POKHARA, Sept 15: Nearly a decade after federalism was introduced, disputes over local boundaries and poor access to public services are raising fresh questions about Nepal’s local government structure.
Pokhara Metropolitan City, the country’s largest metropolitan city by area, was created in 2017 by merging the former Pokhara Sub Metropolitan City with Lekhnath Municipality.
The merger was aimed at meeting the legal criteria for a metropolitan city, including a population of at least 500,000, annual internal revenue of at least Rs 1 billion, a 500-bed hospital, postgraduate educational institutions and other urban facilities.
Initially named Pokhara-Lekhnath Metropolitan City to preserve Lekhnath’s identity, the name was later changed to Pokhara Metropolitan City.
Nearly a decade later, residents of the former Lekhnath area are demanding separation, saying the merger has left their region behind in development and service delivery.
Pokhara Lekhnath Metropolis changes its name
They complain that resources and infrastructure have been concentrated in Pokhara, while Lekhnath has lost access to grants and failed to benefit from its own revenue sources.
Shalikram Poudel, former mayor of Lekhnath Municipality, said residents had waited for improvements after the merger, but their expectations were not met.
“Simply putting up a metropolitan city signboard is not enough,” he said, claiming that 90 percent of Lekhnath residents surveyed were unhappy with the merger. He argued that Lekhnath should remain a separate local government status.
The problem is not confined to Pokhara. Around 13,000 residents of wards 6 and 7 of Binayi Tribeni Rural Municipality in Nawalpur face a 43 kilometre detour to reach their own Gandaki Province administration. They can reach Gandaki only by travelling through Lumbini Province.
Political parties had promised to establish an administrative unit at Tribeni and open the Dumkibas Tribeni road, but neither commitment has been fulfilled. Residents have therefore asked to be incorporated into Lumbini Province if the road remains closed.
Binayi Tribeni Chairperson Ghanshyam Giri said residents currently have to travel four kilometres within the municipality, 25 kilometres to Bardaghat and another 14 kilometres through the Daunne section to reach Dumkibas. Opening the direct road would reduce the journey to 16 kilometres. Eight kilometres of the proposed route has already been built, while the remaining eight kilometres pass through forest.
Such cases have fuelled wider complaints that federalism has changed administrative boundaries without making government services genuinely accessible.
Political science professor Kapilmani Dahal of Prithvi Narayan Campus said some demands for boundary changes were legitimate and reflected failures in local service delivery.
“The dispute is not limited to Pokhara and Lekhnath. Nepal needs a broader restructuring of local governments,” Dahal said.
He suggested reducing the number of local governments while strengthening wards so that citizens can access services closer to home. Federalism, he said, should be judged not only by administrative geography but also by economic viability and the quality of services people receive.
With local governments struggling with uneven resources, difficult geography and weak service access, the growing demand for mergers, separation and boundary changes points to an unfinished task of Nepal’s federal restructuring.
