Locals eager to restore Sundhara in indigenous style

BY BINU SHRESTHA

Kathmandu, July 28:“The locals shall now utilise the indigenous knowledge, experience, willpower and an untainted love for heritage to revive Kathmandu’s historic Sundhara and restore its glory.”This is what Chini Kaji Maharjan, chairman of Kathmandu Metropolitan City’s Ward No. 22, told The Rising Nepal when asked about the revival of the famous golden water spout. 

“We have waited a long time for Sundhara to be resuscitated from its current comatose state but the government has not fulfilled its commitment,” an agitated Maharjan said.

The commitment Maharjan is talking about is the one the now-defunct National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) made to the heritage campaigners of Kathmandu that it would bring the Sundhara hiti back to life. As activist Ganapati Lal Shrestha put it, people only agreed to the new Dharahara project because the NRA promised that it would carry forward works related to the preservation of the hiti and the remains of the old Dharahara tower with the highest priority.

“But this did not happen” he complained. “The other structures of the project are almost complete while the hiti remains as is.” He further found it upsetting that the NRA’s term of more than five years expired without it doing anything for Sundhara.

The NRA’s term expired on December 24, 2021. Before that though, in conversations and meetings, the NRA officials had told The Rising Nepal that preservation and renovation works on Sundhara and old Dharahara would start at the end of the overall project after the completion of other projects.

 However, it disbanded before that could happen and handed over that work to the Central Level Project Implementation Unit (CLPIU) of the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction under the Ministry of Urban Development.

Kosh Nath Adhikari, project director of CLPIU, said that discussions had been held with CIETC-Raman JV, the contractor working on the Dharahara project, to locate the water source for the hiti, restore water flow to it and manage a proper outlet channel for drainage.

“But in the current situation where the surrounding areas have been occupied by buildings, it is next to impossible to bring water from the old sources and reinstate the original outlet,” said Sanjaya Nakarmi, project manager for CIETC-Raman.

Furthermore, the current elevation of the old drainage makes it impossible for water to flow with gravitational force alone and requires the use of pumps, he said. 

That is why a nine-metre deep well had been dug in the southeast corner of the new Dharahara premises to collect excess water from the dugout of the spout as well as other parts of the premises. 

“However, locals demand the revival of the old source and exit channel which is not possible in today’s landscape,” Nakarmi said.

Sundhara’s water source and entry channel was destroyed by the construction of the nearby Kathmandu Mall in 2005.

The water channel for Sundhara’s spout lies 6.2 metres underground. There were initial plans to dig six or seven wells in Tundikhel to have water flow from the conduit and also talks of the NRA digging a 23-foot deep channel from the hiti area to Tripureshwor (later changed to Tukucha River) to let unused water out. However, none of this was achieved.

Meanwhile, Kathmandu’s mayor Balen Shah, accompanied by activists, also met Nakarmi and team on July 20 where the former firmly asked the contractor to arrange a natural water source for the hiti or hand it over to them for management.

But Adhikari said that it could not be handed over to the locals as it could affect the government’s doing on other structures in Dharahara area and also hurt its pride.

The locals though have already begun efforts to revive Sundhara on their own and have formed a struggle committee of which Maharjan is also a member. 

“We have begun investigating on the water source and outlet pathway by talking to the elders of the community,” he said.

Sundhara was built by Shah queen Lalit Tripura Sundari in 1828 and is one of only two existing golden water spouts in the Kathmandu Valley.