Rautahat, January 2

People’s representatives in Rautahat have doubted that the high-level commission set up to investigate cases of land grab and misuse of public land will take action against the persons involved in seizing government and public land in the district.

Speaking at a programme organised at the meeting hall of the District Coordination Committee in Rautahat district headquarters Gaur today, the representatives cited the fact that hardly anyone involved in appropriating public and government property have been booked anywhere so far and doubted that the persons involved in such acts would be punished for their wrong act.

It’s a challenge for the state now to bring back the land plots belonging to Gaur Rice Mills, Naryan Guthi, Purenawa Guthi, Ishnath Mahadev temple and District Forest Office that were secretly transferred to individual ownership by unduly influencing government employees, they observed.

“How on earth have land plots distributed to squatters been transferred to the names of well-off persons? How can those land plots be returned?” wondered Katahariya Municipality Mayor Siyaram Kushawaha.

Dewahi Gonahi Municipality Mayor Dharmendra Patel, Rajdevi Municipality Mayor Dhirendra Singh, Chandrapur Municipality Mayor Ramchandra Chaudhary and Yamunamai Rural Municipality Chair Shree Prakash Mukhiya, among others, observed that though the local bodies were capable of vacating the encroached lands, the same hadn’t been possible due to lack of knowledge about legal procedures.

Socialist Party-Nepal Central Member Rawanta Jha accused the commission of failing to take action even against those involved in encroaching government land in Kathmandu.

On his part, Commission Member Janakibballav Adhikari conveyed that the commission was working as per its mandate and was committed to bringing under the remit of law everyone involved in grabbing and misusing public property. He also urged the local journalists, civil society and local level representatives to inform the commission about any cases of land grab and misuse of public land in the district.