Guthi Sansthan had given the three-storey building with a total land area of nearly 11 ropani to the eye hospital on May 24, 1974 for running its services. Now the sansthan wants the premises back for its own central offices.[break]
Officials of the sansthan have been staging a sit-in in front of the hospital for the last five days. They have cleared half of the building where the Netra Jyoti Kendra had set up its office. The other half has been used by the hospital for a canteen, an administrative office, quarters for those on night duty and rooms for plumbers and electricians.
“Water leaks at our old office,” said Saroj Thapaliya, spokesperson of the sansthan. “So we want to shift to the red building being used by the eye hospital.”
But the eye hospital is not ready to hand the building back to the sansthan. The hospital claims that according to an agreement reached with the sansthan, they can use the building and land until the very end.
“Their daily protests with the noise and unruly behavior have led us to stage a strike.”
Both organizations met with Kathmandu Chief District Officer Basanta Raj Gautam on June 4 to solve the problem and they also signed an agreement, but the dispute is still ongoing.
According to santhan officials, the eye hospital is not ready to adhere to the agreement which they signed in front of the CDO. The eye hospital was coming up with different excuses such as that they had to call a board meeting, the CEO was out of the Valley, and the like.
“The government must take action against them,” said spokesperson Thapaliya. “They are not going to heed our demand.”
But according to officials of the eye hospital, the santhan is trying to recover the building because of its increasing value in the market. The sansthan was not ready to accept any of their demands but rather could go to any length to have the building back.
“They have started a protest program, so why not we also?” said Kripasura Sherpa, one of the board members of Nepal Eye Hospital. “We feel sorry for our patients as we are not able to provide them our services.”
“Discussions might resolve the problem but no they are not ready for that and are instead misbehaving toward our staff and using foul language.”
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