सुदूर नेपाललाई विश्वसँग जोड्दै

Discussions on land acquisition for Dhangadhi airport have turned sour

२०७८ पुष ७, ०९:०९

Dhangadhi: The then Minister of Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation Yogesh Bhattarai arrived in Dhangadhi with his party in January 2018. In the presence of the Minister, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal unveiled the 20-year master plan of Dhangadhi Airport. It was also proposed that an additional 297 bighas of land would be required to upgrade the airport. After the master plan was made public, the sale and purchase of land around the airport were stopped. Due to the talk of land acquisition, the locals stopped adding physical infrastructure. The land in the area was not recognized for banking purposes.

The locals agreed to provide the land required for the upgrade of the airport. The locals also repeatedly demanded the release of the land to be acquired. But no process has been taken for land acquisition in the last two years. While inspecting the Dhangadhi Airport on December 29, Minister for Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale directed expedite the land acquisition work. After that, the issue of land acquisition started again.

A group became active in the last week of November to buy land around the airport, which had not been sold for two years. "Four or five people came to buy land," said a local. "They started looking at the land around the airport." The land that could not be sold for two years, when the talk of the acquisition was rumored, was surprised when the buying group became active. ' A few days later, on Friday morning, a pillar with lining was found buried in the ground around the airport, said the locals. "Four-fifths of the people who came for the demarcation had introduced themselves as government employees," the locals told Dinesh Khabar. But now the airport office is saying that the demarcation was not done by the government. Pillars have been laid on the land east of the area where the airport is located now.

However, the acquisition process has not started as the master plan of the airport has not been passed, says Ram Krishna Bhatt, chief of Dhangadhi Airport. "The demarcation work on the land around the airport was not done by the government," he said. So far no process of land acquisition has been started. There is no point in the drawing. ' Locals say that the land transaction has been confirmed after the government said that the demarcation work was not done. "After the talk of land acquisition for the airport, traders have become active in buying land cheaply from the locals," said a person who has been trading land in Dhangadhi.

The game is being played to get more compensation from the government by buying land cheaply from the locals. ' Local Lokraj Bhatt also suspects that the land dealers are trying to buy land from the locals at a cheaper price than the compensation given by the government. He added, "If the government did not draw the line, then the land transaction must have been settled."

Although the land transaction is active, the local administration is not in favor. Chief District Officer of Kailali Kiran Thapa said that the issue of land acquisition has not started yet. Police cannot be deployed everywhere. 'Locals, however, suspect that the government-sponsored land traders have been active in buying land around the airport cheaply.

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