Why Lubhu?

‘Lu’ means gold and ‘bhu’ stands for dinner plate in Newari. Going back to the history, a queen named ‘Ganga’ sold her ‘golden dinner plates’ to make a new settlement. Hence the place was named after story of her contribution. The dilapidated foundation in front of Mahalaxmi temple is said to be of the queen Gangas palace.

Where is Lubhu?

The 700 years old traditional Newar settlement Lubhu lies around 6 km northeast from the district headquarter Patan Durbar square. Siddhipur (Sanagaon or Thasi) at the west, Tikathali VDC at the northwest, Sirutar VDC at the north, Lamatar at east and Godamchaur VDC at the south are its neighbours. The whole of the fertile land in the area has been conserved and the settlement is directed towards the highland. The major route to Lubhu is from the famous ‘Gun Cinema’ Gwarko, Eastern junction of Ring Road. One can catch the public bus either from Gwarko or from Lagankhel Bus Park for few minutes travel.

Lubhu is a center of Patan to Lakuri Bhanjyang
The main road from Patan to Lamatar - Lakuri Bhanjyang is passing from the center part of the Lubhu Village Development Committee, dividing it into two parts, north and south. Facades of old traditional buildings are facing the middle aged narrow street, though all the vehicles pass through the same street. Before the construction of Arnikio Highway the business route for the Kathmanduits was from the Lakuri Bhanjyang and the surrounding areas including northern and eastern parts of the Bagmati Zone were connected with Kathmandu Valley directly through the Lubhu. Though Lubhu at present has lost its leading role as a textile service center after the construction of Arniko Highway from Bhaktpur and the area has been severely affected in its economic growth, the opening up of Lubhu - Sindhuli road will play a lot for the retransformation of this village development committee

The raw material (threads) for the textile industries is brought from India. Now a days, Due to the establishment of large-scale textile industries in different parts of the country, these types of small-scale hand and power looms are being discouraged. The production costs of the cotton clothes are high and taste of people to wear acrylic product is higher. The profit is very low and the cost of raw material is high. There is also lack of promotion of appropriate market for the production. Due to these problems, people are reluctant to continue these types of activities. The impact of cheaper quality goods imported from the ‘Tibet’ is one of the major issues for the decline of the garment industry.

Lubhu core town is of Newars
Lubhu VDC has around 12000 populations on 2000 households. It has a territory of around 2.95 square kilometers (5800 ropanies) and 10% of total land belongs to different ‘Guthis’. Lubhu core area is a dense Newari pattern settlement (Ancient co-operatives). The core town is inhabited by Newar caste only. Following table shows the domination of Newar ethnicity.

It was an only planned city among the contemporary Newar settlements. Then constructed roads have good layout and are wide enough to ply the necessary vehicles to date. It is said that the settlement was shifted down towards today’s location from the ‘campus Chaur’ due to some epidemic. The old temple of Mahalaxmi called ‘mother Mahalaxmi’ is still there. Piths were kept to fix the city boundaries and four gates as in the other settlements of Kathmandu valley at four directions was there. Three are still there but a northern gate named ‘Machaa Dhoka’(non-opened gate) has been disappeared.

Lubhu town planning is the first of its kind beyond the territory touched by the municipalities. In 1994, the land price in the Kathmandu Valley boomed and Lubhu was planned after few projects of Kathmandu using the same tool of land pooling at the initiation of HMG and local people who are aware and also the stakeholders of the society. People of Lubhu now don’t have to look up to the Kathmandu and Patan for the well-facilitated new house construction. Many elites, educationists and professionals have started to live in the newly planned area.

Lubhu has started as early as the first school in 1958 established, to enhance the education status of the people. Though Lubhu does not have significant level of education till last decade, which is about 85% of people are below SLC level and out of that 7% are children and 29% of the populations are illiterate, the scenario has vastly changed during the last few years. Dozens of secondary schools have been added up. A College and +2 schools and various other institutes are emanating the rays of hope for next generation.

Hence up gradation of such an area resuming the originality of a historical town is necessary so that healthy physical environment as well as social integrity and cultural heritages could be maintained. It is very important to retain its identity for the future generation.