High-Powered Bagmati Civilisation Committee: reality versus its name

The government-owned High Powered Committee for Integrated Development of the Bagmati Civilisation under the Ministry of Urban Development holds the power only in paper, not in practice, people concerned complain.

As the Committee is about to complete 25 years of establishment, it is still functioning on an ad hoc basic and assigned responsibilities remain unmet, according to its executive chair Narendra Raj Basnet. Speaking at a review meeting organised by the Committee, chair Basnet shared despite their frequent requests to the line ministers and secretaries for the preparation of the Committee bill no progress was achieved.

"The Committee has not been granted rights even to seek a legal prosecution against those responsible for polluting the historic river. The lack of separate act for Committee’s function has caused obstructions in the career development of its employees too," he complained.

According to acting project manager Leela Prasad Dhakal, allowing landless people to occupy the river bank would never materalise the goal of keeping the river clean. They are studying to find out a solution on real landless people. The number of people encroaching upon the river bank for commercial purposes is also high. They have made huts on the river bank and give them in rent.

The Committee has developed a mobile app to track the encroachment on the river bank. Besides, the Bagmati Beautification Campaign and Corridor Construction works have been hampered as landless people continue to occupy the river bank instead of shifting to a housing facility built for them at Ichangunarayan.