Pokhara, February 9
The federal government has recently announced the Phewa lake spreading across Pokhara metropolitan city and Annapurna rural municipality in the Kaski district as a protected watershed area.
In order to implement the decision, the two local governments are preparing new plans.
The project covers wards 6, 22, 17, 18, 22, 23 and 24 of Pokhara and wards 1, 2, 3 and 4 of Annapurna.
This announcement of the protected status follows two Supreme Court directives (on April 2, 2012, and April 29, 2018) in this regard.
Earlier, for this, the Council of Ministers on November 6, 2019, had formed a land and watershed protection committee.
Now, with the latest decision, a standard operating procedure has been sent to the concerned authority to proceed the project under the chairpersonship of the chief of the district coordination committee (DCC), says the DCC coordinator Baina Bahadur Chhetri.
“Following the government’s decision to this effect, we have pursued the project after forming a committee comprising stakeholders. We launched a campaign to incorporate suggestions and understand the feelings of local people for the project. Now, we will move forward with the project after making an integrated action plan,” he says.
A former secretary at the Gandaki Provincial Ministry of Forests, Environment and Soil Conservation, Maheshwar Dhakal, who played an important role in enlisting the nine lakes of Pokhara including Phewa lake as a Ramsar site, opines that the government’s decision has further highlighted the importance of the Phewa lake watershed area.
“The Phewa watershed area has international importance. We should take this decision of the government in a positive way. Now, the way has been opened for the private sector and the civil society and all sides joining hands with the federal, provincial and local governments for the protection of this important watershed area,” he says.
