Nepal

Kathmandu Metropolitan City Mayor Balendra Shah has snubbed a group of activists campaigning to protect the capital’s largest open ground, Tundikhel, an activist said.

Shah refused to meet members of #OccupyTundikhel group when they went to KMC office to hand over a memorandum protesting against a new to develop an underground parking facility at Khulla Mancha, or the open air theatre.

Sanjaya Adhikari, the spokesperson of #OccupyTundikhel campaign said Balen Shah didn’t just decline to meet the group but informed that he would not be free to meet them until mid-January.

In Shah’s absence, Deputy Mayor Sunita Dangol and Chief Administrative Office Basanta Adhikari received the memorandum, he added.

Dangol informed the campaigners that her office was currently preparing to carry out a feasibility study of an underground parking facility at Khulla Manch, according to him.

The Manch is part of an extended Tundhikhel which, until 1950s, stretched from Dasarath Stadium at Tripureshwor to Rani Pokhari at Jamal. However, the open space has shrunk significantly in recent decades thanks to urban infrastructure development by various government agencies, including the Nepali Army and KMC.

 #OccupyTundikhel campaigners say Tundikhel serves as the much-needed open space for Kathmandu residents who need it in times of natural disaster such as earthquake. Another reason it needs to be preserved, they say, is because the open ground helps recharge ground water aquifers of the inner city.