Submerged Road Renovated: Thanks to the Community Mediation
July 07, 2015
The community situated to the eastern side of Khadraholi(pond) of Tankisinawari VDC- 3 had constructed a road that local joined highway. Hume pipes were placed by the pond while constructing the road. Later on, a housing company associated with Bidhan Rana and others bought the land situated to the southern part of the pond and filled the pond with soil. As a result, the road sub-merged obstructing community people’s movement and damaging a culvert near Puspalal Chowk. Furthermore, it also sub-merged the community infrastructures situated to the northern part of the pond. A total of 150 members of the community were directly affected by the act of the company against which the community people filed a case in their VDC seeking for justice and resolution of the problem. Earlier, the community including the road and culvert users’ committees, businessmen and other stakeholders had had a dialogue for the resolution of the problem but in vain. The VDC office then referred the case to Tankinsinawari mediation center and mediators there then initiated efforts for the resolution. Holding meeting with the conflicting parties for the identification of the real problems, meetings and shuttle dialogues with the stakeholders, formation of consultant group including combined sessions, search of alternatives and planning for the implementation of the agreed points were the strategies the mediators adopted.
After the application was filed for mediation in the mediation centre, it conducted a meeting with stakeholders and parties to identify and analyze the facts of the conflict. It also discussed a problem in the workshop organized by The Asia Foundation and took the process of the conflict resolution ahead. Finally, it took nine months for the parties to the conflict to come to terms. As per the agreement, the company was to construct culvert and the road damaged due to the filling, it was presumed, could cost NPR 50000 for the construction. Similarly, the VDC agreed to provide NPR 50000 for the construction work. It was also agreed that the Company would renovate the culvert situated in the eastern part and that locals would not stand as obstruction in the buy and sell of the plots. For the outlet of water, a wider drainage would be constructed, the agreement stipulated.
Later, a follow up visit was made in the community. In the visit, the members of the five-member committee formed for the implementation of the agreements said that the reached agreement was being abided by. According to them 30 per cent of the agreed works and construction was accomplished and work was halted for the time being due to extremely high temperature and spread of hepatitis B disease in the area. However, both the construction committee and monitoring committee assured that the works would resume once the situation normalized.
