The illegally constructed buildings in the Kathmandu Metropolitan City have been receiving deathly blows deservedly from the demolition squads of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City. Its Mayor Balendra Shah with his tail up after the recently accomplished landslide victory as the mayor that too as an independent candidate in the midst of the political party-dominated polity could be seen personally present in many of these demolitions. It has restored, however marginally, the beauty of the city as written by poet Bhanubhakta Acharya alakapuri kantipuri nigari, meaning Kathmandu then known a heavenly city.
The construction of unauthorised construction and its demolition have been marked by its omnipresence, especially in this part of the world. Recently, in Patna India, the concerned authority conducted a demolition drive where 90 illegal houses were converted into rubble in no matter of time. The bulldozers rolled on the 20 acre site after the metropolitan city served a 35 day notice to this effect. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has carried out similar operations where some 500 structures have perished from early this year till now. Many more are waiting for such misfortune not only in India and Nepal but other countries of this region as well.
This unpleasant state of affairs has come into being due to the lapse of the local government and the tendency to breach the law by the house owners. The local government should have a mechanism to know in advance of such illegitimate construction. The owners also should not engage in such an unlawful act. The politicians should act firmly without fearing the loss of votes in the election.
The present campaign appears to have twin objectives. Firstly, it is to keep the building within the provision of the by-laws. Many buildings have protruded beyond the limit. These were then pruned to assume their approved size. Secondly, it is also to ensure that building usage follows according to what was planned. For example, many building owners had given the basement on rent for shopping when it was initially planned for parking. This is also responsible for the traffic congestion in Kathmandu. The Department of Passport was one of such defaulters. The unlawful structures built around the Kathmandu Mall also had a similar fate as were other such structures in the periphery. This action came into being after the city had sent a 35- day notice to address the lawbreaking construction.
Kathmandu has witnessed such acts several times in the past. But most of them had to suffer a pre-mature death because of the stay order verdict of the court. However, there were also a few successes even if they appeared as an island in the midst of oceanic failures. The Maiti Ghar area is one of the glaring examples.
The most successful, however, is the road extension drive initiated by the then Prime Minister Babu Ram Bhattarai. It is because of his adventurous act that Kathmandu proudly displays fairly wider streets at the present. The ever increasing fleet of vehicles in Nepal and particularly in Kathmandu has made them appear narrow. One can imagine how miserable the situation would have been had the extension drive not been launched by the Bhattarai government.
The illegally constructed structures of the city need to be flattened if the purpose is to restore its aesthetic beauty. The beautification drives of Paris and New York prove this point.
The grand reconstruction undertaken in the heart of Paris carried out by Napoleon with the assistance of the public official, Boron Eugene Hausmann, after he came to power in the year 1848 is well known round the globe. This was the time when Junga Bahadur had just grabbed power through a bloody massacre infamously known as Kot Parba in Nepal. Later, the grand construction was criticised due to astronomical increase in the cost of the construction. The criticism assumed such a pitched note that Napoleon had to fire Haussman from the job. The extension has provided such a beautiful face to Paris that millions of tourists who travel around the globe make it a point to catch a glimpse of Paris every year.
New York also got a face lift after Governor Al Smith and public administrator Robert Moses put their act together in the building of several parks, bridges, housing units and play grounds in the forties. Robert Moses, in particular, was considered to be brilliant, forceful and adept in political manipulation.
Everybody has welcomed the present move. But they are also concerned whether this drive will reach its logical end. Often it has been seen in the past that such noble motives are nipped in their bud. Because the success of such endeavours hinges on several factors.
Tej Kumar Karki, who worked as the chief of Kathmandu Valley Development Planning Implementation Committee, has written in an article entitled "What makes big and difficult policy enforcement possible: a success story from Kathmandu Metropolitan City" that the main factors that led to the success of the road extension drive were policy attention at the highest political level, initial institutional resistance for taking action, work in progress, response of the public protest and court cases, compensation and nature of demolition, social message and policy diffusion and implementation challenges.
Bhattarai was successful to have a policy concurrence at the highest level; even the protesting parliamentarians were taken into custody for some time; the work went uninterrupted despite protests and court cases; people were paid the compensation due to them and, above all, it sent a good social message.
The secret to the success is how much Shah can maintain the impartiality that he has displayed so far. Just as Hausmann demolished his own house as it fell on the extension route, he should not bother to dismantle his or his near ones' house as well if the need arises. It will send a fitting message for the success of his campaign.
Illegally constructed structures of the city need to be flattened if the purpose is to restore its aesthetic beauty. The beautification drives of Paris and New York prove this point. The grand reconstruction undertaken in the heart of Paris carried out by Napoleon with his official, Boron Eugene Hausmann, is well known round the globe
A version of this article appears in the print on August 30, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.