remember, but I cannot forget either.” Soon after his operation, Ramtel returned to his hometown in Dhading where more members of the extended clan offered support. But now he lives in Kathmandu with his family, his son is now 11 and he recently had another child.. “Being alive is a blessing. As long as one is living, there will be struggles, and I am ready to face them all,” he tells us.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260423120420_4a205fcd45f87cf1251742f6ed09f447d5f3ff363f1c65c646da46c9c456339d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20260423120420_4a205fcd45f87cf1251742f6ed09f447d5f3ff363f1c65c646da46c9c456339d" data-rendition-name="original" width="640" height="427" loading="lazy" alt="Dharara survivor"><figcaption>Photo: BIKRAM RAI / NEPALI TIMES ARCHIVE(Photo: Sonia Awale)</figcaption></figure>  NO PREPAREDNESS While 25 April serves as a reminder of the last major earthquake in Nepal, 16 January is marked annually as Earthquake Safety Day, coinciding with the 8.3M megaquake of 1934. Seismologists say the 7.8M disaster was not the big earthquake that Kathmandu experiences every 80-100 years, and the Big One is yet to hit. Building standards are still regularly flouted in densely populated parts of Kathmandu, which worries Ramtel. “The government acts only after the disaster has happened, people and the authorities forget quickly and move on. There is little preparation, and we expect God to save us,” says Ramtel, who also survived because of divine intervention.

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