Hundreds of squatters protest against Nepal government’s move to demolish buildings in Kathmandu

Since last month, the federal government in Kathmandu and hundreds of other settlements in different areas outside the capital have demolished more than 3,500 buildings belonging to landless squatters for beautification and environmental protection.

Nepal’s Supreme Court on May 4 ordered the government to submit procedural details for demolishing shantytowns in the Kathmandu Valley.

Protesters organized under the United Landless Squatters Forum gathered at Maitighar Mandala in the center of the capital on Friday, carrying empty plates and raising slogans demanding the right to residence and housing.

“End displacement in the name of development”, “Where will you wash your hands stained with the blood of squatters?”, “Give us justice, not displacement”, were the titles of slogans and placards raised at the time.

The federal government and Kathmandu Metropolitan Municipality jointly evicted thousands of landless squatters across Kathmandu, including Thapatali, Gairigaun, Manahora, Balaju, Anamnagar Sinamangal and Kapan areas, displacing around 20,000 people.

Saraswoti Karmacharya, a journalist associated with Nepal Samachapatra, said the government temporarily shifted hundreds of squatters to detention centers in Kirtipur, Bhaktapur and some hotels, but despite this, hundreds of squatters are still living in the open in miserable conditions even as pre-monsoon rains have begun across the country.

She noted that hundreds of landless squatters were forcibly evicted from their settlements and were at risk of starvation.

Opposition parties and different civil society groups have also criticized the government, saying thousands of landless squatters were evicted from Kathmandu and other major areas of the country without proper data collection on them and the development of alternative solution plans.

In a related development, people were protesting against a notification issued by the Kshireshwor Municipal Corporation in Dhanusha district of Madhus province to vacate public land occupied by squatters in the area.

Protesters blocked the Janakpur-Darkhbar section of Keshwar by burning car tires, Nepal Khabar online news portal reported.

Similarly, in Butawar, hundreds of landless squatters organized anti-government demonstrations, chanting slogans such as “Stop terrorizing people with bulldozers,” “Down with the Barron government,” and “Don’t evict landless people,” the Settopadi online news portal reported.

This article was generated from automated news agency feeds without modifications to the text.