Kathmandu, October 25: During public holidays, municipal staff do not work. Moreover, during the festivals, it is rare to see the municipality's staff working in the field. It is odd and inhumane to bulldoze a citizen’s residence by the Kathmandu Metropolitan City’s staffers during festival days.

The anarchist mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Balen Shah, deployed a team of workers and technicians to bulldoze the compound wall of respected industrialist and businessman Piyush Bahadur Amatya during the Tihar holidays.

In the aftermath of the Gen-Z destruction on September 9, as the judiciary and police appeared passive, Mayor Balen sent bulldozers to demolish a portion of Amatya’s house.

According to witnesses, a group of individuals was mobilized in a show of muscle power to tear down the compound wall. Without any technical inspection, bulldozers were used in a way that clearly put the entire house at risk.

Amatya had built his house in 1983 (2040 BS) along Madan Bhandari Path in Kathmandu Metropolitan City–10, New Baneshwor. Since the house stands on sloped terrain, it was already at high risk of collapse. Amatya purchased the adjoining plot of land, which originally belonged to the Badrakali Guthi and was being used by Ashtamaya Malini, and constructed a retaining wall on the slope to protect the main building. After Malini’s death, the property passed to her daughters, as she had no sons.

Despite this, bulldozers were deployed at Amatya’s house without a single representative from Kathmandu Metropolitan City being present. According to Amatya’s legal representative Birendra Pathak, the bulldozer operator himself acted as the “engineer” and began demolishing the wall. Three bulldozers were brought to the site, and one of them even broke its blade during the operation.

On September 17, 1995 (2052 Ashoj 1), Amatya purchased two aana, two paisa, and three-and-a-half dam of land from the daughter of the Guthi caretaker, Purnadevi Mali, at the rate of Rs 100,000 per aana. The land had not yet been officially transferred from the Guthi’s name to private ownership. Amatya paid Rs 271,875 in advance and obtained a sale deed, which he still holds today.

In 2023 (2080 BS), the International School of Management and Technology (ISMT) suddenly claimed ownership of the land adjoining Amatya’s property and asserted that it planned to construct a college there. Shocked, Amatya began tracing the documents and discovered that after the land was transferred to Purnadevi’s name, she sold it to Prime Housing, which then sold it to IMS Developers. The developers later transferred it to Sagun Construction, which finally sold it to the college.

Demolition Order and Use of Bulldozers

After ISMT submitted a petition to Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Mayor Balen Shah’s office issued an order on April 23 (Baisakh 11) instructing that “the wall built encroaching upon the plaintiff’s land should be demolished” and that the defendant must “submit blueprints for any structure built within his own property.”

Amatya received the official order on May 3 (Baisakh 21) and immediately filed an appeal at the Kathmandu District Court. However, while the case was still under consideration, bulldozers arrived the day before the Tihar holidays and demolished the wall. ISMT reportedly sent a letter on its own letterhead to the ward office, informing them of the demolition.

According to Amatya’s lawyer, it had been stated that the wall would be removed “without damaging the house,” yet cracks have now appeared throughout the building. As the courts were closed for the festival holidays, it was impossible to obtain an interim injunction.

Demolition Without Government Oversight

By law, any demolition of a physical structure requires the presence of engineers and government representatives. However, no officials from Kathmandu Metropolitan City were present during the operation. The bulldozer operator acted as an engineer, and the work proceeded unchecked. During the demolition, three bulldozers were brought to the site, and one broke its blade mid-operation.

A House at Risk, a Family in Fear

The demolition has left Amatya’s home structurally endangered — cracks have appeared inside the house, walls are crumbling, and pillars have become unstable. The family, consisting mainly of elderly residents, now lives in fear as half of their home has been destroyed, posing a severe safety risk.

Lawyer Pathak said, “There are laws in this country and three levels of courts, but they took matters into their own hands and drove bulldozers over the wall. There were no engineers, no surveyors present.”

The damaged section now poses a security threat, as anyone can enter the property through the broken wall, leaving the elderly residents sleepless.

Piyush Bahadur Amatya owns the Dream Project Fulbari Resort in Pokhara and is credited with introducing San Miguel Beer and Mitsubishi vehicles to Nepal.

People’s News Monitoring Service