The locals got agitated after the Department of Roads Bhaktapur Division Office notified them to clear their houses and property within 30 days. [break]
The Roads Division Office has demanded the clearing of all human settlements stretching from the 12-km Suryabinayak section to 58-km Dolalghat section of the highway.
Hari Prasad Dulal, chairperson of the struggle committee formed to protest the road expansion project, said that the locals had settled along the road sections after the roads division failed for years to claim the land as government property.
“When land along the highway was survey by the Ministry of Land Reform and Management in 1975, the government showed no intention of claiming the land. From that year, the locals settled the land and they have not missed any tax obligations,” said Dulal. “Possession of the land was under discussion even after 2007,” he added.
Criticizing the government´s act, Dulal said that the roads division has taken the matter in hand without any care and concern for locals living there for years.
“When these locals have not even received any compensation for the damage caused by the highway, the order to abandon the land is unfair. There is no reason for them to suffer when the government had taken no initiatives before,” said Dulal.
Going by the law, the roads division can take the road expansion project forward only after clearing all compensation claims, which it hasn´t, informed Dulal. “We will not stand by passively over the issue if the government unleases the expansion project without any concern for the locals and the compensation they should get,” said Dulal.
An estimated 5,000 households are living along the highway sections in question.
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