KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 17
After nearly six years of obstruction in Khula Manch, an open space in the heart of the capital, Kathmandu Metropolitan City has finally started clearing the site to allow the public easy access.
Khula Manch has been obstructed since the April 2015 earthquakes. Government authorities from the federal and local government had allowed contractors to store construction material for the reconstruction of Durbar High School and Bir Hospital in Khula Manch.
Local from the area and rights activists have been organising various protest programmes in a bid to exert pressure on the government to clear the open space for a long time. But, till now nothing has been done in this regard.
Today, KMC dozers cleared the debris left by the contractors.
KMC has said hey will clear the place within a week.
KMC's Deputy Mayor Hari Prabha Khadgi, who heads the monitoring committee of the local government, said people would get easy access to Khula Manch within a few days.
She said since the reconstruction of Bir Hospital and Durbar High School has been completed, they had started clearing Khula Manch.
Khula Manch used to be one of the core places for mass demonstrations in the past, but due to lack of open space in the capital, political parties were forced to hold mass demonstrations on the roads in recent times.
Khadgi also hoped that the open space in Khula Manch would again serve the same purpose as it used to in the past.
She also informed that they would soon remove the bus park, which has almost occupied half of its total space. KMC had given permission to operate the bus park in April 2017 for three years.
A version of this article appears in the print on February 18, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
