Beauty spoiling billboards await removal

Kathamndu, Dec 26, Haphazard hoarding boards and posters has degraded the beauty of many archeological and historical sites but the Kathmandu Metropolitan City has shown no interest to remove them. The hoarding boards not only give ugly looks to the historical sites and undermine the values of such sites but also send negative impression of UNESCO World Heritage Site (WHS) among the both national and foreign tourists, said officers of Department of Archeology (DoA) Kathamandu Metropolitan City (KMC) is the main responsible body in the country for the management the hoarding boards of the city area and for the maintenance of beauty of the important sites of the city, said Damodar Gautam, Chief of DoA. Gautam said that the ancient heritage preservation act- 2013 B.S. has prohibited to put on posters, hoarding boards, telephone and electric wires and to shoot movies along with carrying out other unsocial activities at the premises of WHS. But KMC has at many instance gone against the act giving permission to put on hoarding boards liberally, he said. There are seven WHS in the capital ands it was a shameful act to put on hording boards at such historic areas. But the hoarding boards could be seen around and at the Kathmandu Durbar Square, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur durbar square, Swoyambhunath , Boudha, Changu Narayan and Pashupati areas. He accepted that DoA has also responsible for maintaining the good looks of heritage sites and preserve it originality. He said that all sectors should take interest about the public issues. The role of media is very important to put focus on such issues, he added. Chief of Metropolitan City, Kedar Bahadur Adhikari accepted that the hoarding boards have reduced the charm of WHS. He informed that KMC will introduce new act in near future. There are 550 to 600 hoarding boards in the capital and KMC is collecting more than Rs. 20 million in revenue every year, informed Navaraj Dhakal, senior account officer at revenue division of KMC. He informed that permission to put on hoarding boards have been given as per the local government act-2055 B.S. KMC is also worried about the issue and there is a need that KMC should bring new policy, he said.