As a part of Tomorrow’s Cities Project, SIAS in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh (UoE), UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), and Global Challenge Research Fund (GCRF), organized a half-day workshop on “Sharing of Envisioned Land Use Plan (eLUP) and feedback collection from the community of Khokana” on March 2, 2022 at Kwality Banquet, Bhainsepati. A total of 29 participants (8 female) including 22 local participants from Khokana, 3 urban planners from IoE, and 4 social scientists from SIAS were present in the workshop.
The workshop, chaired by Mr. Rabindra Maharjan – ward chair of ward 21 of LMC or Khokana, had three specific objectives. A. Sharing findings of the visioning workshop held on 29-30 December 2021 [https://sias-southasia.org/khokana-visioning-workshop/]. B. sharing eLUP that was designed and based on the findings of the visioning workshop, and collecting communities’ comments and feedback. C. Finally, forming a Task Force to develop a single and agreed vision of Khokana.
Dr. Mani Ram Banjade of SIAS briefly shared the main findings and processes adopted during the visioning workshop. The session was then followed by the presentation on the eLUPs (on projected projects and the projected Landuse) for Khokana by Prof. Dr. Sangeeta Singh from IoE. According to her, the proposed draft eLUPs which will later be revised after the feedback and comments from the participants will serve as strong evidence during the dialogue with the governments and policymakers. Few participants initially had negative impressions of the inclusion of the Fast track and high-tension transmission line in the eLUPs. Against this disparity, the ward chair clarified, “We can clearly state what we want and how we want development keeping intact the epitome of Khokana as cultural city during the dialogue with the government with the help of these maps as evidence”. The local school teacher also opined that “the existence of these developmental projects in the LUP will help us prepare ourselves for future consequences in case of their implementation in Khokana. Also, the major issue is to focus on how can the people of Khokana gain from the loss in either case of acceptance or rejection of these projects in Khokana”. By the end of the session, the participants somehow had a common agreement on the necessity of the inclusion of these government projects in the eLUPs for future lobbying with the government.
To have disaggregated comments, the participants were divided into the same four groups as in the visioning workshop, each group provided with two sets of eLUPs. These groups after an intense discussion, suggested alternatives to the proposed land uses by indicating them in the eLUPs. These comments and feedback will later be incorporated in the final eLUPs, which will be an agreed LUP of Khokana.
The workshop concluded with the key remarks from the ward chair in which he stressed that the “envisioning future Khokana is a continuous process and need lots of discussions and planning, for which unity among us is the most essential tool. Finally, before the ward chair wrapped up the workshop, the task force, representing two members from each group, was formed and decided to finalize a meta vision or a single common vision of Khokana by the two weeks after the workshop.
