Probe launched into illegal land registration
Rautahat, January 13
Different government agencies, including the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority, have launched an investigation into registration of 106 bighas of public forest land located at Rangapur VDC, Rautahat in the names of various individuals.
The forest land had been registered in the names of various individuals by then Survey Office, Sarlahi in nexus with other agencies. After the publication of a news report on this matter in this daily, the CIAA Hetauda Office, Rautahat DAO, and Land Revenue Office Rautahat started a probe into the incident.
A five-member team led by Deputy Secretary Narendra Bhattarai from CIAA Hetauda Office has arrived in Rautahat to collect necessary dossier on the incident.
Goswar’s field books show that the then administrator of Survey Office, Sarlahi Jokhan Prasad Sah, observer Dhuran Chaudhary, and team chief Nagendra Ray Yadav had verified the land and furnished a report on May 25, 2007 stating that the land had no forest and was part of an old residential area.
The land was later split among various individuals.
Chairperson of the Aryaghat Gumba Community Forest Users’ Committee Nardhowaj Ghalan said registration of the forest land in the names of individuals had come as a huge surprise to him. He demanded stern action against forest office staffers involved in registering the government property in the names of individuals.
Acting Chief of the Rautahat Land Revenue Office Chandra Bahadur Bhandari said his office had not prepared any document of the land. “Everything was done from the Survey Office. We are conducting a probe into the matter,” Bhandari said.
Similarly, District Forest Office, Rautahat has formed a two-member probe committee to investigate the incident. District Forest Officer Dhirgha Narayan Koirala said his office was working hard to bring the guilty to book.
Bharatsingh Airi, chief of the District Survey Office, Rautahat said efforts were under way to collect documents relating to the land survey and how the land was split.
Rautahat CDO Uddhav Bahadur Thapa pledged that the guilty would be booked.
READ ALSO:
