As you pass through the Lainchaur-Narayangopal Chowk road stretch, you can notice a dilapidated house opposite Guangzhou Hotel in Lazimpat, Kathmandu.

The two-storey house that was built of mud, cement and bricks has lost its facade. Now propped up with wooden poles, the crumbling house has only one room left on its second floor, where Laxmi Tuladhar, 53, is living with her little family.

The house, with wreckage of its front scattered around, conjures up an image of a bombed houses in war-torn cities. But, in fact, it was bulldozed by the government on June 29 of last year.

A bulldozer of Kathmandu Valley Town Development Authority (KVTDA) demolished much of Laxmi's house, which, government authorities say, was built on public land. Laxmi's family continues to live in the damaged house.

The second floor of Laxmi's house has been completely destroyed. On the ground and first floors, almost all rooms have been damaged. On the second floor, there is only one room where Laxmi has stuffed all her belongings.

"There are cracks even on the walls of this room," says Laxmi. "But I have nowhere to go." After their house was bulldozed, Laxmis oldest son, who is married, moved to his wife's house. Now, only Laxmi and her two sons are living there.
Whenever she recalls the day her house was demolished, Laxmi?s eyes well up. Laxmi?s house, where she has spent more than two decades, was torn down in front of her own eyes. "I cried for help," she recalls. "But no one stood by my side."

The now-ruined house was the only source of income for Laxmi. She had rented out all the rooms on the ground floor. She too was running a little shop. Since her house was damaged, Laxmi has been making a living by selling dairy milk packets in front of her house every morning.
"I had asked them for a little more time as I had no where to go," she says. "But they did not understand my problem."

Laxmi?s room has no power. Water supply to her home has also been cut off. Even the toilet was destroyed. "I now depend on my neighbors? toilets and water taps," she says.
When an earthquake measuring 6.0 on Richter scale jolted Kathmandu on August 30, Laxmi thought it was her last day. "God saved us," she says. "I know my house is not in a condition to stand earthquakes but there is no other place where we can stay."

Laxmi says she has many relatives in Kathmandu but she does not want to be a burden on them. "It is fine to ask for relatives? help some times but I do not want to be a burden on anyone forever," she says. "No one can take care of others for their whole life, so I have to be independent and feed my family on my own."Although the government has assured her to provide compensation, she has not received a single penny till now.

"I don?t want compensation. I just want some space for my family. Instead of giving compensation, they have been threatening us saying they would destroy the remaining part of my house."

Like Tuladhar, Nirmal Nakarmi?s house was also half destroyed during the course of road expansion. Today, they are forced to live in a house that has deep cracks, risking their lives.

"Even the movement of big vehicles causes my house to shake, so how can I feel safe. I think a mild earthquake can easily destroy my house," opines Nakarmi.

His joint family has been forced to live as nuclear family because of the destruction. His brother and sister-in-law, who were living in the Lazimpat house, have now rented a room at Nayabazar as there is no sufficient space to accommodate the joint family.

The three-and-half-storey house of Nakarmi, which was built by his grandfather, has been half destroyed during the road expansion. "Now, we are repairing our house though we know that it cannot be maintained as it was before."

Nakarmi is very much disappointed by the way road expansion has been carried out. "We are not against development, but they should do it legally without hampering anyone?s property."

Like Tuladhar and Nakarmi, there are more than 3000 families whose houses have been destroyed by the government during road expansion, but they are compelled to live in such houses.

According to the commissioner of Kathmandu Valley Town Development Committee (KVTDC), Dr Bhai Kaji Tiwari, the government destroyed only those houses that failed to meet government set standards. The houses that were built before the government passed new standards in 1976 will get compensation not for their land but for the construction.

"After we sent notices to people, most of them carried out their work by themselves. But as some people did not allow us to continue our work, we had to call bulldozer," says Tiwari. “

"Yes, we are very aware about the fact that such houses are more risky and a mild earthquake can destroy them. So the government should not allow people to live in such house. The concerned authority (Kathmandu Metropolitan City) must carry out inspection work every time."

According to Tiwari, the government has spent more than Rs 5 crore for compensating the people and they estimate that Rs 7 crore more would be required for the compensation.

The government compensation, however, cannot mitigate the risk of once bulldozed house. According to experts, such houses will never be as strong as newly built houses.

"People should not live in such houses as they are not safe," says Amod Mani Dixit, executive director of the Nepal Society for Earthquake Technology, an organization that works for earthquake risk management.

According to Dixit, people should maintain the building codes while constructing a house. If they fail to maintain the building code then their house will be vulnerable to earthquake.

"Not only the destroyed houses, most of the schools and hospitals of our country have failed to maintain the building code, but the government has not shown any interest to take action against such buildings," says Dixit.

source:PRATIBHA RAWAL,republica,9 Sep 2013
photo courtesy: republica