Introduction

Nepal is a country with a population of approximately 30 people, land-locked by Tibet in the North and India in the East, West and South. Nepal is characterized by diverse geography of tallest mountains, forested hills and fertile plains. Kathmandu is the nation’s capital city while Kathmandu Valley is an urban agglomeration with a population of approximately 2.9 million people, that include the cities of Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur. The valley is a central hub not only for economic activities, offices, headquarters and educational institutions but also for architecture, heritage and culture. Bagmati river flows through the valley, separating the cities of Kathmandu and Lalitpur. While Manohara river joins Bagmati river from the east, Bishnumati river joins it from the North-west and the river exits the valley via Chobar in the South-west.

Bagmati River, considered holy by both Hindus and Buddhists, is an important feature of the Kathmandu Valley. The ancient holy temples and cremation ghats on the banks of the Bagmati River, including Pashupatinath Temple listed in the UNESCO world heritage site, hold great cultural values (Sharma, 2018). While dead bodies are cremated on the banks of this river, the feet of the dead bodies are dipped in the river three times to end their reincarnation cycle and the chief mourner takes a holy river-bath after the cremation works. These traditional and religious practices that exist even today have made Bagmati river a significant entity in people’s lives. The people who lived in the valley since their childhood remember Bagmati as a space where they spent their childhood, playing and enjoying the beauty, a place where they used to swim and drink water directly from the river (Sharma, 2018).

The present condition of Bagmati River and all other rivers of the valley have moved very far away from these sweet memories. Urbanization and pollution has degraded the river and its banks to such levels that it feels like an open sewage channel passing through the middle of the city. The river water itself is black and filthy and the smell of that sewage-infused water makes it unpleasant to pass through the bridges over the river. There are heaps of solid waste on the river and its banks and large squatter settlements at multiple places beside the river. This dynamic amalgamation of religious and historical significance, temporal changes and present reputation of home for the urban poor makes Bagmati a topic worth researching on.

With the aim of studying “Urban Rivers and Public Space”, this report attempts to dive deep into the case of Bagmati River in the context of continuously urbanizing Kathmandu Valley. Discussing the case through the lens of green versus brown agendas, the report aims to explore the perspectives of different stakeholders involved. This case study focuses on the government’s initiatives of beautifying the river, cleaning of the river by volunteers and activists, and the present state, wishes and actions of the people currently inhabiting the squatter settlements besides the river.

Fig: Pashupatinath and Bagmati River (Source: Pexels)