KHOTANG, May 6: The District Administration Office here has urged the local levels to provide details of encroached lands belonging to the government within three days. All ten local levels in the district were written to update the encroached government lands and public spaces.
The letter bearing the signature of Administrative Officer Prabhat Dhakal asked the local governments to identify encroached government and public lands and submit a plan on how the encroachment could be removed. The authority sought both hard and soft copies of land used illegally in the concerned local levels.
According to Chief District Officer Rekha Kandel, detailed information was sought after the recent directive of the Home Ministry. "The government has launched an initiative to retrieve its property, which was captured illegally. So, collection of details on it is underway in the district," she said, adding that the demolition drive would begin after garnering all information.
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She also urged the concerned individuals to remove their structures before the demolition drive.
It is said that most of the government lands were found encroached upon in Halesi Tuwachung Municipality and Barahapokhari Rural Municipality in the district. Even the land belonging to a religious and spiritual site, Halesi, could not be prevented from encroachment.
Chairman of the Haleshi Temple Management Committee, Gajurman Rai, said although they tried to bring back the encroached lands to public assets, they failed due to undue political influence and protection.
Earlier, even the Guthi Sansthan had initiated an investigation to bring back the land belonging to Halesi Mahadev Temple but could not complete it. In 2072 BS, the Guthi Sansthan had written to the District Land Revenue Office to inform 29 individuals who had grabbed the temple's land.
It was informed that 27 persons were involved in grabbing the public land in Barahatal. Importantly, Barahapokhari Rural Municipality had dismantled the huts and houses set up in Barahatal, but the encroachers built structures after some time.
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