Moving the entry point to Dukuchhap will enable an easy connection of the Expressway with other roads and highways entering Kathmandu and Lalitpur
The development of modern era infrastructures remains one of the biggest challenges facing Nepal. Such construction drive should, however, not come at the cost of its environment and ancient traditions.
These days, news reports are abuzz with what is happening in Taplejung where local indigenous groups are resisting the construction of a cable car that would disrupt and disrespect the sacred site of Mukkumulung.
Yet, we should also remember another indigenous community's struggle that has been ongoing against the Kathmanndu-Tarai/Madhes Fast Track. The Expressway is worrisome because it has been designed against the will of tens of thousands of indigenous Newa people of Khokana and Bungamati.
They are, however, not anti-development. In fact, they have already sacrificed a lot of their lands for many earlier "development" projects such as Radio Nepal's station and Bhaisepati town planning that brought them little benefits.
Nor are they opposing the construction of the entire Expressway. And to avoid any equivocations or misconceptions, it is not even a question of asking for higher compensation for their lands. Instead, it is a quest for dignity and respect of one of the most important and richest civilizations in the whole Himalayan range.
Both Khokana and Bungamati are considered as the cradles of Newa civilisation with primordial rites that have been preserved with pride and responsibility. The key problem is that the Expressway is going to literally destroy many key sites of enormous archeological and historical significance.
The lives of Newa communities in both Khokana and Bungamati are still deeply entrenched in what is now an at-risk heritage of inestimable value. We are talking about customs that are still observed with care and love because the entire identities of the locals, their sense of meaning and role in society, still depend on them.
The lands that will be encroached by the Expressway will also brutally and adversely impact the livelihoods of thousands of families, who mostly rely on agriculture for survival like their predecessors. Those are among the last remaining farmlands and open spaces in the south of Kathmandu.
The core issue that is still unresolved is that the Fast Track will gravely impact the most sacred and venerated places in Khokana, where its starting point is planned. More precisely, the Expressway will pass through Sikali hill, where the Sikali Temple lies and Sikali Jatra is observed annually when masked locals dance worshipping the Goddess Rudrayani. A lot of Guthi lands of Goddess Rudrayani, among other Guthis, will also be appropriated, which will affect the rituals of the main temple of Khokana itself.
The planned route then dissects through other archaeologically and religiously important areas, including in Ku Dey where the people of Khokana believe their ancestors first established the settlement.
Along the alignment of the Expressway are numerous cultural and historical places as well as ceremonial paths and funeral and cremation sites and routes – so, traditional rituals of Newa people of Khokana carried out from birth to death will be disrupted.
In relation to Bungamati, the Expressway will expropriate the Guthi lands of another holy deity Bunga Dyah (Rato Machindranath) venerated by the Newa communities of Lalitpur and the entire Kathmandu Valley. There are also Guthi lands endowed for priests and others such as those who cut wood to build the chariot for Bunga Dyah Jatra – the longest chariot festival in Nepal. Loss of all those lands will impact not only the festival but even daily worship of the God of Rain.
Even the Kuruwa Daha (wrongly called Katuwal Daha) – the pond from where the holy bath water for the deity is sourced – will be endangered due to the Expressway. It will also destroy Kumara Khya, or the field of Kumari, the living goddess, of Bungamati where one of the most ancient religious processions of the Kathmandu Valley takes place.
Further, proposed to intersect with or around the Expressway's entry point is an Outer Ring Road that will pass through and impact many other traditional Newa settlements around the valley, and a "smart" city to settle hundreds of thousands of new inhabitants.
Projects on the cards also include a river corridor along the banks of the Bagmati river as well as a railway line and a petroleum pipeline coming from the south of the country. If all those are implemented, there will be no farmlands left in Khokana and Bungamati, and the people themselves will also be displaced.
Over more than a decade of opposition to those ill-planned infrastructure projects that denigrate and mock a whole civilisation, the Newa communities in Khokana and Bungamati have been organised and in action to safeguard their lands, cultures and identity. Unfortunately, the peaceful struggle of the citizens has not yielded any breakthrough.
For example, it is almost unfathomable to comprehend how it is possible that the Environmental Impact Assessment of the Fast Track Expressway finalised in 2015 with support of the Asian Development Bank has never been published or officially shared with those affected.
Nonetheless, there have been some positive developments lately. The Lalitpur Metropolitan City, under which Khokana and Bungamati are situated, has expressly conveyed to the Federal Government an alternative put forth by the locals to shift the entry point of the Expressway to Dukuchhap. This is a game-changing proposition because it will also enable an easy connection of the Expressway with other roads and highways entering Kathmandu and Lalitpur.
Moving the entry point of the Expressway from Khokana to Dukuchhap, where the locals have given their consent to the construction, is the best way forward.
With a strong option on the table that can solve this outrageous stalemate for good, will PM Oli and those in the political decision-making seize the momentum and put an end to an unconscionable situation?
