Government on a campaign to reclaim encroached land, claims Land Management Minister

Damauli–Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, Padma Kumari Aryal, has said the government was steadfast in the campaign of recovering the public land that has been encroached by various sides.

She said this during a meeting with party cadres organised by the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP)'s Tanahu committee here today.

Minister Aryal warned of taking action against anyone found registering the government land in individual's name. She asserted that the government was making efforts to reclaim the encroached upon land, saying encroachment of public land was increasing extensively.

The Minister reiterated that the government was moving ahead with the campaign of revoking the illegitimate registration of land and called upon the people to inform the government about such practices. She stated that the government would give justice to the landless squatters who have been living in unsystematic settlements for long. Minister Aryal added that laws related to land management have been formulated for the better management of land, stating the bill related to land management would be certified after the election of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the lower house of the federal parliament, on January 26.

Minister Aryal also shared that a work plan has been prepared for managing 100 thousand landless squatters within a year's time. She identified increasing the productivity of land as the main challenge, stating that only 27 percent of land in the country was cultivable. The government has prepared the land use policy to make the maximum land production-oriented.

"The general public would be encouraged towards the productive use of land. The government will set up a land bank which will link land with production," the Minister for Land Management said.

NCP Shuklagandaki Town Committee chair Mukti Timilsina said there are many unsystematic settlements in the municipality and drew the government's attention to the need of resolving the problem.