Preliminary Steps towards Establishing the Buddha Harmony Foundation


The first gathering towards establishing the Buddha Harmony Foundation took place in the residence of Associate Professor Sujata Deo in Lalitpur ‘Adarhsa Marg’ on April 30, 2016. The meeting decided to establish the Foundation, and towards that end, formed an Ad hoc Committee consisting of 9 members with Sandhya Regmi as its Coordinator. The committee members decided to contribute Rs. 10,000 each, as seed money.

The committee decided to take necessary steps to register the Foundation in Lalitpur District Office. The underlying tasks included drafting of the Foundation’s constitution, designing its logo, and preparing other prescribed documents. The committee unanimously decided to designate Professor Sanjay Dev—who has been living in the USA since the past 3 decades, and conducting a series of social events in far-flung areas of Nepal during his each visit in Nepal—as the Founder Patron of the Foundation.

The Ad hoc Committee held, on May 7, 2016, its second meet at Sandhya Regmi’s residence in ‘Bimala Batika’, Dhobighat, Lalitpur. 12 members attended the meeting, including the venerable monks Vikkhu Uttam and Vikkhu Vimalo. The meeting began with all the participants’ self-introduction. In naming the organization, all the members proposed to coin the organization’s name bearing the words ‘Buddha’ and ‘Harmony’. The meeting unanimously agreed to have Sandhya Regmi as its Founding President, Aruna Koirala as its Vice-President, Prof. Dr. Sanjay Kumar Shrestha as its General Secretary, and Sujata Deo as its Treasurer. The meeting nominated venerable monk Artist Uttam and Artist Sandhya Ragmi the responsibility of crafting the Foundation’s logo. Besides, the meeting assigned Sandhya Regmi to draft the Foundation’s constitution.

Upon drafting of the Foundation’s constitution and designing its logo, the committee’s third meeting took place on May 15, 2016 at Sujata Deo’s residence in Lalitpur. The Ad hoc Committee unanimously approved the draft constitution of the Foundation, and proposed logo—consisting of ‘Pipal’ leaf bearing Shakyamuni Buddha’s portrait. Besides, the meeting authorized the Founding President to take all actions necessary to register the Foundation in Lalitpur District Office.

The constitution of the Foundation along with applications were first submitted to the Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City Office and Office of the District Development Committee (DDC) Lalitpur, seeking recommendations for the Foundation’s registration in the CDO office Lalitpur. Both the offices issued their recommendation letters on May 16, 2017 and May 30, 2017, respectively. Along with these and other necessary documents, application for the Foundation’s registration was submitted toCDO office Lalitpur on May 30, 2017. The CDO office required to furnish police reports of all Ad hoc members of the foundation, besides requiring various other documents from several Ministries, Departments and Offices.

Preparing those documents required going through painstaking, and often unclear and subjective bureaucratic procedure. But with much patience and diligence all the required documents were prepared by Sandhya Regmi.

The application for registration was first sent to the Regional Administrative Office in Hetauda, and its Branch office in Thapathali was contacted on June 3, 2016, which demanded the opinion from the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation. Upon furnishing the Foundation’s constitution and explaining its goals & objectives to the Ministry, it finally issued a ‘No Objection Letter’ on June 5, 2016. The District Police Offices of Lalitput and Kathmandu issued police reports for all members of the Foundation on June 7, 2016. Upon submitting all the required documents, and after amending some contents of the constitution as demanded by the officials, the Buddha Harmony Foundation finally got registered on Tuesday, June 14, 2016 in the CDO office, Lalitpur bearing the Registration number 4372/073.

The Foundation’s team of founders consisted of nine personnel, namely – Sandhya Regmi, Aruna Koirala, Prof. Dr. Sanjay Kumar Shrestha, Asc. Prof. Sujata Deo, Sanjog Dev, Sampat Ghimire, Bam Dev Sharma, Saroj Lamechane and Aastha RL Karki. On June 19, 2016 the Ad hoc Committee was dissolved and first Executive Committee was formed consisting of 11 members, namely Sandhya Regmi as President, Aruna Koirala, Monk Uttam and Monk Vimalo as the 3 Vice Presidents, Prof. Dr. Sanjay Kumar Shrestha as the General Secretary, Sujata Deo as Treasurer, Sanjog Dev as Secretary; and Sampat Ghimire, Bam Dev Sharma, Saroj Lamechane and Aastha RL Karki as Executive Members. The same day the Foundation organized its inauguration ceremony to celebrate its registration. Within a year of its establishment the foundation welcomed 10 life members and conducted 8 executive committee meetings.

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