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Nepal government under Prime Minister Balen Shah offers temporary monthly aid and Rs 25,000 rehab grant to riverbank squatters amid evictions and rising protest threats.
The decision has been taken to support each landless and squatter family displaced from riverbank settlements in Kathmandu.
Balen Shah-led Nepal government announced a rehabilitation package for landless and squatter families recently displaced from riverbank settlements in the Kathmandu Valley. In a decision taken on Tuesday, the Council of Ministers agreed to provide Rs 15,000 in rehabilitation support to each landless and squatter family removed from the banks of the Bagmati River and other public lands in the capital.
The government has also decided to offer monthly financial assistance for the next three months to cover temporary shelter costs for every family evicted from these areas. In addition, the Cabinet approved a lump sum payment of Rs 25,000 for rehabilitation to each family, to be provided after authorities verify the details of squatters living along riverbanks and on public land in the Kathmandu Valley.The measures follow an eviction drive launched last month, which has so far displaced around 15,000 people from more than 2,600 households.
However, many of the affected families say the government’s short-term support is not enough and are demanding a long-term solution, including land allocation and housing costs.
“The authorities demolished our three-storey house located in the Shankhamul area of Kathmandu, where we had lived for half a century without a land ownership certificate, with the hope that the government will come up with a solution,” said Pavan Gurung, who is currently staying at a holding centre in the Nepal Electricity Authority guest house in Kharipati.
Another displaced resident, Babita Tamang from the Balkhu area of Kathmandu, now also living at the Kharipati Holding Centre, urged the government to either provide land elsewhere or allow them to return. “If the government cannot provide land elsewhere, then they should allow us to construct a house in the same area where the demolition took place,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Landless People and Unmanaged Squatters Struggle Committee has warned of intensified protests in Kathmandu and other major parts of the country from next month if the government fails to meet their demands for alternative shelter and land.
(PTI Inputs)
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