DHANGADHI: The erstwhile Kamaiyas (the bonded labourers) have started building cemented houses and other structures at the old airport ground here even though they have not been issued with the land-ownership certificates by the bodies concerned.

The former bonded labourers occupying the old airfield have however claimed that they have started constructing houses as the Town Development Committee has said it will provide them with five dhur plot to each freed Kamaiya family. They have argued that the Committee has also delineated the boundary of the land plots for them.

Out of the 53 freed Kamaiya families that have settled on the old airfield here, 15 families have already constructed cemented houses. Other families too have started constructing cemented houses.

Although the Dhangadhi Town Development Committee has decided to provide land plots to the former Kamaiya families residing at the old airport, they have not yet got the land-ownership certificates.

There are a total 8,910 freed Kamaiya families in Kailali district. Of them, 8,203 families have been rehabilitated and 974 families still remain to be rehabilitated, according to the District Land Reform Office, Kailali.