Lekhnath, June 9:

A meeting of stakeholders gave a go-ahead for the demolition of some 1,500 houses built without meeting construction standards along the Prithvi Chowk-Kotre section of the Prithvi Highway.

Local leaders of political parties, officials of the Kaski District Administration Office and the Pokhara City Development Committee took part in the meeting held at the Pokhara-based

Regional Road Directorate (RRD) yesterday.

The houses were constructed by violating the construction standards set by the Supreme Court on June 6, 2006.

The Supreme Court had ruled that houses can be constructed only at a distance of 75 feet on the both sides from the middle of the road.

The road division office will demolish the houses if the owners do not demolish them within the given time-frame.

Meanwhile, protesting the decision, the owners of the sub-standard houses staged a sit-in at the Regional Road Directorate office in Pokhara throughout the day yesterday.

They also demanded that they be given three months to demolish their houses.

The house-owners padlocked the Regional Road Directorate while the meeting was going on.

Activists of the Maoist-affiliated Young Communist League will help carry out the demolition drive.