Panic in bureaucracy, police and judiciary amid abrupt dismissals, political pressure

State mechanisms across the country are grappling with profound anxiety, institutional instability, and a pervasive climate of fear following a series of controversial government interventions, abrupt leadership removals, and emerging judicial scandals. Civil servants, police personnel, and judicial bodies find themselves trapped in an atmosphere of constant apprehension regarding arbitrary executive actions. The sequence of events began on October 30 when Dinesh Rajauriya, director general of the Department of Water Resources and Irrigation, travelled to Siraha for project monitoring.

Police arrested him on the spot and rushed him overnight to Kathmandu. On the same day, Krishna Prasad Rijal, director of the Sunakoshi Marin Diversion Multipurpose Project, was detained in Sindhuli and similarly brought to the Capital. Both officials were handed over directly to the Prime Minister’s Secretariat.

The detentions were leveraged to secure compliance regarding the cancellation of a controversial tender for building a dam and powerhouse of the multipurpose project.