KATHMANDU: Nepal Army (NA) has apprised a team of high-level officials from the Ministries of Defense and Finance and National Planning Commission regarding its Vision 2030 and Bunker to Barracks campaign.
NA held a presentation for the team in the presence of Chief of Army Staff General Prabhuram Sharma that was followed by a guided tour of several NA barracks in Okhaldhunga, Khotang and Ramechhap districts, according to the NA’s Directorate of Public Relations and Information of the NA.
The team included National Planning Commission Vice Chairman Dr. Bishwo Nath Poudel, Defense Secretary Kiran Raj Sharma and other senior officers of the two ministries.
The bunkers built by the Nepal Army during the 10-year armed conflict later had been turned into army barracks.
A parliamentary panel following inspection of NA barracks across country in 2010 had instructed the NA to displace the bunkers. The committee had concluded that NA personnel forced to live a miserable life in bunkers faced risks of floods, landslides, snake and mosquito bites, affecting their morale in absence of poor accommodation. NA personnel Mitra Lal Gurung had died after being buried in a bunker in Dolpa in 2012.
The NA had started a 10-year project to replace the bunker since 2009/2010 fiscal. Army Spokesperson Brigadier General Narayan Silwal said that the NA needed more time to conclude the Bunker to Barracks campaign. According to him, the campaign was hit time and again by various factors such as lack of budget, earthquakes and pandemics.
The Bunker to Barracks project had taken the form of a campaign since the tenure of retired Chief of Army Staff Chhatra Man Singh Gurung. NA’s Central Committee for Physical Construction and Infrastructure led by a Lieutenant General oversees the campaign.
The NA has been lagging to compete the project that is running for over a decade. Bunkers in some districts are yet to be displaced even now.
NA Directorate of Public Relations and Information said 5,850 structures need to be erected to displace army bunkers across the country. Spokesperson Silwal said the NA has not been able to complete around 30 to 40 percent of the target work.
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