Sunsari, March 1

There has been a long delay in the construction of a water tank at Bijayapur in Dharan sub-metropolis, Sunsari, due to a longstanding dispute over the site of the proposed water tank.

Dharan Drinking Water Project had cleared a patch of forest area in the Bijapur Durbar Area in Dharan-13 and 14 about a year ago with the aim of constructing a water tank with a capacity of 600,000 litres.

The drinking water project for Dharan was funded by the Asian Development Bank.

Work on the water tank, however, had come to a stop after the indigenous communities of the municipality protested the chosen site lay in a historic area of great archaeological value.

The dispute has further worsened recently after the Department of Archaeology reportedly carried out an excavation at the site and submitted a report to the sub-metropolis.

In the report, they cited lack of any archaeological findings from the excavation, thus giving the full go-ahead for the proposed construction of the water tank. The Federation of Indigenous Nationalities Dharan Chairman Subas Hukpa Chongwang,however, took exception to the so-called excavation itself.

“It was totally unfair of the municipality staff to carry out what they called an excavation without giving us notice,” he said, adding they wouldn’t accept the report of the excavation done without their participation.

“Even the government has included Bijayapur Durbar in its list of historical and archaeological sites, so there is no way we can allow construction of anything that will undermine the historical and archeological value of the site,” said Chongwang, who is also the head of the Bijayapur Durbar Area Struggle Committee.

Meanwhile, Dharan sub-metropolis chief Tara Subba questioned the rationale behind the protest, saying the excavation was done in line with an agreement with the communities concerned. “We launched excavation after reaching an 18-point agreement with four organisations,” he said.