Government Decides on Resettlement for Displaced Citizens

Kathmandu. On Tuesday, the government made a new decision to manage the landless. Accordingly, displaced citizens from areas where bulldozers were used in the Kathmandu Valley will be provided with 25,000 rupees once for resettlement and 15,000 rupees per family per month for 3 months as house rent.

This amount is for a family of five. If the number is more than that, they will receive an additional 2,000 rupees per person.

According to the government's decision, all families listed from the screening center at Dasharath Stadium will receive 25,000 rupees. Those screened and staying in the holding center will not receive any additional facilities. Instead, food facilities are provided at the holding center, but those who have made their own arrangements for residence will receive monthly relief based on the number of family members.

For example, if a family has only three members, they will receive 15,000 rupees per month, but if a family has 8 members, they will receive 21,000 rupees, including an additional 2,000 rupees for three people more than five.

How many landless, how is the management?

Currently, the empowered Bagmati Civilization Integrated Development Committee has taken the responsibility of accounting for the displaced landless from Kathmandu. Spokesperson of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Nabin Manandhar, says that the committee is also responsible for the records and relief management of the screened families. He states that the metropolis is only assisting in food management.

The committee has records of 2,608 landless families registered so far. The committee's information officer, Top Bahadur Baniya, says that there are about 11,000 members in those families. He states that about one thousand landless people are in the holding center arranged by the government. The rest have made their own arrangements for housing.

'Currently, there are about one thousand people in the holding center. Since the number keeps increasing and decreasing, there is no exact data. Only about 9-10 percent are in the holding center, which is a bit much,' says Baniya.

The committee has stated that 8 hotels and 6 holding centers are currently being used for the landless holding centers. Among these, all hotels are in the Balaju and Gongabu areas, while the holding centers are located in Radhaswami of Kirtipur, Ichangunarayan of Nagarjun Municipality, Bode of Bhaktapur, Kharipati and Agricultural Development Training Center, and in Banepa of Kavre.

How much will it cost?

If the government spends as stated, the initial expenditure is estimated to be 6 crore 51 lakh 50 thousand rupees. This will be spent on housing management.

Similarly, the monthly expenditure is estimated to be at least 3 crore 91 lakh rupees. There is a possibility that this expenditure may increase slightly. Since 11,000 people have been registered so far, the average number of people per family is seen to be more than 4.

Committee officials say that even if the number of family members is less, the monthly allowance will not decrease, but if it is more, the expenditure will increase slightly at a rate of 2,000 rupees per person. They also state that the cost will be higher for those staying in the holding center as the government has to manage their food.

'The estimated cost we have now is 70,000 rupees per family. This would amount to 18-19 crore for the initial expenses and three months of housing allowance,' the official says, 'but it could be more than that if we have to manage food, accommodation, and medical treatment for those who want to stay in the holding center. Hotel expenses will be even higher.'

No record of expenses so far

Although there is an estimate of the expenses to be incurred according to the government's decision, there is no consolidated data with anyone on how much has been spent so far on the management of the landless and which agency has spent how much.

Macha Kaji Maharjan, spokesperson for the committee responsible for the management of the landless, says that he does not have the data on how much has been spent so far.

'There are many types of expenses. Some expenses have been made by the Kathmandu Metropolitan City. Some expenses are being made by NGOs and some by the federal government. We do not have the exact details,' he says.

Initially, bulldozers were used to remove landless settlements in coordination with the Kathmandu Metropolitan City and the Department of Roads. Similarly, the screening of landless people was done by the metropolis. The metropolis is managing the food for those in the holding centers, and the Ministry of Urban Development is responsible for housing, it is said.

No agency has published details of how much has been spent under these headings so far. However, their estimate is that the expenditure so far has been around 10 crore rupees.

According to this calculation, the government's haste in demolishing the landless settlements alone is estimated to cost the state 30 crore rupees (estimated). If the management is not done within the next three months, this expenditure is certain to increase further.

This amount is exclusive of the cost of land management for the landless. Additional costs will also be incurred in providing land or apartments for their housing.

Previously, an apartment in Ichangunarayan was built for 234 families. It is estimated that it cost around 14 crore rupees to build this apartment at that time. This is an expenditure from a decade ago. At this rate, it is estimated that it will cost around 1.56 billion rupees to manage 2608 families.

However, even though it has been almost a month since the landless settlements were demolished, the Ministry of Urban Development has not presented a concrete plan regarding housing, employment, etc., for the landless. The ministry has stated that a committee led by Joint Secretary Navraj Poudel of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development (formerly Ministry of Urban Development) is currently working on this.