Former Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai has welcomed the government's decision to grant principle approval to the Budhigandaki Development Authority Bill, describing it as a move that will help advance the national pride Budhigandaki project, while firmly rejecting any suggestion that recent disasters should stop large reservoir projects in Nepal. In a social media statement issued from Kathmandu, the chairman of the Nepal Samajwadi Party dismissed as absurd the argument that the recent ice-rock avalanches and the disasters in the Bhote Koshi, Trishuli and Budhigandaki rivers should be used as a pretext to argue that large reservoir projects should not be built in the country.
"Absurd" to Use Recent Disasters as a Pretext, Says Bhattarai
Bhattarai reserved his strongest language for those who have cited the recent avalanches and downstream disasters to argue against big dams. According to the former prime minister, it is absurd to say that large reservoir projects should not be built in Nepal by taking the recent ice-rock avalanches and the disasters in the Bhote Koshi, Trishuli and Budhigandaki rivers as a pretext.
His statement draws a clear distinction between the recent tragedies and the country's infrastructure plans. In his reading, the suffering caused by the calamities along those rivers should not be converted into an argument against building the very projects he believes Nepal needs. Instead, he positioned large reservoir construction as work that must continue.
The remarks carry weight because they land in the middle of an ongoing debate. The argument he rejects, that the avalanches justify holding back on reservoir projects, is clearly circulating well enough that a former head of government felt it necessary to answer it publicly. Bhattarai's answer was unambiguous: the disasters should not be allowed to stand in the way.
Principle Approval Puts Budhigandaki Authority Bill on Track
At the center of the story is the government's decision to grant principle approval to the Budhigandaki Development Authority Bill. Approval in principle is a meaningful milestone in the legislative process. It signals that the basic idea of the bill has been accepted and allows the proposal to advance through the further stages of deliberation required before it can become law.
Once enacted, the legislation would establish a development authority dedicated to the Budhigandaki project, a body intended to drive forward what the government has designated a project of national pride. Bhattarai welcomed exactly this, framing the decision as a positive step for the project's advancement.
National pride projects occupy a special place in Nepal's development priorities, and any movement on them draws close public and political attention. The creation of a dedicated authority for Budhigandaki reflects the importance the state attaches to pushing the project forward, and the granting of principle approval means that proposal has now cleared a key procedural threshold. Bhattarai's public welcome adds an early and prominent political endorsement to the bill as it moves ahead.
A Former Prime Minister Weighs In
The force of the statement comes from the identity of the man making it. Dr. Bhattarai is a former Prime Minister of Nepal and currently chairs the Nepal Samajwadi Party, giving his views a reach far beyond those of an ordinary commentator. That he chose to make his position public from Kathmandu through a social media statement underlines how directly he wanted to address the argument linking the recent disasters to a slowdown of reservoir construction.
For a project of Budhigandaki's stature, support from a figure of his standing matters. It signals to the government and to the wider public that the push to advance the project enjoys backing from senior political leadership, not only from official channels. His rejection of the pretext argument likewise makes clear that he intends to contest any attempt to stall the project on the grounds of the recent avalanches and disasters.
Avalanches and Disasters That Fueled the Reservoir Debate
At the heart of the controversy are the recent ice-rock avalanches and the disasters along the Bhote Koshi, Trishuli and Budhigandaki rivers. Those events have been invoked to argue that Nepal should not build large reservoir projects, a line of reasoning Bhattarai has now rejected outright.
His remarks effectively frame the two sides of that debate. On one side are those who treat the avalanches and disasters as a warning against large reservoir construction. On the other are voices like Bhattarai's, which hold that such projects remain necessary and that the recent tragedies must not be used as a pretext to halt them.
His position can be summed up in three points:
- He welcomed the government's decision to grant principle approval to the Budhigandaki Development Authority Bill.
- He called it absurd to argue that large reservoir projects should not be built in Nepal by citing the recent ice-rock avalanches and disasters in the Bhote Koshi, Trishuli and Budhigandaki rivers.
- He threw his weight behind advancing the national pride Budhigandaki project.
What Comes Next
With principle approval granted, the Budhigandaki Development Authority Bill now moves forward through the legislative process, carrying with it the prospect of a dedicated authority to advance the national pride project. As for the wider debate, Bhattarai's message from Kathmandu was unmistakable: the recent avalanches and disasters should not be allowed to become a pretext for stopping the large reservoir projects he insists Nepal must build. As reported by Khabarhub, his statement amounts to a direct political defense of large reservoir construction in the wake of the disasters along the three rivers.
