Kathmandu, November 9: Talks have begun with concerned parties to reopen the source area of the Melamchi Drinking Water Project, which had been shut down.
Local residents had closed the source area on Thursday, demanding the implementation of an agreement reached 13 months ago with then-Minister for Water Supply Pradeep Yadav. Five days earlier, the local stakeholders’ committee had also padlocked the Melamchi Project’s Kathmandu office.
After the source was closed, water distribution to Kathmandu — which began around 1 p.m. on Thursday — came to a complete halt. Before the closure, Kathmandu had been receiving 180 to 190 million liters of water daily from Melamchi, but now the supply has been completely stopped. The agreement between former Minister Yadav and the Melamchi Flood Victims Struggle Committee had been signed on October 7, 2024 (Ashoj 21, 2081 BS), to address problems caused by the flood that struck Melamchi on June 15, 2021 (Asar 1, 2078 BS).
According to project spokesperson Engineer Rajendra Prasad Pant, positive discussions were held on Friday and Saturday with various local groups to reopen the closed source. He said that further talks have been scheduled with locals on Sunday. Emphasizing that the supply of an essential resource like water should not be obstructed, Pant said all parties appeared positive about reopening the source.
Since some of the demands made by the groups that shut down the source cannot be addressed by the Ministry of Water Supply alone, the matter has been forwarded to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, and the Office of the Chief Secretary, where efforts are underway to resolve the issue.
Pant said that multiple parties, including the Melamchi Flood Victims Struggle Committee, have put forth different demands, and that discussions are being held with each group in turn. He explained that one of the causes of obstruction at the source is related to the Italian construction company CMC, which had been responsible for building the project. The company purchased construction materials on credit from local suppliers and fled in 2018 (2075 BS) without making payments, prompting those suppliers to block the source area in protest.
Similarly, locals have also obstructed the source, demanding the implementation of social upliftment programs in flood-affected areas following the issuance of a new formation order for the Melamchi Water Supply Development Committee, Pant added.
Narayan Giri, a member of the Melamchi Water Supply and Kathmandu Valley Struggle Committee, said the committee’s meeting on Saturday decided to express solidarity with the demands of the locals who shut down the Melamchi source. He also said the meeting resolved to submit a memorandum to the government soon, urging it to immediately resume the water supply to the Kathmandu Valley as a form of pressure.
Meanwhile, Chhiring Gyalbo Lama, secretary of the Melamchi Flood Victims Struggle Committee, said that halting the Melamchi water supply was not by choice but out of compulsion. He clarified that the committee’s only demand is the full implementation of the agreement reached with former Minister Pradeep Yadav.
According to Secretary Lama, the committee’s demands include proper management of families of those killed in the Melamchi floods and landslides, reconstruction of 490 houses swept away, concessional loans for local industries and businesses destroyed by the disaster, and waiver of electricity bills for Nepal Electricity Authority customers in the affected area.
People’s News Monitoring Service.
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