KATHMANDU, September 4: Kathmandu metropolitan city mayor Bidya Sundar Shakya broke one promise each day since he assumed the office, Republica's follow-up of Shakya's election commitments show. In his poll manifesto released before the polls, Shakya had promised to make Kathmandu "the smartest city" of the world.
"Kathmandu will be the world's best city within the first 100 days starting from the day of my victory," Mayor Shakya tweeted on May 6.
Locals express discontent as KMC fails to deliver
Shakya had pledged to carry out 101 work in the first 100 days of his office including promoting Kathmandu as "clean and green" to restoring the cultural and religious monuments damaged during the earthquake.
Shakya's other notable commitments include developing Kathmandu as cycle city and providing free internet in major religious and cultural sites like Swayambhunath, Pashupathinath, Bauddha and Basantapur. Wednesday marks Kathmandu mayor's first 100 days in office.
A follow-up analysis of mayor Shakya's manifesto commitments show that Shakya has fulfilled only one election promise so far: increasing the elderly allowance to Rs 12,000 from Rs 10,000. There has not been any tangible work toward fulfilling other 100 promises that Shakya made in the campaign trail.
Though Shakya still has three days to deliver on promises, he is unlikely to meet most of them given the ambitious nature of his commitment like promoting transparent and corruption-free governance by embracing e-governance in the Kathmandu Metropolitan City, launching online employment information center and imparting job-oriented training to youths.
Shakya's apathy to follow through with his smart city plans have not only drawn backlash from Kathmandu residents but also from his electoral rivals.
"It has been proven that the 101 manifesto commitments he made were just a design to win elections," said Raju Raj Joshi, a Nepali Congress leader and Shakya's closest rival in the polls.
"People are already regretting their decision to elect him. He has proven a failure in all aspects of leadership."
Shakya has been subject of intense public criticism for his ''agonizingly slow' working style. KMC officials themselves have started questioning Shakya's competence. They claim that Shakya has not been able to carry out day-to-day affairs let alone start work on his ambitious commitments.
By Sunday, KMC Municipal executive council hadheld just six meetings. The meetings had taken 27 decisions including a controversial decision to buy expensive smart phones for elected representatives.
