A plea to save one of Kathmandu’s last open spaces

Kathmandu, Nov. 25: Conservationists and heritage lovers are up in arms about Kathmandu Metropolitan City’s decision to build a triple basement underground parking under the Khulla Manch. 

Last week, a meeting of the metro’s executive decided to begin the procedure to prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the underground parking under the Manch, which is a section of Kathmandu’s Tundikhel.

In the meeting, Mayor Balendra Shah had put forth the proposal to prepare the DPR for the parking structure as well as a water recharge system under one of the last remaining open spaces in Kathmandu. The City had also included this project in its Policy and Programmes for the fiscal year 2022/23.

However, this has invited the ire of heritage campaigners who worry that the subterranean structure will not only affect the ground but also impact the underground water system and cause the city’s traditional spouts and urban water sources to go dry.

Bijaya Shrestha, coordinator of Occupy Tundikhel, a movement to conserve the space that many call ‘Kathmandu’s lungs,’ told The Rising Nepal that they would submit a memorandum to Mayor Shah about the issue. “We will call for dialogue to find solution.” 

Meanwhile, activist Ganapati Lal Shrestha said that the metropolitan’s decision came as a shock to everyone. “Khulla Manch is located in Kathmandu Ward No. 28 but the ward chair himself was not aware of this,” he said, exclaiming that no one who identifies as a heritage-lover could take such a decision.

He also said that campaigners had asked Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) officials about the DPR and were told that it was only for study purposes. “But Khulla Manch is not suitable to be used for any kind of parking – overground or underground. So why even conduct a study?” he exclaimed.   

Ganapati also said that the Occupy campaign was presently collecting documents and relevant information to make their case for a construction-free Khulla Manch stronger.

It is worth noting that a triple basement underground parking – exactly the kind KMC has thought of building under the Manch – is being constructed at Sundhara in the new Dharahara complex. Similarly, the multi-storied view tower that KMC is building at Old Bus Park will also have facilities for parking. Space can also be managed at Kathmandu Mall’s basement parking. 

“The operation of these parking spaces will greatly minimise the area’s current parking woes,” Ganapati shared, pleading to the City to not eye a section of a ground that has already been greatly encroached and is a quarter of the size it was just a century ago. “It is the only open ground left that recharges Kathmandu’s underground water.”

For now though, conservationists, heritage lovers and members of the civil society have planned to hold a demonstration on Saturday and form a human chain to put pressure on the local government.