DFO likely to bow to public pressure

JUMLA, Oct 23: District Forest Office (DFO) of Jumla is likely to give up its claim over a large swath of land following immense pressure from the locals.



According to District Forest Officer, Jumla, Dhananjaya Lamichhane, a process is on to transfer ownership of 9,332,947 square meters of land, which remained frozen for almost 15 years following a land survey by the government, to local villagers. [break]



Over 1,000 villagers from 30 villages of Dang have long been claiming ownerships over the disputed land. They have staged a series of protests to pile pressure on the DFO to settle the dispute.



The villagers have been claiming their ownerships over the disputed land on the basis of land tax receipts, which was in practice before land ownership certificates came into practice.

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