But immediately after the government leaders went back, locals at Basantapur said that instead of engaging in publicity stunts they should have issued clear directions to the authorities concerned to do something urgent to save the remaining monuments from further damage in the coming monsoon.
PM Koirala, accompanied by some ministers and top government officials, reached the earthquake-devasted World Heritage Site of Hanumandhoka Durbar Square Friday morning to clear the quake debris.He wore a hard hat and a mask on his face, as did other ministers and top government officials. Without further ado, they started passing the bricks and wooden parts from one to another for stacking at one end.
But locals at Basantpur were not impressed. The prime minister and other ministers were removing debris from a spot where the locals had already done the needful immediately after April 25 earthquake.
"Many people including the PM gathered there today but all they did was move the broken items from one place to another. This was the same debris that we cleared immediately after the disaster and placed in a corner of the heritage site," said Ganapati Lal Shrestha, a local who has been involved in debris clearing at the heritage site since the beginning.
Local Development Minister Prakash Man Singh, Minister for General Administration Lal Babu Pandit, Urban Development Minister Narayan Khadka, Chief Secretary Leela Mani Paudyal and Director General of Department of Archeology Besh Narayan Dahal, among others, were with the PM.
Shrestha said it would have made more sense if the ministers and top officials had taken measures to secure the remaining monuments at the heritage site against the upcoming monsoon.
"Today's debris clearing was a complete waste of time and money. It seemed they were doing it for cheap popularity," he added.
The debris clearing started from 7 a.m. and continued till 9 a.m. After lending his hand, PM Koirala paid homage to the Living Goddess Kumari at Kumari House at the durbar square premises.
In similar fashion, Foreign Minister Mahendra Bahadur Pandey, Minister for Law, Justice, Constituent Assembly and Parliamentary Affairs Narhari Acharya, Health Minister Khagraj Adhikari, and the secretaries from the Prime Minister's Office and other ministries reached Changu Narayan Temple, another World Heritage site. There also, the locals, volunteers, personnel of the Nepal Police and Army and government employees have already cleared the debris.
Uttam Karki, joint secretary at the Prime Minister's Office, said that Minister for Information and Communications Minendra Rijal, Minister for Commerce and Supplies Sunil Bahadur Thapa and Minister for Energy Radha Kumari Gyawali, among others, cleared debris at the World Heritage site of Patan Durbar Square.
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