DHARAN, Jan 22: An illegal house built encroaching upon public land on the bank of the Adheri River in Deurali, Dharan-5, has been demolished by a sub-metropolitan bulldozer.
This morning the city police, Nepal police and armed police demolished the illegally-built house.
The sub-metropolitan city office gave notice twice not to build the house and to demolish the built structure. During that time, there was a clash between the locals and the police.
The glass of the dozer was broken by locals by pelting stones. Locals who got the information that the dozers were coming to demolish the house had gathered around the house since morning. Former ward chairman Santosh Limbu also came to protest saying that the house should not be demolished. He also demanded that part of the river should be demarcated first.
House owner Muna Chaudhary Limbu filed a writ petition at the District Court, Sunsari, making Ward No-5 office the opponent and demanding an interim order. But the court did not give an interim order as demanded by the petitioner. The previous ward chairman Santosh Limbu had protected the land by raising a retaining wall from the government budget saying that the land on which the house was built would be turned into a football field.
He is accused of building a house after he was defeated in the last local election. He refuted this allegation saying that 80 percent of the houses in Ward 5 are built on public land and he said that only one house cannot be demolished. Mayor Harka Sampang said that apart from old houses and settlements, new houses will not be built on public land. He said that even though he had issued a notice not to build the house earlier on time, the locals disobeyed. So, the sub-metropolitan city office moved forward according to the law.