Ever since leaving his home village in Syangja, Purna Gurung has been crossing bridges when he comes to them. And here he is at age 55, supervising the pile-driving for a new bridge in Tasmania, 10,000km away from home. Gurung has built <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/how-safe-are-nepals-suspension-bridges">bridges</a> in Africa, worked on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-first-and-forgotten-tunnel">tunnels</a> in Hong Kong, and moved up the ranks in teams building complex infrastructure projects <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/flying-home-in-a-pandemic">across the world</a>. All that experience is standing him in good stead in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/australian-galley-returns-stolen-strut-to-nepal">Australia</a>, where he came 15 years ago. Purna Gurung has brought other Nepali engineers to join him in the bridge project here. He got his former co-worker Mansuba Gurung to come from New Zealand, and other Nepali engineers from the Australian mainland.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250403140440_4437eca5b584ca91ac43516c3961760fdc1b956d6dcb13da3b7a6fe4c20a9d4a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20250403140440_4437eca5b584ca91ac43516c3961760fdc1b956d6dcb13da3b7a6fe4c20a9d4a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1285" height="723" loading="lazy" alt="Tasmania"> <figcaption>Hobart, the capital city of Tasmania with Mount Wellington in background.</figcaption> </figure>  “We are a professional and energetic team, born in the high <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-mountains-are-melting">mountains of Nepal </a>and now working on this historic bridge in Tasmania,” says Gurung, as he drives a recent visitor to the construction site, and points out the piers and girders from the window. “My role is to maintain professional integrity and motivate my team, especially the Nepalis here.” The feeling appears to be mutual. Gurung is regarded as a sort of guru by the other Nepalis at the site, and he is respected for his expertise in <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/This/building-bridges-in-nepal-to-combat-poverty,308">bridge-building</a>, his capacity for taking on difficult tasks and teamwork.&nbsp; At the site itself, one could easily imagine oneself on a construction site in Nepal: workers in hard hats are shouting instructions to each other in Nepali. Indeed, Nepali is said to be the most spoken language in Tasmania after English, and there are at least five Nepali restaurants in Hobart alone.&nbsp; Despite its bucolic setting with neat, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepal-can-lead-in-zero-carbon">clean and green environment</a>, many Tasmanians migrate to the mainland or abroad to seek new opportunities. Which is why the Australian government provides higher wages and encourages immigrants from Nepal and elsewhere a fast-track to permanent residence if they move to the island. Nearly half of Tasmania is protected <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-wellbeing-of-the-wilderness">wilderness</a> which has many species found nowhere else in the world. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-other-attraction-the-night-sky">Nature-based tourism</a> is becoming the mainstay of Tasmania’s economy, Australia’s smallest state. There is also a new infrastructure drive, and this includes the Tasmania’s longest bridge over the River Derwentin which Purna Gurung and his team are working on. The Derwent flows down from Lake St Clair in Tasmania's Central Plateau and 182km later discharges into Storm Bay.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250403140440_b69911289a50c7d4d6dcd77d9884cbe97946afd553ae5da194c68735478e51c6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20250403140440_b69911289a50c7d4d6dcd77d9884cbe97946afd553ae5da194c68735478e51c6" data-rendition-name="original" width="1391" height="783" loading="lazy" alt="Tasmania"> <figcaption>Low Bridgewater Bridge will be demolished after completion of the new project.</figcaption> </figure>  Compared to delayed bridge-building which is the norm in Nepal, construction here is progressing on schedule, and was preceded by an environmental assessment and measures to ensure that aboriginal and cultural sensitivities were addressed.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/10-000-bridges">10,000 bridges</a> Despite criticism about high cost of the $786 million Bridgewater Bridge, it appears to be worth it because cyclists and pedestrians have been given high priority with a safe three-metre-wide shared path on the upstream side of the bridge. A temporary bridge has also been built to streamline work, and will be dismantled later. Purna Gurung is popular with his team members, especially his colleagues from Nepal. After completion of the Tasmania bridge later this year, he has already got a commitment to work on a tunnel project in Adelaide. He has not thought about retirement, and tells us: “I have spent over three decades of my life building bridges and tunnels, and all that experience is very useful as I take on more challenging work.”

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Nepali building bridges in Tasmania

