Your editorial 'National sinkhole' (#168) and the letters it attracted have been a little unkind to Kathmandu. It sounds as if the people of Kathmandu have been manipulating development planning to locate all infrastructure in the valley. It is a fact that investments are being concentrated in Kathmandu, but is it the people of Kathmandu who are to blame for that? Donors cannot see beyond the hills surrounding the capital. NRN's want to build a tunnel to Hetauda which is meaningless from a national viewpoint and only helps to bring the latest goods to Kathmandu by express delivery. Inhabitants of Himalayan villages are pouring millions on building monasteries all over the valley. Universities based across the nation are erecting grandiose campuses in the capital. Foreign-trained urban experts are calling for a second ring road in Kathmandu while their home villages lack mule tracks. Please do not blame the people of Kathmandu for the lopsided development. They have been working to spread development by leaving the comforts of Kathmandu to pioneer hotels and resorts in Pokhara, Chitwan, Lumbini and Jomsom, to take some recent examples. In the past, they were responsible for establishing towns across the hills of Nepal.
Mayju Tuladhar,
Kathmandu
