ITAHARI: A clash erupted in the Pathibhara area of Phungling Municipality-11, Taplejung, on Saturday. The incident left 21 security personnel and five members of a group opposing the construction of a cable car injured. While most of the injured have been discharged from the hospital, three critically injured individuals are currently undergoing treatment in Kathmandu.
Local residents have been protesting against the cable car construction for a long time. The Pathibhara Cable Car Company has faced opposition since the beginning of the construction process. The local people have argued that religious heritage should not be turned into a commercial hub. They claim that the cable car construction will destroy local culture, civilization and the environment. Various local organizations have been actively opposing the project. On Saturday, a clash broke out between the two sides at Baludanda which is located about a kilometer above Kaflepati.
The organizations opposing the cable car construction include the Cable Car Construction Scrapping Committee, Mukkumlung United Struggle Committee, Province 1 Renaming United Struggle Committee, Kirant Religion and Literature Promotion Association, Youth District Committee for Identity, and Kirant Yakthung Chumlung District Committee.
This is not the first clash over the cable car’s construction. Earlier in November, during the foundation stone-laying ceremony in Phungling-4, two locals, Damodar Adhikari and Kumar Sherpa, were injured.
The cable car is planned to be built over a distance of 2.74 kilometers from the lower base at Kaflepati to the Pathibhara Temple premises. The estimated cost for the cable car construction is Rs 2.55 billion. Pathibhara Cable Car Pvt Ltd had planned to complete the construction within 13 months.
Local residents have been protesting since the government granted permission for the cable car construction, claiming that their voices have not been heard. Khagendra Fembu, coordinator of the Cable Car Construction Scrapping Committee, said the locals had voiced their concerns after the issue of cable car construction started emerging. “We have been protesting since 2017. We are continuing our protest,” he added.
Demands of Locals
The primary demand of the locals is that the cable car should not be built in the Pathibhara Temple area. Even if it has to be built, they insist that it should not extend up to the temple.
Til Kumar Menyangbo, deputy leader of CPN-UML in the Koshi Province Assembly, attributed local resentment to the project to middlemen procuring land from locals at lower rates and selling it to the company at higher rates. They have been saying that middlemen were involved in the land acquisition process, he added.
Fembu also claimed that Pushpa Bahadur Baduwal, former chairperson of the Pathibhara Area Development Committee, and Sarita Limbu, among others, bought 59 ropani and 15 aana of land at low prices and sold it at higher rates. “They sold the land for Rs 298.5 million, which forced the locals to protest,” he added.
An individual from Jhapa, who was involvement in land purchase, has since passed away.
Fembu said there was a massive scam in the land acquisition process which forced the local to oppose the project. “If such a scam happened in land acquisition, what would happen in the construction process? We have been monitoring the area daily for six months since January last year, but our voices have not been heard,” Fembu said.
What happened on Saturday?
Himalayan Construction, which was awarded the contract to build infrastructure for the cable car, started ground-leveling works on Saturday. This prompted the anti-cable car group to launch protests. Two clashes erupted at Baludanda on Saturday, leaving 26 people injured, according to the District Administration Office, Taplejung.
Yam Bahadur Limbu of Myanglung, Terhathum, Sagun Lawati of Miklajung, Panchthar, and Dharmendra Palungwa of Dokhu, Taplejung were seriously injured in the incident. All three have sustained bullet injuries.
“On Saturday, armed police personnel arrived at the place where our members were sitting and started manhandling them. Even a 70-year-old man was roughed up,” Fembu claimed. “At around 3 pm, the state suddenly attacked our members. When we retaliated, police fired bullets.”
The incident in Taplejung on Saturday was also discussed in the Koshi Provincial Assembly meeting on Sunday. Lawmakers expressed their objections, stating that the state had sided with one group and opened fire on those with differing opinions. The opposition parties, CPN (Maoist Center) and CPN (Unified Socialist), have demanded a halt to the cable car construction.
Province assembly members like Pradeep Kumar Sunuwar, Shamsher Rai, Govinda Giri, Sabina Bajgain and Bidur Kumar Lingthep demanded an immediate resolution to the dispute in the Pathibhara area.
Meanwhile, the Koshi Province Government has formed a talk committee under the coordination of Ram Bahadur Rana Magar. Provincial Government Spokesperson and Minister for Internal Affairs and Law, Rewati Raman Bhandari, stated that the committee has been formed to initiate discussions. “If there are any disagreements, they should be resolved through dialogue. We have called for discussions on behalf of the provincial government,” he said.
NC leader Former Koshi Chief Minister Uddhav Thapa stated that the cable car construction should only proceed with local consent.
UML leader Til Kumar Menyangbo said the cable car project is important for the development of the Pathibhara area. He, however, added that development activities should only proceed after fulfilling the demands of the locals.
