KATHMANDU: The Indian technical team, which was to conduct the feasibility study of the proposed cleaning of the Bagmati River, has yet to arrive here.

The study team was supposed to arrive in the capital early September.

Two months ago, the government had prepared the Bagmati Action Plan to reclaim its grandeur but the implementation of the plan has now fallen through for want of a feasibility study.

"We were told that the technical team will be in Nepal by early September. We are taken aback why they haven't arrived yet," said Mahesh Basnet, Chairman, High Powered Committee for Integrated Development of the Bagmati Civilisation.

It has been learnt that Prime Minister Madhav Nepal had held talks with his Indian counterpart Dr Man Mohan Singh on the matter during visit to Egypt in July.

Basnet said he had raised the matter with the government officials who he said assured technical and financial support from India.

The Supreme Court in October 21 served a three-month ultimatum to the government to clean up the Bagmati River.

"It's not possible to clean the Bagmati in three months but the ground work would have begun," said Basnet, one of the officials summoned by the apex to furnish an explanation for disobeying the verdict passed by the court to clean the Bagmati.

An estimated Rs 16 billion has been earmarked for the implementation of the Bagmati Action Plan that was finalised three months ago. Meanwhile, Basnet said the plan would be implemented even if India delays the assistance.

But critics maintain that the present setup of the High powered Committee for Integrated Development of the Bagmati Civilization will not take off even with donors' assistance.

"There is a Herculean challenge before the committee to clean the river given the inadequate infrastructure in place and few engineers at its disposal," a highly placed source said, requesting anonymity.

The source also said that Indians were already raising question as to the institutional capacity of the high-powered committee to implement the project.

"Although the name of the committee is high powered, it is still powerless in legal sense of the term," he said, adding, "We don't have any authority to fine or punish anyone polluting Bagmati."

Basnet, meanwhile, dismissed the claim saying that an act to fully empower the committee had already been drafted by the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works and is currently in the cabinet for approval.