Kathmandu: Public land encroachers on Sunday disrupted the squatter verification process in Thapathali. The first phase verification process could not take off after a rowdy group snatched record files from officials of the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction (DUDBC). However, police later recovered the files. The verification process aims to identify the real squatters for their alternative settlement.

The government has decided to provide Rs 15,000 to each squatter in lump sum for three months in rent and manage alternative place for their settlement. Around 190 landless families residing on the Bagmati banks from Thapathali to Teku dovan will be receive rent money after the verification process. The Cabinet in February first week had decided to provide Rs 5,000 per month in house rent to each genuine landless family. “Their act to seize our files will scuttle the government efforts to find a permanent solution to the squatters’ problem,” said Mahesh Bahadur Basnet, coordinator of the taskforce formed to evict the squatters from the encroached land.
A whopping sum of Rs 2.85 million is required in the week-long first phase. The government, three months ago, had issued a public notice to the people occupying public land on riverbanks of the Kathmandu Valley to register themselves if they wanted an alternative residence.
Substantiating government claims that a majority of occupants are fake squatters, only 12 percent people registered themselves during the week-long period provided by the government. Records at the DUDBC show 1,082, out of 8,000 families, living alongside the river till January 16 had registered themselves as real squatters. The 17-member taskforce comprising senior officials from various ministries and security forces is launching the first phase of eviction campaign from the UN Park. The January 29 dateline for evicting encroachers from riverbanks was put off following protests from various political parties and I/NGOs.

Source: The Kathmandu Post, April 16, 2012