Prem Bahadur Gandharba, originally from Dailekh district, is currently living in land owned by Surkhet Campus at Birendranagar Municipality Ward No 8 in Surkhet. He has set up a hut on the roadside, where he has been living with his family for nearly 10 years now.

Like the Gandharbas, there are around three dozen landless families squatting in the area, the property that was handed over to the campus by Surkeht Valley Town Development Committee in 1995.

According to the campus administration, the landless families have taken over nearly eight katthas of land in the area.

The campus officials have long been demanding the authorities to clear the encroachment and move the squatter families elsewhere. The municipal office has not listened.

“The local government has remained indifferent to our concern. Instead of finding an alternative location for the squatters, the municipal office has provided them with amenities like drinking water and electricity,” said Bhupendra Shahi, the campus chief.

The municipal office didn’t even consult the campus administration before installing the electrical line and water pipeline in the area, a move that Shahi says is against the law.

A house can be facilitated with amenities such as drinking water supply and electricity only after the house owner produces his/her land ownership certificate and with the recommendation from the respective ward office.

The homes in squatter settlement were equipped with water and electricity facilities two years ago at the recommendation of the Ward No. 8 office of Birendranagar Municipality.

The squatter families have contested Shahi’s claim, saying that they too deserve the basic amenities like water and electricity.

“We got electricity and water facilities following all due procedures, and we have been paying our bills regularly,” said Gandharba. “We have nowhere else to go until the government provides us with an alternative.”

The campus administration, however, say that providing amenities the squatters has only encouraged the squatters to continue living in the area.

“We wrote letters to the municipality time and again to clear the encroached land but to no avail. We are not against the government’s move to provide land to the landless but the campus needs the land for its own use,” said Shahi. When asked, the ward office said it recommended the electricity and water offices to provide facilities to the landless people but only as a temporary provision. “We recommended for the same since the squatters too are citizens of the country and that they should not be deprived of basic facilities like drinking water and electricity,” said Dhanba Prasad Gautam, ward chairman of Birendranagar Ward No 8.

According to Gautam, the municipal office said it would soon resolve the issue of landless people permanently. “Many plots of lands in the Surkhet Valley Town Development Committee area has been encroached upon. We are aware of that. We will soon assess the actual data of the landless squatters and make provisions for them,” said Mohanmaya Dhakal, deputy mayor. She said, “However, the municipality will not evict the squatters from the campus land anytime soon. We can’t just chase them away; that’s not done.”