BARA, MAY 27
The Thursday's Supreme Court verdict over the under-construction Nijgadh International Airport hasn't gone down well with the locals in Bara. They have described the court's verdict as faulty and protested it, calling it as being against prosperity and development.
Former minister and UML leader Purushottam Poudel said it was unfortunate that the court had killed an important project that was already on the way of implementation.
"Apparently, Nijgadh International Airport Project would be a game-changer project and the court's verdict to stop it is out and out unfortunate," he said. "The court's verdict is an anti-development diktat, issued at the behest of foreign agents, so it's the onus on the nationalist citizenry of Nepal to counter such verdict," Poudel added.
Similarly, member of parliament Rambabu Kumar Yadav also criticised the apex court's verdict over the fate of the project and said it had surprised everyone here.
"The court is supposed to suggest things. But, in this particular case, as regards how the court has ruled to scrap all the decisions taken so far in this regard and take the project elsewhere altogether, it doesn't take much to understand the court's aspiration to take on the role of running the country," he observed.
"The court's such verdict at a time when over three billion rupees has already been spent in the preliminary preparation of the project raises serious questions," he added, calling the verdict biased and myopic.
Nepali Congress leader and Mahasamiti member Lokesh Singh also spoke against the court's verdict, calling it a cheating. "The verdict has dashed the dream of prosperity and dampened the excitement of the Madhesis," he said, adding the residents of the district were in favour of the court rectifying its verdict.
CPN-Maoist Madhesh Province committee member Rabiraj Dangal even called the locals to take to an agitation against the apex court's verdict.
A version of this article appears in the print on May 28, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
