KATHMANDU, NOVEMBER 29
The squatter settlement on the banks of Bagmati River in Thapathali remained tense throughout the day till late evening today with people of the settlement staging protest against yesterday's use of force to evict them from the settlement.
Protesters burned effigies of Kathmandu Metropolitan City Mayor Balendra Shah, obstructed the road that leads to the settlement, burned tyres on the main road by the riverside and shouted slogans against government authorities and Mayor Shah.
Around 20 unarmed municipal city police were injured after an irate mob from the squatter settlement pelted stones, bricks and baton-charged them.
A group of protesters today marched towards the KMC Office demanding that Mayor Shah step down from the post. Scores of people staged demonstration outside the KMC Office while a handful of people staged hunger strike on the roadside in Maitighar Mandala.
The High Power Committee for Integrated Development of Bagmati Civilization had, on November 11, issued a notice in a national daily asking people residing on the banks of Bagmati and Bishnumati rivers to evict the area within 10 days. People from the squatter settlement had been staging protest against the government from that time demanding that the decision be scrapped.
A large number of city police, along with excavators and HPCIDBC authorities, had gone to the settlement to evict people. However, the unarmed municipal police, who were ill-equipped for the task, had to retreat to save their lives. As the police started running back to save their lives, people ruthlessly baton-charged and pelted stones and bricks at them.
Meanwhile, the KMC today lodged a complaint with the police against some people of the settlement who had charged at the municipal police.
The KMC, citing some names of people who attacked the municipal police, has asked Metropolitan Police Range, Teku, to take action against them.
Meanwhile, the National Land Commission, Kathmandu, has accused the KMC of mismanaging the situation by abruptly going to the settlement with excavator while talks were under way on the matter. Shyam Kumar Prajapati, NLC's chairman, talking to media today said that it was wrong of the KMC to go there with the intent to evacuate people without making alternative arrangements for the landless people.
A version of this article appears in the print on November 30, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
