Kathmandu Post

Metro»

Squatters’ forceful eviction in 3 days

KATHMANDU, DEC 03 -
The taskforce formed to implement the plan envisaging forced eviction of squatters residing on the banks of Bagmati River has decided to use force to vacate the encroached land within three days.

Holding a meeting on Saturday, the taskforce decided to forcefully evict the squatters after the latter snubbed its last five-day ultimatum issued on Tuesday. A meeting among the government bodies, including Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA), Ministry of Physical Planning and Works and Ministry of Environment under the coordination of Home Minister Bijay Kumar Gachhadar on November 27, had formed the 17-member taskforce.

According to Mahesh Bahadur Basnet, chairperson of High Powered Committee for Integrated Development of the Bagmati Civilisation and coordinator of the taskforce, a team comprising around 3,000 police personnel—both from Nepal Police and Armed Police Force—led by their respective DIGs is ready to swing into action.

Bulldozers and trucks are also in the ready position to demolish the huts and drive away squatters. “All preparation to this effect has been completed,” Basnet said. “We are for using minimum force to avoid injuries.” The forceful eviction will kick off once the Kathmandu District Administration Office gives go-ahead. He hinted that the eviction plan will start either on Tuesday or Wednesday.

In the first week of November, the committee had directed the squatters to leave their huts by November 24. However, the latter ignored the fiat, saying that they won’t leave the place unless they are provided with appropriate alternatives, which later prompted the committee to seek MoHA’s help. Following a request from the MoHA, the committee extended the deadline issued to the landless squatting alongside Bagmati from Tilgana to Thapathali.

Basnet said that eviction is a must as the committee faced stiff resistance to execute its second phase of the project due to dense settlements on the Bagmati banks. It has already awarded a contract worth Rs 230 million to launch a sewage management programme from Tilganga to Minbhawan. Twenty-meter area on the either side of Bagmati, Bishnumati, Hanumante and Manohara is recorded as public land.

Amid authorities’ preparation to force landless to leave their huts, an alliance of five squatters’ organisations, however, has threatened to launch stern protests if they are forcefully evicted. “We will shut down Kathmandu Valley if the government uses force,” said Raju Tamang, secretary of Nepal Settlement Protection Society and vice-chairperson of the alliance. He claimed that the act of driving away poor slum people without any alternative is an extreme human rights violation. “The slum people are living from hand to mouth with no place to go.”

Basnet, however, contradicts Tamang’s views. He said the government study shows only some people are the real squatters.

According to a source, Narayan Parisharmi and Hari Datta Joshi, central committee members of General Federation of Nepalese Trade Union, including Tanka Poudel of Nepal Rastriya Bank, are also living on the encroached land. Squatters’ associations, however, say there around 23,000 landless residing in 64 settlements inside the Valley and an estimated 1,400 people live in 248 houses from the Tilganga to Thapathali area.

Posted on: 2011-12-04 09:04

---