Only traditional-style house construction allowed in Bandipur

By Amar Raj Naharki Tanahun, June 20: The Bandipur Rural Municipality also known as Mountain Queen has banned the construction of modern houses to establish it as a model city of traditional houses. According to the municipality, the ban has been imposed as the modern houses would harm the originality of the place.

The main attractions of Bandipur are the traditional houses with carved windows, doors and verandas, and the pagoda style houses outside brick designs. In the 18th century, Newars from Bhaktapur and Banepa had built Bhaktapur-style houses and paved roads in Bandipur. 

Chairman of Bandipur Rural Municipality Surendra Thapa informed that installation of shutters and channel gates and aluminum windows and doors during house construction has been banned in the municipality. 

Chairman Thapa said that an arrangement has been made with the community forest to provide sal wood at cheaper price to the furniture businessman in the municipality. "We have written a letter to the villagers to buy wood from the community forest to build an original house. We have made an arrangement to buy wood five times cheaper," said Chairman Thapa. The municipality informed that the design of the house would not be passed if it is found with the channel gate and shutter. 

As it is a tourist destination, the original and traditional house will help to increase the business, so arrangements have been made for the purchase of timber at concessional rates, said the municipality. With the increase in tourist arrivals in Bandipur, the number of new houses being built has increased. There is a growing trend of building big resorts with large investments. 

Bikash Shrestha, who is currently doing tourism business in Bandipur from his home in Kathmandu, is constructing a new resort from Kathmandu with an investment of around Rs. 180 million. They have already started the business though additional infrastructure work is underway. Shrestha said that the house was built in a traditional way to support the preservation of Bandipur's identity even though it was expensive. 

Raju Bania, former chairman of Bandipur Community Homestay, said that the municipality should not allow shortage of concessional wood to maintain the traditional home town of Bandipur. Bania suggested that the community forests within Bandipur village should be exported only after the demand of the villagers is met in order to remove the compulsion to buy wood at higher prices.

The Newar community had developed Bandipur as the main trading centre from various cities of India to Tibet. Bandipur was deserted due to the Prithvi Highway passing through Dumre, bypassing Bandipur Bazaar and shifting the headquarters of Tanahun from Bandipur to Damauli in 1968. 

According to local Gobhardhan Bhattarai, social worker and tourism entrepreneur, Santa Kumar Shrestha had helped in the development of Bandipur as a tourist destination by investing large sum in 'Bandipur Mountain Resort'. Radio Bandipur has been brought into operation for tourism development of Bandipur with Shrestha's major investment. 

Apart from the original attractions, the main attractions are art, culture of various castes, stone-paved roads, various monasteries, spacious tundikhel, martyr's park, goat research centre, silk farming, paragliding, etcetera. Half an hour downhill from Bandipur, tourists are attracted by the observation of Siddha Cave, one of the largest caves in Asia, waterfront on Marshyangdi River, canyoning in Chhangdi, lightning climb on Chunpahara and beautiful scenery.