Itahari Municipality issues 15-day ultimatum to remove encroached structures

KATHMANDU: The Itahari Sub-Metropolitan City has given a seven-day ultimatum to remove structures built encroaching on government land.

The ultimatum issued on Tuesday states that structures constructed by encroaching upon public, government, announced, and party land must be demolished.

According to Deputy Mayor Surya Prasad Subedi, mentioned in the ultimatum, if anyone fails to comply with the legal procedures, action will be taken accordingly. Offices, various organizations, and industries have also been instructed to immediately remove structures built by encroaching upon public announced land.

Currently, there are many squatters residing in public announced land in Itahari. Many industrialists have also built physical structures in public announced land. The urgent need in Itahari is to determine the actual facts and situation of public announced land.

Itahari Sub-Metropolitan City Mayor Hemkarna Poudel stated that the municipality is actively engaged in searching, demarcating, bringing into ownership, and protecting government, public, and community properties.

The country’s Devolution Act has clearly outlined provisions related to the arrangement of government, public, and community property from Sections 299 to 313.

According to Section 304, the responsibility of protecting government and public property lies with the concerned district-level administration and local level.

Furthermore, buildings and structures built without passing maps within 15 days have been circularized to expedite the process of documentation.

Itahari Sub-Metropolitan City does not allow the construction of buildings and structures without passing maps as per the Building Act, 2075, and the Local Government Operation Act, 2074.

However, time has been given for the documentation of pre-existing buildings.