Nepal razes illegal Bagmati river settlements
- Nepal’s government began demolishing informal settlements along the Bagmati River in Kathmandu on April 25, clearing structures in Thapathali and Gairigaun under a federal order backed by heavy police deployment. - Kathmandu Post reported evicted families were taken to Dasharath Stadium and other temporary sites, while officials and local reports said the wider riverbank campaign could affect roughly 4,000 families across 27 settlements. - The push revives a yearslong Bagmati riverbank clearance effort and has drawn criticism over whether relocation plans meet legal and humanitarian standards. (kathmandupost.com)
Nepal’s government began demolishing informal settlements along the Bagmati River in Kathmandu on April 25, sending bulldozers into Thapathali and Gairigaun under heavy security. (kathmandupost.com) (thehimalayantimes.com) Police, Armed Police Force units and Kathmandu Metropolitan City police were deployed as authorities cleared huts and temporary shelters built on public land along the riverbanks. Officials said the operation proceeded without major clashes on the first day. (thehimalayantimes.com) (myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com) The first phase focused on settlements in Thapathali in Kathmandu Metropolitan City-11 and the Gairigaun-Sinamangal area in Ward 9. Kathmandu Post reported that some evicted families were moved to Dasharath Stadium and other designated sites for temporary accommodation. (kathmandupost.com) (everest-times.com) The riverbank drive is part of a broader federal plan to clear encroached land along the Bagmati and its tributaries, which cut across the Kathmandu Valley. Government-backed reporting tied the demolition to river corridor development, public-land recovery and Bagmati conservation. (myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com) (risingnepaldaily.com) This is not a small pocket eviction. Nepal News, citing a government study by the Bagmati Project Committee, said about 4,000 families live in 27 settlements across 20 wards in Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur, with most concentrated inside Kathmandu. (english.nepalnews.com) The political backdrop shifted this week. Kathmandu Post reported that Prime Minister Balendra Shah, who had tried and failed to remove similar settlements as Kathmandu mayor, is now pushing a new federal effort and says displaced families will be relocated. (kathmandupost.com) (freemalaysiatoday.com) Residents and advocates say the central question is not whether the land is public, but where families go next. Ratopati reported that people who had lived there for years said they were being pushed out without a workable alternative, while Kathmandu Post described the future for many families as uncertain even after temporary transfers. (english.ratopati.com) (kathmandupost.com) The clearance has also drawn political criticism. Khabarhub reported that the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) objected to forced evictions and called the move a violation of constitutional and human-rights protections. (english.khabarhub.com) For now, the Bagmati riverbanks in Thapathali have been cleared, but the larger campaign is just beginning. What happens next will turn on whether the government’s promised relocation moves beyond temporary shelter and into permanent housing. (risingnepaldaily.com) (kathmandupost.com)
