Gandaki province warns to protest against Kaligandaki Diversion Plan

Gandaki Province Chief Minister Krishna Chandra Nepali warned that they would in no way allow the success of Kaligandaki Diversion Plan as it was introduced undermining the thoughts of the province.

Receiving memorandums presented on behalf of different organisations, including World Hindu Federation on Sunday, he said they would resort to launch struggle if the federal government did not heed their voice. “We would not tolerate the boastful efforts of federal government against the province feeling. Even we would take the entire people of the province to street to not allow the plan to succeed”.

This was an act to breach the Constitution and weaken federal practice, he said adding it was undertaken without keeping into consideration the sharing of natural resources.

The water flowing through the Rapti and Tinau rivers is enough for irrigation in Rupandehi and Kapilvastu land, he said, accusing that the plan was put forward to serve the implied interests of other actors.

The Gandaki province has called an all-party meeting for today to develop a common opinion towards the diversion project. Government Spokesperson and Minister for Education, Culture, Science, Technology and Social Development, Kumar Khadka said the project has no linkage with its investment and potential benefits.

Minister Khadka termed it dishonest act to put forward the diversion project in the Kaligandaki River undermining its cultural, touristic, economic and political importance.

Devghat will turn dry during the winter if its water is mixed up with Tinau as proposed now, he said, accusing the government of not implementing the previous project aimed at providing irrigation facility at Nawalpur keeping Devghat safe. “Coming up with another attempt putting the entire life here in trouble was a dishonest act”.

He said that the Chitwan National Park would also bear the brunt of the proposed project interventions and endangered animals like crocodiles would be pushed to threat if Kaligandaki was diverted towards Tinau,

State Assembly member and Nepali Congress Nawalpur president Bishnu Prasad Lamichhane said the locals had been protesting the project since the very beginning, but the central government continued to turn a deaf ear towards their voices.

Former lawmaker and Kaligandaki Conservation Campaign leader Shanker Pandey said the project capable of hurting the sentiments of Hindus was also hostile to environmental ecosystem of the area.

Chief of Kedareswor Mahadev Mani Sewashram Samiti, Dr Lekhnath Acharya, Rastriya Brhaman Society and Academic Assembly chair Dr Narayan Adhikari, World Hindu Federation central vice chair Shankar Kharal, Bindabasini Sanskritpeeth Pracharya Dr Jagannath Regmi and Kaligandaki Save Campaign Kularaj Chalise, among others claimed the project aimed to attack on the sentiments of Hindus and the Kaligandaki’s civilisation and none had the right to cause harm to the environment and jeopardise the bio-diversity.