More than 27 bighas of public land toward Chitwan side has been encroached upon in the name of constructing temples and shrines at Devghat. Devghat is a famous pilgrimage site close to the confluence of the Kaligandaki and Trishuli rivers.
Big structures and buildings with the name of ashrams and kutis (hermitage) have been constructed in the area on the basis of access to political and administrative power.
The Devghat Area Development Committee (DADC) chair Shivaraj Poudel said big structures have been constructed introducing as ashrams and kutis in the name of former chief justice, former ministers and secretaries.
According to him, more than 300 buildings including kutis and over 20 temples have been constructed in the area. Moreover, structures including buildings have been constructed and more are springing up at spots reserved for ancestor worship by various communities.
More than 20 such structures ranging from Buddhist monasteries to the places of ancestor worships of several castes have been constructed on this 27 bighas land area, Poudel said, adding that selling and buying of these structures and even open land plots is going on surreptitiously in the area. Poudel said that the price of a small plot of land is in the range of Rs 500,000 to Rs 100,000 in the black market. It is said the people involved in the land transaction even pay fees to the temples and the ashrams.
"We have found that some unscrupulous people even try to give a veneer of social legitimacy to the land plots they have bought and sold by paying certain fees to the temple and the ashrams," he said and urged the government to immediately stop this kind of encroachment of the public land at a pilgrimage through policy decision. He warned that Devghat will lose its identity and fame if the encroachment of land and construction of structures continued like this.
Tanka Nath Poudel, the immediate past chairman of DADC, said that he had tried to stop the land encroachment at Devghat during his stint as the chairperson by writing letters to the Bharatpur metropolitan City to take steps for the same. But the metropolis did not heed his requests. He added that the encroachment was increasing year after year due to access to powerful people.
Bharatpur Metropolitan City mayor Renu Dahal however said that she was not aware about the land encroachment at Devghat after she assumed office. She added that her office is trying to find out the encroached land and she would find out about the issue with the help of the local ward office.
Chief of Division Forest Office, Chitwan, Bishnu Poudel, said that as per the survey carried out three years ago, 17.79 hectares of land, out of 1688 hectares of encroached land in the district, was found to be encroached upon at Devghat.
The land is being encroached at the areas since 2030 BS. Although initiative was taken to remove the structures constructed on the encroached upon land plots and vacate the area time and again, it was not possible due to various pretexts including festival time, rainy season and election time, said Poudel.
He added that the encroached land could be vacated if there was support of all-- local levels, administration, political parties and civil society. Activity was underway to make 21-year master plan for the development of Devghat area.
Executive Director of DADC, Dhiranbabu Ghimire, said that land encroachment at Devghat area should be stopped in order to make the Devghat, the religious tourism site, systematic.
A large number of pilgrims visit fairs and festivals organized round the year at Devghat area. Ghimire said that problems have been surfaced to make arrangement of fairs and festivals due to infrastructures constructed after encroaching land towards Chitwan side.
