कुल रत्न तुलाधर
100th birth anniversary of late Kul Ratna Tuladhar
 
Celebrated 100th birth anniversary of late Kul Ratna Tuladhar, CBE. He had called me at his residence in Kamaladi in 1979. He told me about history of how technical education started in Nepal. He told me that couple of funding proposals were forwarded to palace from top academic institutions of Europe and USA during King Mahendra's time for establishing world class technical education institution in Nepal like IITs in India ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institutes_of_Technology_Act,_1961 and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Institutes_of_Technology ) , however, the proposal was rejected in palace then. He was told at palace - "if Nepalese people start getting educated in Nepal under world class standard the life of royal system will decrease". He also told me that we seven children don't have to visit temples and also said" every morning you children should remember your mother ( https://www.facebook.com/HeeraDeviYami/ ) and pray. She is more than god for you children. She was such a brave and a great lady who had contributed a lot to this nation". My mother died in 1970. He was born on 6 July 1918 and died on 2 March 1984. He was the first Chief Engineer of Nepal's Public Works Department where he served since its establishment in 1951 till 1957. The highlight of his term was the construction of Tribhuvan Highway which opened in 1956. This is Nepal's first highway and links the capital Kathmandu with the Indian border to the south. Tuladhar also played a major role in the development of engineering education in Nepal's modern history. Returning to Nepal, Tuladhar joined government service the same year as headmaster of the Engineering Section, Technical School under the Department of Education. In 1951, he became chief engineer of the Public Works Department where he was in charge of design, construction, maintenance and repair of government buildings, roads and bridges in Nepal. Construction of Tribhuvan Highway began in 1953 which marked the start of Nepal's drive towards modernization. In 1954, Tuladhar became a member of the executive committee of the Nepal Council of World Affairs. In 1955, Tuladhar went to London and studied at the Architectural Association School of Architecture from where he earned a certificate of post-graduate course in tropical architecture. He was appointed principal of Nepal Engineering Institute in Lalitpur in 1962, subsequently becoming the first dean of the Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu in 1973. In 1977, he was appointed a member of the Public Service Commission by the king of Nepal in which capacity he served till 1983. Tuladhar has co-authored with Ram Krishna Sharma a book on highway construction entitled Manual of Highway Design and Construction which was published in 1960. Tuladhar was decorated with the Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1962. He was awarded the Order of Gorkha Dakshina Bahu I Class in 1969 and the Order of Tri Shakti Patta II Class in 1983 by the king of Nepal.