The issue of Baluwatar land grab has been raised during an informal meeting of the ruling CPN's secretariat convened at the prime minister's residence in Baluwatar Monday afternoon to discuss the government's policies and programs.
Defense Minister Ishwore Pokharel raised the issue of CPN General Secretary Bishnu Paudel's implication on the land grab even before the meeting entered the main agenda of policies and programs.
"Bishnu comrade's name has been taken in this issue. We have not spoken on this issue and he has been left all alone. We have to make things clear and speak on the issue," a leader quoted Pokharel as saying during the meeting.
"We cannot merely speak. The government is doing what needs to be done. If the government says he is innocent it will send a message that the government said so without any ground. We should, therefore, speak on the issue only after gathering evidence," the leader quoted PM KP Sharma Oli as saying in response.
"Land reform minister has already spoken. I have also spoken on some forums. His (Bishnu Paudel's) issue will be finished once we get facts and arguments," the leader quoted PM Oli as adding.
Bam Dev Gautam and Narayan Kaji Shrestha spoke after that and demanded that all the facts about the scam be dug, and the party informed about it.
Senior leader Madhav Nepal then turned toward Chief Secretary Lok Darshan Regmi, who was also present during the meeting, and said, "Do bring all the comments and decisions taken by the Cabinet on this issue. The situation demands hiring of lawyers."
"We are collecting all the information," PM Oli said after that.
General Secretary Paudel, who was also present during the meeting, did not utter even a single word. The meeting then discussed about the government's policies and programs.
Paudel has been dragged in the encroachment of government land in Baluwatar with eight annas of the grabbed land transferred in the name of his son Navin.
The government had formed the committee under former secretary Sharada Prasad Trital following complaints that government land at Baluwatar has been transferred to some individuals. The committee had submitted the report to the government in December 2018 concluding that the land transferred to individuals belonged to the government.
The committee had advised the government to ask the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police to investigate how ownership of the land was transferred to individuals and investigate the state of such government land across the country.
The committee stated that the then king Mahendra after the coup in 1961 had confiscated 14 ropanis land of Nepali Congress leader Suvarna Shumsher Rana and his father Kanchan Shumsher in Baluwatar. The government four years later acquired 285 ropanis of Rana's land in Baluwatar by paying compensation.
The PM's residence, chief justice's residence, speaker's residence and the central office of Nepal Rastra Bank are currently situated in 172 ropanis out of that 285 ropanis.
Land mafia in connivance with staffers at the Land Revenue Office has transferred ownership of the remaining 113 ropanis of land to different individuals, the committee has concluded. The land owned by Paudel is out of that 113 ropanis.
The land was transferred to Paudel from wives of Shobha Kanta Dhakal and Ram Kumar Subedi who have been dubbed the land mafia by the Trital committee.
