Thu, 28 Mar, 2024

Kathmandu After SAARC

By Asmita Bista

The SAARC summit which was held on 26th and 27th November brought about many changes in Kathmandu valley in a very short time span. Road construction, tree plantation, solar street lamps along roads and many other changes were introduced in Kathmandu valley. This made Kathmandu look beautiful. These developments were done in a rapid pace. We would see many workers working very hard on the roads not caring if it were day or night. Everyone seemed so busy in their work before the SAARC summit. We thought that we’d get a new Kathmandu if the developmental works went on in the same pace. But after the SAARC summit was over, the pace of work has been slow. Every project which had started before the SAARC summit has not been fully completed. Roads which were decided to be expanded are not still left untouched. The construction workers were clever enough to do their work just to show the VVIPs invited in the SAARC summit. Many reports are coming in that the solar street lamps are experiencing technical problems just after a month of installation. Many expensive plants planted in the middle of the roads have dried up. People are tearing the leaves of the plants. It was reported that even the flower vase was stolen after the SAARC Summit. The government doesn’t seem to care about what is happening. The money invested in the renovation of the city has gone to waste because nobody cares after SAARC Summit. Not only the government but we citizens are also being irresponsible. We are not careful enough to see what is happening around us. We should help in preserving things, whether they may be plants or our own cultural heritage, rather than destroying them. We know the government officials might be busy doing their own work. Everybody knows that if there’s a way of sneaking in money, everyone seems to be involved in their work but when there is a case of actually doing something for the nation, we become lazy. We do lots of things just to impress or show others. Sometimes, we are benefited by showing off to others because while showing others, we may actually do our work. Same thing has happened in this case. The government did its best to show the representatives of other countries that our country is developed. Kathmandu valley has developed somehow in that process. But what we should learn is whether it is the case of showoff or not, we should care enough to be responsible for our nation.