Squatters’Problem

MINISTER for Land Reforms and Management Siddha Raj Ojha said that the government is committed to solve the problem of landless squatters once and for all. Replying to queries by lawmakers in the House of Representatives the other day, Minister Ojha said that genuine landless squatters would be identified, plots of land for housing distributed to them and skill development programmes launched in-coordination with other ministries to ensure their means of livelihood. Minister Ojha’s remarks carries the commitment of the government for ending the problems related to landless squatters. As said by the Minister, government needs to give serious consideration towards identification of genuine landless before taking any decision regarding settlement and rehabilitation of landless squatters.

The issue of landless squatters has been a national problem for years. The governments in the past, too, distributed land in order to solve the problem. However, the number of landless squatters increased instead of receding, which, thus, needs a serious study and attention. The issue pertaining to landless squatters has been a political agenda for some political parties, who do not seem to want the problem to be solved forever. The problem is getting acute every year because some people with vested interests have taken the advantage in the name of landless squatters. This is one of the main reasons why the problem is getting worse. There are instances when some so-called landless squatters were able to reap the benefit from the government’s plan of distribution of land whereas many genuine ones were deprived of such facilities. As a result, there were many people who claimed to be landless and reaped benefits in the past. In the name of settlement of landless squatters and resolution of this problem, forests were cleared in several parts of the terai. But the problem was not solved instead it increased. Against this background, the most important task for the government is to identify the genuine landless squatters and make necessary arrangements for their settlement. Thus, it now requires thorough investigation of the distribution of land plots in the name of landless squatters in the past and land distributed to other people in the name of landless be confiscated, which can be redistributed to genuine landless. This alone would help solve the problem permanently. Otherwise, this would continue to remain as a chronic national problem.

Respond Rapidly

COME summer and rains, and Nepalese begin to suffer from a host of diseases. All across the country, people begin to die. Diseases such as gastroenteritis, encephalitis, hepatitis, typhoid fever, cholera, dysentery, kalazar and so on break out in most of the districts. Cholera, dysentery and gastroenteritis occur in 30 to 45 districts, according to the Epidemology and Disease Control Division of the Department of Health Services. These preventable diseases, which mostly come riding the summer and rains between Baisakh and Bhadra, claim three to four thousand lives every year. This annual tragedy has become so common it seems it has stopped being too shocking. It has become so common that it not enough sense of urgency grips politicians or health authorities even when reports of people dying due to these diseases appear in the media. People die, first because they lack awareness to protect themselves from these diseases; secondly, because they don’t have the wherewithal to avoid catching them even if they are aware, and thirdly, because health services are not readily available. Because even the district hospitals, let alone the health posts in far-flung areas, are not equipped with necessary medicines and personnel, those who manage to come for treatment die. The combination of all these three factors is deadly by which people continue to perish during the summer.

The Epidemology and Disease Control Division has just announced that it has made necessary arrangement vis-a-vis epidemic diseases occurring during this season. It says it has dispatched necessary medicines to every district and epidemic response teams have been formed. The districts and the regions are required to consult the centre if they come across serious diseases beyond their control. It is to be hoped that on the ground in the districts there is a heightened degree of preparedness to meet the epidemiological challenges which are already here as indicated by the lives that these diseases are claiming. If the districts are well-equipped with health personnel and medicines and the centre has a rapid response medical teams on stand-by, more people’s lives can be saved this summer. How prepared are the health authorities should be known as summer progresses.