As a result of the nationwide demonstration on August 24, administrative buildings of 4 out of 6 metropolitan cities of the country including dozens of ward offices, hundreds of vehicles and documents were burnt to ashes. Biratnagar, Birganj, Bharatpur and Pokhara Metropolitan Corporation, which have been arsoned along with vandalism and looting, have put aside the pain of burning to one side and started to work as service users.

All the four metropolises are trying to operate essential services from existing structures and remaining infrastructure. 

A temporary tent has been made by hanging a blue tarpaulin in the premises of Biratnagar metropolis. Metropolitan Deputy Chief Shilpa Nirala Karki is sitting there and analyzing the case. As the head of the judicial committee, she participated in the hearing of three different cases on Wednesday.

Until a few days ago, the courtroom of the metropolis was magnificent, almost like a 'mini court'. But after the demonstration on 24th of August, after the arson, vandalism and looting of the entire metropolis office, now the metropolis is operating Zenten service in a difficult situation . "We are working even in the midst of so much grief so that the service will not be stopped after the office was demolished," said Deputy Chief Nirala, "No work of the service client has been stopped, nor will it be stopped." 

The administrative building has become a ruin due to fire . Law, Health, Revenue, Planning, Sanitation and other branches are working with chairs and tables in the broken rooms.  According to Ankit Bhattarai, engineer of the planning branch, all the files related to the plan have been burnt and destroyed.

"Now there is confusion on how to make the payment," he said. During the demonstration on August 24, 13 out of 19 ward offices, including the metropolitan office, were damaged. Deputy Chief Nirala informed that the details of the damage are being compiled and will be made public soon. "There is no way to estimate the damage," she said, "There has been an unexpected loss." The expert team of Manmohan Technical University has tested the building and concluded that it can be used after repair. After some time, there is a plan of the metropolis to start the repair work of the building after getting an estimate. 

Birgunj and Bharatpur operating Zenten service

Birgunj metropolis has started cleaning services from the next day after the office building was burnt down. Manoj Karna, head of the division, said that the revenue division, which started working from Wednesday, has started working from the office of the information technology branch.

"The original records of the revenue department have all been destroyed, now we are preparing new records by requesting data from the ward offices," he said. The work of the accounting branch was started from the safe immigration project (SAMI) workshop last Thursday . Administration, registration, economic development, agriculture, forest and environment, maps and other works have been started from Monday.

Deputy Chief Imtiaz Alam's work room, he said that the economic, agriculture, forest, environment and other divisions have been brought into operation in the residence room of the city police. He said that the work of paying the salary of the employees has been prioritized.

During the demonstration, it is estimated that the loss of more than 1 billion 150 million was caused by the vandalism, arson and looting of the Birganj Municipal Corporation office. Arvindlal Karna, Chief Administrative Officer, presented a report at the city council meeting held after the demonstration and mentioned the estimated damage.

Four ward offices of the metropolis and some health institutions were vandalized and set on fire, but the details of the damage have not yet come. 17 four-wheelers and 9 motorcycles, including an ambulance, kept in the metropolitan office complex were destroyed by fire.

Due to the arson, the main building of the metropolis and the other building which is the residence of the chief administrative officer have become dilapidated to the point of being unusable, so both buildings have reached a state of needing to be 'disposed'. All departments are working from the remaining three buildings. 

On 24 August, Bharatpur Metropolis has announced that most of the services have been started in the office building. The burnt material has been kept aside near the metropolitan complex. The demonstration was also held in front of the Bharatpur Metropolitan Municipality office on the afternoon of 23 August, the first day when Zen-G called for the movement. During the demonstration, the police fired two rounds of air fire and some cell tear gas .

14 protestors were injured by bullets. On the second day, vandalism and arson took place after demonstrations broke out across the country, including Kathmandu Valley. Many government offices in Chitwan and Bharatpur Metropolitan Municipality office were also not spared from vandalism and arson.

9 out of 29 ward office buildings in the metropolis did not happen. The rest of the ward offices were vandalized and set on fire. Among them, the office buildings of wards 3, 6, 19 and 21 have been damaged to the extent that they cannot be used. "Even though the building was destroyed because it was unusable, we started the service first," said Vikas Thapa, Ward President of Bharatpur-3. The ward office has started service from the city health unit next to the office.

