Nepal’s outgoing government, toppled by two days of nationwide Gen Z protests, granted national priority status to six commercial cable car projects, according to documents released by the new government recently.

The decision made by the cabinet of former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, but published after the interim caretaker government took office, has drawn condemnation from lawyers, conservationists and Indigenous groups. They say the move, which is in contempt of court, has made it easier to acquire and clear national forest and protected area lands, and lacks proper environmental and community review.

“The full text of verdicts directly relevant to some of the projects is yet to be published by the Supreme Court,” said senior environmental lawyer Padam Bahadur Shrestha. “The govern

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