Hanuman Dhoka conservation works come to grinding halt
KATHMANDU: The much-touted Hanuman Dhoka Durbar Conservation Programme (HDDCP), which has been established for preserving the cultural sites of famous Hanuman Dhoka Durbar Square, has come to a standstill since a week as dispute ensued between the locals and the employee unions of Kathmandu Metropolitan City.
The programme has been halted after the Union padlocked the account section and the office of the programme manager, demanding that the newly-appointed three collectors be fired from their respective offices.
Hari Kumar Shrestha, programme manager of HDDCP, said that a group of employee unions affiliated to KMC and a few locals came up to his office and padlocked it.
“We had recruited three new temporary staffs as collectors to fill the vacant position,” said Shrestha. But the Union allege that Shrestha showed favouritism in the appointment.
“This is an allegation, a false charge against me,” Shrestha added.
Ishwor Shyami, a local resident and the president of Basantapur Community Tole Improvement Committee, said that they had padlocked the office from November 30 onwards but said the police forcefully reopened the office on December 4.
Shyami and other protesters demand that the development work should begin at ward no 19,20, 23 and 25.Locals of these wards had requested the employee union to lobby for their cause.
Meanwhile, Deepak Koirala, deputy executive officer of KMC, said that the dispute was of trivial internal problem of KMC and would be resolved at the earliest.
He further informed that they were holding talks on Thursday, to sort out the row.