The Nepal government is all set to launch a Rs25 billion project to build a dam inside Shivapuri National Park to flush the Bagmati, wash away its waste and stanch its stench as it flows through Kathmandu. However, critics say it is an extravagant undertaking that carries financial, seismic and environmental risks, and that the Bagmati can be more effectively cleaned with a sewage network, water treatment plant and better <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/where-to-take-a-dump">urban solid waste management</a>. &nbsp; The Department of Water Resources and Irrigation is planning to build the 95m high dam on the Nagmati stream to also augment Kathmandu Valley’s drinking water supply and generate some electricity. The scheme is an extension of a project funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).&nbsp; Engineer Nishchal Chhatkuli of the ADB-supported <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/kathmandu-gets-first-pump-track">Bagmati River Basin Improvement Project </a>says the environmental impact assessment is awaiting approval and clearing trees and construction of an access road will begin soon. The project is expected to be completed by 2032 by when the reservoir will be capable of storing 9.4 billion litres of monsoon runoff and releasing 450 l/s into the Bagmati River as it starts to flow through Kathmandu 18km downstream.&nbsp; The primary purpose of the dam is said to be to flush out the polluted Bagmati River, although some of the water will also be added to the mains connected to the Melamchi tunnel, as well as generate 1.86MW of electricity.&nbsp; The Project started in 2013 to improve Kathmandu’s river system under which another 24m high dam has already been built at Dhap, upstream from the proposed dam.&nbsp; But the Dhap reservoir was deemed to have insufficient storage to flush the Bagmati all year round, and the ADB supported a detailed feasibility study completed by an Australian company in 2017 that endorsed a<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/kathmandu-creeps-up-surrounding-mountains"> higher dam downstream </a>near Mulkharka, 3km above the confluence of the Nagmati and Bagmati.&nbsp; “Since water cannot be brought from elsewhere, stored rainwater drained from this lake is the only way to deliver it to Bagmati during winter and take the river back to how it was three decades ago,” Chhatkuli explains.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024020301024_c7f7c1a0165e10d96afa0244389de367da0c24c99b5e864a9a275e455ecf20cc.png" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2024020301024_c7f7c1a0165e10d96afa0244389de367da0c24c99b5e864a9a275e455ecf20cc" data-rendition-name="original" width="761" height="403" loading="lazy" alt="Nagmati NT"> <figcaption>Shivapuri-Nagarjun National Park showing Dhap Dam and the proposed Nagmati Reservoir.</figcaption> </figure>  The dam construction itself will cost Rs19 billion, and additional money will be spent on protecting the watershed, construction of the power house, drinking water use and building tourism facilities. &nbsp; Although the Nagmati project’s stated aim is to protect the river basin, critics say it will come at significant <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/development-destruction-yt3t1yhu?amp=1">ecological cost</a> to the national park. The environment impact assessment itself says more than 80,000 trees will have to be cut, and the access road will add to human disturbance in the wilderness area.&nbsp; ‘Permanent effects of the project include loss of local biodiversity, destruction of wildlife habitat, and construction activities that will alter local topography, increase soil erosion, and increase turbidity in the river,’ the report states.&nbsp; Nature activist Shrawan Sharma argues that impounding a reservoir of this size will harm the already fragile ecosystem of the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/frozen-shivapuri">Shivapuri- Nagarjun National Park</a> and the Bagmati watershed.&nbsp; The current government policy is to replace every tree cut with 10 saplings, which would mean that 800,000 saplings would need to be planted. But there is no land area for so many trees in Shivapuri. D P Jaisi, an engineer formerly with the Department of Irrigation says the construction of a big dam in an area with high seismic risk directly upstream from a densely populated city is a bad idea. Climate change adds to the risk.&nbsp; “Large infrastructure projects need to be future-proofed to withstand major disasters, but such structures are always a risk,” says Jaisi. “If the Nagmati Dam were to collapse, it would be catastrophic for Kathmandu.” The project’s detailed report does look at a potential dam collapse, and shows that 3.47 million litres per second would rush down to Kathmandu, reaching Sundarijal in 15 minutes and Pashupati within 90 minutes. “The debris flow in the event of a Nagmati Dam collapse will affect 500,000 people all the way down to Chobhar and even change the course of the Bagmati as it flows through Kathmandu,” Jaisi warns. Water resources professor at Pulchok Engineering Campus Hari Pandit says the damage would be large-scale and long-lasting. “We simply cannot rely on dam design in a country like ours with its weak governance and weak construction,” he adds. &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024020301024_b34372ab9e8091db5abbd59d604d01b5a3bc566616e3951b3fb0f77db895ec93.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="2024020301024_b34372ab9e8091db5abbd59d604d01b5a3bc566616e3951b3fb0f77db895ec93" data-rendition-name="original" width="2500" height="3333" loading="lazy" alt="Nagmati NT"> <figcaption>The Nagmati inside the national park near the proposed dam site is a boulder-strewn stream. Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption> </figure>  Project officials like Chhatkuli say all this is scare-mongering and there is no reason to be alarmed because the dam is designed with the worst-case scenario for seismic and cloudburst risk in mind. But critics are not assuaged, especially considering the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-monsoon-mess-in-melamchi">disaster that struck the Melamchi water supply scheme</a> in 2021, Nepal’s biggest infrastructure project so far. An investigation showed that Melamchi headworks and tunnels did not take into account clear and present danger from climate change in the river's headwaters. Hydraulic structures expert Ravi Rajbhandari with Cemat Consultants says the dam, which will have concrete slabs on one side and rock-fill on the other, will be "like a sword hanging over Kathmandu’s head". He says we should learn lessons from last year’s catastrophic dam breaches in Libya and Sikkim. Experts also question why the Department of Irrigation is involved when the project has nothing to do with agriculture, and when the Rs25 billion lavished on another big project in Kathmandu could have been spent to irrigate rain-fed farms in rural areas and increase harvests.&nbsp; Some experts say the Nagmati project will mire Nepal in another <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/soaring-debt">debt trap</a>. The country’s public debt has reached Rs2.38 trillion and now accounts for more than 44% of the country’s GDP. Pouring money into a low-return project like Nagmati will push generations of Nepalis into indebtedness. Ravi Rajbhandari and Hari Pandit also doubt whether water released from the dam will actually make the Bagmati cleaner if sewage and garbage continue to be dumped into the river. The money could have been spent on extending the Melamchi tunnel to Larke and Yangri to increase water volume. But the project’s Nishchal Chhatkuli argues that the return on investment from the Nagmati Dam should not be measured only from an economic standpoint. “The price that locals have had to pay for living and being in proximity to the polluted Bagmati is incalculable,” he says. “The advantage of a cleaner Bagmati goes beyond purely financial benefit.”

