Meeting on Thursday, November 18, 2021, under the chairmanship of Mr. Daniel SALMON (Ecologist – Solidarity and territories – Ille-et-Vilaine), President, the France Friendship Group – Nepal met with Mr. Chiri Babu MAHARJAN, Mayor of Patan, in the district of Lalitpur.
Mr. Chiri Babu MAHARJAN indicated that he was making his first visit in France, for two reasons: on the one hand, he is invited to the Salon des Maires which, for the first time, welcomes a Nepalese delegation, and, on the other hand, he is invited by the Mayor of Lamothe-Goas (Gers), Mr. Alain SCUDELLARO, to participate in the 21st Himalayan Meetings, during which the title of honorary citizen and the medal of honor of the municipality will be awarded to him.
The commune of Patan, near Kathmandu, is one of the oldest Nepalese cities – its history goes back more than two thousand years. Today populated by about 300,000 inhabitants, it is home to many monasteries, testimony to its past as an important Buddhist center, as well as an imposing Hindu palace. It is also a large craft center. Similarly, it is the residence of the great Nepalese writer Satya Mohan JOSHI, aged 101, highly respected in his country. Patan suffered greatly from the terrible earthquake of 25 April 2015, which caused the destruction of several UNESCO World Heritage monuments. However, most of the damage has now been repaired, and tourists how to return.
Mr. Chiri Babu MAHARJAN, Member of the Nepalese Congress, said that in Nepal, the mayor and his deputy, who is necessarily a woman if the mayor is a man, while the reverse is not true, are elected by direct universal suffrage for a five-year term, renewable once. Given the long-standing political situation in Nepal, mayors were previously appointed by the central government. Nepalese mayors now have relatively large powers such as setting the annual municipal programme or collecting local taxes; They even have judicial powers in cases of administrative difficulties or intra-family disputes, but not in criminal matters.
The mayor of Patan noted that his municipality was making great efforts to protect the environment (construction of cycle paths, planting of trees and flower beds, pedestrianization of the historic city center, installation of pipes to combat increasingly violent monsoons, etc.). Nepal is suffering from the consequences of climate change. Thus, major landslides, following torrential rains lasting several days, last October caused the death of dozens of people and washed away the pipes built only two years ago, after forty years of debate and study. In general, the Himalayas are one of the fastest warming regions in the world.
Mr. Chiri Babu MAHARJAN expressed his wish to see deepened relations between Nepalese and French mayors, in the form of a platform to carry out together concrete projects immediately perceptible by public opinion, for example in hydro-electric matters. The Association of Mayors of France (AMF) could, if necessary, provide support. He said that twenty-five Nepalese mayors were already interested in this initiative, and indicated that he was ready to organize an annual event in Patan highlighting the France and its heritage, for example gastronomic. His longer-term goal is to create, in his commune, the first “French quarter” in Nepal. He welcomed the Francophilia of Nepalese who are more and more numerous to learn French – the Alliance française recently moved from Kathmandu to Patan.