Kavrepalanchok municipalities urge removal of illegal settlements on public land

Local governments in Kavrepalanchok have issued a public appeal to collect data on government, public, and unregistered land and to vacate encroached areas. Mandandeupur, Panauti Municipality, and Bhumlu Rural Municipality have released notices urging the removal of unauthorized settlements on public land.

According to a letter from the District Administration Office, Panauti Municipality has published a notice for individuals residing illegally on government, public, unregistered, and unclaimed land along rivers such as Roshi, Punyamata, Lilawati, and Bansdol. Residents have been given 15 days to secure their belongings and vacate the area. If the encroachers fail to comply within the stipulated time, they will be removed as per the government’s policy and orders. However, families are urged to inform the ward office within seven days.

Similarly, Mandandeupur has requested ward offices to update records of families illegally residing on government and public land, following a letter from local authorities. Chief Administrative Officer Amrit Kumar Dhital stated that ward offices have been instructed to notify the municipal office about any encroachments and issue necessary notices for vacating such land.

Bhumlu Rural Municipality has also begun surveying structures built on encroached government and public land in the Chakhol and Dolalghat market areas from Wednesday. The rural municipality has initiated this process to delineate government and public land.

Meanwhile, the Land Problem Resolution Commission’s district committee in Kavrepalanchok has registered applications from 5,856 individuals identified as ‘landless’ by the third week of Baisakh. Among them, 5,007 are unorganized settlers, 669 are landless squatters, and 180 are landless Dalits.

According to the data, Bethanchok Rural Municipality has the fewest landless families, with only four unorganized settlers. In contrast, Mandandeupur has the highest number, with 2,233 landless families. The municipality has 2,127 unorganized settlers, 65 squatters, and 41 landless Dalit families. In Banepa Municipality, 97 out of 200 families are unorganized settlers, while Dhulikhel has 813 families of the same category, including 688 unorganized settlers, 106 squatters, and 19 landless Dalit families.

In Panchkhal, 690 families have applied, claiming they lack land ownership documents. Namobuddha has 1,065 such families, Panauti has 166, Roshi has 163, and Khanikhola has 466 families without land ownership documents.