No difference between municipality and VDC in Lalitpur

Published On: July 20, 2016 08:37 AM NPT By: Shivahari Ghimire


LALITPUR, July 19: When Imadol of Lalitpur district was converted into municipality about two years ago, Aayush Bhandari, a local, was very hopeful of speedy development in the area. That hope, however, has completely faded after two years of standstill in overall developmental works.

“The government gave a village the title of municipality, yet it couldn't bring development and prosperity. All it has ever done is add the burden of tax and many other hassles,” he said.

As per the government-set criteria, there must be at least 20,000 populations; Rs 5 million minimum annual income; facilities of electricity, roads, drinking water, communication and other facilities for a village to be declared as municipality. However, Imadol was declared as municipality completely ignoring those criteria.

After the declaration, locals were hopeful of meeting those criteria at the earliest and see speedy development activities. However, they are left completely dejected after stakeholders failed to live up to their promises. There has not been change in economic activities and lifestyle of the locals.

According to the locals, the municipality does not pick up its waste timely, and the concerned stakeholders have failed to develop roads, footpaths and properly manage sewage and drainage.

Likewise, Godavari Municipality carries a huge tourism potential. Though it was also converted into municipality recently, locals are not satisfied with its snail-paced developmental works. However, authorities have blamed lack of required human resources as the reason behind the situation.

“We cannot carry out development works in lack of human resources. Without it, we are helpless,” said Rom Bahadur Mahat, the municipality's executive officer.

The situation is no different in Mahalaxmi Municipality. “I have not experienced any changes. There is no difference whether it's a village development committee or municipality,” said Kamala Paudel, a local. “Times were better when it was a VDC. There weren't many hassles.”

Situation in Bajrabarahi Municipality is no different. Long-standing demands of the locals to have better income-source activities have fallen on deaf ears.

Many locals have expressed dissatisfaction at slow-paced developmental works being carried out in the newly-formed municipalities. Lalitpur district, which consists of one sub-metropolitan city, and four municipalities, is considered one of the most backward districts in terms of development.


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