Auditor General Directs Preservation of Bouddhanath Heritage Research Records

The Office of the Auditor General has directed the Shree Bouddhanath Area Development Committee to properly preserve records related to research and studies conducted in the Bouddhanath area.

According to the 63rd Annual Report of the Auditor General, the Committee has failed to maintain a proper archive of research materials covering the social, economic, cultural and archaeological aspects of Buddhism in the Bouddhanath area, home to the historic Bouddhanath Stupa, one of the largest and oldest stupas in the Kathmandu Valley.

The report stated that under Section 4 of the Committee Formation Order, 2053 BS, the Committee is responsible for protecting the social, cultural and archaeological heritage linked to Buddhism in the Bouddhanath area. Although the Committee has been conducting annual studies and research programmes on both tangible and intangible Buddhist heritage, it has not developed a proper system to preserve those materials digitally or through other scientific methods.

The Office of the Auditor General has instructed the Committee to securely manage and preserve all related records and documents.

The report also highlighted ongoing disputes between the Committee and the Buddha and Melamchi Ghyang Guthi over the management of the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Bouddhanath area. Due to long-running disagreements between the Guthi, which operates under the Guthi Sansthan, and the Committee under the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, development works in the heritage area have been affected.

The report added that infrastructure capable of attracting more foreign tourists has not been developed adequately in the Bouddhanath area, located around eight kilometres east of central Kathmandu.