Dam dangerous

Tipper trucks piled with cement rumble along the rocky 15km road that runs alongside the Trisuli River that flows out of glaciers in Tibet and tumbles through mighty gorges into Nepal. &nbsp; It is the steep gradient of this frothing river that makes it so ideal to generate hydropower. Which is why there are eight existing or planned run-of-the-river schemes in a cascade along the Bhote Kosi. The narrow valley reverberates with the roar of excavators, drills and a mix of Korean, Chinese and Nepali voices among the workers in the newest plant under construction on the river: the Rs65 billion 216MW Upper Trisuli-1 hydropower project. Despite its proximity to Kathmandu, Rasuwa had largely been bypassed in Nepal’s infrastructure development. Even after India helped build the Trisuli (1967) and Devighat (1984) plants, investment here languished. But after 1990, politicians started promising that the district would prosper from the ‘white gold’ of the Bhote Kosi, there would be jobs, industries and money would pour into the local economy.&nbsp; The biggest and newest of these projects is the Upper Trisuli-1 and it was sold to the indigenous Tamang community as their economic salvation. But far from jobs and economic benefits, local farmers have seen the destruction of their ancestral land and sacred sites.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/geopolitics-of-nepal-s-rivers">Geopolitics of Nepal’s rivers</a>, Ramesh Kumar  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023061915060_50d23587983b4e48dee2b5a387824cd152192d41f5ffbc5ec4ec62ffd973ce20.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2023061915060_50d23587983b4e48dee2b5a387824cd152192d41f5ffbc5ec4ec62ffd973ce20" data-rendition-name="original" width="2976" height="1984" loading="lazy" alt="Rasuwa NT 1"> </figure>  “We had hoped that this project would finally bring us resources for local development that we sorely needed, but it has only made our lives more difficult,” says Ashabir Tamang from Mailungbesi village by the Bhote Kosi. A decade has passed since the Nepal Water and Energy Development Company (NWEDC) began exploring the Upper Trisuli-1 project in Mailungbesi. Financing was secured from Korea (75%), the International Finance Corporation (IFC) with 15% and 10% from the local Nepali partner Bkesh Pradhanang. Asian Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Dutch Development Bank and other international banks also have investments. During the project design phase the IFC, which is also the primary loan manager for the project, had stipulated that its PS-7 performance criteria be applied to the project. The stipulation seeks to ensure that business activities minimise negative impacts, foster respect for human rights, dignity and culture of indigenous populations, and promote development benefits in culturally appropriate ways. The NWEDC was therefore forced to enter into an FPIC agreement (Free, Prior and Open Consent) with the indigenous Tamang community. Nepal became a signatory to the ILO Convention 169 in 2007, which gave local and indigenous communities the right to have a say in benefits. This agreement between the NWEDC and the Indigenous Advisory Council that represents the local community, and the local government stated that about Rs140 million would be spent on sustainable socio-cultural and economic development projects in five years. Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-india-power-play"> Nepal-India power play</a>, Ramesh Kumar  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023061915060_6bf538032acd41023e2277af852adaee745be79e59f4d32261ff02d3ede9bddf.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2023061915060_6bf538032acd41023e2277af852adaee745be79e59f4d32261ff02d3ede9bddf" data-rendition-name="original" width="2976" height="1984" loading="lazy" alt="Rasuwa NT 1"> </figure>  Although it required that the consent of local communities would be needed before land acquisition and resource management began, the request was made only when the project reached the implementation stage. Says Ashabir Tamang, who is also vice-chair of the Indigenous Advisory Council: “The funding for indigenous development projects that we agreed on has not yet been released, the company is violating the contract and cheating us.” NWEDC Director Giriraj Adhikari admits the company is yet to release the funds as per the agreement, but adds that the company needs to adhere to the financial protocols of international partners involved in the project. "Funds have already been allocated for local welfare, but procedural issues have meant that they have yet to be sent to Nepal from overseas,” he says. Upper Trisuli-1 is the first infrastructure project in Nepal to try to implement an FPIC agreement to increase self-employment for local communities and minimise adverse environmental effects. However, local activists say the agreement applies to only 10 out of 21 areas in the project site, and does not include outlying communities and it disregards their customs and institutions. Residents also have complaints about lack of compensation for damage to property during construction-related demolition and river diversion. &nbsp;On top of that, forests, rivers, wetlands and traditional grazing areas locals have used for generations are located in areas surrounding the intake and powerhouse.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-geopolitics-of-nepal-s-water-and-electricity">The geopolitics of Nepal’s water and electricity</a>, Ramesh Kumar  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023061915060_dbbc8e1be28bb2dfe2b3886ee3a4b3a69c4126e21c8703ef62477a8808c3984f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="2023061915060_dbbc8e1be28bb2dfe2b3886ee3a4b3a69c4126e21c8703ef62477a8808c3984f" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Rasuwa NT 1"> </figure>  Ashabir Tamang's gripe is that the project has not fulfilled a single obligation to local residents and has essentially bypassed the community on whose land the project is being built. “With the monsoon soon coming, we live in constant fear that landslides will wipe out our entire village,” says Tamang. “Where do we go to complain? No one listens to us.”&nbsp; The memory and fear of landslide is real and fresh. Mailingbesi’s 60 households were nearly entirely buried in the 2015 earthquake, and 20 residents lost their lives. Among those killed were nine members of Ashabir Tamang’s own family, including his young grandchildren. There are 790 other households in surrounding villages that were also impacted by the earthquakes. Many of them never received the promised government grant to rebuild.&nbsp; Eight years after the earthquake, many homes are still buried in debris. The boulders and soil have still not been cleared. Only half of Mailungbesi’s population remains in the village, while the rest have moved on to other villages in Rasuwa and Nuwakot.&nbsp; Those that remain face a host of problems, including where to send their children to school, the nearest primary school is a half-hour walk away in Salletar. Parents wait in fear, hoping their children will not be hit by rockfalls on their way to and from school. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-precious-electricity-going-waste">Nepal’s precious electricity going waste</a>, Anita Bhetwal  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023061915060_977d7508a26d0ccbc3d8bcf633b67a9cd09ab0081f57d89f8662836d801196be.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="2023061915060_977d7508a26d0ccbc3d8bcf633b67a9cd09ab0081f57d89f8662836d801196be" data-rendition-name="original" width="2976" height="1984" loading="lazy" alt="Rasuwa NT 1"> </figure>  “It is like waiting for another disaster to strike,” says Som Bahadur Tamang, another resident. Project-related demolition work, tunnel construction as well as the constant movement of heavy earthmoving vehicles have destabilised the slopes, the ground shakes constantly, and rocks frequently fall from the cliffs above. Kanchhi Maya Tamang tells us of her fears. She says, “I do not worry so much during the day, but I lie awake at night wondering if the river will sweep away our house with us inside or a landslide will bury us alive.”&nbsp; Inaam Tamang rebuilt his house with concrete after the earthquake, but says cracks have appeared and one of the rooms was carried away by the river when the project diverted the river. “No one listened to us when we asked that walls be built around our homes to protect us,” he says. “They do not care about us small people.”&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/securing-nepal-s-electric-future">Securing Nepal’s electric future</a>, Kumar Pandey  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023061915060_4a0d1555b13f97199910a8d23b8f4379fdefd44c9f39cb102eb6e3d989d2ddef.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="2023061915060_4a0d1555b13f97199910a8d23b8f4379fdefd44c9f39cb102eb6e3d989d2ddef" data-rendition-name="original" width="2976" height="1984" loading="lazy" alt="Rasuwa NT 1"> </figure>  Down in Hakubesi and Phulbari, 110 households were displaced by the project and only got partial compensation. Locals are also angry that while there are able-bodied men looking for jobs in the villages, the project is bringing in drivers and construction workers from outside. &nbsp; Kanchhi Maya Tamang, 55, was hired as a cleaner, but sacked for being too old. “Do you think someone who has carried fodder and firewood from the mountains all her life is not strong enough to sweep the floor?” she asks.&nbsp; Saraswati Tamang, who owns a grocery store in Mailungbesi, says she has not seen the expected boom in business after the project got going. This despite there being 800 Nepali, Chinese, and Korean technicians living in the area. “They bring everything from Kathmandu,” she says. “Not just groceries, even live chicken, ducks, goats and pigs. We have not gained much, we were just uprooted.”&nbsp; Director Adhikari refutes allegations that locals were not given jobs, and says 900 residents were hired and given project-related contracts. But &nbsp;admits that even though the company is taking initiatives to ensure benefits to the local economy, not all demands can be met.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/multimedia/nepal-s-first-hydropower-from-a-glacial-lake">Nepal’s first hydropower from a glacial lake</a>, Kunda Dixit

