Kathmandu – Harkaraj Sampang, the Mayor of Dharan Sub-Metropolitan City, was unable to meet Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli during his visit to Singha Durbar on Tuesday.

Carrying an empty water vessel to highlight Dharan’s water crisis, Mayor Sampang met with Minister of Water Supply Pradeep Yadav and Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel. However, his anticipated meeting with Prime Minister Oli did not materialize.

Earlier, Sampang had expressed his intention to submit a letter to the Prime Minister regarding the urgent need for a resolution to Dharan’s water issues.

A source from the Prime Minister’s Secretariat clarified, “There was no scheduled meeting with Mayor Sampang today. The Prime Minister’s day was tightly packed with appointments, making a meeting impossible.”

Despite the missed opportunity, Mayor Sampang discussed the challenges facing Dharan with Ministers Yadav and Paudel, receiving positive responses from both ministries.

In a peculiar incident, the empty water vessel that Mayor Sampang brought as a symbol of Dharan’s water scarcity was confiscated by police at the gate of Singha Durbar. Responding to the incident, Sampang stated that it fell under the jurisdiction of the Home Ministry and refrained from commenting further.

“This is not a political issue. Water is a basic necessity, not a luxury. I have come here not to politicize the matter but to demand development,” Sampang emphasized.