Land dispute halts construction of high altitude training centre

Jumla, Feb 25: The land related dispute has halted the construction of the Karnali High Altitude Training Centre planned at Lauthchaur of Patarasi rural municipality-3 in the district.    
    
The project has not begun as the land for it could not be acquired on time.    
    
 Dispute surfaced over whether the Centre could be set up in the land of a school or somewhere else, according to Chairman of rural municipality, Purna Singh Bohara.    
    
He, however, said the construction would be initiated soon after holding an all-party meeting with the coordination of District Administration Office.    
    
The High Altitude Centre could be constructed in some part of the land belonging to the school, he added.    
    
However, Vice Chairperson Janmaya Rokaya said the budget allocated by the government was likely to be left unused, showing a land dispute.    
    
The Centre was mulled for developing Lauthchaur as a sport city in the highest altitude of the world, according to Rokaya. It is the sport training centre.    
    
The locals from ward no 3 of Patarasi Rural Municipality had committed providing voluntary support. Even Rs 30 million government fund has been spent for it.    
    
Meanwhile, Ward Chairperson Govind Rawat informed that the process for acquiring land was getting final.    
    
Rs 62.0 million has been allocated in the current budget for the construction of sport training centre.    
    
The budget needs to be utilized within this year with the completion of the project.    
    
Chandra Bahadur Khadka, an information officer at Local Infrastructure Development Project at Surkhet, informed that the construction of the training centre was not intensified due to land dispute. Even the land required for the sports training centre was not acquired so far.  (RSS)