Nepal’s curse of the white gold

<figure><img width="4208" height="2368" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111144/63721bf29c7e80680e0bd465jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Resunga tower in Gulmi. Photo: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS</figcaption></figure>Politicians at all three levels of government in Nepal appear to be racing against time to build a concrete view-tower on every mountain in the country, and a gate outside every town.It is not just a problem of misguided priorities, politicians know exactly what they are doing by putting up these non-essential monstrosities. It is kickbacks that are lubricating these contracts.So, instead of expanding health posts and hospitals, retrofitting school buildings to make them seismic resistant, or ensuring safe drinking water supply, elected people’s representatives are squandering taxpayer money on useless structures.“Nepal’s elected officials have clearly failed to address the true needs of the people, and are wasting money to line their own pockets,” the former official at the Ministry of Federal Affairs Purshottam Nepal puts it bluntly.It is not just view-towers, but high rises in the middle of nowhere, enormous statues of gods and saints, outsized cement replicas of fruits and products municipalities are famous for, and elaborate gates at the entrance of every town or village. A 80m high statue of the saint Byas is being constructed in Tanahu district at a cost of Rs450 million in the hope of attracting pilgrims to a place where the holy man was supposed to have meditated. In Morang, the Sundar Haraicha Municipality has started building the world’s biggest statue of a cow, lavishing nearly Rs1 billion in the project. Near Kathmandu, Kirtipur Municipality has already spent Rs37.5 million to build Manjushree Park and statue at Chobhar. It is soon planning to build one for Kirti Laxmi as well at a cost of Rs8 billion. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/still-rising-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Still Rising Nepal</a>, AssBut Manjushree, Vyas and Kirti Laxmi are mythical figures. There is no historical proof that they actually existed. Says culture expert Basanta Maharjan: “There is no information or physical description of any of these characters for us to be building enormous statues with their imaginary features.”It is not just local government leaders that are at fault. They are just following the example of megalomaniac national leaders bent on leaving a permanent legacy. Former prime minister K P Oli set the stage by laying the foundation stone for a Rs2.5 billion view-tower project in Jhapa’s Damak last year. His rival Pushpa Kamal Dahal of the Maoist Centre was not far behind and inaugurated a $6 billion view-tower on a mountain top in Rolpa commemorating guerrillas killed during the insurgency. It was the Rolpa tower that thrust the view-tower building spree into sharp national focus with banner headlines in newspapers, and netizens pouring ridicule at the extravagance of building these edifices when adjoining government schools do not have proper classrooms and latrines. Bagmati Province has allocated Rs180 billion for over a dozen view-towers projects across central Nepal this year. Gandaki Province has budgeted Rs176 million to develop 44 tourist destinations, most of which will have view-towers on already lofty peaks. Province 1 has allocated a whopping Rs10 billion from its budget for view-towers in 16 sites across eastern Nepal. Even Madhes Province, which is in the Tarai, is putting up a view-tower on Narayan Danda overlooking the plains of Sarlahi district. To many, it appears like local governments have run out of places to dig new and poorly-engineered roads and have been attracted by erecting view-towers to impress voters before <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-local-election-gives-power-back-to-people/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">elections</a> this year. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/edifice-complex/">EDIFICE COMPLEX</a>, Editorial <figure><img width="1800" height="790" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111144/63721bf59c7e80680e0bd466jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Damak view-tower under construction. Photo: YAGYA RAJ ANGDEMBE/RSS</figcaption></figure>Lumbini Province, location of the birthplace of the Buddha, has allotted Rs20 million for statues of the Kanakamuni and Krikumuni avatars of the Buddhas in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/buddhas-birthday-in-his-birthplace/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kapilvastu</a>. Sudur Paschim Province may lag behind the rest of the country in terms of development indicators, but when it comes to building view-towers it is right up there with the others. It has set aside Rs2.5 billion for a view-tower atop Kampasedhura peak in Kailali.  The list of view-towers under construction is long — there is an Rs5 billion tower coming up in Chandragiri and another Rs9 billion project in Rupandehi’s Tilottama.Municipalities that cannot build view-towers are putting up grandiose structures and high rises in the last remaining open spaces.Kathmandu Metropolitan City is building a 29-floor high rise at a cost of Rs5 billion near Tundikhel that is already an eyesore and will be a white elephant. Not to be outdone, Biratnagar is putting up its own high rise at a cost of Rs4 billion.   The only people who benefit from this wasteful spending are cement companies, and contractors. The people who need basic services like health, education, jobs and a clean living environment get nothing. <a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/feudalism-to-federalism/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Federalism</a> was supposed to inject more accountability — at least at the local level. The opposite seems to have happened in the past five years. National parties that control local governments and their budgets appear to be driven by the same greed and misplaced priorities as the national government.Politicians seem unwilling or unable to buck the trend. It could be because view-towers are easy to build, posts can be padded and accord a lot of opportunity for hidden over-invoicing, and the political party gets to show voters it is committed to ‘development’. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-war-tourism-is-a-scam/">Nepal’s ‘war tourism’ is a scam</a>, Mahesh NeupaneMany environmentalists and even engineers have pointed out that Nepal’s high mountains are already so high that they serve as view-towers. Adding an extra few metres on them is illogical and adds nothing to the panorama. They say that if it is the vista that the planners want, viewing platforms would be more appropriate. “Compared to multi-propose projects that can help increase economic activities for the locals, building a view-tower is economically wasteful and an obsolete idea,” says Krishna Prasad Sapkota, former District Development Committee chair of Kavre. This does not deter politicians. The view-tower building spree seems unstoppable. Kaski, Nagarkot and Bandipur are building towers as we speak. Inspired by the Great Wall of China, Helambu Rural Municipality is constructing a 60km stone trail, dubbed ‘the Helambu Great Trail’. Chair Nima Galgen Sherpa boasts that his pet project will cost Rs3 billion, and will “attract tourists” to his district north of Kathmandu.All these view-towers have one thing in common: they are of no help to the local people — they serve no purpose, economic or otherwise. There is no business plan or an analysis of return on investment.  Udaypur’s Lumchungbung Municipality has prepared a project report for an Everest View Tower on a hilltop from which the world’s highest mountain is sometimes visible through the clouds and haze. How will this Rs90 million view-tower benefit the municipality’s 12,000 population? How will it or other view-towers in any way ensure better governance or improve the living standard of people? “The government’s priority should be on skills development, enterprise, education and health,” says former secretary of Local Development, Khemraj Nepal. “But all three levels of government are straying away from their responsibility towards the people.”The priority of the representatives we elected to power should be improving health posts, community schools, food security and sanitation, he says. These are necessities, and view-towers are an extravagance and a waste of time and taxpayer money. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/infrastructure-for-wildlife-in-nepal/">Infrastructure for wildlife in Nepal</a>, Biraj Shrestha and Pramod NeupaneAdapted from the <a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com/news/13342">Nepali original</a> at <a href="http://himalkhabar.com/">himalkhabar.com</a> by Aria Parasai

