KATHMANDU, Aug 9: It has been found that the master plan for expansion of the Prime Minister's residence was prepared in 2065 BS with the motive of compensating and transferring the land of Lalita Niwas located in Baluwatar in the names of individuals.
This has been revealed in the proposal submitted by the Ministry of Physical Planning under the successive government led by Madhav Kumar Nepal the following year.
It is mentioned in the document that the then government led by Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal prepared the master plan. When the then Ministry of Physical Planning and Infrastructure prepared a draft to expedite the masterplan in the year 2065 BS, it was mentioned that the proposed map was submitted according to the master plan prepared by the then PM Dahal. From this, it has become clear that the government made attempts to transfer the land of Lalita Niwas in the name of individuals and compensate the tenants during Dahal's tenure. Instructions were given to make sure whether there were tenants or not, and to disclose the amount tenants were to be given as compensation.
According to the master plan of the Prime Minister's residence prepared by the ministry in 2065 BS to 2066 BS, the proposed map and necessary details of the extension to the south side of the residence were prepared and discussed with the then prime minister on various dates.
The master plan was prepared accordingly and was sent to the cabinet led by Madhav Kumar Nepal for approval.
According to an employee who submitted the proposal, when Pushpa Kamal Dahal became the prime minister in 2065 BS, instructions were provided to prepare the master plan and the ministry prepared the master plan accordingly.
“While the ministry was preparing to submit the proposal in the cabinet meeting, the Dahal-led government collapsed on May 25, 2009. Then it was decided to present the proposal to the Council of Ministers chaired by Nepal. On July 13, 2009, the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure sent a correspondence to the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction in this regard. Currently, the letter has disappeared,” said the employee. The employee also provided photographs to the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of the police that the physical ministry had prepared the master plan during the time of the then Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Also, the required land and maps are mentioned in the master plan.
“We submitted the same master plan to the cabinet led by Madhav Kumar Nepal,” claimed the employee who was employed in the then physical infrastructure ministry. “The first master plan was prepared by the engineer of the ministry. The order of the then Prime Minister Dahal was followed and the master plan was made accordingly. Although he didn't get a chance to discuss and monitor the master plan, he was interested in compensating and transferring the government land situated in Baluwatar in the name of individuals and expanding the Prime Minister's residence. For that reason, he instructed the master plan to be prepared,” said the employee. It is also mentioned in the draft prepared by the Physical Infrastructure Ministry and in the document submitted to the Council of Ministers that the proposal was made according to the master plan made in the year 2065 BS. Deep Basnet, the then secretary who submitted the proposal, has clearly stated in his statement to the court and the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) that the master plan was prepared before he became the secretary. He stated that no one has shown interest to investigate this issue.
After Madhav Kumar Nepal became the Prime Minister of Nepal, a letter was sent to the Urban Development and Building Construction Branch regarding the master plan on July 13, 2009.
“At that time, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal had instructed to complete all the procedures within 21 days stating that the master plan made during the previous government's time had been delayed,” said the employee.
“The original documents are missing. There is a big conspiracy in it,” said the employee.
Earlier, responding to a complaint filed with the CIAA on December 1, 2002, the anti-graft body on July 2, 2003, had made it clear that the land of Lalita Niwas belonged to individuals rather than the government.
Suspecting that middlemen would conspire to sell the land, Dahal instructed the Ministry of Physical Planning to prepare a master plan when he became the Prime Minister.
The then Prime Minister Dahal was shown a precedent set by a division bench of justices Balram KC and Rajendra Koirala on March 13, 2008 that the land belonged to individuals. As a result, Dahal planned to expand the Prime Minister's residence taking into consideration the precedent of the apex court.
