Nepal

As water is being channelled through Melamchi tunnel to reservoirs in Sundarijal, Kathmandu residents are excited at the prospects of a regular water supply in the dry season.

There are apprehensions, though.  

In the budget statement for the current fiscal 2022–23, the government has decided to dissolve the Melamchi Water Supply Development Board (MWSDB) and to arrange the work carried out by the project under the Department of Water Supply and Sewerage Management.

However, neither procedure has been implemented yet, leaving 61 board employees without pay. 

Board’s Executive Director Kamal Raj Shrestha cleared the staff salary arrears at Dashain, but they have not been paid since September. They threatened to halt the water supply to Kathmandu if the government did not pay their salaries.

“It was an ill-advised decision to dissolve the board when the Melamchi water supply project is still in progress,” said Rishiram Paudel, the chair of the MWSDB staff union.

He claimed the decision could jeopardise the project’s second phase. 

The project, whose current supply capacity stands at 170 million litres a day, plans to divert water from Yangri and Larke rivers to Melamchi to supply an additional 340 million litres a day. 

The board is said to have "unnecessarily prolonged the project", taking too long to complete critical work on schedule.

"The project's development took longer than anticipated, but we are not to blame for that,” said Rajendra Pant, a senior divisional engineer at the MWSDB. It was delayed due to natural disasters and political issues, among other reasons.” 

Yet the project's repair work is being done by an “underpaid and disheartened crew,” he said.

The employees, however, have changed their minds after the government dropped a hint of the board’s reinstatement.

“We hope the government will reinstate the board,” Pant said. “So for the time being, halting the water supply to 5 million people is not an option.”

On Tuesday, a delegation led by newly-elected House of Representatives member and Nepali Congress leader Prakash Man Singh submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, seeking a long-term solution to the Valley's drinking water problem.

The delegation has demanded the implementation of the Melamchi Drinking Water Project to resolve the water crisis.

Other demands in the memorandum included building a drinking water intake after conducting a technical study, necessary preparations for rebuilding damaged structures, and black-topping the road leading up to the source area to allay villagers' fears.

PM Deuba pledged that the government would act swiftly to fulfill the demands. 

Singh, who visited the site of Melamchi headworks last week, stressed the need for reviving the MWSDB while calling for more clarity on the project’s operation in the face of the budget statement.