Nepalgunj, December 22

As many as 14 houses and sheds constructed on the encroached land of a school were demolished at Nepalgunj Sub-Metropolitan City-20, in Banke, today.

Ward Office and Adarsha Secondary School had used a dozer to demolish 12 houses and two sheds that were constructed illegally on the land owned by the school. A school source said 76 families had captured three bigha, seven kattha and 14 dhur land belonging to the school at Rajhna’s Gayatrinagar and built houses and sheds. There had been a longstanding dispute between encroachers and the school management over the land.

Ward Chair Krishna Karki said they had used the dozer and demolished houses and sheds after the home ministry directed the DAO to remove the illegal structures following complaints filed by the school with Hello Sarkar.

“Of the 77 families living in the encroached land, 31 families had demanded alternative land. Of the 31 families, 22 have been shifted across Nalapari in the same ward,” Karki said.  “Preparation is under way to shift other families to the banks of Pallo Nala soon,” Karki added.

School head teacher Prakash Acharya said the land of Gayatrinagar was passed in the school’s name 40 years ago.

“Locals had been ignoring our calls to vacate the school’s land for the past ten years,” said Acharya. He claimed that people had captured the land in the name of squatters.

Locals, however, insisted that they would not leave the land though their shelters were demolished. “We will erect makeshift tents and live in the same land,” said local Shivlal Sharma.