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Squatters may face forceful eviction as deadline ends

KATHMANDU, NOV 24 -
Not a single squatter family in the Kathmandu Valley left their settlements even till the last day of the 15-day ultimatum to vacate their huts.

Concerned over their defiance, the High Powered Committee for Integrated Development of the Bagmati Civilisation (HPCIDBC) has send an SOS to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) seeking help for their forceful eviction.

HPCIDBC, which has been trying to bring the direct discharge of solid and liquid waste in Bagmati River to and end, faced resistance to execute its second phase of the project due to dense settlements on the banks of Bagmati. It has already awarded a contract worth Rs 230 million to launch a sewage management programme from Tilganga to Minbhawan.

“Due to excessive encroachment on the both sides of the river, work has not started yet,” said HPCIDBC Chairman Mahesh Bahadur Basnet. “Work cannot start unless all settlements are evacuated.”

The committee in the first week of November  had directed the people residing alongside Bagmati from Tilgana to Teku to leave their huts by Tuesday. However, squatters ignored the fiat, saying that they won’t leave the place unless they are provided with appropriate alternatives, prompting the committee to seek MoHA’s help.

According to Basnet, MoHA, Ministry of Physical Planning and Works and Ministry of Environment are positive about their demand. “All the government bodies concerned, under the coordination of Home Minister Bijay Kumar Gachhadar, are scheduled to meet on Friday to decide on when and how to execute the evacuation,” Basnet said.

The squatters have also warned of launching stern protests if the government forced them to leave their abode without any alternative in hand. “We will not be leave this place at any cost unless the government provides us a new place,” said Raju Tamang, secretary of Nepal Settlement Protection Society, the organisation leading protests against HPCIDBC’s decision.

Basnet, however, does not buy his argument. He claimed that more than 75

percent of people, who have encroached upon the river, are not the real squatters. “Concrete buildings worth millions of rupees have been built on the river banks. A real squatter cannot do that,” Basnet said.

According to Tamang, some 14,000 squatters are living in 64 settlements inside the Valley, while around 2,000 squatters are residing in 13 settlements from Tilganga to Teku, which HPCIDBC wants to evacuate in the first phase.

HPCIDBC is working to keep Bagmati and its tributaries clean by preventing the direct discharge of solid and liquid waste and to conserve the river system.

Earlier on August 4, the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee had directed the government to evict illegal squatters from the Manahara river corridor in Bhaktapur and set up alternative vegetable and fruit markets within the current

fiscal year. A meeting of the committee on Wednesday directed the finance and home ministries to help the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives evacuate squatters.

Posted on: 2011-11-25 08:19

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