Madhyapur Thimi, July 18:

Locals of Imadol, Lalitpur, security personnel and officials of the Madhyapur Thimi municipality today evicted up to 50 squatters from Manohara Land Plotting Area in Madhyapur Thimi-16, Bhaktapur. The area lies near Imadol of Lalitpur.

The squatters were trying to rebuild their houses. Locals of the area had evicted the squatters from the area six months ago. At that time, the squatters had presented fake land ownership certificates, according to members of the MLPP project.

Umesh KC of Imadol-1 said, “While we were evicting the squatters from the place six months ago, they had threatened us with life. Due to a unified protest of locals, squatters have not been able to occupy the place despite several attempts.”

He said, “Some drug abusers, who were among the squatters, used to rob people at night. Locals caught them on Monday night and handed them over to the police.”

Security has been tightened in the area after the incident. Resham Shrestha, inspector at the Metropolitan Police Range Thimi, said, “Police personnel have been deployed in the area to prevent the squatters from returning.”