More than 400 families from Melauli Municipality-8 in Baitadi district have been travelling to the neighbouring district of Dadeldhura for nearly 50 years to pay their land taxes.

The logistical burden stems from an administrative error during the 1975–76 land survey and record management process. At the time, land records for the then Bishalpur Village Development Committee (now Melauli Municipality-8) were retained in Dadeldhura. Despite the country’s transition to a federal structure and subsequent local-level restructuring, the issue remains unresolved. As a result, these families have had to travel outside their home district for decades to access basic government services due to a long-standing clerical error.

More than 400 families from the former Bishalpur VDC, now within Melauli-8, have been consistently paying their land revenue at Ward 3 of Bhageshwar Rural Municipality in Dadeldhura since 1975. According to Tarendra Bista, ward chair of Melauli-8, residents are compelled to travel to another district because the old records have neither been corrected nor transferred.

“The ownership records for this ward were left behind in Dadeldhura, so locals still have to go there to pay their land taxes,” Bista said. “This has caused unnecessary hardship for service seekers.” He added that despite repeated appeals to the relevant authorities, no concrete progress has been made.

Yuvaraj Bista, a resident of Kotigaun, said that although the state claims to be making services more accessible, locals are still forced to travel outside the district for a routine tax payment, increasing their expenses and wasting time and labour. Another resident, Gokarna Damai, pointed to the disconnect between their voting status and administrative services. While they are registered as voters in Baitadi and participate in elections there, they must travel to Dadeldhura for all land-related work—a trouble he said must end.

According to Damber Raj Joshi, ward chair of Bhageshwar-3 in Dadeldhura, 13 village panchayats from Baitadi were historically administratively linked to Dadeldhura. When the districts were later separated, those villages were incorporated into Baitadi. “During that merger, Kotigaun of present-day Melauli-8 was linked to Bogata of Bhageshwar-3,” Joshi said. “We do not claim that residents of Melauli-8 must pay taxes here. They do not own houses or land in our ward, yet they come here to pay revenue. They should be able to pay in their own ward, but the legal process has not been completed.”

Kamalapati Bhatta, chief of the Land Revenue Office in Dadeldhura, also confirmed that the issue originates from the earlier mapping process. “The 1976 survey was conducted from Dadeldhura,” he said. “At the time, Dadeldhura surveyed Melauli and Bishalpur in Baitadi, and those areas were placed under Wards 8 and 9 of Bhageshwar. Today, those territories belong to Baitadi, but the official records remain in our office.” He said taxes are still being collected in Bhageshwar-3, even though residents insist that, since the land lies in Baitadi, all transactions should take place there.

“In the past, a committee was formed to conduct field monitoring and submit a report,” Bhatta said. “The Department of Land Management had directed us to seek opinions from the relevant agencies. As no responses were received, we prepared our own assessment and recommended that, since the territory belongs to Baitadi, the records should be transferred there.”

However, he noted that the transfer process faces technical hurdles. “The field books are with the survey office, and it is difficult to separate and hand over the physical ledgers and records from our office,” Bhatta said. “If digital copies can be used, we can provide them to Baitadi after obtaining permission from the department.”

He added that discussions have already taken place between Melauli Municipality, Bhageshwar Rural Municipality and other stakeholders, expressing hope that a solution will be reached soon. If a decision is made to provide records through digital copies, all land-related work for Kotigaun and surrounding areas could finally be handled by the Land Revenue Office in Baitadi.