Victims Protest Eviction, Accuse Government of Anti-Poor Policies

Kathmandu. Victims have expressed anger, accusing the government of forcibly evicting them by running bulldozers over slum settlements illegally. In a program organized at Dialogue Dably in the capital on Wednesday, victims and land rights activists warned that they would continue to fight for their right to land and housing. The speakers at the program organized by the 'All Landless Slum Dwellers and Unorganized Settlers' group claimed with evidence that the demolished settlements were not encroached land but areas where genuine slum dwellers had been living. They accused the government led by Prime Minister Balendra Shah (Balen) of treating slum dwellers like criminals, exposing the government's anti-poor character.

Maiya Ale, a victim from the Banshighat slum settlement in Tripureshwor, complained that they were suddenly evicted without prior notice. She said, 'Our settlement was bulldozed like criminals without any alternative. The government should be a protector for citizens, but it came as a destroyer.' Another victim from the Shankhamul slum settlement, Pawan Gurung, expressed anger that his house, where he had been living for 53 years, was demolished, forcing him onto the streets. He stated that the government, under the pretext of arranging accommodation within 15 days, had forced them to get drenched in the monsoon rain. Gurung added, 'Although they claimed to have arranged accommodation in hotels, lodges, and holding centers, the condition of sick people like me is very bad.'

Land and housing rights activist Bina Buddhacharya claimed that the metropolis's move to run bulldozers over slum settlements was completely unconstitutional. Accusing Prime Minister Balen Shah of using his personal Facebook status rather than the law to operate bulldozers, she said, 'Running bulldozers over slum settlements is against the citizens' right to housing. Will those who take such human rights-violating actions be legally prosecuted?' Buddhacharya strongly objected to the government's attempt to portray slum dwellers as 'Hukum basis' (those who occupy land by force or influence) and encroachers, warning that the victims would strongly resist such irresponsible behavior.

Rights activist Smita Acharya said that calling landless people who have been living for more than 50 years 'encroachers' proves how insensitive the Balen government is towards the poor. Similarly, another rights activist Bhagawati Adhikari accused the metropolis of gross human rights violations by selectively demolishing the houses of the poor and helpless. She questioned, 'While evicting landless people onto the streets in the name of encroaching public land, why is the Balen government protecting the houses of its own leaders and parliamentarians?' Adhikari clarified that according to the data from the National Land Problem Resolution Commission, there are 1.2 million landless slum dwellers and unorganized settlers in the country, and it is the government's responsibility to manage all of them properly. She asserted that running bulldozers uncontrollably in areas previously recognized as slum settlements by past governments is outright illegal.

Adhikari informed that the condition of about 700 victims currently kept in holding centers is very dire. She said, 'It is completely inappropriate from a humanitarian perspective to treat everyone, including lactating mothers, the sick, children, and the elderly, in the same way, as if they were all in one basket.'