For 62-year-old Jit Bahadur BK of Jaisi Chaupari in Tansen Municipality-6, land ownership has remained elusive for more than three decades.

BK moved to Palpa from Dhurkot in neighbouring Gulmi district 32 years ago. A blacksmith by profession, BK settled on a small plot of land. At the time, officials from a government commission formed to address squatter issues allowed him to live on the land. However, he has yet to receive an official land ownership certificate.

“I have applied to the land commission more than half a dozen times. The land has been measured many times, but the certificate has never come,” BK said. “Every government forms a new commission. They say something will happen, but nothing does.”

According to BK, political parties and candidates regularly visit the settlement before elections, pledging to resolve the issue once in office. “We have voted many times after receiving assurances. But no leader comes back after winning the election,” he said.

Santa Bahadur Bastakoti, another resident of the settlement who has lived there since February 2000, voiced a similar frustration. Some families in Jaisi Chaupari have been residing there since 1994. “During election campaigns, they say our vote is very important,” Bastakoti said. “But none of those who win return to see the condition of the landless.”

Around 52 such families live in Jaisi Chaupari. Residents say election-time promises of land certificates have become routine, yet remain unfulfilled. Some now say they feel little motivation to vote.

“I do not feel like voting for those who never provide land ownership certificates,” said Devkala Sunar, another resident. “They win with our votes, build houses elsewhere, but do nothing for us.”

A similar situation exists in Kailashnagar of Tansen Municipality-5, where landless families say they have lived for more than two decades without legal ownership of the land they occupy. With elections scheduled for March 5, political leaders have been visiting the settlements; however, the people are busy repairing leaking kitchens. Residents feel bitten bothways by the promises and the leaky roofs.

“We are more worried about land ownership than the elections,” said Shanta Thadrai, a local resident. “Everyone promises to fulfil our demands, but the problem remains the same.”

Most residents survive on daily wage labour and say economic hardship overshadows the election fervour seen elsewhere.

Data from the recently formed Land Problem Settlement Commission show that 7,670 applications have been submitted across Palpa district, including 6,678 unorganised settlers, 315 Dalit squatters and 674 other squatters. Of these, documentation for 5,932 families has reportedly been completed, making them ‘eligible’ to get the certificates.

In Tansen Municipality alone, there are 1,227 landless families, 174 Dalit squatters and 325 others. Rampur Municipality has 1,218 landless families, while Tinau records 1,613 unorganised settlers. Other local units, including Rainadevi Chhahara, Nisdi and Mathagadhi, also report significant numbers of landless households.

Since 1995, 17 separate commissions have been formed to address landlessness in the district. However, most have not functioned full-time. Previous commissions distributed around 500 certificates in the mid-1990s and 702 two years ago, but thousands remain without legal documents.