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KATHMANDU, JUNE 08
Kathmandu Valley is getting overcrowded day by day. This is why the increasing dirt and dust everyday have polluted the three cities prominent for their heritage sites. The Kathmandu Valley boasts of seven World Heritage Sites, all of which can be accessed in a single day.
But Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur, the three cities of the valley which are known as the cities of temples, now are on the verge of losing their attraction.
It is because tall buildings all across the cities have obliterated the ancient structures that hold architectural and logical significance.
What is poignant to note here is that the valley has greatly lost open spaces, a grim fact that was realised the most when the devastating earthquake hit the country, including Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur six years ago.
From among some great monuments and sites that possess precious art objects, the government has declared its resolve to restore them which were reduced to rubble by the earthquake.
But what worries one is that the talks regarding the restoration of the lost art sites hit by the earthquake have taken a somewhat bizarre turn.
The specter of the UNESCO axe on Nepal's rich heritage sites may not be so much due to its failure to rebuild the heritage which was damaged in the earthquake. There may be some other reasons, too.
The reasons for UNESCO placing Nepal's World Heritage Sites in danger could be due to less respect and gross disregard for the local heritage by the local planners and politicians and also the messy urbanisation that has turned the Kathmandu Valley into a ghetto valley that once used to boast of its spendid beauty with greenery.
Actually, it could be because of some factors that are threatening the valley's heritage over than Nepal's inability to raise the fallen sites.
No lobbying will help unless proper works are done in this regard. Therefore, the concerned authorities should pay special attention to this fact as soon as possible.
Nepal is a country that is replete with tangible and intangible art works whose management is far from satisfactory, especially after the earthquake of April 2015. The efforts of individuals, the government and friendly countries are crucial in this context.
To manage the existing heritage sites of the Kathmandu Valley, resources are needed.
It is also important to keep intact the aesthetic and cultural values of the premises by not allowing people to sell everything from fish to meat.
In fact, the more we preserve our heritage sites, the more we can get return from the visitors.
A version of this article appears in the print on June 9, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
