Finally, locals in the Melamchi region have agreed to send water to Kathmandu. Local protesters have agreed to send Melamchi water to Kathmandu on the condition that local infrastructure construction and management of flood and landslide victims are completed, along with changes to the provisions of the formation order regarding the mobilization of the social upliftment budget for the affected communities.

According to the agreement reached between the affected people of the Sindhupalchowk Melamchi estuary area and government authorities at the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport on Tuesday night, the water of the Melamchi River has started entering the tunnel, while the lock on the central office of the Melamchi Development Committee in Kathmandu's Panipokhari has been opened for 11 days. 

The Melamchi Flood and Landslide Victims' Struggle Committee had returned the water sent to the tunnel to the river, while four concern committees had locked the central office. In Asoj 2081, locals had staged a protest with various demands, saying that the agreement made by the then Minister for Water Supply Pradeep Yadav was not implemented. Due to the obstruction of the locals, the water distribution to the Kathmandu Valley was stopped, and the Melamchi office was closed.

According to Jagarnath Das, the executive director of the Melamchi Development Committee, water will reach the Sundarijal processing center through a 26-km tunnel from Helambu by evening. Das said that its management will begin from the evening. According to him, the protest program was withdrawn on the condition that most of the demands of the locals be met during the talks held at the Ministry of Water Supply. 

According to the agreement, the formation order will be amended to release the funds that have been withheld since 2079/080 for the Social Upliftment Program (SUP) being implemented in the affected areas. The Ministry of Finance did not allocate the budget due to the controversy that arose after the formation order of 2079 mentioned that the SUP program being implemented in the affected areas through the Melamchi project would be operated through the local level. 

The local concern committee had been demanding that they be allowed to spend the budget directly. Now, the agreement states that the formation order will be changed and a structure will be created to spend the money with the consent of the local level.

The program has been operating in 53 wards of 7 local levels in the project-affected areas of Sindhu  and Kavre. However, the allocated funds have not been released for three fiscal years. Helambu Rural Municipality, on the other hand, has been insisting that the funds should be spent through the elected institution of the rural municipality. Other municipalities, on the other hand, have been questioning the legitimacy, transparency, and working style of the concern committee. 

In the presence of Physical Infrastructure Minister Kulman Ghising, the Secretary of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure, the Secretary of the Ministry of Water Supply, the heads of the ministries' divisions, officials of the Melamchi Development Board, the Stakeholder Committee, the Struggle Committee and local vendors, it has been agreed to propose a budget for the Melamchi-Helambu integrated development next year.

The agreement states that the Melamchi-Helambu Integrated Corridor Development Program will be proposed in the next year's budget for the development of the flood and landslide area. After the locals made a written request to Prime Minister Sushila Karki to fulfill their demands, she gave Infrastructure Minister Ghising the responsibility of coordinating with the protesters.

The flood of 2078 BS caused a huge loss of property and lives in the Melamchi source and the area. The locals had been complaining that the government was neglecting the rehabilitation and relief of the area.

The Ministry of Home Affairs will be requested to proceed with the process for relief and compensation by compiling details of the flood victims in Melamchi, Yangri, Larke and Indrawati on Asad 1 and Shrawan 16, 2078 BS through the District Disaster Management Committee chaired by the Chief District Officer.

For that, the agreement states that the process will be carried out with three representatives from the Melamchi Development Committee, local victims and landowners. Similarly, Melamchi Executive Director Das said that it has also been agreed to propose a budget for the next year for infrastructure including roads in the affected areas including Helambu. 

According to local leader Bishnu Khadka, who participated in the talks, an agreement has been reached to immediately go through the tender process for the current fiscal year to upgrade the Melamchi, Ambathan, Melamchighyang roads in the affected areas.

The tender process will be resumed after obtaining a resource agreement of Rs 1 billion under the multi-year contract plan for the said road. In addition, the Roads Department will take responsibility for the upgrading of the small roads being constructed by Melamchi. The amount of Rs 140 million allocated immediately will be transferred to the road that is in the process. Executive Director Das said that after the Road Department takes responsibility, it will be easier to allocate additional budget or upgrade it.

It has been agreed that the budget allocated for the Melamchi, Thangpal, Thangpalkota Bhotang, Yangri roads and Phatte Dauchep, Kiureni, Banskhark, Baruwa Golmathang Yangri roads in the currently allocated budget will be transferred to the Road Department and taken to the tender process. It was said that the Melamchi project would implement it from the allocated budget, but it has been agreed that the Road Division will implement it after transferring the amount.

The agreement states that the Ministry of Finance will be requested to add Rs 190 million to the current allocation of Rs 40 million for the social upliftment program. The amount will be spent on the physical infrastructure of the flood-affected Helambu area. Nepali businessmen claim that Nepali vendors should receive more than Rs 270 million from the company after the Italian company CMC involved in the construction of the Melamchi tunnel returned without working.

Nepalis have not received the payment for the work done and the goods purchased by the Italians. The decision to provide the amount was made by the Council of Ministers on 2081 Jestha 2. But the amount has not been received by the concerned companies and individuals yet. The agreement states that the amount will be provided to the concerned parties within 15 days as the foreign construction company is not in contact. Even after 8 years of terminating the contract with the Melamchi Drinking Water Project, local suppliers and workers have not been able to receive the more than 270 million rupees due.

The Italian company unilaterally terminated the contract to build the Melamchi intake and dam in 2018. At that time, the Ministry of Finance disagreed with the decision made by the Council of Ministers in a roundabout way, and the payment problem was becoming more complicated. Now, since the Council of Ministers had already decided, the Ministry of Finance will arrange the management through the Melamchi Drinking Water Development Committee to provide the amount through the District Administration Office. Similarly, the CMC has rented land and a house in the local Bahunepati, but it has not been paid for a long time.

Melamchi itself has completed the process and agreed to make the payment within 15 days. Based on the report of the previously formed committee regarding the determination of the levy for drinking water distributed by the Melamchi project, an agreement has been reached to submit it to the Council of Ministers within 45 days in coordination with the National Natural Resources and Finance Commission and the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs.

This time, officials from all the concerned ministries have agreed to the agreement. Melamchi water has been brought to Kathmandu since Chaitra 2077. Although 170 million liters of water is brought to Kathmandu daily, the water has not been regular during the rainy season due to floods and landslides. In the second phase, there is a plan to bring 170 million liters of water each from the Yangri and Larke rivers in Sindhupalchowk to Kathmandu through the existing tunnel.