Commission to ban transaction of squatters' land

UDAYAPUR, Jan 22: In a bid to curb the problem of squatters, the Landless Squatters Problems Resolution Commission is set to impose a ban on the transaction of lands registered under the name of squatters.



The commission came to the decision as it was found that the number of squatters seeking lands did not decline even after providing plots to the landless. [break]



Pushpa Basent, the president of the commission in Udayapur, said at a press meet, “As per the new rule, the lands registered under the name of squatters cannot be sold or bought. The land revenue office will ensure that such activities are stopped so that the squatters will not be homeless or landless again after being provided with lands.”



According to him, less than one fourth of the original squatters, who were provided with plots of lands in the past still own them at present.



“The government has been providing lands to squatters since many years, but the problem has remained as it is,” Basnet remarked.



The recently formed commission plans to identify the actual number of squatters in the district and provide them with identity cards. “The ownership of the plots would be provided on the basis of those cards,” Basnet informed. “Preparation is on the full swing to issue ID cards to the squatters.”



Member Secretary of the land revenue office Khadakbahadur Karki had issued land ownership cards to 79 people in the district last year. The squatters were considered on the basis of their own account prepared by the former squatters´ commission.



According to Karki, in Trinapa, Tribeni and Katari alone there are 762 squatters, as per the data of the commission formed in 2001. “The account of the squatters in other VDCs could not be produced as the documents were seized by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority on March 2011,” said Karki.



Meanwhile, Balbahadur Tamang, president of district land rights forum, claimed that the number of landless people in the district is huge. He stated that only one municipality and three VDCs have made the data on the landless people public.



“Our forum has demanded to resolve the problem of the landless people and haphazard settlement in the rest of the 42 VDCs and 16 municipalities in the district,” he stressed.

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