A board meeting of the municipality had recently decided to lease out around 1.5 km stretch of the river bank starting east of Narayani Bridge to the Gaureshwor Pashupati temple for commercial purpose. [break]
FNCCI has claimed that the municipality wants to sell the land on the pretext of leasing out the land. The municipality had decided to call tender applications for the purpose on June 2.
FNCCI has submitted a memorandum to the municipality seeking withdrawal of the municipal office´s decision.
According to President of Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Chitwan, Til Chandra Bhattarai, a master plan had been prepared by the River Conservation Committee comprising representatives from the municipal office, District Development Committee and FNNCI. As per the master plan, the river bank was to be managed with an investment of Rs 250 million.
“Earlier, the municipality had agreed to work in accordance with the master plan. But, it has now unilaterally decided to lease out the bank,” said Bhattarai. FNCCI is concerned over the municipality´s decision as it has been organizing Chitwan Festival annually for the last 13 years on the banks of the river.
The River Conservation Committee was headed by former President of Chitwan Chamber of Commerce and Industry Prasad Shrestha two years ago. The committee, which drafted the master plan for the conservation of the Narayani River, had also started collecting funds for the purpose.
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