Skip to main content

Nepal Telecom retracts from Dharahara reconstruction

In a major setback to the government’s reconstruction drive, Nepal Telecom has pulled out of reconstruction of Dharahara — one of Kathmandu’s iconic landmarks that collapsed during the devastating earthquake of April 25, 2015.
According to National Reconstruction Authority, it received a letter from NT on Tuesday stating the company’s unwillingness to rebuild the monument in Sundhara that had come to symbolise the havoc created by the deadly temblors over two years ago. “NT has stated in its letter that it is unable to rebuild Dharahara as per the design of the government,” informed Yam Lal Bhoosal, spokesperson for NRA.

As per Bhoosal, NT has cited two main reasons for pulling out of Dharahara reconstruction — the government’s refusal to let NT rebuild the monument as per a design that ensures sustainable operation of Dharahara after it is erected, and the local cultural communities being opposed to rebuilding Dharahara according to the design proposed by Department of Archaeology.
“We’ll take up the issue in the Cabinet soon, as the council of ministers had authorised NT to rebuild Dharahara,” Bhoosal told THT.
NT, however, has clarified in the letter to NRA that it is not backtracking from its earlier commitment to contribute almost Rs 1 billion for Dharahara’s reconstruction.
Meanwhile, NT officials said it had expressed interest in reconstructing Dharahara, as its rebuilding cost was initially estimated at around Rs 250 million and the historical monument was to spread over only four ropanis of land. “However, as per the DoA-proposed design, the reconstruction site has been expanded to more than 30 ropanis of land, with the rebuilding cost estimated at Rs 4 billion,” said Shovan Adhikari, spokesperson for NT.
According to Adhikari, NT was willing to reconstruct Dharahara as per the design of DoA at the given cost, if the government had made some modifications to the design and allowed NT to rebuild the historical site on a sustainable model.
NT had proposed to add more features in the vicinity of Dharahara, such as a fountain, space for cultural music and a modern garden, which NT believed was required to ensure sustainability of Dharahara.
“The government’s design of Dharahara also stated that 70 per cent of the total area used for Dharahara reconstruction had to be left vacant. However, this is not possible as a portion of the land meant for rebuilding Dharahara is a holy site where different communities perform various rituals,” said Adhikari.
However, DoA had been rigid on its design of Dharahara stating that allowing NT to go ahead as per its own plan and design would minimise the archaeological value of the historical monument.
The DoA had earlier come up with a design to preserve the ravaged structure of Dharahara at the same location as a memorial to those who were killed in the earthquake and a new 245 feet, 11-storeyed Dharahara would be built at the site where the General Post Office is located.
Meanwhile, NRA Spokesperson Bhoosal said NRA was likely to take it upon itself to initiate the Dharahara reconstruction process.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

‘Clean India’ mission not ending manual scavenging, activists say

MUMBAI:  A flagship government program to modernise India’s sanitation has failed to tackle the practice of low caste women clearing faeces by hand, and has even exacerbated the problem by building toilets not connected to water supplies, campaigners say. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, or Clean India Mission, with much fanfare after he took office in 2014, sweeping a Delhi street with a broom. Since then, thousands of toilets have been built across the country.But Dalit communities, especially women, are still forced to be manual scavengers, a euphemism for clearing faeces from dry toilets and open drains by hand, despite laws to end the practice. The workers have it harder now, activists said. “Swachh Bharat has diverted attention from ending manual scavenging, and makes it seem like the whole country is cleaning. But if that’s the case, then why are people still dying in septic tanks,” said activist Bezwada Wilson. “There is also no dis...
Post a Comment
Read more

US trio win Nobel for finding Einstein’s gravitational waves

STOCKHOLM/LONDON:  Three US scientists won the 2017 Nobel prize for physics on Tuesday for opening up a new era of astronomy by detecting gravitational waves, ripples in space and time foreseen by Albert Einstein a century ago. The work of Rainer Weiss, Barry Barish and Kip Thorne crowned half a century of experimental efforts by scientists and engineers.Measuring gravitational waves offers a new way to observe the cosmos, helping scientists explore the nature of mysterious objects including black holes and neutron stars. It may also provide insight into the universe’s very earliest moments. The first detection of the waves created a scientific sensation when it was announced early last year and the teams involved in the discovery had been widely seen as favourites for Tuesday’s prize. “We now witness the dawn of a new field: gravitational wave astronomy,” Nils Martensson, acting chairman of the Nobel Committee for Physics, told reporters. “This will teach us about the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Swiss defence ministry foils cyber attack

ZURICH:  Switzerland’s defence ministry has foiled a cyber attack by malware similar to that used in other global hacking campaigns, the government said in a statement on Friday. The attack was detected in July by software that operated much like the Turla malware family, it said.The government declined to give information about the origin of the attack or say if any damage including data theft had occurred. It cited security considerations. Government specialists took counter measures and an investigation is underway, while criminal charges have been lodged with federal prosecutors against persons unknown to them. The Turla spyware was detected in 2014 and suspected of infecting hundreds of government computers and military targets across Europe and the Middle East. Several security researchers and Western intelligence officers say they believe the malware in those attacks was the work of the Russian government.
Post a Comment
Read more