Hundreds apply for land ownership certificate

Damauli, November 13

Hundreds of residents from Sukla Gandaki Municipality, Tanahun, have filed application seeking land-ownership certificates at the committee formed by the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation.

The committee was formed to look into unmanaged settlements in the municipality.

As per the committee office, around 500 persons had registered their application at the office by Sunday.

Applications are being collected as per the decision published in the Nepal Gazette, entitling only resident families to apply for land ownership certificates.

Meanwhile, the decision to provide land ownership certificates to select land owners who have been residing on their land by building houses has drawn flak from those who reside elsewhere but own a land plot there.

Shukla Gandaki Civil Society has said the discriminatory provision and its repercussions had drawn its attention. “We’ve frequently visited the office and put pressure to address the issue,” said society Chairperson Khemraj Khanal.

“The government must provide land-ownership certificates also to those who have bought land plots here, keeping in view the problem this issue could create in future,” he added. Minraj Baral, a staffer at the office, clarified they couldn’t help families that only owned a land plot due to the provision in the gazette.

As per the provision, residents in then Dulegauda, Khairenitar and Dhorphirdi Village Development Committees, who have been residing in the place for years without land ownership certificate, will get certificate for up to one-and-a-half ropani land that they have been occupying.

Keshamaya Pariyar of Narsari of Shukla Gandaki Municipality-2 said she was happy at the prospect of her long-cherished dream of having a land-ownership document finally being fulfilled.

In default of a land ownership certificate, the residents of the areas have been doing transactions on land by making some documents on their own.