Nepalgunj, November 14:

In yet another incident of the grabbing of assets, the Maoists seized paddy in 40 bigha of land in Bardiya’s Rajapur Manau. The Maoist cadres took over paddy at the Manau-based

Madhu Rijal’s 10 bigha, Bishnu Rijal’s 10 bigha, Basu Dev Rijal’s 10 bigha and Padma Rijal’s 10 bigha.

According to Madhu Rijal, a victim, who lives in Nepalgunj, the Maoist cadres, claiming that the land was under their control, looted the paddy. The Maoists had agreed to share paddy. Later, Rijal complained to local Maoists’ in-charge Binti Ram Chaudhary about the incident. He assured that the Maoist cadres would be summoned, Rijal said.

The Rijal family and local Maoist cadres were set to hold discussions tomorrow, it is reported.

Maoists’ Bardiya district in-charge Himal said the seizure was against his party’s policy. “The local residents might have seized paddy.” He claimed that the Maoists had not seized private property in the district. He claimed that they had returned the seized property to the owners.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs, Bam Dev Gautam, came under fire from UML cadres in his home district. They claimed that the UML leader had failed to provide security to party cadres.

“Though a UML leader, Gautam has not taken initiatives to facilitate the return of the seized property,” alleged UML cadres. “What can we expected from the home minister, who cannot arrange the return of seized assets?” saidUML cadre.