Hetauda, January 17:

An all-party meeting here today decided to write to the authorities concerned to stop the proposed sale of land owned by the Timber Corporation of Nepal (TCN) located at Hetauda-10 to the public.

The TCN, in accordance with a cabinet decision on September 13, 2001, had allotted 22 of 35 bighas for sale to the retired TCN employees as a retirement allowance.

Land dealers buying the land split it into nearly 200 plots and sold them off. Local NGOs later demanded to halt the sale of such plots of land, claiming the buildings constructed had failed to meet standards. The meet decided that the ownership of the land will be transferred to the municipality. Ishwor Lal Shrestha, a participant in the meeting representing NC-D, said the buildings under construction on those plots were below standards.

The meeting also decided to demolish a wall along the Forestry Campus and Kanti Ishwori Durbar, and pave a footpath there. Another participant representing the Makwanpur chapter of Janamorcha Nepal, Raj Kumar Kayastha told this daily that the land will be utilised for construction of a Multi-technical College to be built with an assistance of the Indian government.

Auxiliary vice-chief of Makwanpur Chambers of Commerce and Industries Bhuwan Lal Shrestha and the president of the Makwanpur Consumers’ Forum Siddhi Lal Shrestha have been given the responsibility of coordinating with different authorities in this regard.

Meanwhile, another all-party meeting was held for forcing building constructors to follow the set building code. The meeting was attended by executive officer of the Hetauda municipality Madan Bhujel, Ishwori Prasad Neupane of CPN-UML, Ishwor Lal Shrestha of NC-D, Prahlad Lamichhane of the CPN-Maoist, Rajkumar Kayastha of Janamorcha Nepal, Bhimsen Mahat of the Leftist Front and the chairman of the FNJ Makawanpur Pratap Bista.