Too little on this side of the fence

DESPITE the long-standing tussle between Indian and Nepali nationalists over Buddha’s birthplace, Nepal has largely failed to revive its side of Kapilvastu, one of the most important Buddhist sites, while India has been aggressively making attempts to promote its section of the important archaeological and pilgrimage site. Although both sites are located within 40 km of each other, India has been successful in developing the area at Piprahawa, while Nepal still lags behind in proper infrastructure and site promotion of Kapilvastu, the district where the Buddha was born. According to Ajitman Tamang, member secretary of the Lumbini Development Trust (LDT), Nepal has failed to adequately develop and promote Kapilvastu due to a budget crunch. “It is not that we haven’t made an effort but most of our allocated budget is invested in the development of Lumbini. Hence, other sites related to the Buddha have not been developed according to their importance,” he said. “Even the Lumbini development master plan is very expensive by Nepali standards.” The Lumbini Development Act 1985 states that three sites, including Kapilvastu, Dev Daha and Lumbini, need to be developed as pilgrimage and archaeological sites

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