Nepal’s shortsighted view-tower craze

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIdbmBlnVZI&amp;feature=youtu.beNearly 25 years after it was first mooted, there is light at the end of the tunnel for Melamchi, Nepal’s biggest and most expensive infrastructure project that will pipe glacier water from Langtang National Park to Kathmandu Valley.The $800 million undertaking has been near completion several times, but government interference, corruption and extortion have taken their toll. The headworks construction is now half finished here at Ambathan 70km by road north of Kathmandu where the roar of the Melamchi River drowns out the sound of excavators that will allow the water into the tunnel.On Sunday, the project sent water 800m down the tunnel to its first adit tunnel as a test from the overflow reservoir at Ambathan. At this rate, project officials say the first Melamchi water could flow down to Melamchi by September.  They say 99% of the 26.5km long tunnel and the treatment plants at Sundarijal in Kathmandu Valley are complete.  Kathmandu <a href="http://nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Melamchi-flows-to-Kathmandu,3397">roads have been dug up</a> and used to be <a href="http://nepalitimes.com/page/every-breath-you-take-air-pollution">shrouded in a perpetual pall of dust</a> as new water mains were laid to distribute the water when it arrives. <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/melamchi-coming-to-kathmandu">Melamchi not a mirage anymore</a>, Sonia Awale <figure><img width="1580" height="908" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141132/636bac6f9c7e80680e077f30jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>With 99% of the tunnel and the treatment plants at Sundarijal now complete it may be possible to send water to Kathmandu by September. All photos: SURENDRA PHUYAL</figcaption></figure>The new target date for consumers to actually get Melamchi water flowing through their pipes is late 2020, but even that could be delayed due to the COVID-19 lockdown. The Melamchi Water Supply Project is the largest infrastructure scheme in Nepal today, and with a $800 million price tag, including the future extension, the costliest as well. Its 26.5 km long and 3.7m wide tunnel in Phase 1 is the second longest tunnel for water supply in Asia.It is being built with a soft loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and will bring 170 million litres a day to Kathmandu. A proposed Phase 2 of the project could also connect the Yangri and Larke Khola through two more tunnels and nearly triple the daily water flow (see map).The project has been plagued by chronic delays due to <a href="http://nepalitimes.com/issue/350/Nation/13560#.WMEfpPInLK8">political meddling</a>, the 2015 earthquake, the Indian blockade and most recently by the COVID-19 lockdown.  It was 2010 when a Chinese contractor finally started digging the tunnel but could only finish 6.4km in three years. It was  replaced by the Italian CMC di Ravenna company which took over where the Chinese had left off. The earthquake and blockade led to more delays. <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/dont-wait-for-melamchi-nepal,3765">Don't wait for Melamchi</a>, Tyler McMahon <figure><img width="1641" height="920" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141132/636bac729c7e80680e077f31jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>But the project could not meet its completion date of March 2018 because the government cancelled CMC di Ravenna’s contract, reportedly because it refused to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/from-the-nepali-press/melamchi-delayed-by-government-extortion/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">pay extortion</a> to bureaucrats in Singha Darbar. China’s SinoHydro then took over, and had been rushing to catch up with the schedule when the COVID-19 lockdown hit.  Contrary to popular belief, the water will not be gushing through the tunnel. In fact, it has a gradient of only 8m between the intake in Melamchi and the outlet in Sundarijal giving it a water velocity of only 0.5m/second which means it will take 45 hours for the water to complete its underground journey.  This is the monsoon, and the water flow in the Melamchi makes it a raging torrent. However, in the dry season flow goes down to 2.4 cubic meters per second (cumec) of which only 2 cumec of water will be diverted into the tunnel. There are 1.5 km of access tunnels located near the intake in Ambathan, in Gyalthum and Sindhu.  On 5 July, the first water was let into the tunnel amidst a religious ceremony. Tiresh Khatri of the Melamchi project said: "This is a milestone, we will be doing more tests and hopefully water will reach Kathmandu by September."However, engineer Shekhar Khanal said there still a lot of unfinished work that will take months. His estimate for water to reach Kathmandu: early 2021. <p style="letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 15.693333625793457px;">Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/renew-commitment-to-preserve-ancient-water-spouts,2931">Going with the flow</a>, Liew Yu Wei

Light at the end of the Melamchi tunnel

<img width="640" height="452" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171144/6369368a9c7e80680e03fde7jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>We see signs of stalled development all around us, every day, all over Nepal. Dusty, half-finished highways, national pride projects like Tama Kosi and Melamchi delayed by decades, crumbling infrastructure. Where there is economic activity, it is usually extractive, and happening at great cost to the environment — exposing corruption and lack of accountability of those in authority.All this has become such a given in present-day Nepal that citizens do not even bother to complain anymore. Since they do not expect anything from their elected leaders, the people are not even outraged by this lack of performance. Public fatalism and a high threshold for punishment has let politicians and bureaucrats off the hook, and encouraged impunity.At the root of this deep malaise <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/government-to-governance-editorial,4200" target="_blank" rel="noopener">is poor governance</a>. And the starkest proof yet of political failure is that in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, the central government has been able to spend only 11% of its budgeted capital expenditure. The situation in the seven provinces is even more alarming: with one-fourth of the fiscal year finished they have spent less than 1% of their development budgets. Even the relatively better-governed Gandaki Province has only spent 5% of its budget in four months, and even that is mostly to cover overheads.It is a supreme irony of our times that a strong government led by a monolithic Communist Party with no political opposition in sight, and one which has made prosperity its main slogan, should be so incompetent. Like in any business, it is a sign of good governance when a state maximises revenue, minimises running costs and prioritises development expenditure. Capital spending in productive sectors helps the economy by creating jobs, spurring development, and augmenting growth.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/roadblocks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Roadblocks</a>, Ramesh KumarAt present we have got it upside down. In fact, the government’s own statistics show that in the first four months of this fiscal year, current account expenditure (for salaries, day-to-day costs of running government) was three times higher than capital spending. All this goes to prove once more that Nepal is not poor, it is just poorly governed.To be sure, this is nothing new. Even in the bad old days of the absolute monarchy, Nepal had a <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/Beggars-and-choosers,1338" target="_blank" rel="noopener">chronic problem of not spending</a> its budget. This persisted after the democratic changes in 1990, and usually it was blamed on unstable coalition politics. In the past 12 years after the war ended, the excuse for the inability to spend has been the rocky political transition.How long are we going to pretend that we are in perpetual transition? If a government with a two-thirds majority cannot get its act together, which government will? We now have political stability, the peace process is over, and governance has been decentralised to seven provinces and 753 elected municipalities. Still, the reasons for the woeful inability to get projects off the ground are manifold. They mostly stem from a lethargic political and bureaucratic class that is loath to sanction any project unless there is direct personal benefit. Then, there are structural issues like convoluted approval processes, red tape within and between line ministries, delays in issuing and selecting tender bids, and the culture of spending most of the budget in the last two months of the fiscal year in order to maximise kickbacks and payoffs. This points to a systemic defect in the state structure that has not been corrected by improved accountability and performance of elected governments. The lack of visionary leadership at all levels of government means there is no one to untie the knots and untangle the nexus between a rent-seeking state and private greed. Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa started off vigorously to try to dismantle transportation cartels, others promised speedy service delivery and expediting delayed projects. Most people have even forgotten what was promised. One year after they were installed, even elected local governments which want to get projects off the ground have been stymied by Singha Darbar <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/fear-of-letting-go/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">refusing to let go of the purse strings</a>. The impact of capital budgets not being released has unleashed another credit squeeze in the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/banks-biting-off-more-than-they-can-chew/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">banking sector</a> that is reeling under a liquidity crisis. It has slowed job creation and encouraged outmigration. At this rate we will not meet the 8% growth target for this year. The rot is deep and the solution is a structural overhaul of governance. But the buck stops with the Prime Minister. It is he who will be blamed for failing to deliver even with such a strong majority government.

