KATHMANDU, Oct 6: The government is planning to set up landless squatters problem resolution district committees and make 231 political appointments to 77 such committees. According to the Ministry of Land Management,Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, the board of each seven-member district level committee that the ministry plans to set up will comprise three political appointees and four ex officio members.
Bhim Karki, the spokesperson for the Landless Squatters Problem Resolution Committee, said that the district committees will be established by the Dashain festival. He said that the commission will recommend the names to be appointed in the district committee to the Prime Minister in a few days. According to Karki, the ministry has already finalized half of the names of the appointees in the district committees.
Based on the Land Act which allows the formation of the district level committees of the commission, the government is forming 77 district committees across the country.
Though the ministry has already prepared the working procedure for the district committees, it has not yet set the minimum academic qualification for the chairman of the district committee. However, the district committee chairman will receive perks and benefits equal to those of an undersecretary of the government. Two other appointees should include one woman and one expert. Three other ex officio members of the district committee include chiefs of district forest office, land revenue office and survey office.
The ministry plans to form the district committees in districts like Manang, Mustang, Humla and Dolpa, where there is not much landless squatters problem. The government is planning to establish district committees in these districts ignoring suggestions from some high-level officials to allow the committees of the nearby districts to oversee the problems.
“This will be the last commission. So, we are planning to set up committees in all districts so that the problem of landless squatters and unmanaged settlements does not occur again,” said Karki.
The ministry estimates that a budget of Rs 1 billion will be required for the pay and perks of the officials of the district committees. The working procedure also states that even the ex officio members could draw allowance from the district committees.
According to a ministry source, the government plans to appoint mostly party loyalists to the district committees going to be formed to settle the landless squatters’ problem.