57 landless families in Chitwan, Jhapa and Rupandehi receive land ownership certificates

Fifty-seven landless squatter, landless Dalit and unmanaged settler families in Chitwan, Jhapa and Rupandehi have been handed land ownership certificates, or lalpurja.

The secretariat of Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives, Federal Affairs and General Administration Pratibha Rawal shared the information. In Ichchhakamana Rural Municipality-7 of Chitwan, 32 landless squatter families and one landless Dalit family received certificates.

In Gaidahawa Rural Municipality-8 and 9 of Rupandehi, a team led by Chief District Officer Bishwa Prakash Aryal handed over certificates to 16 landless families. Rural municipality chair Surendra Paudyal and chief survey officer Mani Prasad Regmi also took part in the distribution.

Aryal said this was the first time a landless Dalit family had received a certificate in Rupandehi since the District Land Problem Resolution Committee began its work. According to him, the district has 10,000 landless squatters and 72,000 unmanaged settlers on its list. Rural municipality chair Paudyal said Gaidahawa has been allocating Rs 10 million every year for this work, and the rural municipality has 4,500 landless and unmanaged settlers listed.

In Jhapa's Arjundhara Municipality-11, seven families who had long lived in unmanaged settlements received certificates, becoming legal landowners after four decades without ownership. Shrawan Kumar Pokharel, chief district officer and chair of the District Land Problem Resolution Committee in Jhapa, said a dedicated team would be formed to speed up certificate distribution.