With shifting districts, Chanchala locals lack land ownership certificates

By Gokarna Paudel,Tulsipur, Feb. 15: Chanchala, located in Ward No. 11 of Ghorahi Sub-Metropolitan City, has historically been part of three districts—Salyan, Rolpa and Dang at various times. Despite this, the residents of Chanchala are still devoid of a land ownership certificate. 

Before 1971, Chanchala was part of Salyan district. However, during the survey that year, it was separated and placed in Rolpa district. 

According to Kul Bahadur Lamichhane, the Ward Chairman of Ghorahi Sub-Metropolitan City, Ward No. 11, the land was marked as part of Rolpa district. Despite this, even after being part of three districts, residents of Chanchala, located in Ghorahi-11, lack land ownership certificates.

In the past, Chanchala was not included in the Dang district thinking it was a part of the Rolpa district and Rolpa left Chanchala thinking it the part of Dang, said Ward chairman Lamichhane.

In March 2020, the provincial government, with the support of Ghorahi Sub-Metropolitan City, along with the Survey Office of Ghorahi, initiated the process of mapping and surveying the land in the area to provide land ownership certificates to the residents of Chanchala. 

A total of 11 households were previously residing in Chanchala, fell into the forest area. Apart from this land, the landownership certificates of other households are in the final stages of preparation and will be distributed once the process is completed.

Previously, the land was part of the Chanchala Tripura Municipality in Ward No. 7 of the Hapur VDC. Local Gana Bahadur Ghati expressed happiness as the process of distributing the landownership certificate had started after a long wait. 

Shreedhar Paudel, an 84-year-old resident born in the Chanchala area, mentioned that the area was considered a secure zone before the land redistribution in the Dang district.

In Dang district, a total of 76,307 people, including landless Dalits, landless squatters and unorganised settlers, have filed applications with the Land Commission.

 Among them, a survey has been completed for 6,064 bighas of land. Commission Chairman Hukumba Bahadur Basnet stated that after the final approval, the distribution of land titles for 1,074 families is ready to be completed. He further informed that the distribution process for landless Dalits, squatters and unorganised settlers in the district will begin by the first week of April 2025.