Kathmandu: Evicted squatters today warned they would be left with no option but to re-occupy the Bagmati River bank if the government fails to rehabilitate them with land registration certificate. Speaking at an interaction organised in Kathmandu today, leaders of squatters expressed anger over the government’s move to bulldoze their huts and houses along the riverbanks and forcibly evict more than 50 families without giving any alternative.

“We will reoccupy the river bank if the government does not guarantee our rehabilitation with land registration certificate at the earliest,” Narayan Parishrami, vice president of National Squatters’ Front Nepal warned. He also alleged that the government had embezzled millions of rupees in the name of defining and identifying ‘genuine squatters’ “But it was merely a ploy to forcibly evict the poor squatters,” Parishrami stated.
President of NSFN Padam Devkota they were mulling over a plan to re-occupy the lost land, thanks to the government’s poor handing of the squatters’ issues. Pradeep Paudel, outgoing president of Nepali Congress-aligned Nepal Students Union flayed the UCPN- Maoist-led government’s whimsical move of razing the huts and houses of squatters without providing them any alternative. “It is hypocrisy on the part of the Maoists, who are never tired to vindicating the rights of poor farmers and squatters, to forcibly destroy their dwellings. Nepal Congress and NSU will now act as their protectors,” he said.
NC leader Anirudra Prasad Thakur termed it an act against humanity and demanded that the government ensure their rights. CPN-UML leader Rameshwor Phuyal urged the government to address the demand of squatters on humanitarian grounds. “Evicted squatters are having a tough time. They are in need of support from all quarters,” he said. On May 8, Kathmandu Metropolitan City, with help of riot police, had evicted squatters from slums along the Bagmati River banks in Thapathali in the name of resettling genuine squatters, leaving many families shelter less.
According to a report, the government had dismantled 257 homes and rendered 844 people, including 401 children, homeless. The destroyed property includes a primary school that provided education to 200 children of slum dwellers.

Source: The Himalayan Times, May 24, 2012