 |
Kathmandu Wednesday February 20, 2002 Falgun 08, 2058.
|
Land encroachment
The rampant encroachment of public land,
which has hit this country really hard as a result of bad governance, has ever been a
matter of grave concern. Successive governments have neither come up with specific
measures against such land encroachers, nor has the government enacted a law to deal with
those who have often encroached on public land. Instead, political leaders in power,
responsible for dealing with the public land, have themselves involved in illegal land
dealings. Had the government implemented measures effectively or taken action against
encroachers, things would have been better than what they are today. This country has been
witnessing encroachment or gross misappropriation of public land since 1951. Yet, the
government has done nothing to prevent illegal land holdings. It is sad but true that
political leaders — be they of NC, RPP or UML — have failed to take due action
against corrupt leaders, officials or the so called social organizations encroaching on
public land. But illegal activities — acquiring public land and building houses or
off-loading such land to their close relatives — have been taking place with the full
knowledge of successive governments.
The government acquired over 4500 ropani of
land in Kirtipur for setting up the country’s first university three decades ago. A
local organization, Gaun Sabha, was given the right to distribute land to those displaced
people who had given land for the university. The distribution of land to the displaced
people was so arbitrarily done that not a single person got land certificates to prove his
or her ownership. Poor and illiterate farmers deserved adequate compensation from the
government. This made easy for the Gaun Sabha to distribute land to university deans,
teachers and local leaders. The Gaun Sabha not only misused its authority but also abused
the right of the local residents. As a result, more than 150 houses have sprung up
illegally in Kirtipur alone. It was only when a few local residents filed a writ petition
at the Supreme Court against the illegal construction of houses came to the fore.
The government recently announced its plan to
sell back the encroached land to the encroachers themselves as a way of tackling the
problem of encroachment. Many encroachers have built houses on such encroached land. Such
a plan has come up only to meet the rising military expenditure. This sell back scheme can
bring billions of rupees into national coffers. In the absence of a comprehensive
mechanism and commitment on the part of the authorities concerned, the scheme will further
complicate the land distribution. It is estimated that over sixty thousand houses have
been built illegally on 1859 ropanis of encroached land in Kathmandu alone. Thousands of
people in the valley have constructed houses illegally on public land. Land is a sensitive
asset, any mismanagement regarding it could bring disastrous consequences. It is high time
the government took stringent measures to keep the age-old land disorder in order. |
