Excitement increased as time to land on Kathmandu airport decreased. I had not been home since two and a half years. I kept guessing how much would have changed in Kathmandu and rest of the country since I left. I knew for sure that political landscape remained the same, if not worse and constitution drafting process which should have been completed long ago had been stalled permanently due to discord among major political parties. It is almost impossible to talk about Nepal without mentioning about its wrangled politics. Obviously, such a description would be incomplete.
Finance minister was manhandled and his briefcase containing budget related documents were snatched inside the parliament by lawmakers belonging to CPN(Maoists) only a day after I landed. Finance minister wanted to announce the annual budget, already delayed by four months but Maoist lawmakers did not want it to happen. Yes, we have elected those people to write law for our nation while they cannot be lawful inside the parliament. What a shame! I know the more I talk about Nepali politics here, the less you will be interested in reading any more. It’s all the same. Nothing has changed and hope is distant. So, let’s talk about life in general in Kathmandu.
The biggest changes I have noticed since 2008 in Kathmandu are population explosion, uncontrolled surge in traffic, inflation and expansion of street markets. I will tell you that Kathmandu has changed a lot in these two and a half years, if someone has not noticed, and for the worse obviously. I don’t have any statistics about total registered population but I can tell you that there are more than 500,000 motorbikes alone running on narrow streets of Kathmandu. Add to this, thousands of microbuses, buses, private, governmental and non-governmental four-wheelers. The roads have not expanded but volume of transportation has exploded beyond control. Any big city without proper state planning succumbs to this problem. And I would be dishonest to claim that I see a solution to this problem. Where do you start? Increase taxes to make it more difficult to own a vehicle? That’s a good start you might think. Let’s see if that’s a good suggestion.
If you increase import duties, it will certainly push up the cost of any vehicle since everything is imported; Nepal does not manufacture any motor vehicle. That might deter people from buying one hence forcing them to rely on public transportation. As a matter of fact, the government increased all kinds of taxes ranging from import duties to road maintenance tax for every vehicle, both two and four wheelers on November 21, 2010. That would be acceptable given a reliable public transportation. Anyone who has used public transportation in Kathmandu will tell you how they are run. Buses and microbuses are crammed with people like an over-packed bulging suitcase. Unlike aviation, there is no weight limit so every inch of standing space is taken inside the vehicle. Using public transportation is a compulsion, not a choice and it is especially difficult for the females, the elderly and people with special needs. Office going people need a reliable mode of transportation inside which they can actually breathe. Talking about breathing, it is advisable to slow down your breathing rate while you are out there on Kathmandu streets. I can assure you that by doing so you will inhale less of stench emanating from rotting garbage and push your life expectancy by a couple years in the long term.
The roads in Kathmandu are being choked with both public and private vehicles and public vehicles are crammed with valley denizens. So what can be done? One obvious solution that should spring to your mind is: reduce population in Kathmandu. I am not talking about birth control here even though that could be incorporated as well. Population growth in Kathmandu is mainly due to influx of migrants from rest of Nepal. Following simple evolutionary principles, migration of any species takes place towards a region endowed with resources and favourable living conditions. Thousands of birds flock together during winter towards warmer regions where food supply is relatively in plenty. Rural population migrates towards urban region in search of job and other opportunities. People from all over the world want to go work in the United States of America as it is acclaimed as “the land of opportunities”.
Cutting the above described tangential offshoot short, people from rest of Nepal have been migrating towards the capital Kathmandu because it is here that all resources are concentrated. So, to control this unidirectional flow of humans, decentralize. The solution is single-worded yet achieving this is no easy task. The decade long armed struggle launched by Maoists was a direct result of this centralization around Kathmandu valley. Would valley denizens be willing to give up some power to decentralize so that reverse migration can be encouraged? This would reduce pressure on resources of Kathmandu valley and they would be able to breathe some fresh air and drive on less crowded roads.
I will offer suggestions to tackle inflation related issues and growth of informal economy through street market in the following post. This post has already been inflated with my lengthy ramblings.
Jai Nepal! Bhagwan le hami sabai ko raksha garun! (May God protect us all!)
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