Gothelal BK of Nalang village of Dhading district feels helpless as he watches his villagers building houses at war footing. Seeing them, this homeless man does not know how to make one for his family. The government did not provide him the earthquake assistance grant distributed to quake victims because he did not have land registered in his name. “All the villagers will soon move into their new houses. But my family is doomed to live in tents. The government did not provide us the grant that it distributed to villagers. Neither did it provide us land,” BK shared with a feeling of being helpless against what he thinks as ‘state’s injustice’ to people like him. BK’s family has been living in a hut covered with plastic sheets after the earthquake rendered them homeless in April 2015. Just like other quake victims, he also waited for nearly two years to start building new home. But his hopes were dashed. Every day when he sees his villagers’ houses coming into shape, he feels the pang.
“I am a Nepali. I am a
victim of the earthquake. And I am a landless. That makes me poorer than those
who have land. So, why am I deprived of the state grants? Don’t you think
people like me should be the first to receive state assistance?” BK said adding
that his family never owned a piece of land. There are dozens of others
like BK who are simply heartbroken and feel betrayed every day while other
villagers construct their houses. Even though they have been living in the
village since their grandparents’ time, most of the Dalit families do not have
registered land. “We have been living here and using the farm as our own since
our ancestors’ time. But we never needed to have a certificate to claim it,” BK
stated.
According to another
landless earthquake victim of the village, Buddhilal BK, measurement of his
house plot was done way back in 1977. But it was not registered under his name.
“If I was bit clever, I would have procured the certificate then. Government
officials measured my house plot but I was not efficient enough to have the
paper work done then. Now I wish I would have done it,” he lamented. Buddhilal
stated that lack of awareness among Dalit people and other marginalized groups
led to their sorry situation. “It was never a crime to have houses on
unregistered land. At least I am not aware of such law,” he said. “Aren’t
we the citizen of this country? Though we have also been equally victimized by
the earthquake, why is the government not providing us grant for house
construction?,” Buddhilal asked sharing his unwillingness to accept state’s
decision of providing grants only to quake victims who have land ownership
certificate.
A lot of quake victims
in Nalang village, too are in trouble due to lack of registered land. They say
that their forefathers in fact purchased land from earlier owners, but back
then land registration certificates were not issued. “We didn’t receive the
land for free. Our ancestors purchased it. Some of our lands were purchased in
the days of grandparents,” said Manamaya Ghale. “But, we do not have land
certificate. If it was not ours, we would not have been living here,” she
added. Ghale stressed that the government should look at the matter fairly and
give justice to quake victims like her. Instead of further victimizing the
earthquake victims, they need support to get back to normal life, she
said. As per the data of Natural Disaster Rescue Committee, 181 families
in the district do not have registered land. These landless quake victims
have registered their names and status to the committee along with an appeal
for justice. Raj Kumar Tamang, local of Thakre village laments that the
appeal has not been answered. “Quake victims who had land have already received
grants from the government and they are constructing houses. But our appeal is
not heard.”
Quake victims
unaware of NRA house construction guidelines
Even though
the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) had issued public notice informing
its guidelines for claiming the grant, few earthquake victims report that they
are aware of it. In its notice, the NRA had asked people, who were yet to
register their land. However, landless victims of Dhading state that they were
not aware of it. Shalikram Acharya, chief officer at the district’s land
revenue informed that only one person had appeared with the request for
registering land. However, VDC secretaries said that even they themselves did
not know about the guidelines let alone the locals. Surya Prasad Devkota,
secretary of Nalang VDC, informed that there are around 100 quake hit families
in the VDC who don’t have land ownership certificate. “No, we have never been
notified to have the landless people register their land. Or else, we would
have done it,” he said. “We are going to take this matter to the reconstruction
authority. This won’t be fair with the victims,” he informed adding that the
deadline for registering the land was already over.
Shanker Shrestha
MyRepublica
02/02/2017
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