Pokhara Metropolitan City, which suffered losses worth Rs 500 million due to the protests, is preparing to wait for the federal government's policy on the reconstruction and, if nothing comes immediately, to make financial sense by cutting the budget for major projects.
What you should know
Pokhara is the city where protesters have suffered the most damage to government offices during the Gen-G movement. 107 government offices have been damaged.
The Pokhara Metropolitan City office and 26 out of 33 ward offices were damaged due to arson and vandalism by protesters.
While an internal assessment of the damage is underway, the Metropolitan City is still in doubt about how to finance the reconstruction. The Metropolitan City plans to wait for the Union Government's reconstruction policy and, if the Union does not take any action, manage the finances from the current fiscal year's budget. For this, the Metropolitan City has suspended the implementation of plans with a budget of more than 1 million rupees.
The executive meeting of the Metropolitan City held on Kartik 2 had decided not to immediately implement all plans with a budget of more than 1 million rupees that were to be put out to tender in the Red Book of the current fiscal year 2082-83. The plans worth 1 million rupees that the Consumer Committee can work on are still being implemented.
Mayor Dhanraj Acharya said that the contract process for such plans has been stopped for the time being as the status of the grants given by the federal government and the issue of financial assistance for reconstruction needs to be looked into. ‘The budget had to be ensured when going to the tender. It is said that the grant will also be cut,’ he said, ‘There is no written information whether the federal government will provide anything for reconstruction or not. That is why we have taken this decision because we had to reduce the amount and reconstruct.’
He said that the issue of amending the red book or transferring the amount is under discussion in the city council. He said that they are not in favor of just waiting for the federal government’s decision. He said that a decision will be made within this week on the immediately postponed plans with a budget of over 1 million. ‘The road can be built next year too. But the office has to be built! That is why we stopped it during the discussion. We did not wait forever. We will also decide on the projects worth over Rs 1 million within this week,' he said.
During the protest, 14 out of 33 wards of the metropolis building were completely damaged and 10 wards were partially damaged. The remaining 9 ward offices are safe. The damaged ward offices are providing services from their original locations after repair and cleaning. The services provided by the metropolis are provided by the Pokhara Assembly Hall, the fire brigade building and the division.
The metropolis has assessed the damage to the metropolis and ward buildings, vehicles, furniture, and other structures due to vandalism and arson to be around Rs 500 million. It is not certain how many projects will be cut to invest in the damaged structures.
Chief Administrative Officer Muktiram Aryal estimated that 50 percent of the total projects are worth Rs 1 million. 'There are fewer people in the wards who are over Rs 1 million. There are people in the metropolis.' It is estimated that 50 percent of the projects are below Rs 1 million,' he added, 'Let's implement the urgently needed Rs 1 million project. Otherwise, the decision will be taken by the municipal council in Mangsir, otherwise in Poush.'
