The Nepal Weekly 
January 3, 2023
Locals of Kathmandu including social activists and conservation campaigners have submitted a memorandum to Kathmandu Metropolitan City Deputy Mayor Sunita Dangol demanding the postponement of the plan to build an underground parking lot in the Tundikhel Open Ground.
Locals and conservation activists, who were running a pressure campaign on Monday submitted a memorandum to Deputy Mayor Dangol and Chief Administrative Officer of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, demanding to preserve the open ground and return Tundikhel to its original state.
After receiving the memorandum at the Kathmandu Metropolitan City Office at Sundhara, Dy. Mayor Dangol said, ‘We need to first understand whether it is necessary to construct such a parking lot at Tundikhel or not. There is no need to build a new structure if the surrounding parking area is adequate.”
Following the democratic culture, we need to respect sentiment and concern of the people before making such a decision,” she pointed out. “In democracy people is above all and therefore the metropolis does not do anything without consulting the people,’ she assured.
We need to protect the public land, for the sake of the welfare of the local people, she added.
“Since there are schools, colleges and hospitals in the area around the open ground, it won’t be good for the health of the people if we build a big parking lot around the area,” pointed out Bhimsen Das Pradhan, former minister and Nepali Congress leader, who was also present on the occasion.
We need to look for alternative as there are my other options for parking purposes, he pointed out. Tudinkhel and open platform are the ‘recharge centre’ of underground water, it should be well preserved, he added.
On Monday, the locals led by Tundikhel Occupy, a group of conservation campaigners, reached the gate of the Municipal Corporation and staged a sit in demanding that the underground parking should not be built in the open ground and that it should be kept in open access.