Communist capital

On Tuesday, leader of the monarchist RPP once again gathered on Kathmandu’s streets to deliver fiery speeches, but this time there was no arson and looting and no need for riot police to fire live rounds or tear gas.
RPP leaders demanded the release of their members including vice-president Rabindra Mishra and MP Dhawal Shamsher Rana were arrested during the violent <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/republicans-and-royalists-on-nepal-s-streets">28 March protests at Tinkune </a>which left two dead. 
They denounced the current leadership of the main parties, demanding the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/nepal-party-reincarnating-hindu-monarchy">restitution of Nepal as a Hindu kingdom</a>. They also said the government was responsible for the fatalities on 28 March because it provoked its rally with a tear gas attack even before it started.
It has now been revealed that the police fired at least 100 live rounds from high powered assault rifles at the crowd. Twenty-one of the 120 injured received bullet wounds, and most of them were bystanders and people trying to reach home. 
Tuesday protest on the Ring Road in Balkhu was much more subdued, and comparatively fewer RPP supporters showed up. The arson and vandalism in the previous protest appears to have cost some support for <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-ghost-of-monarchy-returns-to-haunt-nepal">former king Gyanendra </a>especially for the anointment of medical tycoon and bank defaulter <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/street-politics">Durga Prasai </a>as ‘commander’ of the Tinkune rally.
Some monarchists acknowledge Gyanendra’s mistakes when was king 2001-2008, but say he has had a lot of time to reflect on his shortcomings and seems more disciplined and committed. His supporters have tried to build on nostalgia among some Nepalis for<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/why-invest-in-nepal"> domestic stability </a>and international respect that <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/if-birendra-was-alive-nepal-could-still-be-a-monarchy">the monarchy</a> commanded. 
“Nepalis were promised better service delivery, opportunities for the underserved, as well as better, more honest use of state resources, but the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16992">people in leadership </a>have not been able to deliver on their commitments,” says RPP leader Prakash Chandra Lohani. “The gap between their rhetoric and reality has widened, the people feel betrayed, and the respect Nepali people had previously had for them has changed to revulsion.” 
Indeed, many commentators have warned the three main parties and their <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/politics-as-usual">serial prime ministers</a> who have ruled Nepal for much of the past 30 years should address rising public anger with them, and see the writing on the wall.
‘<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-government-changes-again">The UML, NC and Maoists</a> must introspect about their conduct,” warns Gunaraj Luitel, editor of Nagarik, in an op-ed this week. ‘These leaders for life may save themselves from simmering public anger, but they will not be able to save the system. The monarchist wave can only be dispelled when citizens are assured of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-local-election-gives-power-back-to-people">better governance</a> through <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/latest/real-world-training-for-youth-leaders">younger leaders</a>, and reforms.’ 
Rifts between radical royals who are gunning for a return to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/mob-movement-and-mayhem">Panchayat-style absolutism </a>and moderate monarchists who favour a constitutional king have also weakened the movement somewhat. The split between the RPP and RPP-Nepal cost the royalists numbers in Parliament in 2022, and both parties denounced the violence last month, albeit shifting the blame on the government.
The irony is that the same royalists who want to scrap the republican Constitution had formed electoral alliances with the UML during the 2022 elections. RPP-Nepal chair Kamal Thapa contested the 2022 election with the UML. Thapa has not taken part in the last two rallies, saying he will only be a part of a movement under a national flag, and not a RPP party banner.
For his part, the RPP’s Rajendra Lingden is said to be hesitant to censure some of his party’s more radical royalists for fear of fissure within his ranks, despite his aversion to Durga Prasai’s role. 
Analysts have questioned why <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/old-is-still-gold-in-nepali-politics">supporters of the monarchy </a>have decided to reestablish an institution that would not ultimately have executive decision-making power. There are doubts about whether authoritarian-minded Gyanendra will be satisfied being a <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=13957">ceremonial king</a>. 
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-s-deja-vu-on-black-friday">Nepal’s déjà vu on Black Friday</a>, Sonia Awale
"The Nepali people will not accept <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/forgotten-woman-who-sheltered-communist-activists">an absolute monarchy </a>at this point of time, and both the public as well as <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=8371">king Gyanendra</a> are fully aware that there is no other possibility beyond a constitutional monarchy," asserts the RPP’s Lohani. “The traditional monarchy’s institutional capacity might have been enough to meet the needs of feudal Nepal, but an absolute monarchy is impossible both in concept and practice in the context of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/Economic-Class/waiting-for-an-industrial-revolution,784">modern day Nepal</a>.”

