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Drainage fill-up dried Sundhara

KATHMANDU, JAN 17 - Apart from causing its perennial water supply to go dry more than a year ago, the historic ground of the stone waterspouts of Sundhara have turned into a deep pool of putrid and stagnated water for more than a month. The sewage was drained away today with the efforts of the locality, but the taps are still dry.
Situated beside the glorious tower of Dharahara, constructed by Prime Minister Bhimsen Thapa in 1832 AD, the spouts catered to the water needs of the locals for more than three centuries.
"Even in our times, its volumes of water made it impossible for us to bath directly under the spouts, and no water was as sweet as that of Sundhara," recounts 72-years-old Man Bahadur Shahi of Tebahal who has been working at Sundhara since his youth.
Shahi also jubilantly narrates the grand feasts they used to have after weeding the grass and cleaning the surroundings of Sundhara. "We used to plan and prepare for the feast days ahead of our public works."
But today Shahi scorns the authorities responsible for the present condition of Sundhara with which he has spent numerous such pleasurable moments.
"They’re now collecting money from Dharahara but are paying no attention to Sundahra," he quips. "It’s the duty of all to preserve such a historical monument."According to him, the construction of the huge Karmachari Sanchaya Kosh (Employee Provident Fund) Complex with its two underground floors is the chief cause for the dry taps.
"I went to the ward office myself to file the case then, appealing for actions," he said. With the initiative of the office of Ward No. 22, the petitioners even won the case against the Karmachari Sanchaya Kosh after long investigation. Consequently, the construction of the building was stopped by judicial orders.
"Only with the intervention of the authorities and a compensation of Rs. 1,600,000 to rectify the condition of the water taps and the assurance of making alternative water provisions, the construction of the Provident Fund complex was allowed to resume. The Kathmandu Municipality also promised to allocate Rs. 8,000,000 for the purpose."
Shahi said that some works were initiated at that time with the formation of the Sundhara Improvement Committee. But it soon went into hiding.
Indira Chaulagai of Ramechhap, a street vendor at Sundhara for more than five years, says, "People from different parts of the country come here just to look at the beautiful spouts and Dharahara. Visitors even used to drink the water from the taps, but now you can see what has happened."
Likewise, another resident of Ward No. 22, Gyani Shrestha, said, "All the water needs of our locality was satisfied by the taps till some years ago. There was no need of piped water." According to him, with water distributions as a major problem today, the availability of water at the spouts can solve the crisis, at least in his particular locality.
However, Shahi, with more than 50 years of association with Sundhara, has a solution to this problem. "Installing two water pumps can help solve the water shortage at the spouts. As it may not be wise to run the machines all day long, running them in alternate shifts would serve the purpose."
Shahi further says that allocating budget for the machines is the only remaining issue. "Once they are in place, water will start running from the spouts. The maintenance works can be possible by collecting fees from people who come to fetch Sundhara’s water."Posted on: 2004-01-18 02:24

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