Himal Press 
Photo: RSS
KATHMANDU: Nepali Congress (NC) parliamentary party leader Bhishma Raj Angdembe has accused the government of failing to ensure the safe rehabilitation of people displaced from landless squatter settlements.
In a social media post on Sunday, Angdembe said the flooding of the holding center in Kirtipur had exposed the government’s failure to move landless squatters out of danger and into safety. Instead, he said, the government had taken them out of one risky situation only to place them in another, even more hazardous one.
Questioning Prime Minister Balendra Shah (Balen) over his earlier public commitment, Angdembe wrote: “I still remember one of the Prime Minister’s public pledges: ‘People living in unsafe locations at risk to their lives will be relocated to safe and well-managed settlements.’ Today, I want to ask the Prime Minister: Where did that commitment go? Is this what you called safe and orderly rehabilitation?”
He said the displaced people, who had been promised safe shelter, were still forced to endure hunger, flooding, mud, deprivation and insecurity. “This is an example of the state’s irresponsibility, insensitivity and governance failure in fulfilling its public commitment to landless squatters,” he added.
Angdembe alleged that instead of reflecting on its failure to fulfill the Prime Minister’s own commitment, the government had chosen to crack down on people who were raising legitimate questions. “It is an attack on democracy, freedom of expression and people’s rights,” he added.
Urging Prime Minister Shah to answer for the promises made to landless squatters, he wrote: “Prime Minister, answer for the commitments you made to landless people. History will not remember your empty speeches; it will judge whether the promises made to the people were fulfilled.”
