ILAM: The joy of 65-year-old Bhakta Bahadur Fago from Chulachuli-5 was unmistakable, as he stood proudly on the premises of the Chulachuli Rural Municipality office, holding his long-awaited land ownership certificate (Lalpurja).
A landless farmer since birth, Fago finally received legal ownership of the land he had occupied for decades.
“The wait of many years is finally over,” he said with emotion. “For poor people like us, owning land was only a dream. Today, that dream has come true.”
Bhakta Bahadur is one of 31 residents of Chulachuli Rural Municipality who received land ownership certificates on Wednesday.
These individuals, who had been living on the land for years without legal documents, were finally recognized as rightful owners through the efforts of the Land Problem Resolution Commission in coordination with the rural municipality.
The distribution of the certificates has brought a wave of happiness and a sense of security among the recipients. Padam Kumari Rai, 62, of Chulachuli-2, expressed newfound confidence after receiving her certificate for the first time. “Now I am finally a legal landowner,” she said.
Similarly, Nirmaya Tamang, also of Chulachuli-2, shared her sense of relief and pride. “We’ve lived here for years, but today, for the first time, it feels like this land truly belongs to us,” she said. “Now no one can take it away.”
According to Prakash Adhikari, Chairperson of the Land Problem Resolution Commission, 54 plots were allocated to 31 families from wards 2, 4, and 5 of Chulachuli Rural Municipality.
The land ownership certificates were distributed during a formal event attended by central commission chairperson Hari Prasad Rijal, Koshi Province coordinator and central member Anil Krishna Prasai, District Coordination Committee chief Jayaprakash Rai, local political leaders, and other stakeholders.
Adhikari also informed that land measurement and verification work is currently underway for 620 additional individuals in Chulachuli. Certificates will be distributed to them in phases. On Tuesday, the commission had distributed certificates to 72 residents of Rong Rural Municipality-1.
“We are working to provide land ownership to landless Dalits, squatters, and unorganized settlers as quickly as possible,” Adhikari said. “Our goal is to distribute certificates to around 700 people by mid-Asar.”
Hari Prasad Rijal, the central chairman of the commission, said that the land ownership distribution campaign has now begun through local commissions across the country. He assured that all eligible landless citizens will become landowners within the next two years.
According to the commission, a total of 22,240 applications have been registered in Ilam district. These include 210 landless Dalits, 910 landless squatters, and 21,130 unorganized settlers.
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