KATHMANDU — Nepal’s Supreme Court has refused to extend the suspension of a controversial cable car project at a pilgrimage site in the country’s eastern hills, sparking concerns of confrontation over the culturally fraught issue.

While the company building the project says it plans to resume construction work that was halted after the court issued a stay order, community members who took the project to court say they won’t allow any resumption.

The Supreme Court declined to extend the interim stay order, citing earlier decisions not to issue stays on two related writ petitions, according to a statement describing the ruling by Justices Nahakul Subedi and Abdul Aziz Musalman.

“Now that the court has discontinued its order, we  are looking forward to continuing the construction and plan to finish the project by late next year,” said Himal Neupane, a spokesperson for IME Group, the main proponent of the Pathibhara cable car project. Neupane told Mongabay that the project was approved with the consent of the local community.

The court issued the stay order in early April after lawyers for the local community filed a writ petition following protests against the project’s launch.

“With the court ruling on discontinuing the stay order, we can say that the legal battle against the project is almost over even as the final verdict in the case is due,” said veteran lawyer Padam Bahadur Shrestha, who pleaded on behalf of the petitioners.

Indigenous Yakthung (Limbu) people opposed to the 3 billion rupee ($22 million) project say the cable car would harm their sacred forests, natural resources, ancestral lands known as Mukkumlung, and traditional way of life.

The cable car line is being built to serve the mountaintop temple of Pathibhara Devi, a popular pilgrimage destination for Nepali Hindus. But the area is also revered by the Limbu, many of whom have objected to the planned clearing of trees that they say will weaken the spiritual power that the site holds according to their beliefs.

“The court’s decision indirectly came as a support for the project’s construction,” Shree Lingkhim, coordinator of the Mukkumlung Protection and Struggle Committee, told Mongabay.

In a press meet organized by the committee in mid-May, the committee members expressed their strong disapproval of the project, saying its construction should be suspended until the court’s final judgment is reached.

“We unitedly call for the protection of our rights as citizens and Indigenous peoples enshrined in Nepal’s Constitution and UNDRIP,” Lingkhim said, referring to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which Nepal has signed up to.

As a part of the protest, Lingkhim said the committee plans to organize the Mukkumlung Protection Plantation Program in mid-June, when they will plant a variety of native trees in the project site.

Project developer Pathibhara Devi Darshan Cable Car Pvt. Ltd., part of the IME Group led by prominent tycoon Chandra Prasad Dhakal, and its supporters say the project will boost tourism, create jobs, and provide better access for pilgrims who currently have to undertake a strenuous high-altitude trek to the temple.

Experts have questioned the environmental assessment review of the project, saying it doesn’t provide adequate safeguards for the flora and fauna of the area and exploits legal loopholes to evade a full-fledged environmental impact assessment. However, Neupane from the IME Group said the project has secured consent from the community.

The project first sparked protests in 2018 after the government approved a cable car in Pathibhara. Locals held sit-ins, but recent demonstrations turned violent, leading to detentions, charges, and gunshot injuries among community members. Lingkhim told Mongabay that the community people have criticized the project since the beginning over the refusal to allow them free, prior and informed consent.

As the company seeks to resume the project activity, members of Mukkumlung Protection and Struggle Committee say they’re holding meetings and discussions with community members to move ahead with the protests, which they say they hope to lead peacefully. This includes organizing tree-planting drives in the area and even writing to the United Nations.

The protesters, however, haven’t lost all hope with the court case. Lawyer Prem Chandra Rai, who represents the protesters, said the decision still doesn’t allow construction of the project in Pathibhara, given a final judgment is yet to be passed. “The court discontinued its order. But it is yet to reach its final judgement which will determine the legal status of the project,” Rai told Mongabay.

Banner image: Limbu locals stage protest against the project. Image courtesy of Mukkumlung Protection and Struggle Committee.

Cable car project in Nepal under fire for flawed environmental review