Around 1,000 landless squatters staged demonstrations in the Capital on Sunday demanding inclusion of housing rights for the landless people in the new constitution.

Disgruntled squatters, who have been living in slums across the valley, took out a rally from Babarmahal, Kathmandu, that marched towards the Constituent Assembly building in New Baneshwor to press for their demands.

Article 42 of the preliminary draft of the constitution grants right to housing as a fundamental right and states that “no citizen shall be evicted from the housing owned by him/her, or encroached on the housing, except in accordance with law”. But the article is silent on the housing rights of the landless squatters.

“We demand that we be granted rights to continue staying in the land where we have lived for years,” secretary of Nepal Basobas Basti Samrakshan Samaj Raju Tamang said, warning of sterner protests in the days to come if their demands are not met.

The organisation also submitted its demands to 40 District Administration Offices across the country.