KATHMANDU – Nepali authorities launched a major demolition drive on April 25, razing informal settlements along the Bagmati River banks in Kathmandu that have sheltered thousands for decades, even as human rights groups decried the move as a threat to lawful governance.
Bulldozers, backed by heavy police presence, rolled into the flood-prone areas early Friday under orders from newly elected Prime Minister Balendra Shah. Residents, many in flimsy wood and sheet-metal shacks crisscrossing the Kathmandu Valley, had been warned to evacuate by the previous evening. Kathmandu Metropolitan City police chief Bhishnu Prasad Joshi assured media that officials stood ready to assist those left homeless.
The operation unfolded peacefully, with families hauling furniture and belongings onto small trucks. Yet heartbreak lingered: “I don’t know if I should live or die, because I don’t have a place to stay right now,” wept 65-year-old Puspa Kaasai, a resident for three decades.
Shah defended the action on social media, stressing the need to relocate people from “unorganised and flood-prone” zones choked by rubbish and pollution. He pledged permanent land for genuine squatters and hailed the clearance as a step toward fixing Kathmandu’s strained drainage system. Some residents agreed; 38-year-old Dambar Bahadur Tamang called it “a good decision,” noting the constant flood fears.
Critics were scathing. Amnesty International Nepal director Nirajan Thapaliya warned that the forced evictions—lacking verification, consultation, or alternative housing, risked sparking a “preventable human rights crisis” and signaled an authoritarian drift.