KATHMANDU: Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai today directed offices concerned to start work for better urban management in the Valley.

At a meeting held with ministers and officials at his office in Singha Darbar, PM Bhattarai said the higgledy-piggledy settlement in the Capital would send a bad message to the international community and directed the participants to start urban management process at the earliest.

According to a PM’s aide, PM Bhattarai emphasised the need to curb public land encroachment.

Local Development Minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, Minister for Physical Planning and Works Hridayash Tripathi, executive officer at the Kathmandu Metropolitan City and officials from Nepal Telecom, Nepal Electricity Authority and Metropolitan Traffic Police attended the meeting.

Meanwhile, a group of people picketed the office of Building Maintenance of the Department of Urban Development against the government’s road-widening drive.

The protesters accused the government of launching the campaign without giving prior notice to the owners of houses built close to the roads. They demanded compensation for the demolished houses.

Last week, PM Bhattarai had directed the Metropolitan Traffic Police to go ahead with the road-widening drive by resisting political pressure.

source: The Himalayan Times,26 Dec 2011