Tukucha Khola flows beneath Jai Nepal hall

The Kathmandu Metropolitan City today found out that Jai Nepal cinema hall was constructed above the Tukucha Khola.The Tukucha Khola, which used to be an important rivulet inside Kathmandu’s core area around Putalisadak six decades ago, was encroached upon and structures were constructed above it. The encroachment is so intense that some segments of the rivulet between Narayanhiti Durbar Museum and Putalisadak had vanished beneath the concrete jungle. Visible parts of the khola, on the other hand, look like an open sewage.

After the KMC launched its recent drive to free encroachment around public areas, it received complaints that the rivulet had been completely encroached upon. Acting on the complaints, the KMC began mapping the rivulet’s course and speculated that it should be flowing beneath Jai Nepal cinema hall.

On August 30, a team of the KMC reached the hall with a dozer to carry out excavation on the premises. However, even after digging up to 10 feet, there was no sign of the rivulet. The excavation was then suspended. But after wracking their brains for a fortnight, KMC staff returned with a bigger dozer to give excavation another shot. Their perseverance paid and after digging for another five feet, the excavator was met with gushing water of the hidden rivulet.

Municipal Police Chief Superintendent of Police Raju Pandey said KMC engineers were positive that the rivulet would be beneath Jai Nepal hall. Pandey said the rivulet was flowing between narrow walls covered with hard concrete and 15 feet of mud.

KMC authorities estimate that structures have been built over 500 metres of the rivulet between Narayanhiti Durbar Museum and locations in Kamaladi, including Kathmandu Plaza. Parts of the rivulet are visible beyond Kathamndu Plaza.

KMC said private houses in the area had also encroached upon the khola. “All such encroachment will be cleared following a legal process in the coming days,” said Pandey.It is not clear when the Tukucha Khola was encroached upon, but Jai Nepal, the country’s oldest cinema hall, has been there since 1945.