By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Dec.10: All stakeholders of the Budhigandaki Hydropower Project have agreed to resolve the problems related to compensation to the affected land owners of this national pride project.
During the meeting with the political leaders and stakeholders representing from Gorkha and Dhading districts at the Ministry Tuesday, they have made four-point agreement and expressed their commitment to carry the project forward by resolving the problems.
The Gorkha and Dhading residents affected by the project had demonstrated against the amount of compensation fixed by the compensation fixation committee citing that it was not adequate.
The compensation fixation committee has fixed the compensation for land owners whose property will be inundated when the reservoir-type Budhigandaki Hydropower project gets constructed.
As per the agreement, the stakeholders would move ahead as per the provision of compensation review, citing that local and the people representatives from federal, state and local levels have demanded to review the compensation amount for the land owners.
The ministry will take initiative for the deduction on capital-gain tax from beneficiary project victims and submit a proposal to the cabinet regarding this deduction within two weeks.
In the meeting, Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Barshaman Pun urged the concerned authorities including political leaders and affected locals of Dhading and Gorkha to extend their support for the construction of the Budhigandaki hydro project.
He said that the support from all stakeholders was a must to materialise the national pride project citing that it would be a milestone project for the country’s prosperity.
“We, the government and ministry are committed to construct the project. This is a high priority government project. We are discussing over the different modalities for its construction. There is no need to suspect on its construction,” Pun added.
He said that the government was ready to address the grievances regarding the compensation and problems of the locals by holding consultation with stakeholders and the locals representatives as well.
“We can review the compensation amount fixed to the victims and land owners if it was not adequate for the victims. Nobody should involve in halting the project,” Minister Pun said.
Former Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai had stressed on the need of reviewing the compensation amount citing that it was an unrealistic and unjustified for the victims.
Budhigandaki reservoir hydropower should be constructed at any cost as it would be a game-changer for the country, he said.
He, however, said that uncertainty among the people about the construction of this hydropower project was seen due to lack of construction modality of the project.
Dr. Bhattarai said that the political leaders were ready to support the government for carrying out the project construction.
Spokesman at Nepal Communist Party Narayan Kazi Shrestha said that it was a must to start the compensation review process at the earliest.
“We have to resort to review based on legal aspect for the compensation and we should discuss among the concerned bodies to make the project a success,” he said.
Leader of Nepali Congress and former lawmaker Chinkaji Shrestha said that the compensation amount was determined without holding discussion with the political leaders and stakeholders of the districts which created problems in the construction of the project.
He said that the government should review the compensation and fix the adequate amount as demanded by the affected ones.
Shrestha said that that they were ready to provide support in carrying out the project. The government should keep the project in its high priority list, he said.