Himal Press 
POKHARA: Fewa Lake, regarded as the crown jewel of the Pokhara Valley, has long been facing encroachment from both human activities and natural processes.
To protect the lake, the Supreme Court in July 2023 issued a mandamus order to the Government of Nepal, the Gandaki provincial government, and Pokhara Metropolitan City, directing them to study the lake’s actual condition, declare a 65-metre buffer zone from the lake’s highest water level, and promote greenery within that area.
Although the implementation of the order stalled for a long time, the Court Order Implementation Facilitation Committee, formed by local authorities to implement the court order, demarcated the lake boundary by installing pillars around the lake six months ago.
Pokhara Mayor Dhanraj Acharya said that following a review of 10 years of records from the Division Irrigation Office, Kaski, along with maps of Fewa Lake prepared at different times, the lake’s high flood level has been set at 794.95 meters. “Based on this level, the total lake area comes to around 6.343 square kilometres. If the 65-meter buffer zone mandated by the Supreme Court is counted, the total area comes to 7.616 square kilometres,” Acharya said.
Although the boundary pillars have been erected, several key issues remain unresolved. These include assessing land that falls within the lake area, determining whether compensation should be provided to the owners, scrutinising irregular land registrations, distinguishing between land registered before and after 1974/75, and evaluating the status of physical structures within the designated area.
Meanwhile, activities such as clearing hills in the lake’s main catchment area and filling wetlands around Harpan Khola—the lake’s primary source—have increased in recent times. One of those allegedly involved in wetland filling, businessman Yuvraj Khatiwada, has been arrested.
The District Police Office, Kaski, arrested Khatiwada from Pokhara three days ago after issuing an immediate arrest warrant on charges of indecent behaviour. He is accused of misbehaving with police personnel who reached the site to stop the wetland filling, as well as with journalists covering the incident. Police say the Kaski District Court has extended his detention by five days for further investigation.
This is not the first time that Khatiwada was arrested. In the past, he has been repeatedly arrested and released in connection with various charges, including indecent behaviour, gambling, banking offences, and wetland encroachment.
Police have also seized the keys of four vehicles allegedly used in clearing hills and filling wetlands.
A resident of Dhading, Khatiwada is considered close to former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and Maoist leader Shalikram Jamarkattel, who also served as the former chief minister of Bagmati Province. He has been accused of repeatedly engaging in illegal activities under the protection of power centres. It has also been alleged that Maoist ward committee chair and real estate entrepreneur Hari Bhandari, YCL leader Rudra BK, and Toran Gurung have been involved in filling wetlands to create residential and commercial plots in the Pame area.
The land filled on Monday is alleged to belong to Gandaki Province’s Minister for Physical Infrastructure, Prakash Bahadur KC. However, KC has claimed that he sold the land six months ago.
Meanwhile, Environment Protection Campaign Kaski and Civil Society Kaski have expressed serious concern over the ongoing hill clearing and wetland filling activities in the Fewa Lake area.
