A Public Policy Dialogue on the Situation of the Encroachment on the Government, Public and Guthi Lands in Nepal and Measures for their Protection and Management was organized

June 6, 2024

Policy Research Institute, Narayanhiti

The Policy Research Institute organized a public policy dialogue in connection with a study being carried out by the Policy Research Institute on the current state of the encroachment on the government, public and the lands and the measures for their conservation and management measures. The participants in the dialogue were the representatives of the local governments, district-level officials, and representatives of the federal bodies.

The program started with a welcome by the Executive Chairman of the Institute, Prof Dr Lekhnath Sharma, and a background presentation on the issue by Mr Gopal Acharya. His presentation highlighted the research purpose, the research methodology, the cases selected for the study and the media review of the main issues. 

The discussion that followed focused mainly on the social, economic, political and legal reasons/factors underlying the encroachment of government, public and the guthi lands; the existing policy and legal framework adopted to address the management and encroachment of such lands and the lapses in their implementation, and the measures to be taken for protection, proper/sustainable management and utilization of such land.

  • Some of the opinions and suggestions shared by the participants were as follows:
  • The guthi land should be seen as a culture, and government and public land should be seen as the common property of all.
  • The definition of land and land use and transactions should be made clear
  • The definition of land encroachment should be clarified, and the dilemmas related to land ownership should be resolved
  • The digital database management system should integrate the actual government, public and guti land encroachment data.
  • Action should be taken against the encroachment of such land
  • The issue of tenancy rights (Mohiyani hak) and the problems of the landless people should be addressed justly.

Dr Hari Sharma Neupane, the Head of the Research Department at the Policy Research Institute, moderated the discussion.

Invited Guests

  1. Kumar Dahal (Joint Secretary, Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation)
  2. Sushil Dangol (Deputy Director General, Department of Survey)
  3. Dr Shivraj Pandit (Chairman, Guthi Sansthan)
  4. Narahari Ghimire (Joint Secretary, Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority)
  5. Dorendra Niraula (Assistant Chief District Officer, District Administration Office, Bhaktapur)
  6. Madhav Prasad Dhungana (Assistant Chief District Officer, District Administration Office, Kathmandu)
  7. Ramanand Prasad Chaudhary (Senior Divisional Mining Engineer, Department of Mines and Geology)
  8. Pramod Timilsina (Branch Officer, Department of Mines and Geology)
  9. Suraj Kumar Dura (Joint Secretary, Federal Parliament Secretariat)
  10. Ram Prasad Sharma (Under-Secretary, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology)
  11. Raju Kumar Shrestha (Head, Department of General Administration, Tribhuvan University)
  12. Rabindra Jakhu (Ward Chief, Bhaktapur Municipality)
  13. Krishna Singh Dhami (Reporter, Ratopati.com)
  14. Patali Thami (Treasurer, National Land Rights Forum)
  15. Jagat Deuja (Former Executive Director, CSRC Nepal)
  16. Sujan Fago Limbu (Administrative Officer, District Administration Office, Lalitpur)
  17. Rishi Dev Phuyal (Head, District Coordination Committee, Lalitpur)
  18. Krishna Chandra Neupane (Independent Expert)

Policy Research Institute

  1. Prof Dr Lekhnath Sharma (Executive Chairperson)
  2. Dr Hari Sharma Neupane (Head, Research Department)
  3. Dr Deepak Kumar Khadka (Head, Information and Knowledge Management Department)
  4. Laxman Prasad Bhattarai (Office Manager)
  5. Dr Khaga Nath Adhikari (Senior Research Fellow)
  6. Dr Kalpana Khanal (Senior Research Fellow)
  7. Dr Giri Raj Sharma (Research Fellow)
  8. Dr Jham Kumar Bishwakarma (Associate Research Fellow)
  9. Dr Manita Kusi (Associate Research Fellow)
  10. Ashok Pandey (Associate Research Fellow)
  11. Gopal Acharya (Analyst)
  12. Rija Manandhar (Analyst)
  13. Asbin Pokharel (Senior Assistant)
  14. Bimal Chandra Sharma (Library Management Coordinator)
  15. Kushal Thapaliya (Intern)
  16. Jyoti Luintel (Intern)
  17. Kanchan Gautam (Intern)
  18. Soniya Basyal (Intern)