BIRATNAGAR, Feb 12: Maoist lawmaker Babulal Paswan on Sunday seized three bigha of land belonging to Nepal Bank Limited acquired through collateral, by planting the party flag.
At a time when the bank was trying to remove the squatters residing on the land, Paswan himself went there with ´force´ and planted the flag.[break]
The seizure was announced after police started demolishing the houses and makeshift camps of the squatters, said Paswan who is also serving as the central member of a squatters association.
Four squatters were residing on the land situated at Rangoli, Biratnagar of Katahari VDC-9.
Nepal Bank Limited had transferred the ownership of land after Sunil Poddar failed to pay back the loan to the bank. Poddar had borrowed Rs 1.2 million from the bank by putting his land as collateral.
“The bank was trying to demolish the houses forcefully, so we went there and seized the land,” said Jitendra Mahara, a district-level Maoist leader in Morang. He claimed that they will return the land only after alternative arrangement is made for the squatters.
However, assistant chief district officer of Morang, Surendra Paudel, said the land seizure is against the policy of UCPN (Maoist). The district administration removed the flag Sunday.