Kohalpur Municipality Continues Encroachment Removal Drive

Banke. Kohalpur Municipality has continued its campaign to remove houses and structures built on public and government land for the second day. The municipality stated that 108 houses and structures built on land owned by the Kohalpur Urban Development Committee in Kohalpur-11 have been removed. The municipality began the campaign on Saturday to remove encroached settlements spread across approximately 36 bighas of land under Kohalpur 3 (B) of the Urban Development Committee. Specifically, temporary and permanent structures that had been built for years around the cricket ground area have been removed. 40 houses and structures were removed on Saturday. Veer Bahadur Thapa, Chief of the Municipal Police of Kohalpur Municipality, said that the municipality has moved forward with the process of removing encroachments after giving prior notice and a deadline. He said, "We had issued a 10-day ultimatum on Baishakh 16th, requesting the encroached area to be vacated. Most citizens are moving their belongings themselves. We have only removed structures that have been completely vacated." According to the Chief of the Municipal Police, the campaign was conducted in the presence of local administration, representatives, municipal police, and security personnel. The municipality has also operated a 'holding center' by arranging temporary shelter for the displaced families. According to the municipality, 73 households had filled out forms to stay at the holding center on Saturday. The municipality stated that currently, 208 people from 54 families are staying at the holding center. Chief of the Municipal Police Thapa informed that the process of identifying genuine landless and squatters is also being carried out simultaneously. He said, "Not all citizens living on public land are landless squatters. Therefore, the municipality has initiated a process to identify genuine landless Dalits and landless squatters." According to the municipality, 751 families residing in that area last year had filled out forms identifying themselves as landless and squatters.