KATHMANDU, Nov 2: The Thapathali area remained tense for several hours on Sunday after a team of City Police from the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) arrived with a bulldozer to demolish a police outpost located within the Ram Mandir premises.
A large number of City Police personnel reached the site to carry out the demolition of illegal structures, while Nepal Police and Traffic Police personnel were also deployed in significant numbers, leading to a tense standoff between the two sides.
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SP Pawan Bhattarai of the Kathmandu District Police Range, said the metropolis had not coordinated with the concerned authorities before attempting the demolition. “A metropolis must act according to the law. They should have coordinated with us. No official letter has been received,” Bhattarai said.
The KMC team has been demolishing nearby structures for the past few days that were built by encroaching the heritage land.
Meanwhile Metropolitan City Police said the demolition was part of a campaign to clear encroachments and that prior notice had already been issued. “The structures built by encroaching on heritage areas have been demolished. There is no need to personally write to anyone. A public notice was issued a month ago, and the information was also announced through street miking yesterday,” said DSP Purna Chandra Bhatta of the City Police.
Police have maintained that the land where the traffic outpost was built was donated by Guthi Sansthan a long ago to police — something KMC denies.
