KATHMANDU, AUGUST 26
After demolishing illegal structures in New Baneshwor yesterday, demolition team of Kathmandu Metropolitan City reached the Department of Passport in Tirpureshwor today.
The team led by Mayor Balendra Shah demolished illegal structures in the basement of the DoP and vacated it for parking.
The KMC team first conducted an on-site monitoring and inspection to ascertain whether or not the government office had complied with the legal provision requiring to set aside 20 per cent of land area before swinging into action.
During the monitoring and inspection, the basement was found to have been used as a holding room for service-seekers against the purpose for which it was built - parking.
Mayor Shah instructed the city police to remove dozens of conjoined chairs from the basement so that service-seekers could park their vehicles there. Hundreds of service-seekers visiting the DoP were compelled to park their vehicles, especially, two-wheelers on the roadside or somewhere else at their own risk after one of the busiest government offices did not provide parking facility to them. The DoP has been told to use the basement for parking purpose only.
Raju Pandey, chief of the city police, said the basement was not even fit for using as a holding room for service-seekers due to lack of proper and adequate ventilation provisioning.
Mayor Shah said buildings were permitted to have basements so that they could be used for parking, not for renting out to vendors.
He urged all to follow building rules and threatened action against violators. "Everyone has to do their bit to make metropolis a better place to live in," he added.
The DoP later published a notice stating that from August 28, the basement of the DoP will be used as parking area.
Meanwhile, former urban development minister Ram Kumari Jhakri, who is also CPN (United Socialist) secretary, was all praise for Mayor Balendra Shah for taking the initiative to raze illegal structures.
She claimed that when she had tried to do the same, she faced political roadblock.
A version of this article appears in the print on August 27, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
