KATHMANDU, Aug 30: A meeting of the House of Representatives (HoR) on Friday approved the 'Bill to Amend Some Nepal Acts Relating to Land', 2082 BS. The HoR passed the Bill with a majority of votes.
Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, Balaram Adhikari, proposed that the House welcome the Bill. Before this, lawmakers took part in deliberations on the Bill and put their vivid concerns on it.
In his replies, the Minister said the Bill aimed to address the interests of the nation and the citizens. "It aims to ensure the right of landless Dalits and squatters to land by systematising the unmanaged settlements through adjustments in the act and laws."
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Through the Bill, the government intends to end the trend of distributing land and developing settlements haphazardly, he added.
The landless households will be provided with land where they are residing at present. If the settlements are not safe, they will be relocated with the development of an integrated settlement, the Minister explained.
The lawmakers from the ruling parties supported the Bill, citing that it is capable of addressing the land issues, while those from the opposition accused the Bill of being incapable of addressing the needs of landless people. Moreover, the opposition lawmakers said the Bill would rather support the land mafia. Prakash Jwala, Rekha Yadav, Prabhu Shah, Urmila Majhi, Sher Bahadur Kunwar, Madhav Sapkota, Hitraj Pandey, Meena Tamang, Ranendra Baraili and Lekhnath Dahal were among those opposing the Bill.
Basudev Ghimire said the Bill addressed the voices of citizens and the submissions of lawmakers, securing a milestone towards the advancement of social justice, equity and the building of an inclusive state.
Prem Suwal of the Nepal Workers and Peasants' Party was of the view of giving the authority of developing the settlement to the local level.
Rajendra Kumar KC, Saraswoti Subba, Saraj Ahmad Farooqi, and Mahesh Kumar Bartaula were among those supporting the Bill.
As Bartaula said, around 35,000 landless people alone in Manahari of Makwanpur will benefit from the Bill.
The HoR will meet again at 1:00 pm coming Wednesday.