New year revolutions

Besides multiple <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/republicans-and-royalists-on-nepal-s-streets">street demonstrations </a>that gridlocked Kathmandu’s traffic for the past weeks, public discourse in Nepal has also been dominated by dangerously <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/air-pollution-is-more-dangerous-than-smoking">high air pollution levels</a>. Caused mostly by hundreds of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/wildfire-season-starts-early-in-nepal">forest fires </a>raging across the country, the smoke contains suspended soot particles that harms <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/playing-with-poison">human health</a>. Thursday’s rain have cleared the air somewhat, and many people will soon forget how bad the air quality was. But the time to address the roots of next summer’s fire season is now.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250411060440_d1a119716a9031aadfdd611d299348d436842d376a03e664b8d773957a237524.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20250411060440_d1a119716a9031aadfdd611d299348d436842d376a03e664b8d773957a237524" data-rendition-name="original" width="502" height="540" loading="lazy" alt="Wildfires"> <figcaption>EXTINGUISHED: Forest fires raging all over Nepal in the week after 3 March (above) reduced air quality, creating a public health hazard in Kathmandu and across the country. Each red dot is a fire detected by infrared sensors on the NASA Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) satellite. But the rain on Thursday doused most of the fires (below) with more rain forecast over the weekend.</figcaption> </figure>  The reason everyone was talking about air pollution was because the<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-is-going-up-in-smoke"> smoke from wildfires</a> was visible. But much more toxic are the invisible and odourless <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-doubles-its-carbon-footprint">gases from vehicular and industrial emissions </a>which have always been there. The theme of World Health Day on 7 April this week was ‘Healthy Beginnings, Hopeful Futures’ dedicated to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/saving-more-mothers-and-babies">preventing maternal and newborn deaths</a>. It is estimated that in Nepal, 30% of neonatal mortality can be blamed on air pollution. But that is only part of the story. Harmful as fine particulate matter is to human health, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, ground-level ozone and other gases in vehicular emissions are more hazardous to health. While the concentration of suspended particulate matter tinier than 1.5 microns (PM2.5) is closely monitored, these toxic gases are invisible, not measured much, and the public is not aware about the dangers they pose. Surface ozone is produced by the interaction of various gases found when <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/fossil-fuels-poison-air">burning fossil fuels</a>. Besides being poisonous, ground level ozone contributes up to 0.23°C to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-mountains-are-melting">global warming</a> because it is also a greenhouse gas. A new policy brief by the Clean Air Fund titled The Case for Action on Tropospheric Ozone blames surface ozone for a half a million premature deaths every year, 54.8% of which are in South Asia. Ozone also stunts plant growth and reduces crop yields by 26% globally, and 11% loss in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/economic-benefits-of-saving-the-ecology">forest productivity</a>, the report adds.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250411060456_aa02a923f8b27544ae54d0220162678f5bbb5eeb8fc3c466173c22c49b3e9a85.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20250411060456_aa02a923f8b27544ae54d0220162678f5bbb5eeb8fc3c466173c22c49b3e9a85" data-rendition-name="original" width="998" height="724" loading="lazy" alt="Gas Chambers"> </figure>  Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/bad-air-and-polluted-politics">Bad air and polluted politics</a>, Sonia Awale Ground-level ozone is not emitted directly into the air like other gases, but is formed when oxides of nitrogen (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released from automobile tailpipes or industry smokestacks react chemically with each other in the presence of sunlight. The main source of carbon monoxide in Kathmandu Valley are its 1.2 million two-wheelers. “Usually the concentration of carbon monoxide is 200-500 parts per billion (ppb), this has increased up to 3,000 in Kathmandu. Meanwhile, ground-level ozone has gone from 70-80 ppb to 150 ppb,” says Ravi Sahu, regional air quality specialist with the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).&nbsp; Sahu says <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/no-smoke-without-fire-p7vb9dcj">rampant forest fires of the past weeks</a> have also added to carbon monoxide and ozone in the air, not just the fine particles that make up the visible smoke. He adds, “There isn’t much awareness about <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/poisoning-the-air-we-breathe">ground-level ozone and carbon monoxide</a>, we need to urgently look into it.” A distinction must be made between good and bad ozone. Stratospheric ozone protects living beings from harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun.&nbsp; Tropospheric ozone can again be separated into two types: ozone in the free atmosphere which is a greenhouse gas much more potent than carbon dioxide, and ground-level ozone which has adverse impacts on health and agriculture. ‘Cutting tropospheric ozone presents a unique challenge as it requires smart and fast action across multiple greenhouse gases and air pollutants, as well as multiple economic sectors,’ notes the Clean Air Fund's policy briefing. ‘It is a growing and neglected problem that needs an integrated approach on both a local and global level to tackle climate change and air pollution together.’ Dying young There was a time when Nepal made it to international news bulletins only if there were fatalities on Mt Everest. Now, Kathmandu’s bad air frequently makes headlines all over the world. This past week, the concentration of PM2.5 that harms human health was up to 40 times the WHO recommended guideline — adding to the poisonous gases already present from vehicle emissions. The Department of Environment says 40% of the pollution in the past weeks was from wildfires sparked by nearly 6 months without substantial rain over central Nepal. Most of the rest is from vehicular and industrial emissions from Kathmandu itself and across the southern border. NASA’s Fire Information and Resource Management System (FIRMS) which issues daily maps of fires, showed hundreds of blazes raging across Nepal on Wednesday, mainly in Chitwan, Parsa and along the East-West Highway.&nbsp; “If we look at the figures for the last few years, it is clear that wildfires have become the biggest source of air pollution, they are seasonal but have overtaken vehicular emissions,” says urban planner and environmentalist Bhushan Tuladhar. “Forest fires, stubble burning, and open burning of garbage are the bigger problems now. Nepal, India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan are at risk every year, we shouldn’t further delay in finding solutions,” warned air quality expert Bhupendra Das during an event on air pollution organised on 7 March by the Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists (NEFEJ).&nbsp; Indeed, studies have shown that in winter 60% of the air pollution over Kathmandu is transboundary from the south, and in November it is compounded by smoke from crop residue burning by farmers in India and Pakistan blown in by prevailing winds. Forest fires are a regular pre-monsoon occurrence in Nepal, often intentionally set by farmers and herders to stimulate new grass growth for livestock. Winter rains have failed for eight of the past ten years, and this means the fires often spread out of control. The other reason for the increase in wildfires is the doubling of forest fires to 46% of the country’s area in the past 25 years. But this has happened simultaneously with outmigration, with some mountain districts losing 30% of their population between 2011-2021. With less pressure on forests for fodder and firewood, the undergrowth of community forests is loaded with dry fuel just waiting for a spark. The bowl-shaped topography of Kathmandu, Pokhara and other valleys further concentrates pollutants as they are trapped by surrounding mountains. But a year with a high number of wildfires is usually followed by a year or two with fewer incidents. For example: there were 6,537 fires in 2021 but the following year the number was down to 1,528. There were 5,216 fires last year, this year the number has already reached 1,800, and the trend is likely to be broken. Heavy rains forecast for the coming days are expected to douse some of the fires and clean up the air. But the damage has been done: Kathmandu residents of all age groups this week crowded clinics and hospitals with burning eyes, itchy throats, difficulty breathing, headaches, and dizziness. But in the longer term, soot particles that are tiny enough to jump the blood-air divide in lung capillaries do not just cause Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), asthma, but also cancers, heart attacks, strokes, birth defects and other chronic diseases. The latest Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) report by the University of Chicago shows that the annual concentration of PM2.5 in Kathmandu’s air rose from 17.87µg/m3 in 1998 to 31.33µg/m3 in 2022. Air pollution has got worse by 75% in Kathmandu in 25 years. During this time, air pollution has reduced the average life expectancy of Kathmandu’s residents by 3.5 years. According to the Health Effects Institute in Boston, dirty air is among the biggest public health concerns in Nepal killing over 42,100 a year. The adverse impact of high levels of air pollution is not limited to public health, it is seriously affecting tourism. Operators in Pokhara this week said that there were many negative online posts by visitors unable to see the famous panorama of Machapuchre and the Annapurnas even from Sarangkot. Aviation is also affected, as planes have to circle sometimes for hours burning a lot of fuel because of runway visibility being below minima at Kathmandu airport. The higher fuel cost is just passed down to customers, making air tickets in and out of Kathmandu some of the highest in the world. Kathmandu, with a population of four million, has not implemented a concrete policy to curb toxic air despite having formulated various action plans and repeated commitments by the government to protect the environment and control air pollution. The Department of Environment’s 2017 Air Quality Management Action Plan for Kathmandu put forward a policy to reduce air pollution caused by vehicles which was approved by the Cabinet, but has yet to be put to practice. The action included the immediate implementation of the Euro 5 emission standard to reduce pollution emitted by vehicles. However, Nepal has not even been able to implement Euro 4 standards so far. India, meanwhile, has already moved forward with the implementation of the Euro 6 standards. Says Ravi Sahu: “Air pollution in Nepal is not just about air pollution, it has ties to tourism, aviation, the economy so we must be prepared for annual conditions like forest fires, and this requires urgent interdisciplinary collaboration.” &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250411050452_821d09e283d8a590f1369bfb71b9b7fc6d950726e0651ea86c6488d04deb1742.jpg" data-media-id="editor_15" data-image-id="20250411050452_821d09e283d8a590f1369bfb71b9b7fc6d950726e0651ea86c6488d04deb1742" data-rendition-name="original" width="839" height="784" loading="lazy" alt="Silent Killers"> </figure>  &nbsp;

