Job of nobody!

Kathmandu, Apr. 24:

The southern part of the Kathmandu Durbar Square has a tall, scary structure that menacingly stands among the locals and visitors.

That is the liaison office of the Nepal Sanskrit University (NSU), which boasts artistic Nepali windows and doors.

The four and a half-storey building has been there with multiple cracks, on the support of a dozen props, since the devastating Gorkha Earthquake.

"I have seen the building since I was a child," said Pushpalal Shrestha, 69, a local resident, who lives nearby.  “We are living in a constant fear that even a mild tremor can cause the building collapse which can be dangerous as there are many people hanging around the area."

Pushkar Karki, a curio trader at the Basantapur Dabali, also said that the cracks in the building are threatening. “But, there is nowhere we can go. We have to do our business in order to make our both ends meet,” he said.

While reconstruction of more than a dozen monuments within the Basantapur Durbar Square is going on in a full swing, the age-old building of NSU there remains as it is after the quake hit it on 25 April 2015.

It is due to the total negligence of the authorities and concerned stakeholders that the building facing the ‘Dabali’ or the space in the square got neither the attention nor the budget for its reconstruction.

The National Reconstruction Authority (NRA), Kathmandu Valley Development Trust, China, Japan International Cooperation Agency, United State of America, Kasthamandap Reconstruction Committee and Museum Reconstruction Committee are active in the restoration of one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the country but none has taken the responsibility of the architectural piece that once was a part of the Kumari Bahaal.

None of the concerned authorities including NRA, Department of Archaeology (DoA), Central Project Implementation Unit (CPIU) at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST), University Grant Commission (UGC) and the NSU know about the rebuilding of the heritage.

The NRA said that the reconstruction of education building was the responsibility of the CIPU at the MoEST while its Chief Imanarayan Shrestha stated that the reconstruction of such structure would be managed by the UGC.

However, the UGC officials reiterated that it was the CPIU’s responsibility. An officer said that the UGC had recommended the MoEST for the reconstruction of the building.

“Some of the educational structures are neglected so far, therefore we are working to bring them under our supervision. These buildings are likely to be reconstructed with the money from the Indian support through the Exim Bank,” said Shrestha.

DoA’s Acting Director General Damodar Gautam said that his agency was responsible for the reconstruction of more than century old heritages so the building would be rebuilt by other concerned agencies.

NRA Chief Executive Officer Sushil Gyawali also made similar comments while talking to the press on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, MSU, the main stakeholder, seems not caring the building of its liaison office at all.

A source at the University’s main office said that there was neither any discussion about the reconstruction of the building nor initiatives to manage funds for the same. 

The university has been padlocked by the students for the last six months and there were no activities from its authorities.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 25 April 2019.