POKHARA: More than 5,000 houses are said to have been constructed in violation of the building code at Pokhara Sub-metropolitan city wards 1 to 18 in Pokhara.

This data came to light after the sub-metropolis began monitoring risky buildings, two weeks after the April 25 temblor. The metropolis does not permit construction of buildings taller than 35 feet. However, construction of tall buildings is yet to stop.

The metropolis had formed a monitoring committee and started to take details of buildings that had not followed the code, after the earthquake.

According to statistics at the metropolis, as many as 1,650 buildings have been constructed flouting the code at ward no 17 of the metropolis.

Purna Gurung, Construction Management Committee coordinator and engineer at the metropolis, said the committee had been taking details of buildings constructed in violation of the building code.

As per the committee, 250 houses were constructed against the building code in ward no 1, 156 in ward no 2 and 3 each, more than 287 in ward no 4, 133 in ward no 5, 892 in ward no 6, 123 in ward no 7, 501 in ward no 8 and in ward no 9, 410 buildings were constructed.

Sub-metropolis engineer Surendra Poudel said that as many as 174 buildings have been constructed at ward no 10, 92 in ward no 11, 30 in ward no 12, 22  in ward no 13, 53 in ward no 14, 95 in ward no 15, 40 in ward no 16, 1,650 in ward no 17, and 23 in ward no 18.

He said that a multi-party meeting would decide whether or not to pull down such houses. Sources at the municipality said that more than one lakh houses were constructed in city areas. They added that with the increase in population, more than 4,000 new buildings were built yearly in the city areas of Pokhara of late.

Such buildings are mostly seen at the main bazaar areas of Newroad, Chipledhunga,Prithivi Chowk, Palikhe Chowk, Siddhartha Chowk, Lakeside, Srijana Chowk, Nayabazaar, among other places in Pokhara.

The chairman and former chairmen of Pokhara Valley City Development Committee, ex-chairmen of Pokhara Chambers of Commerce and Industry as well as engineers at the municipality are also said to have constructed tall buildings against the building code.

Almost all tall buildings of hotels and trade buildings at Lakeside in Pokhara have been constructed in violation of the code. Due to lack of proper monitoring, people of Pokhara have the tendency to construct taller buildings.

Despite the authorities’ claim that Pokhara’s land was at high risk, construction of tall buildings continues in Pokhara. Earlier, the sub-metropolis had directed to implement the building code and construct quake-resistant buildings. However, the rule has not been implemented effectively.