Kavre, August 23, 2016: Earthquake victims from Bhumlutar and Phalante VDCs in Kavre are going to be deprived of the government’s residence construction grant.
Around 600 families in the two VDCs have been without land ownership certificates for the past four decades.
The government has issued a directive to provide residence construction grant amount to quake victims within a month. Having no land ownership certificates can deprive the quake victims of the two VDCs of the grant amount.
“Though the victims have quake victim identity cards, citizenship certificates, and other documents, we cannot work on an agreement on the grant for house construction as quake victims from Phalante and Bhumlutar do not possess land ownership certificates,†said Kavre Local Development Officer Tek Raj Niraula.
“A landownership certificate is necessary to sign a grant agreement. We cannot do so despite the government’s directive to distribute the grant amount to quake victims,†Niraula added.
Niraula said that he had informed the National Reconstruction Authority about this issue. “We cannot distribute the amount to victims without landownership unless the NRA issues a new directive,†he informed.
According to him, the amount for the first phase after signing the agreements with quake victims of 13 VDCs has been deposited in the concerned banks.
After a dispute broke out in Pipaltar VDC during a survey in 2032 BS, the VDC was split into Bhumlutar and Phalante VDCs. After that, human settlements and arable land had become without land ownership certificates.
The survey team had returned after the next dispute on the possession of land broke out in the VDC, said local Motilal Lama. The demarcation work was halted after the dispute on boundary lines ensued between seniors of the two VDCs in 1975.
For want of land ownership certificates, land was being sold on the basis of the Rana era provision of soil-muri (old measurement of crop produce). According to the Office of the Land Survey, then Pipaltar VDC had total 5,528 kitta land.
Meanwhile, after 40 years, District Land Revenue Office Kavre started the process of distributing land ownership certificates five months ago. The office, however, has yet to give land ownership certificates to the locals.
The Department of Survey had directed the district land survey office to investigate and distribute the certificates.
