KATHMANDU, May 31: Prime Minister Balendra Shah has said the government will provide lands to the landless squatters presently residing in the government-managed facilities.
Responding to a query from a lawmaker from the Shram Sanskriti Party, Aaren Rai, during a meeting of the House of Representatives (HoR) today, the PM reminded that citizens living in vulnerable settlements along riverbanks in the Kathmandu Valley were evacuated to safer areas.
PM Shah, who was also the former Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolis, reminded the House that he had urged the federal government to relocate such people from riverbanks and place them in holding centers during his tenure as head of the local government.
Though it was urged to manage lands for the genuine landless across the country, such call had not been yet addressed, he reminded, pledging to work towards that end.
Genuine landless squatters will get land: Minister Shrestha
"The position of the government and of our party Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) is clear: genuine landless and squatters should have access to land. They must have. The squatters living along the riverbanks in the Kathmandu Valley were evacuated as a priority bearing in mind the recurring flooding incidents, sanitation concerns and other pressing issues they were facing. To address these challenges, they were moved to holding centres," the PM explained.
Similarly, responding to a query from lawmaker Pramesh Hamal in the Lower House, the PM said the government had made plans for managing free education and healthcare services to the citizens from indigent communities.
He took time to say that Nepal had requested for the postponement of Nepal's graduation from the Least Developed Countries (LDCS) to a middle-income country for a couple of years bearing in mind the tax issues in trade and exports after such graduation. Such a call was made to enable domestic products to be exported to various countries. At the moment, we need funds rather than the increased confidence, and our attention has been focused on generating funds.
"Communism, socialism sound good in speech," he said, adding that during his tenure as Kathmandu Mayor, the implementation of a 10-percent scholarship quota for poor communities in private schools provided children from those communities with an opportunity to study in advanced colleges.
"This is socialism in a true sense," the Prime Minister made it clear. According to him, the government is working to provide free healthcare and education facilities nationwide.
RSS
