A technical team formed by the Department of Archeology (DoA) to study the condition of the temple had suggested two years ago that the temple was in urgent need of repair.
A disagreement between the DoA and locals, however, is causing the delay in renovation of the Mankamana Temple.
While the locals want to renovate the temple on their own, with financial support from the government only for gilding the temple´s spire, the DoA wants to stick to its own norms, which do not include funds for gold plating. [break]
As the dispute lingers, the temple -- where people from across the country visit for conducting rituals to get their wishes fulfilled -- faces the risk of collapse.
Since no initiative has been taken to renovate the temple, it is crumbling every day and it may be destroyed even by a mild earthquake.
According to the report prepared by the technical team of the DoA, the south-west wall of the temple has tilted six inches sideways. The temple´s roof has started to leak since last year. The team had recommended replacing the woods used in the temple that are decaying.
In fact, the technical team of the DoA had suggested reconstruction of the entire temple structure as just renovating it would not make much difference. Though years have passed, the DoA has failed to carry out the renovation of Manakamana Temple.
“We will soon start the renovation, once we are done with other preparations,” says Saubhagya Pradhananga, chief Archaeological Officer at the Monuments Section of the DoA. “We will carry out the renovation according to the suggestions in the study report.”
Despite all the preparations, the DoA will not be able to start the renovation work until their dispute with the locals is sorted out. Though the two sides have held several meetings, they have failed to make any headway in the matter.
While the locals have been demanding the DoA to release the budget for the renovation of Manakamana Temple to a local committee, the office is against the proposal.
In order to force the DoA to start the renovation, the locals formed Manakamana Temple Renovation Committee (MTRC) two years ago.
The locals started carrying out the renovation on their own after they found the Manakamana Temple degenerate day by day.
In a bid to confirm that the report prepared by DoA´s technical team was correct, the MTRC hired some engineers to study the condition of the Manakamana Temple as they did not believe reconstruction was necessary.
“We thought the temple needed some major renovation work, but not reconstruction,” says Narendra Babu Shrestha, chairman of the MTRC. “But later our study also showed that the temple must be reconstructed.
According to Shrestha, they have collected Rs 20 million from devotees and from different donors for the renovation work of the temple. As the renovation work needs Rs 80.5 million, they are collecting more donations from different organizations.
“We are also collecting money from devotees,” says Shrestha. “We are even gathering raw material for the renovation work.”
According to Shrestha, the DoA had given them Rs 10 million that was provided by the government in the previous fiscal year. They purchased woods and other required materials with that money.
“We bought 321 cubic feet of timber from Hetauda. It´s very difficult for us to manage the woods for the temple as we have to buy different types of woods,” says Shrestha. “The collection of wood is the major task and we are still collecting woods.”
According to Shrestha, they will finish the wood collection within six months and after finishing it they will start other renovation work. The renovation work of the Manakamana Temple needs 1,300 cubic feet of wood and nine kilograms of gold, as per the study report of the technical team of the DoA.
“We want the DoA to invest the money to be allocated in the new budget for purchasing the gold, but they are not ready,” shares Shrestha. “We can easily manage other materials required for the renovation. But they hesitate to invest the money to purchase gold.”
For the fiscal year 2070/71 BS, the government allocated Rs 30 million for renovating Manakamana Temple.
According to Pradhananga, the DoA has no right to go beyond the financial regulations set by the government, so they cannot spend their whole budget on gold. The financial regulation does not allow them to do so.
“We cannot take wrong decisions just because of the pressure from locals,” says Pradhananga.
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