Kathmandu– Supreme Court has directed government to remove the structures constructed within 65 meters from the bank of Phewa Lake. The apex court also ruled the government to demarcate the exact area of Phewa Lake located in Pokhara within six month.
A series of natural disasters and human activities have caused Fewa Lake to shrink at an alarming rate, recent photos and government documents show.
The full text of the apex court ruling in a writ petition filed by advocate Khagendra Subedi on January 24, 2011 has ordered the authorities concerned to crave boundaries as set in a report prepared by government committee.
Fewa Lake witnessed series of deterioration over the past few years. And, apart from human activities, Harpan River—the main stream of Fewa Lake—has been the cause of much of that deterioration. According to officials at Pokhara Lekhnath Metropolitan, every year stones, sand, pebbles and branches from the Panchaase region are directly mixed in to the river causing many problems.
According to Mahendra Bahadur Godar, an engineer with the Pokhara Metropolitan, a study was conducted by the Nepal government and the Finland Cooperation Organization in 1992. They found that Fewa Lake also has a high risk-factor due to the debris and other particles that are mixed into the lake by the Harpan and Kahare River.
The research found that around 1, 42,000 metric tons of debris is mixed into the lake every year and each year this debris is causing about one hector of land to be formed. They predict that existence of Fewa Lake is only 72-100 years. Godar states that, “Natural disasters are more dangerous than human as 1 hector of land is formed by the debris that came from the nearby places.”
Pollution has also increased due to the debris and the mixture of drainage; and, construction work in Pame and Panchaase are also adding to the problem.
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