Rato Machhindranath reconstruction in limbo

By A Staff Reporter,Lalitpur, Feb. 3: Reconstruction of the much-awaited Shikhar-styled Rato Machhindranath temple in Bungamati, Lalitpur, has been left in limbo again since September 19, 2023, due to the lack of budget. 

Also, the term of the Rato Machhindranath Temple Reconstruction Consumer’s Committee has not been extended.  

Earlier, the fate of the famous temple was pushed into uncertainty after the government of Sri Lanka withdrew its support for the temple reconstruction project because of controversies over the use of construction materials and other issues. 

Thereafter, the government had given the responsibility of reconstructing the temple to the Rato Machhindranath Temple Reconstruction Consumer’s Committee (RMTRCC), and the reconstruction works of the temple were being carried out by the Department of Archaeology.

“We have completed around 80 per cent of construction works. But the construction works have been stopped for the last four and a half months because of the financial crises and the term of the project was also not extended,” said Amir Shakya, Chairman of the Consumers’ Committee. 

The deadline for the project ended in June last year, but the DoA has not extended the term nor has it allocated the budget to complete the remaining works, he said. On June 29, 2020, an agreement was signed with the DoA to hand over the project to Rato 

Machhindranath Temple Reconstruction Consumer’s Committee (RMTRCC) after Prera, Thegim and Tulsi Joint Venture company, which was rebuilding the temple with financial assistance from the Sri Lankan government, abandoned the reconstruction work.

The RMTRCC had begun the reconstruction work of the temple after holding a special worship on July 4, 2020. 

The RMTRCC had agreed to complete the reconstruction work at the cost of Rs. 30.8 million.

Shakya said that the committee had dispatched a letter to the DoA asking for the extension of the term and allocation of the budget 15 days before the deadline was to expire. However, the DoA has not yet responded to the letter. 

To reconstruct the temple, the DoA has allocated Rs. 24.3 million to the committee so far. The committee had submitted the bills of expenses amounting to Rs. 3.3 million and other expenses of Rs. 1.9 million at 

the DoA at the end of the project’s deadline, which was also not cleared by the DoA, he said.  Rs. 1.9 million was spent to pull down the parts of the one-story structure built earlier and refix it.

“We have completed the construction of the ground floor after rectifying the mistakes made by the earlier contractor,” said Shakya, adding, “The contractor had installed the door without repairing the damaged part and without adding the missing parts of the door. It took us a lot of time to correct them.”  

Recently, Lalitpur Metropolitan City (LMC) announced that it would complete the remaining reconstruction works. 

The winter session meeting of the metropolis recently decided to allocate a budget of Rs. 10 million to rebuild the temple, said Raju Maharjan, spokesperson for the LMC. 

Stating that the temple of archaeological importance, which is a cultural heritage, should not be left in an abandoned situation, the metropolis has decided to complete the remaining works on its own," said Maharjan.

Sabita Neupane, an archaeological officer at the Department of Archaeology, said that the Department of Archaeology has not been able to decide on the extension of the term of the users' committee due to the lack of law.

The Rato Machhindranath temple located in Ward No. 22 of Lalipur Metropolis, was destroyed by the devastating earthquake of 2015. When most of the other temples and monuments damaged by the quake had already been rebuilt, the reconstruction of the Rato Machhindranath temple was unnecessarily delayed.