Balgopaleshwor to be built in Shikhar style

Kathmandu, Nov. 28:The Balgopaleshwor Temple of Ranipokhari will be built in Shikhar style.

The government has decided to rebuild the temple in its original Shikhar style, Sushil Gyawali, Chief Executive Officer of the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA), said at a meeting of the Development and Technology Committee (DTC) of the Parliament on Wednesday.

Dispute on the design of the temple has delayed the reconstruction of the temple, which was completely damaged in the devastating earthquake in 2015,more than three years ago.

The debate was about whether to build the temple in dome style as reconstructed by Rana Prime Minister Junga Bahadur and Juddha Shumsher or in Granthakuta style – a variant of Shikhar Style – as originally built by King Pratap Malla in 1670.

The Department of Archaeology (DoA) was rebuilding the temple, which is opened only on Bhaitika day during Tihar festival, in dome style as it was before the quake while the KMC and locals demanded that the temple should be built as per its original Granthakuta style.

Although multiple study teams were formed to resolve the issue in the past two years, the dispute remained as it was while the DoA tendered out the temple for reconstruction in dome style and the contractor built the ground storey of the temple as well, but a committee formed by the reconstruction body recently recommended Shikhar style and also prescribed the architectural map of the temple.

Gyawali also said that instead of bricks, black soil and sand will be used to create the bed of the pond, and the government was planning to use water from Melamchi Water Supply Project as the backup supply system for the Ranipokhari since no source of water was found.

The lawmakers raised questions on the slow progress of reconstruction and use of funds.

“Less than half of the estimated reconstruction budget has been used so far, and it seems that there is no plan to complete the work in the next two years. The government has not also told about the methods of collecting the remaining fund,” said Yagya Raj Sunuwar.

Ganesh Pahadi recommended that the NRA officials should not be transferred till the rebuilding campaign is over.

He also said that people are still residing in the houses partially damaged by the quake and there might be accidents in the future so the government should provide them concessional loans to rebuild their houses in order to maintain their safety.

The DTC directed the NRA to find the required amount as the available funds were not sufficient to cover all the costs of reconstruction.

It also directed the reconstruction body to provide additional Rs. 50,000 to the beneficiaries that are in the risky group as soon as possible.

Likewise, it drew attention towards identifying the landless people and finding a solution to support them in building houses.

Gyawali said that the reconstruction of the private houses would be completed within the current fiscal year 2018/19.

“More than 77 per cent beneficiaries are rebuilding their houses while 43 per cent of them have alreadycompleted their houses. And the reconstruction of health, education, water supply and other facilities is moving ahead at the desired speed,” he said.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 29 November 2018.