A cabinet meeting held at Baluwatar on Sunday decided to declare the valley a crisis zone to focus on demolition of both public and private buildings that have been severely damaged by the earthquake.The declaration bestows discretionary power on Chief District Officers (CDO) for carrying out demolition in the districts. If any house owner refuses to cooperate or tries to hinder demolition work, the CDO may even use force to carry out the task.
The cabinet also approved "a working procedure for building demolition" proposed by the Home Ministry. As per the procedure, house owners should demolish their damaged buildings at their own cost under the supervision of the local body.
If the owner of any risky building opposes demolition, the CDO can tear down the building hiring workers and using government equipment and make the house owner pay for it later.
"A large number of damaged buildings in the valley need to be immediately demolished. But on normal circumstances, the demolition work would be slow due to lengthy procedures. So, to speed up the demolition work, the government has decided to declare the valley a crisis zone," said Minister of General Administration Lal Babu Pandit. He said the decision was taken keeping in view many high-rise buildings that need to be immediately demolished.
Ministry of Home Affairs record shows that 36,973 buildings in Kathmandu, 17,444 in Lalitpur and 18,900 in Bhaktapur were destroyed. Likewise, 50,753 buildings in Kathmandu, 8,064 in Lalitpur and 9,054 in Bhaktapur suffered damages in the earthquakes. Around 550 government buildings were damaged.
In Kathmandu district alone, around 42,000 buildings need to be torn down immediately but in lack of equipments and lengthy bureaucratic procedure the demolition work hasn't gathered pace.
Only, around 2,000 risky buildings have been pulled down so far in lack of equipment and expertise for demolishing buildings that are over three-storey high.
Pandit said that the government decided to declare the districts crisis zone to shorten bureaucratic procedures required to purchase equipment required for demolition work.
Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transportation initiated the process to purchase equipment for building demolition after its plea before the international community for technical support for pulling down buildings of over three stories went unheard. It has been weeks since the government wrote to four countries, including India and China, seeking such support.
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