UML MP Slams Government Over Slum Demolitions

Kathmandu. CPN (UML) Member of Parliament Bishnumaya BK has strongly objected to the government's actions, accusing it of adopting a policy to drive away the poor by running bulldozers over slum settlements. Speaking during emergency time in Tuesday's House of Representatives meeting, she drew the House's attention to the pitiful condition of landless squatters staying at a holding center in Banepa, Kavre.

Informing the house that she had visited and observed the center on behalf of the State Management and Good Governance Committee, MP BK stated that 110 landless citizens are living there under extremely difficult conditions.

"In that center housing 110 landless citizens, there are 22 students studying from nursery to class 12, and 5 students pursuing their bachelor's degree," she said. "Since the bulldozers ran over their settlement, their education has come to a complete halt. They are living there like prisoners."

She mentioned that many chronically ill individuals at the center have not been able to receive timely doctor consultations or necessary medicines. Sharing that Milan Tamang, who was displaced after his house was bulldozed, has lost his mental balance, she said, "Milan Tamang has been living with a lost mental balance since the bulldozer demolished his house. I strongly demand the government to provide him immediate medical treatment and to resume the students' education."

Targeting the government's approach to removing landless squatters from Kathmandu, MP BK urged them to stop tormenting the poor. She said, "This government seems to have adopted a policy of driving the poor out of Kathmandu, which is completely wrong. 

The government's policy should be to eradicate poverty, not the poor." She demanded that the government take immediate steps for the proper management and fulfillment of the basic needs of the displaced citizens.