The Tamesis
palpa – For Jit Bahadur BK, 62, of Jaisi Chaupari in Tansen Municipality 6, land ownership has been elusive for more than three decades.
BK moved to Palpa 32 years ago from Dhurkot in neighboring Gulmi district. BK was a blacksmith who settled on a small piece of land. At the time, officials from a government committee set up to deal with the squatter problem allowed him to live on the land. However, he has yet to receive a formal title certificate for the land.
“I have applied to the Land Commission more than six times. The land has been surveyed many times, but the certificate has never come down,” BK said. “Every government sets up a new committee. They say something will happen, but nothing happens.”
According to BK, political parties and candidates regularly visit the settlement before elections and promise to address the issue after taking office. “We have voted many times after getting assurances. But no leader has come back after winning the election,” he said.
Another resident of the settlement, Santa Bahadur Bastakoti, who has lived there since February 2000, expressed similar dissatisfaction. Some of Jaisi Chaupari’s families have been living there since 1994. “During the campaign, they said our votes mattered,” Bastakoti said. “But none of the winners will come back to see the condition of the landless.”
Around 52 such families live in Jaisi Chaupari. Residents say election promises to issue land certificates, which have become common practice, remain unfulfilled. Some now say they feel unmotivated to vote.
“I don’t want to vote for people who never provide land ownership certificates,” said Devkala Sunar, another resident. “They win with our votes and build houses elsewhere but do nothing for us.”
A similar situation exists in Kailash Nagar in District 5 of Thansen city, where landless families say they have been living there for more than two decades without legal title to the land they occupy. Elections are scheduled for March 5 and political leaders have been inspecting the settlements; however, people are busy repairing leaky kitchens. Residents are being torn between promises and leaky roofs.
“We are more worried about land ownership than elections,” said Shanta Thadrai, a local resident. “Everyone is committed to meeting our demands, but problems remain.”
Most residents survive on daily wage labor and say economic hardship has overshadowed electoral enthusiasm elsewhere.
Data from the recently constituted Land Issues Resolution Committee shows that 7,670 applications have been received in Palpa district, including 6,678 unorganized settlers, 315 Dalit squatters and 674 other squatters. Documentation for 5,932 of those families was reported to have been completed, making them “eligible” to receive certificates.
In Tansen city alone, there are 1,227 landless families, 174 Dalit squatters and 325 others. Rampur city has 1,218 landless families, while Tinau has 1,613 unorganized settlers. Other local units, including Rainadevi Chhahara, Nisdi and Mathagadhi, also reported a large number of landless households.
Since 1995, 17 independent committees have been established to address landlessness in the region. However, most people do not have full-time jobs. The previous committee distributed about 500 certificates in the mid-1990s and 702 two years ago, but thousands of certificates still have no legal documentation.