What is invisible is more dangerous

82 in २०८२

Here in the mountains of far-western Nepal, the biggest threat to life and limb is gravity. Women collecting fodder fall from trees, boys grazing goats fall off cliffs, heavily loaded tractors plunge from dirt roads carved out of steep slopes. There is nothing to be done about those who die on the spot. But for the severely wounded there is only one hospital: Bayalpata. And it is there that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJzWlnYd0ZM&amp;t=8s" target="_blank">orthopaedic surgeon Mandeep Pathak</a> is the last hope for many wounded people. Pathak, 42, is too modest to tell us how many lives he has saved over the past 10 years he has worked at Bayalpata. But hospital records show he has performed more than 4,000 operations in the past decade, many of them so patients did not suffer permanent physical disabilities. Pathak also did 800 major life-saving surgeries in that time. “I treat patients with injuries, but I wish I could also treat poverty,” Pathak says, emerging from Bayalpata’s surgical theatre one recent afternoon. <div class="embed-block"><iframe width="700" height="415" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CJzWlnYd0ZM?si=s_rkbU4YDaw87gqH" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div> Sudurpaschim Province in Nepal’s far-west is far away from everything: from Kathmandu, from adequate medical care, from food security, and far from the reach of government services. It has suffered state neglect for centuries, its men mainly migrating to India for seasonal work to families who depend on subsistence agriculture. Pathak remembers the searing sadness he felt when a patient once told him, “Doctor, I sold the last of my rice to pay to come here, please give me a medicine that I can take on an empty stomach.” Pathak was born in Kathmandu, and after getting his MBBS from Kathmandu University, he got an MD from The Philippines. At a time when many Nepali doctors and staff nurses were emigrating, Pathak did not just return to Kathmandu but decided to go to one of the remotest districts in Nepal to serve those most in need. The hospital was established in 2009 in the village of Bayalpata, and has been managed by the non-profit <a href="https://www.nyayahealthnepal.org/" target="_blank">Nyaya Health Nepal (NHN)</a> as a public-private partnership treating 100,000 patients a year for no fees at all. NHN is now preparing to hand over the running of the hospital to the Sudurpaschim provincial government so its <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/this-is-how-to-upgrade-nepals-rural-health" target="_blank">model of hospital management</a> can be replicated.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250414130456_b59dabd4604a24426a55fe91c0e5866b5029858bdb4c4028c331557aeb5408ae.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20250414130456_b59dabd4604a24426a55fe91c0e5866b5029858bdb4c4028c331557aeb5408ae" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Bayalpata hospital"> <figcaption>Bayalpata hospital in Achham.</figcaption> </figure>  People from not just Achham but surrounding districts, and from as far away as Humla, bring patients to Bayalpata, sometimes walking for days. Some with complicated pregnancies are brought in stretchers, young children with broken arms walk into the emergency, and sometimes there are mass casualties when a tractor or bus falls off a road. And Pathak is always there with his team performing triage, and doing orthopaedic surgeries that would be difficult even in Kathmandu. Recently, his team did a hip replacement at <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/state-of-the-art-rural-hospital" target="_blank">Bayalpata Hospital</a>. Mild mannered, modest, soft-spoken, hard-working, professional are the words families of patients who have been treated at <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-rural-lifeline" target="_blank">Bayalpata Hospital </a>use to describe Mandeep Pathak. But the surgeon is too busy to let all this get to this head.&nbsp; Asked why he does not emigrate like his peers or get a lucrative position at a private hospital in Kathmandu, Pathak answers simply, without a trace of self-importance, “I do not think I could get the satisfaction or sense of fulfilment anywhere else.” When travelling to attend medical congresses overseas or visit family in Kathmandu, Bayalpata has other doctors to take care of patients, but many wait patiently till Pathak returns for their consultation or surgery.&nbsp; When he returns from seminars abroad after learning the latest skills, Pathak’s suitcases are not full of clothes or presents, but titanium bone implants, external fixation rods, or intramedullary nails to be used in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/altruistic-healthcare-models-in-nepal" target="_blank">surgeries at Bayalpata</a>.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025041414040_5356278472c1eb2b9e4af1d593d6234cc8dc5e5161a8c614197c01abefadbd80.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="2025041414040_5356278472c1eb2b9e4af1d593d6234cc8dc5e5161a8c614197c01abefadbd80" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1368" loading="lazy" alt="surgery"> </figure>  Before Bayalpata Hospital was established, most people suffering broken bones had to travel down to Dhangadi or Nepalganj for treatment. No more. Although Pathak’s specialisation is orthopaedic oncology, he is mostly treating fractures and rejoining broken bones.&nbsp; Now as Bayalpata’s Hospital Director, Pathak also has administrative and fundraising duties. He has to take the 10-hour ride down to Dhangadi often to meet various Sudurpaschim ministries to release the hospital’s budget — that is sometimes more difficult than the most complicated surgery. Recently, he had to cancel an appointment with the Chief Minister to rush back to Bayalpata because there was a patient who needed emergency surgery. “I told myself, let me save this patient first, then I will try to save the hospital,” he recalls.&nbsp; Once, when he had to be away for a month on emergency surgery training in the US, the family of a 90-year-old woman who had dislocated her hip after falling from a staircase was waiting for him to return. Her son told Pathak: “Doctor, either put her out of her suffering, or cure her.” Pathak told him it was too dangerous to operate at her age, but the son said his mother was in so much pain it was worth the risk. The operation was touch-and-go, but it was successful. The woman who had been brought in on a stretcher, walked out of the hospital three days after the operation.&nbsp; A few months later, a 27-year-old woman was brought into the ER bleeding profusely from an arm mangled by a thresher machine. Even in that state, she was breastfeeding her baby. Pathak welled up seeing this display of selfless motherhood, as he wheeled her into surgery. She needed three operations, but now has full use of her hand. <div class="embed-block"><iframe width="700" height="415" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xJdxLD0hBqo?si=mOpM2R_DsYL88Lfg" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div> It is the sense of achievement from such recovery that keeps Mandeep Pathak here in this isolated village in the middle of nowhere. Bayalpata Hospital has not just saved lives, it also saves families from poverty because they do not have to take sick relatives to expensive city hospitals.&nbsp; In January, a woman was brought to Bayalpata with both hands broken. She said she had taken a fall, but Pathak did not believe her. When alone in the surgery, she finally admitted that her husband had beaten her.&nbsp; It was her husband who had brought her to hospital for treatment, but she refused to file a police report. Pathak quietly put both her arms in casts, thinking about the poverty, patriarchy and injustice in society that he is unable to treat.

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