Machhapuchchhre Rural Municipality in Kaski allocated Rs300,000 through a consumers’ committee to construct a foot trail from Kurli to Tilchi in the current fiscal year. The committee paid a total of Rs23,100 in revenue to the rural municipality. Shiva Bhandari, a local resident of Kalimati in ward 8 of the rural municipality, vented his ire on social media, stating that the local unit fails to collect millions from crusher plants, while ordinary people have to pay such a hefty amount for the development project worth just Rs300,000.

These crusher plants and the quarry are in operation on private land after receiving permission from Machhapuchchhre Rural Municipality. Some are alleged to be extracting more materials than allowed under the Initial Environmental Examination (IEE), while others have started extracting stones and gravels without any IEE approval.

Machhapuchchhre Rural Municipality has yet to collect revenues totalling approximately Rs491.4 million from three crusher plants and one quarry operating within its jurisdiction. Baraha Crusher Plant at Bhurjungkhola in ward 2, Gandaki Aggregate at Cholkholsa and Seti Gandaki Crusher Plant in ward 4 are in operation in the local body. Similarly, Pokhara-based JK Crusher Plant has been extracting stones and pebbles at Kharibot in ward 3.

“Is the law only for orindary people? How long will the powerful get off scot-free while commoners comply with the legal provisions?” he wrote on social media. He expressed his dissatisfaction at the local unit’s failure to collect a huge amount of revenue from crusher plants despite repeated urging from the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority.

Faced with the unpaid revenue, Machhapuchchhre Rural Municipality asked the Institute of Engineering, Paschimanchal Campus, in the last fiscal year 2023-24 to assess the quantities of materials extracted by the crusher plants. A team of four experts carried out a study and submitted its report. The report says that three crusher plants and a quarry owe Rs491,431,297 in revenue for the extraction of stones, gravel, sand and soil. The amount was calculated based on the rate of revenue set by the Gandaki provincial government.

On June 23, last year, a meeting of the revenue advisory committee, led by Sita Adhikari, vice-chairperson of Machhapuchchhre Rural Municipality, decided to collect the revenue from the crusher plants and quarry as per the expert team’s report.

According to the report, Baraha Crusher Plant owes Rs9.6 million for extracting 77,776 cubic meters of soil and Rs172.3 million for extracting 542,307 cubic metres of stones, gravel and sand. Similarly, Gandaki Aggregate owes about Rs4.9 million for extracting 39,906 cubic meters of soil and Rs113.6 million for extracting 357,448 cubic metres of stones, gravel and sand.