The chief administrative officer of Bharatpur Metropolitan Municipality, Lakshmi Prasad Paudel, said that although the metropolis and the ward office building, all kinds of documents and furniture were almost destroyed by burning, the service started on 26 August. The fire engine and various machine tools in the metropolitan office premises have also been damaged by fire. "If we are to calculate the pearl price, the loss of the metropolis is at least 50 million rupees," said Paudel, the chief administrative officer, "due to the revenue collection software, the work has not started . Recommendations and other works are being done.

He said that due to the burning of the records of the contracted projects, there may be some problems in payment. In the building built by the metropolis for the residence of the city police, the office of the city chief, deputy chief, chief administrative officer etc. has been made . The metropolis plans to put the new administrative building under construction into use within three/four months. Paudel said that a special council meeting of the metropolis is going to be held within 24 October.

Two committees have been formed to find the plan for reconstruction and the sources of the budget for it. The metropolis is preparing to raise the budget by cutting low-priority plans in the current budget. It has been estimated that at least 30 million rupees should be spent on the reconstruction.

The metropolis is going to support Bharatpur's cargo office Chitwan with 10 lakh rupees. On August 24, the Malpot office was burnt down when protesters set it on fire. The metropolis has supported the Malpot Office for the construction of infrastructure and the purchase of equipment needed to start the service immediately.

After starting the service from the office, the employees of the metropolis are worried because the theft has not stopped. We have started to serve. We arranged for electricity and internet, but on 30th of August, the electric wire and router were also stolen . Now, the city police have to be assigned to protect the materials here,' said Paudel, the chief administrative officer. 

'Temporary Pokhara Mahanagar' in the auditorium

The office of the Pokhara Metropolitan Municipality was completely damaged during the demonstration on 24 August. After the previous building was destroyed, Pokhara metropolis has been providing services by designating separate places since October 1.

More customers come to pay revenue compared to other branches. However, due to problems in the server of the Auditor General's office, those who came to pay the revenue are also forced to return . After the Auditor General's Office said that there will be problems with the server till October 10, revenue is now coming to pay very less. Therefore, the work of internal management of the metropolis is being done more from temporary offices. 

Chief administrative officer and head of administration's office and revenue branch are kept in Pokhara auditorium, so many customers come here . By managing some old and new computers, printers and electronic devices, the metropolis has started providing services immediately. City chief Dhanraj Acharya said that at present only temporary services can be provided from alternative places.

'There is a temporary situation now . We have started to print that the work has been stopped due to the lack of report and recommendation for the time being,' he said, 'otherwise we had written the recommendation by hand in the first two days, now everything is lacking.'

The impact of the damage caused by the protestors is expected to be visible for a long time . He said that it would be a problem to give recommendations by looking at old records. "All the recommendations given by looking at the old records have been stopped," Acharya said, "The city is the place to keep the last documents of all the houses in the city from birth to death. There may be no need now, but the day it becomes necessary, it will not happen." That's when there will be a problem.'

Since the documents of the District Administration, Land Revenue Office Kaski have been burned, it seems that it will be a problem to look at the old records and give recommendations regarding citizenship and land. Possible alternatives to such problems have not been identified. If not in the metropolis, it would have been recorded in the district administration, Malpot and it could have been verified. Now all the chains are broken,' Acharya added, 'We are thinking of how to do it in an alternative way . It is not said that it will be fulfilled in such a time.'

Even before the Gen-G movement, the services of the metropolitan corporation were scattered. The major branches of the metropolis were scattered in places. Now the main building and the branch outside the building have also been damaged. The service flowing from the main building has been started from October 1st from Pokhara Auditorium, Metropolitan Fire Department Building, and various divisions.

City chief, deputy chief, chief administrative officer's office, Public Accounts Committee, Law Branch, Sanitation Branch, Information Technology Branch are kept in Pokhara-9 Shanti Forest Fire Department Building. Administration, Revenue and Urban Development Division, Bhandar, Data Disaster/Grievance Form, Documentation, Registration, Accounts Branch and Metropolitan Police Force are in Pokhara Auditorium . The office of the head of the financial administration division and the services of the fund administration branch are being flowed from the building of the education division at Pokhara-17 Damside.

The infrastructure division, internal audit branch, planning, land administration, procurement branch services have been provided from the building with the infrastructure division in New Road. From the economic development division located at Pokhara-7 Janapriya Marg, the work related to economic, cooperative branch, labor and employment branch (including Sami program) and business promotion center is being done.