Budhi Gandaki Hydroelectric Project Development Committee has said land transactions in project-affected districts of Dhading and Gorkha will be frozen from March 25.

The move comes as increased land fragmentation has resulted in higher number land owners in the areas.

The committee’s Chairman Laxmi Devkota said the project plans to issue an initial notice on March 21, freeze land transactions by March 25, form a land compensation committee by March 28, and start compensation distribution immediately. 

“We plan to complete compensation distribution within the end of this fiscal year,” he said at a stakeholder meeting held in Kurintar, Chitwan.

Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi had directed authorities concerned to halt the transaction of land plots that could be inundated by the 1,200MW project.

He had told chief district officers, chiefs of land and survey offices and security officials of Gorkha and Dhading districts to freeze the land transactions by publishing the details of the land plots to be acquired and their owners.

Rewati Prasad Bhusal, chief of Dhading Land Revenue Office, said “land mafias” have been increasingly getting active lately, selling/buying the same land plots several times within them to artificially inflate their values and claim higher compensation. 

“So land acquisition must be completed immediately,” he said.

Initially, there were 8,310 plots in the 27,932-ropani area to be acquired by the project in 13 VDCs in Dhading. But the number of plots have now increased by 3,000, according to Bhusal. In Gorkha, the project will acquire 27,800 ropanies in 14 VDCs.

During the interaction, Gorkha CDONarayan Bhatta and Dhading CDO Bishwo Prakash Subedi said more problems could emerge if land acquisition and compensation is not solved instantly.