KATHMANDU, June 16: The government of India is assisting Nepal to construct sanitation facilities at Pashupatinath Temple area.

The Embassy of India, Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration and the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to build sanitation facilities for pilgrims and tourists at the UNESCO World Heritage Site on Monday.

Under the initiative, India will extend a financial assistance of NRS 37.23 million to Nepal, which will be implemented by KMC in accordance with the norms laid out by Government of Nepal. As per the understanding, KMC will identify a suitable contractor through a tender process for completing the construction work within 15 months from the award of work.

The project will be funded under Nepal-Bharat Maitri: Development Partnership as a High Impact Community Development Project (HICDP or earlier SDPs) by Government of India. The project proposal was forwarded by the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) to the Embassy in October 2019.

The sanitation project which was agreed to by both governments in August 2014 will complement the efforts of Government of Nepal for upgradation of public utilities in Pashupati Temple Complex.

Photo: IndiaInNepal/Twitter

KATHMANDU, March 27: As the country remains under complete lockdown, the major cities and public places including Pashupatinath temple which are usually bustling with people have worn a deserted look.

Only a few permitted vehicles are seen plying on the streets, shops and stores are closed, all the private and public offices except “essential ones” have shut down and temples, churches and other religious places have emptied.

Pashupatinath temple generally receives thousands of visitors every day. Most of them are Hindu devotees from Nepal and India. But, due to the lockdown, only a very few people attending the funeral were seen in the temple.

Two days before the lockdown was announced, the Pashupatinath Area Development Trust had suspended the special worship owing to the virus fears but regular worship was conducted as usual. It came after the government forbade the gathering of more than 25 people to prevent the possible outbreak.

The government on March 23 — hours after the health authorities confirmed that a 19-year-old girl who had returned from France on March 17 had tested positive for COVID-19, the country’s second case – announced a nationwide lockdown for a week to prevent the spread of the virus.

Nepal has confirmed three cases of coronavirus. A 32-year-old man from Dhading who returned to Kathmandu from the United Arab Emirates on March 19 was also tested positive for the virus. The first case was reported on January 24 on a student from Wuhan who had traveled to Nepal on holiday. He recovered but the two other patients are receiving treatment at the Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital in Teku.

Here are some photos of the Pashupatinath temple area our photographer Mukunda Kalikote captured.

KATHMANDU, Sept 23: The priests of Pashupatinath temple should be of Nepali origin, argued Ram Prasad Sapkota, chairman of National Youth Association, the youth wing of Nepal Communist Party.

The Pashupatinath Temple currently has Ganesh Bhat as the head priest (Mool Bhat) who is from Udupi, a city of Indian state Karnataka. Other four priests Ram Karanth Bhat, Girish Bhat, Narayan Bhat and Raghavendra Bhat also hail from India.

“Pashupatinath temple belongs to Nepal. Thus, the priests should be from Nepali origin,” said Sapkota during a television interview Janata Janna Chahanchan.

Following the abolishment of the monarchy, the then Maoist Center led coalition government had forced the Bhatta priests to resign in 2009 and subsequently appointed Nepal Sanskrit University Director Prof Dr. Bishnu Prasad Dahal and Sanskrit Bidhyapit lecturer Saligram Dhakal as the priests of the temple. Previously, the Kings of Nepal had been approving the appointment of high caste Hindu Bhramin scholars from India for over two and half centuries.

However, the decision to end the centuries-old monopoly of Indian Bhramins at the fifth-century temple erupted a widespread controversy across Nepal and in India.

After the appointment was challenged by the Bhandaris (caretakers of the temple) in the Supreme Court accusing the government of breaking the long-practiced tradition while appointing the priests, the SC had stayed the appointment.

Eventually, the government had to bow down to the public outrage and days-long protest and reinstated Bhattas.

“Unfortunately, the public and even the media are at odds. Isn’t it you (media) and the people who stopped us from changing priests. Didn’t the people and the media accuse Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ of trying to seize the rule?” he fumed.

“The whole system is at fault.”

“We have been lobbying for the appointment of Nepali priests at the temple for years now. We still demand it,” he added.

He also said that the monarchy will not be reinstated in the country.

When asked if former King Gyanendra Shah will be restored as the king, he said, “Who is Gyanendra Shah? I don’t know King Gyanendra. I only know an ordinary Gyandendra.”

“The revival of the monarchy is beyond imagination.”

He also expressed confidence that Dahal will become prime minister of Nepal after K P Oli.

“It was agreed that Prachanda will be prime minister after chair Oli. Therefore, Prachanda will be the next PM.”

Reporters Club: World Hindu Youth Federation International Committee (WHYOC) has expressed grave dissatisfaction over the security lapse in one of Hinduism’s holiest sites, the Pashupatinath Temple. Organizing a special press conference at the Reporters Club yesterday and according to the press release, an explosive device was found on the premises of the Pashupatinath Temple.

The press release which was jointly signed by the Secretary-General of the WHYOC Roshan Jung Basnet, and its Coordinator Dinesh Kumar Sijapati, stated that this is a preplanned event to scare the worshippers and is done with a mala fide intention to disturb the peace. It cautioned that there is a plan to destabilize the religious harmony that this country has shared over all these years, but there are elements in the society who are bent on creating a religious riot.

It also stated that planting an explosive device in the premises of the holiest of Hindu sites could only have been done by people with an extremely poor mentality and wretched character. The press release also stated that it is not a coincidence that the bomb was found in the same day at the premises and there was hearsay about a bomb being planted in the Ram Janaki Temple in Janakpur.

The press release also questioned the authorities over this serious lapse. Where are the people employed for securing the area under the Pashupatinath Area Development Trust (PADT), and the other security provided by Nepal Police, the Armed Police Force? The press release also accuses those in charge of the PADT of lack of sincerity on their part providing access for prayers to only those who have money and or power. It also stated that the Priests conducting prayers were manhandled, and various signs of security lapses were visible, along with this recent incident.

In the press release, it also asks for the resignation of the current member Secretary of PADT Dr. Pradip Dhakal as he was overtly incapable, and investigation into corrupt employees of PADT.

The committee has further requested the government for an impartial thorough investigation to be made public bringing the accused to book or else it will continue it’s struggle and protest activities in the coming days.