With a view to protecting public land from encroachment, Madhyapur Thimi municipality is all set to start a land mapping campaign.

Ram Prasad Pathak, executive officer of Madhyapur Thimi Municipality said the campaign was meant to protect public property from land mafias who are eying such lands for making profit.

“We have already allocated Rs 1.5 million budget to run the campaign. It is reportedly the largest budget for a programme of this kind,” Pathak said. “We will give preference to public lands that are prone to encroachment,” he added.

In the last fiscal year, the mu
nicipality had carried out land mapping at Tersataar with a budget of Rs 50,000.

Expressing hope, officer Pathak said, “Since we have allocated a huge budget, there is no reason why we should not be confident enough to say that the programme is certain to be carried out effectively.” The municipality will hold a meeting with political parties and locals regarding land mapping before drafting a plan of action.

“We will be preparing plans to utilise public land for the development of the municipality,” officer Pathak said.

The municipality will sort out public land from public property with the support of the Office of Land Revenue in the initial phase.

source: Himalayan Times (2010),"Madhyapur Thimi to map land to curb mafia",The Himalayan Times,26 July 2010